Famous Last Words: A Good Mix

At the beginning of this week, something that I challenged myself to do was to be better about doing schoolwork AND things for myself so that I didn't get so burnt out on studying all the time. Looking back, I've done a pretty good job of this.
On Sunday, one of my really good friends asked me to go with him to his fraternity's date dash and go ice skating with him. Although I had some other things I could have done for the upcoming week, I decided to go and I did not regret it. We had a lot of fun together and I felt more refreshed and ready for another week than I probably would have if I had spent the night studying. Also, if you were wondering, apparently I am a terrible ice skater. He, of course, was a natural and tried to teach me how to improve but it seemed to be of no use. I knocked my date down twice because I couldn't stay on my own two feet :)

A personal photo from the date dash this 

past weekend.

This weekend, my dad is coming for the football game because it is Dad's Day. We are very close and I am excited for him to get here. It's also fitting that it is the TCU game because we hate that team more than almost anyone else in college football. I guess that's just something that comes from growing up in Waco and having parents that are Baylor Alumni. Either way, I am excited for what is to come this weekend. I do have a lot of stuff to do beforehand though because I have a HUGE project due next Monday in one of my other classes that is actually 20% of my final grade that i am really nervous for and won't want to do while my dad is in town. Wish me luck on that!

A personal photo from Dad's Day a few years ago.

Learning Challenge Week 12

For this weeks learning challenge, I read the article Why Sleeping May Be More Important Than Studying by Katrina Schwartz. I am the queen of trying to see what the minimal number of hours of sleep I can get is in order to still be productive the next day. There have been countless nights that I have stayed in the library until an insane hour only to have to get up for an early morning class the next day. I've always know that that wasn't the best idea, but it never stopped me from doing it. However, I didn't know just how bad exactly this lack of sleep was. I had never really thought of the importance of establishing a routine and making sleep a deliberate priority before reading this article. However, in hindsight, it makes sense. I typically look at my phone right before I finally go to bed, too, in order to check any last minute notifications or messages from friends. I had never thought about the negative affects that could have.

Apparently sleeping in class doesn't count as quality sleep, 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

I'm not entirely sure how I will go about applying this to my daily living because I am still a busy college student enrolled in 19 hours and trying to maintain a good GPA, but I think that it is something to be mindful of and the know about. Hopefully, knowing this, I can at least think about it and try to practice some better routines with the sleep that I do manage to get. I am going to try to make it a goal to get at least a little bit more sleep each night if I can help it. After all, what good does it do to stay up studying for all hours of the night when my brain apparently reaches a point where it doesn't even retain the information anymore because it is so tired?

Reading Notes: King Arthur Part B

Sir Galahad and the White Knight

Sticking with the theme of modernization, that is what I think I would want to do for my rewriting if I were to select this particular piece. I could have some of the toughest, most popular guys competing for their own shield and to become like the "knight" but to make it more relatable to today's time, maybe they could compete for a captain spot on the football team or a varsity athletic position.

Sir Lancelot's Vision

I hadn't heard this part of the story before, but I did enjoy it. Maybe, for a rewriting of this part, I could do a letter or a journal entry of sorts where Lancelot tells of his vision and expresses what it is that he has seen. This might could be modernized but it could also be kept in the original time period.

Sir Lancelot, the one who had the vision.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Sir Lancelot and the Five Hundred Knights

This story was interesting and seemed as if it were going to be a pivotal moment in the story. I could focus a rewrite on what makes him so bad in the nuns sight or something like that.

I liked the rest of the stories and the way that they added to the current plot, but for the sake of the rewrite, I have already decided that I wanted to write mine on something from the first half because I was more familiar with those.

Bibliography

Andrew Lang's King Arthur Unit

Reading Notes: King Arthur Part A

The Drawing of the Sword

I have always loved this story in all of the different forms that I have heard it growing up. It is one of the few things that I am actually familiar with as far as King Arthur is concerned. For this reason, I think it would be a really fun one to get to rewrite for this week's assignment. It would be interesting to think a way to somehow modernize it for this class. 

King Arthur after he took the throne.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Questing Beast

This is a section of this tale that I think I could pretty easily use the modernization rewriting idea that I also had for The Drawing of the Sword. I would want to somehow find the most unlikely, scrawny guy and have him fulfill the role of King Arthur in some way in my rendition of this short story.

The Sword Excalibur

The only thing that I can think of as far a rewriting of this piece is to change the sword into some other highly coveted item that he might want. I could make it something that those around him also want and he then would be blinded by the appeal of it as opposed to what it is that he really needs. 

The Round Table

This story of the round table is the only other one that I was familiar with at all. That being said, I'm actually not sure what to do as far as making it a unique rewrite. Maybe I could modernize it again and make it a kid vying for football captain or something like that.

The Passing of Merlin

Again, I don't have many ideas for rewriting. The only thing that comes to mind is that I could possibly do something with the mistress that is taking advantage of Merlin and expand on what she does with the powers that she learns from him. In other words, i could probably add a greater ending that goes past what is covered in the original story.

King Arthur and Morgan le Fay

With something like what this story is, I always take a pretty simple approach to rewriting. I would want to explore the character of Morgan le Fay more in depth and give her more of a reasoning for wanting to kill King Arthur. That way, her actions will not seem so crazy but there will be a reason for what she is doing.

The Quest of the Holy Graal

This seemed to be more of an informative section and not so much a continuation of the story that I've been reading thus far. For that reason, it's not one that I'm even going to consider doing my storytelling assignment over. 

