Reading Plan

My Reading Plan 

This is the plan that I have now and I hope to really stick to it as I want to be more disciplined in the remainder of this course.

Week 9: Pacific Northwest

Week 10: Great Plains 

Week 11: Nursery Ryhmes (This is probably the unit I am most excited about) 

Week 12: King Arthur 

Week 13: Russian Folktale (My husband enjoys Russian culture so this will be a fun unit to share with him) 

Week 14: Dante's Inferno 

READ ALL THE STORIES

Image taken from Google search : 

Alitiareads

Reflections: Looking foward

Looking forward

I can not believe that we are already half way through our course! Time does fly fast. I am glad that we are taking this break to really reflect on our work because I know that I can definitely  make some changes. After looking at the grade chart I am not exactly where I want to be grade wise. I have only done some of the extra credit and that is something that I will be working on changing. These points could really boost my grade therefore, I will be taking advantage of these assignments. Critically analyzing where I am, I definitely have to make changes to my schedule so that I can find myself using less of our "grace periods". That will be my number one objective. 

However, I would also like to see my work improve. I have come across some really great writing styles in the blogs that I have visited. I want to work on expanding my vocabulary, creativity, and style of storytelling. I have taken some notes from blogs that I have observed and have seen some styles that I had never even thought of. 

Breaking it down this is what I will be working on for the remainder of this semester: 

1. Making a schedule and sticking to it so I do not fall behind. 

2. Doing all of the extra credit points so I can be where I want in my grade (A).

3. Put more time into my stories so I can really expand on them.

4. Try out new writing styles and try to tell stories from different perspectives.

5. Really engage in comments and be way more descriptive in them by thinking analytically about them. 

6. Have fun!

We still have time to make the changes that we want!

Image searched on Google found on: appliedalliance 

Reflections:Looking back

Looking back

I must say that I was not sure what this class would be like when we first started. The class layout was so different to me but then I started to really appreciate the way that this class was made. This class has really helped on growing my writing skills and my creativity. That is probably what I enjoy most about it. The chance that I am given to expand on my creativity. Through this semester we have been asked to work on storytelling and even though it was a challenge for me in the beginning, my favorite post has been Joseph the Seducer which you can find here: 

http://mythandfolkwithlima.blogspot.com/2015/09/storytelling-week-2-joseph-seducer.html

Thanks to the peer review of my peers and our professor I have been able to work on bettering my writing skills and have realized the mistakes that I was making when writing that I did not even know I was making. 

I have a very busy schedule and I usually find myself doing our assignments each night of the night that they are due. However, I have used the grace period (more than I should) when I find myself super loaded on other coursework. I really need to change that this second half of the semester. I do not really have a spot for doing my homework. It ranges from in class, my friends house, my dining room, my room, or work. I do it where I can concentrate best based on the day.

I have not done any Curation posts but thanks to one our our assignments, my task bar now has a bunch of bookmarks and it makes life so much easier! :) 

I would definitely recommend this class to anyone. I like learning on my own pace, I like seeing what other students are doing, and I especially like that we have a very responsive professor who is very involved in our work. I am so glad that I chose to take this class. 

Water is such a reflective image to me 

Image found on Google search :AlphaGammaBrain 

Storytelling Week 7 : The Ogre

The Ogre 

This is the story of my life. I had for much time been very misunderstood. The village people thought that I was extinct but they were wrong. They  were happy because they thought we were gone since they defeated my ancestors. My last encounter with the villagers was completely misunderstood and that is why I am here telling you what really happened that day. 

First, let me tell you about my ancestors and their history with the village. My ancestors were very territorial and protective. They didn't want to harm anyone but if they felt that they were being attacked they would lash out without thinking of the consequences. One day, Raiko a general of Rashomon came into our village and at the sight of my ancestors he immediately attacked. It wasn't his fault that he reacted that way. His ancestors had told stories about how horrible we were. He thought that my ancestors were going to eat him because the myths said that ogres would kill and eat their victim. That was all a lie. We did kill and eat our prey but we only ate animals. Not humans. Nevertheless, Raiko attacked and he defeated everyone in my village. He came back to Rashomon and told his story of victory and his village praised him. They gifted him with the army of the most elite warriors who were the named the most brave of them all. They were assigned the tasks that most men were to coward to confront. 

You see when Raiko came to my village I was out by the stream trying to catch some fish. He missed me. He didn't even know my friends and I existed. Our parents were killed that day but we were not mad at the humans. We knew it was all a misunderstanding and all we wanted was peace. As the time went by my friends stayed away from the village the most they could because they knew if the humans ever saw them again they would be killed. I however had hope. I had hope that maybe if only maybe I could talk to them they would realize that we are friendly and harmless. While I was out in the forest I heard one of Raiko's men "The ogres do not exist. I will bet with you!". The other warrior answered, "Yes, they do. They are far away and hidden but it is impossible for Raiko to have killed all of them. One must have gotten away". The other responded, "I will go past the gate into the forest to prove to you that I am not afraid because they do not exist". 

