Week 10 Growth Mindset

Article: What's Going On Inside the Brain of a Curious Child?

This article was about a study done with adults and their curiosity to learn. They were given a 100 different trivia questions and were asked to rate their curiosity for the answer. While participants reviewed the questions, their brain activity was being monitored via an MRI machine. Researchers noticed that when participants were most curious about the topic the areas of the brain that control pleasure and reward lit up and that there was increased activity in the hippocampus. Research also showed that participants remembered more about the topics they were most interested in than the topics they weren't. 

The author related this information back to peaking interest in kids in the classroom. They mention learning what the children are interested in and using that to help teach. If you use what students are interested in, they are more likely to remember that information. 

After reading this article, I can relate to the information they mention. Looking back through my college career, the professors that used information that related to me and what I was interested in, that is the information I can recall now. If I was just being taught to get through a lesson, that information was lost as soon as I completed the course. I can also relate this information to my work place. I work with an acute care (in hospital) physical therapy team and one of the first questions the patient is asked, is what their goals are. If they just had a knee replacement and they eventually want to get back to running, we use that information to relate to their treatment. When we do that, patients always seem more motivated and eager to work with us. 

Learning Challenge - Health/Happiness Meme

Elf Meme

One thing I can relate to most, is barely getting enough sleep for survival. During my freshman year, I developed a sleeping problem. All night, I would lay in my bed wide awake. Eventually, I had to be placed on medication to help me sleep. The lack of sleep eventually cut into my school work and social life. I was cranky all the time and couldn't focus on school stuff because I was so tired to concentrate.

I remember being a kid and trying my hardest to stay awake all night. Then I came to college and all-nighters were no big deal. Until they never ended. I can say that sleep is definitely an integral part of one's success in college. Once I was able to sleep normally again, my grades improved. Even though we all think we don't need sleep, eventually the lack there of will catch up and it's not pretty. 

Week 10 Storytelling - The Woman Stolen By Killer Whales

Whales at night

One evening a family of killer whales were out for a late-night swim. There was a mom, dad, two sisters and a brother. Of course, the brother loved to pester his sisters, as most brothers do. Tonight was just like any other night. The water was calm, the sky was clear, and there were no boats around. It was peaceful.

Brother wanted to swim closer to the shore so he could get a better look at the sky. He had always had a fascination with the stars. Since it was so quiet out, Mom and Dad agreed. He was so excited to see what constellations would be visible this time. Last time he looked, he saw the Revolving Man and Revolving Woman, as well as the Black God and Great Bear constellations. 

He swam as fast as he could towards the shore, like most kids do when they’re excited about something. Mom and Dad just chuckled as they watched their son light up as he swam ahead. They never minded letting him look at the stars. The thing that always held them back were the people that lived not far from the shore line. They had always heard stories about the people catching whales and not letting them return to the water. Since it was a calm and peaceful night, they decided to let their son follow his passion.

As Brother was looking up at the stars, trying to pinpoint exactly what he was looking for, he heard a rustle in the bushes right off the water. At first, he thought nothing of it. There was a slight breeze so he brushed it off. He continued to admire the sparkle of the stars. With each twinkle, he felt they were trying to talk to him. That was their way of communicating. Their twinkle was a little different tonight. It almost seemed to be panicky, as if they were trying to warn him.

Mom, Dad and the sisters were still a couple hundred feet away. Close enough to see Brother, but far enough not to be near the surface. Sisters were always scared to get near the shore because of the horror stories their friends would tell on the way home from their swims. Soon, their fears were going to be proven correct.

Brother was fascinated with everything he was seeing. It was such a clear night that he could see The First Slender One, Butterfly, Place of Decisions, and many more. As he was trying to hunt down the Coyote constellation, he was suddenly hit by something. At first, he jerked some because it startled him. As he did, he felt whatever hit him wrap around his body. He tried to fight it, but it just got tighter and he couldn’t break free. He called out for Mom and Dad, but they were just far enough away they couldn't reach him in time. As they were swimming frantically towards him, he disappeared out of the water.

There was nothing they could do but to let him go. If they got any closer to the shore, they too could have been captured. Once they were in the hunting area of the people, they were at their mercy. In the water is where the whales are strongest. Mom, Dad and the sisters were devastated. A peaceful night, turned tragic in an instant.