The King's Pilgrimage

This is not one that I want to do with my rewriting. I want to use one of the pieces above.

Bibliography

Andrew Lang's King Arthur Unit

Learning Challenge: What Makes a Good Teacher?

For this week's learning challenge, I read the article What Kids Wish Their Teacher Knew. Studying to be a future teacher and then a professional counselor myself, this was something very eye opening for me to read. You always hear about the importance of knowing your students beyond just an academic level and knowing that they are all unique but there is something so special about seeing it in real words right in front of you.

It is important that teacher's know what is going on with

their students outside of classroom curriculum. Source: Pixabay

My mom is also a teacher right now in central Texas and some of the stories that she has told me in the past are unbelievable and heartbreaking. I'm not going to name names for the sake of privacy of the student's and their families but I have heard everything from kids going into foster care, kids loosing parents way too early and unexpectedly, kids being neglected and abused, and so many other things. These are the types of things that keep student's I might have in the future from giving their best effort in school that teacher's may never know about. Because of this, it is so important that teacher's both understand what their student's might be dealing with and also understand that failure to complete assignments or to do so well may not always be because of a lack of desire or effort but a lack of time, means, etc. to do so.
As far as how I could implement this into my own future classroom, I want to be the teacher that my students know that they can go to for anything that they need. While I will want them to be successful in my English classroom, I want them to know that first and foremost I want them to know that they are safe, cared for, and loved. If I can implement this type of atmosphere in my own classroom, whether I am teaching 6th graders or seniors in high school, I will be able to count my career as a success when all is said and done.

Famous Last Words; Home Stretch

We're finally in the homestretch. That's how I always feel once the month of November rolls around during the fall semester and this year is no different. Taking 19 hours at the moment, I am completely exhausted, but did that stop me from enrolling in 18 for this next semester? Of course not. However, I am actually really excited about some of the courses that I am planning not taking and even have them with some friends that I have made within my major this past semester so it shouldn't be too terrible.
I'm looking forward to this weekend because I don't have a ton going on. I have the normal homework load that I will have to spend some time focusing on but other than that what I have planned should be pretty fun. For starters, tomorrow morning I am volunteering at the OU Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City and I am really excited about it. My dad has worked in a children's hospital for several years and it is an environment that I really love. In fact, years down the road when I complete my masters in professional counseling, maybe that is an environment that I could work in.
Additionally, one of my really close friends has a birthday this weekend. She invited me and one of my roommates over to watch the Bedlam game with her and just have a chill day celebrating and getting ready for yet another week. And as always, Boomer Sooner!

A personal photo of my friend that has a birthday this weekend (right) and my

roommate that will also be celebrating with us (left).

Finally, we are getting so close to Dad's Day, one of my favorite weekends every fall semester without fail! I don't get to see my family just a ton so any time that part or all of my family get to come to Norman is a good time. This year, it will just be my dad but we are going to go to the game and spend the weekend together doing some other fun things. Growing up, I always watched football with my dad so it is something that we really enjoy. It will be a good weekend to be able to push through to the end of the semester and go home to my family for the holidays.

Week 11 Storytelling: Banishment

Banishment

Red walked back to her tent, letting her mind wander. She was having the worst possible day and was sure that no one was going to understand. "I can't believe he has just ended things with me. I thought everything was going so wonderfully." She was, of course, talking about the town's best hunter that she had been with for nearly the past year. They had been in a very serious relationship and she thought that she had found her "one," her soul mate. He, however, apparently did not feel the same way. She had met him that morning around a campfire from the previous night where their tribe dwelt and he had broken the new to her. She left, heartbroken, to wonder what she would become now. For such a planner, this was not something she could have ever prepared for.

At first, Red felt unbearable sadness, However, it later turned to pure anger. She wanted revenge on the man that she had thought that she had been in love with for breaking her heart. Now the big question of the day was how she was going to get it. She continued on to her home, letting her mind wander yet again. This was a promise she made to herself that she was going to keep. He was going to feel at some point the pain that she felt in this moment.

A few years later, Red heard the news running through the village. The man whom she had thought was the love of her life at one point had just married and they were expecting children very soon. She remembered the promise she had made to herself the day he broke her heart and knew immediately what she had to do. She set out to the tent that she knew the two of them had been sharing from tribal gossip.

Upon arrival, Red was shocked to see that the woman was there by herself with her unborn children inside of her. Without hesitating and before she could change her mind, Red attacked. She slit the woman's throat and killed her in one fell swoop. For a moment, she was overcome with grief and wanted to at least help the children she knew were inside. She threw one behind a curtain so she knew he'd be warm and the other she put into a spring so that he at least wouldn't go thirsty. Figuring she had done her good deed for the day, she propped the now dead woman up so it would look as if she still was alive when her husband came home and fled, wanting to never be seen here again but to know that she had gotten the revenge she had been after for the past years.

The type of curtain that the Red covered one of the unborn 

children in for warmth. Source: Pixabay

Author's Note

I based this story off of the tale entitled Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away from the second half of the Native American Hero Tales unit. While the piece in it's original version was interesting to read and did a good job of relaying the story, I couldn't help but feel as if there was something that was missing. I wanted to know why the Red-Woman was so hateful toward the man and his wife that he would kill the woman and then throw the newborn children around in such a violent way. For that reason, I decided to give this story a little bit more a background so that the Red-Woman and her horrible hatred could be better understood. I also thought it would be fitting to write the story from the woman's perspective to make it seem more genuine and authentic as opposed to someone simply trying to make her out to be the bad guy in the situation. 

Bibliography

Stith Thompson's Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away