I then knew that it was the perfect time to show the men that I came in peace, or so I thought. I waited for the sunset to come as that was when one of the warriors would come to the gate. When I saw him approach the gate I walked behind him. Instantly he felt me behind him and he stretched his hand out just enough to touch my arm. I knew he knew that I was an ogre because he immediately drew his sword and swung it against my arm. The pain was horrible and I immediately yelled out. I ran for my life and he was not able to catch up to me. Now I look down at my mutilated arm everyday and am constantly reminded that peace is just as impossible as my parents being alive again. 

The warriors sword 

Image found through Google at Dark World Wiki 

Author's Note: 

This week I did my storytelling based on the story The Ogre of Rashomon  . This story is a three part story and the first story lets the reader know that Raiko was known to be a local hero because of his actions against the ogres. The story is from the perspective of the warriors and the state of mind of the people of Rashomon. I wanted to keep the plot the same except I wanted to change the perspective of the story and add a dimension to the ogre's intentions since we were not told if the ogre wanted to attack or not. I really enjoyed the original story and hopefully you'll enjoy my take on it too. 

Reading Diary B : Japanese Fairy Tales

Japanese Fairy Tales 

The Ogre of Rashomon : 

• there was a dreadful ogre in Kyoto and people feared this ogre 
• it was rumored that the ogre was a horrible cannibal who killed and ate his victims 
• no one would go past the gate of Rashomon past sunset 
• Raiko was the famous man who was known for is bravery 
• Raiko had a group of brave warriors that would follow him
• The warriors did not believe the rumors as Raiko had killed all the ogres of Oeyama
• the warriors argued with each other whether or not the rumors were true so they set out to find out for themselves 
• Watanabe went out to the Gate of Rashomon and when he went there he saw no ogre there just like he had argued 

An ogre that we are all very familiar with 

Image found on Google posted by Thanofleeze on Comicvine 

The Ogre of Rashomon cont. : 

• when watanabe was about to set the paper down on the gate he noticed that there was someone behind him and he asked for the somebody to identify themselves 
• he reached out his hand to see if he could touch something and as he did he felt a very hairy object that was as thick as a trunk of a tree he knew it was an ogre and he used his sword to cut off its arm 
• the ogre was furious and he tried to scare the warrior but the warrior did not flinch and he fought with all his might 
• the ogre realized that if he kept attacking he would be defeated so he left the area and Watanabe followed him on his horse as fast as he could but the ogre left without sight 
• he then saw the arm on the ground and he took it back as a possession to show off his encounter with the ogre and the people feasted and celebrated him but Watanabe knew that the ogre was not dead and that he would eventually come back for his arm so he built a big box to guard the arm 

Reading Diary A : Japanese Fairy Tales

Japanese Fairy Tales

My Lord Bag of Rice : 

• warrior known as Tawara Toda ( my lord bag of rice) 
• the story is about how he changed his name 
• He had a sword on him and came across a serpent dragon 
• the serpent was big and scary but it was asleep 
• Tawara needed to get across past this serpent dragon so he went across very silently 
• he started walking and he heard someone calling him and when he turned back the dragon had disappeared 
• there was a strange man that was calling him and Tawara started wondering if this man was someone the dragon that had turned into a man but it was clear that this mas was not ordinary 
• the man asked for a favor and Tawara said that he could 
• the man told him that he is the dragon king of the lake and he wanted the mortal centipede to be killed 
• he wanted this centipede killed because the centipede had tormented his family 
• he could not do it on his own however so he waited across the bridge in the shape of a snake dragon waiting for some brave man to come along and help him but every time some person would come by and run away until Tawara showed up and that is why he was the indicated one 

The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die : 

• Sentaro meant millionaire 
• this man was called Sentaro but he was not rich 
• he did have a small fortune that he inherited from his father and he never really had to work very hard for money 
• one day the thought of death came upon him 
• he wanted to find some way to live until 500-600 years old 
• he knew about the most powerful ruler Shin no Shiko
• the tale said that Shin no Shiko also wanted to stay away from death so he went on the search for the Elixir of Life 
• it was never found and therefore Sentaro set himself on the journey of searching for the "elixir of Life" 

The Elixir of Life - found on Pinterest 

Week 6: Growth Mindset

Growth Mindset 

Image taken from Growth Mindset Meme blog 

I really enjoyed this meme for many reasons. As school is in full swing and exams, homework and studying all start piling up it is very hard to balance it all with everything else that I have going on every week. Every semester it is a new challenge with time balance and it still takes me some time to figure out exactly how I want to tackle each semester. This meme is perfect because each week I have focused on something that I want to improve on so that I can have overall improvement.