A few moments had passed and the family saw something strange waving around in the water close to the shore. Dad quickly realized it was hands of a human and rushed to the shore to snatch them. Just as quickly as Brother had disappeared from the water, a woman disappeared from the shore. Dad angrily dragged the woman back to their home. He wanted her to pay for what she had done to his son and the impact it would have on his family.

Mom and the sisters swam behind Dad all the way home. They were unsure what his plans were, but they didn’t question his intentions either. As the three arrived home, they couldn’t find Dad or the woman anywhere. They looked all around and there was no sign of them. After a few moments passed, Dad came to them without the woman. He explained that she was now their slave. She would be doing anything they ask without hesitation. Dad said that the woman realized what she had done and was willing to make it up to them by doing so. She felt terribly guilty for what she and her husband had done to Brother.

A few days had passed since the people took brother. The woman was living up to her word. She took care of the chores around the house, hunted dinner for the family and helped the sisters with their school work. Even though it was under tragic circumstances, the family came to enjoy having the woman around. Shortly after she finished preparing dinner, her husband and a shark barged into the whales’ home. They demanded that the family release his wife. Her husband was shocked when she was the one that denied their request. He thought that she would be thrilled to be rescued.

She explained her reasoning for refusing to go home with them. She wanted to make things right with the family.

"We once had a son," she began to explain. "One night we were outside enjoying the clear skies and calm breeze when a group from a neighboring tribe ambushed my son, husband and me."

"They kidnapped my son and we lost hope of ever seeing him again. I couldn't eat or sleep for months afterwards. When I closed my eyes, I could hear my son's screams as they ripped him out of my arms. If I could take back what we did to your son, I would. Since I cannot, I want to stay with your family," she said as she made eye contact with Dad.

She turned to her husband and said, "I want to make things right with them. I will be staying in the water. I know you don't understand, but this is what I have to do."

Her husband remembered the heartache she went through during that time and agreed to let her stay. Though he was heartbroken, he and Shark turned and left the whales’ residence. Little did he know that he would also never see his wife again.

After hearing what the man and woman had gone through with their own son, the whales felt they had a better connection with her. The relationship between them grew to something more than master and captive. Soon, she became one of the family. 

Author’s Note: The original story is about a man and woman that capture a friend of the whales and kill it for food. When the woman goes back to the water to clean her hands, she is then taken by the whale’s friends. They took her back to their home and made her their slave as revenge for the killing of their friend. The woman’s husband then goes into the water in search for his wife. He came to the house of the fish-chief and asked for help in searching for his wife. Shark was the one chosen to help the man in his quest. The two came across the killer whales and the wife. Shark pushed the wife towards the husband and told them to run and he would stay back and fight the whales.

I chose to change the story to the perspective of the whales, to give the reader the other side of the story. I also changed it from being friends to being family as I thought this would give a more solid reason for the whales to take revenge in the way that they did. In the end, I decided to make the woman want to stay with the whales to make up for the events her and her husband played a part. Since the two had gone through the same sort of tragedy, I thought it would be good that she could relate to the whales and want to make it up to them.   

Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson; The Woman Stolen By Killer Whales

Tech Tip - Canvas Mobile App

Canvas Logo

One thing I really enjoy about OU switching to Canvas, would be the mobile app. One thing that was frustrating about D2L was not having a usable app. I use the Canvas app for Android and so far it works flawlessly. It has yet to crash which is always a plus. The app is very user friendly and is easy to navigate. I like being able to view all my grades, course work, plus have the options to be notified when new grades and files are added. One feature I used for another class was being assigned to groups for our semester project. With this feature, we were able to start Google Docs and such through Canvas instead of having to continuously type in each email every time we needed to start a new doc. I wish OU would have switched to Canvas years ago when I started my undergrad. Hopefully the younger classes enjoy using this platform and all its features. 

Reading Notes B - The Dog-Husband

Dog art

I think for this story, the best option would to just rewrite the story in more modern times. I'm not sure of any other way to change the story. 

Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson: The Dog-Husband

Reading Notes A - The Woman Stolen By Killer Whales

Killer Whales

For this story, I could write more in depth about what the husband and Shark went through in order to get the woman back. Add a little adventure to their story as they hunt her down. Or maybe I could write the story from the perspective of the whales and their reasonings behind taking the woman captive. 

Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson: The Woman Stolen By Killer Whales

Reading Notes B - Why The Dog's Ears Flop

Why The Dog's Ears Flop

For this story, I could write more about why the dog decides to leave the wild life, or what events led to him leaving. Maybe add a "sequel" to this story about what would happen the next time the wolves come back to see their cousin. 

When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton: Why The Dog's Ears Flop

Reading Notes A - Grandmother River's Trick

Little Fish and Gar Fish

For this story, I could write about how the gar fish got back into the river after Grandmother River tricked them. I could also write about tricks the little fish did before Grandmother River stepped in to help.

When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton: Grandmother River's Trick

Week 8 Growth Mindset

Motivational Tuesday

For each class, I think I have strengths and weaknesses for each. For this class, I think on of my strengths would be being open to any and all feedback. I really enjoy getting feedback from my fellow classmates and professor about what I can do to better my stories and writing. This also relates to being confident that I can improve. Writing has always been a big hobby of mine. I used to write crazy stories all the time when I was younger. Since being in college, I haven't been able to do much of that anymore. Being in this class has challenged me to get back into writing once again. It has allowed me to be creative with my writing. Instead of writing the short corky stories I wrote when I was younger, I'm able to write longer stories that have direction. Another thing I really enjoy about this class is that it does focus on learning more than it is about grades. Most classes you are stuck taking tests and quizzes and other participation tactics to earn your grade. This is the first class that I've taken that has allowed me to make my own schedule and actually have fun while I'm earning a grade. It's focusing more on the content than it is passing. 

One thing I am really bad at, is waiting until the last minute to do anything, for any class. I usually have assignments in another class so things get pushed back until I realize that it's due tomorrow and it needs to be done. Between going to school full time as well as working a full time job and occasionally traveling back home for another, I really don't have much down time. I barely get enough sleep most nights. Many times, I have to lay down and take a nap so once again something gets pushed back until it's almost too late. 

Luckily I think over the last couple weeks, I have figured out a way to better manage my time that will allow me to get things done in an appropriate amount of time (It's only taken half a semester to do so, lol). 

Week 8 Reflections

The Art of Writing

1) Reading:
-So far, I have enjoyed all the stories that I have read for our assignments. Some of them that I have looked over, weren't for me but eventually I found something that I enjoyed and really got interested in. The story I enjoyed the most was the story about Cupid and Psyche. In the beginning, it was hard to follow, but eventually I got the hang of it and understood what was happening. Due to such a hectic start to the semester, I have yet to find a good time/place to do my readings. Most of the time I do them during the grace period, or late at night when I'm done with work or other assignments.
-I think my reading notes do a good job about leading me into the story I want to write. I try to be detailed in my notes, that way once I get to my writing I have enough there to remind me where I wanted to go with that story.

2) Writing:
-I am happy with my writing thus far. The last couple weeks I have hit a writers block, so I haven't been able to get my thoughts out on paper, or growing my stories from my notes. I have the thoughts, but I don't have much else. Sometimes I feel like I do a great job creating the imagery for my stories, as well as creating a good story that captures the readers' attention. Other times I feel like I have a story, but I'm missing things that could enhance it, or the thoughts I have about the story aren't being translated to the readers.
-Over the next couple months, I really want to attempt some of the other writing styles. Until now, I've been doing the same thing, but I think it would be interesting to try something else and see where that takes me. I'm just concerned I will have a hard time hitting the word count requirement.

3) Connecting:
-The thing I admire most about other peoples' stories are the different scenarios that every comes up with. We might have read the same story, but theirs turns out completely different than mine. It's always interesting to see the different stories that come from one story. There are some stories that I have read that didn't make a whole lot of sense. I had a really hard time following what they were trying to convey. I really hope that when others read my stories, they are able to read it without any problems or concerns. Even though we all make mistakes, I hope there aren't so many that it makes it hard to understand the story.

Tech Tip: Reverse Image Search

Gautma Buddha

In the reverse image search, I found this picture in an article about how the five major religions have spread throughout the world. The five being Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism. The picture is used to inform readers about Buddhism and says that between 560 and 480 BC Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in a city in western Nepal known as Lumbini. 

Reading Notes A - The Man and the Ghost

The Man and the Ghost

For this story, I could elaborate more on the ending of this story. After the man helped heal the king's son, he was given half of everything and the ghost never came back for the sack he left with the man. I could write about the ghost actually coming back and wanting to split everything that the king gave the man since it was his sack that got the man the goods in the first place.