Learning Challenge: Routine

For today's learning challenge, I watched the video Alike by Daniel Martinez and Rafa Cano Mendez. I really enjoyed this video! The story is centered around a father and his son. They live their life by working and going to school. As they make their way to work and school, all the buildings and other people are bland in color, while they are the only ones who have color or metaphorically, "life." The son loves to have fun and utilize his artistic abilities. However, the monotonous routine of school and the inability of him to express his art eventually drains him. He loses his color. This is also the same for the father. However, he had succumbed to this routine. Eventually, the father breaks out of his routines of continuous work when he realizes his son is following the same path as he. The father takes his son to have fun, and they gain back their color.
This video shows me not to get bogged down with work and school. Though these are important things, we also have a life to live. There is beauty in this world and it would be a crime not to go out and see it. We need an equal balance between school, work, and play. I have been focusing more on work and school. I will start incorporating more play into my life, in a healthy way.

Learn, work, and have fun: Public Domain Art

  

Reading Notes: The Merchant of Seri, Extra Credit

For my extra credit reading, I read the Jataka tale The Merchant of Seri, by Ellen C. Babbitt. In this story, there are two merchants. One merchant is good and is not greedy. While the other merchant is greedy and only wants money. They sell different plates and bowls. Therefore, one weekend they went into town and tried selling their material. The merchants decided that they would not work on the same street. However, they could work on a street that the other merchant had previously worked on.

In this town, there lived a grandmother and her granddaughter. They were very poor. They only thing that they could use to trade was an old bowl that was left behind by the grandfather. He died.

The greedy merchant made his way to the street where the poor family lived on. The granddaughter saw that the merchant was selling items and wanted to buy one. She asked her grandmother for some money. But she didn’t have any money. Therefore, she told the granddaughter to take the old bowl and trade it. She took the bowl to the merchant and asked to trade. The merchant saw that the bowl was actually gold and tried to trick the poor family. He threw the bowl on the ground and said: “This bowl is Worth nothing!” The merchant left, waiting to come back for the bowl. The nice merchant saw that the other merchant had left the street and decided to try and sell his materials here. The granddaughter took the bowl to the nice merchant and asked if she could trade her bowl for anything. The good merchant saw that the bowl was made of gold. He decided to give the girl everything he had for the bowl. He only asked for 8 coins so he could travel back home. The girl took all the merchandise and gave the merchant 8 coins. The greedy merchant came back for the gold bowl but saw that it was no longer there. He was angry and saw that the other merchant had gotten the bowl. The good merchant lived a nice conformable after selling the gold bowl.

The Merchant: flickr

Week 13 Story, The Giving Turkey

Once upon a time, there lived two turkey kings. One king turkey named Thanks ruled over many other turkeys within his region of the community. The other turkey king named Giving ruled over the other portion of the community. The kingdom was split between these two kings. However, both kings and their turkeys lived in peace.

Unfortunately, it came to that time of year when humans would come and hunt their people. The humans usually hunted in a pack of three. There were a father and two sons. The father was the leader of the group. However, he was becoming old and could not hunt for long. Therefore, the two sons decided to build a fence around the turkey community. Once the fence was built, their father could simply walk into the bound region and hunt the turkeys at ease. This went on for a couple of weeks. Many turkeys were lost. Therefore, Giving called for a meeting with Thanks.

"Hello, Thanks! It is great to see you even though we meet under unfortunate circumstances."

"Yes, Giving! It is great to see you! What is this meeting about?"

"As you can see, it has come to that time of year when the humans hunt us. However, this year, they have built a fence around our community. This has exponentially increased the numbers of our loss. I believe we should have our turkeys take a turn, sacrificing themselves. This will make the loss equal between our communities. What do you reckon?"

"Yes, Giving. I believe this is a good idea. Let us inform our turkeys."

Therefore, the kings informed their turkeys. This went on for a long time. The turkeys would go and lie down by the fence entrance. Therefore, when the humans decided to go hunt, they could just grab a turkey and be on their way. However, one day, a mother turkey had to sacrifice herself. She had a young turkey baby and she was a single mother. Therefore, she went to her king Thanks and pleaded for her life.

"Please King Thanks, allow this turn to be placed on another turkey. I want my son to know who I am. Please, let me raise him. Once he is old enough, I will gladly give my life."

"I am sorry miss, the turn has fallen upon you. You must give your life."

The mother turkey felt helpless. She was at a lost. She decided to go talk to King Giving."

"Please King Giving, allow this turn to be placed on another turkey. I want my son to know who I am. Please, let me raise him. Once he is old enough, I will gladly give my life."

The king felt sorry for the mother turkey. Therefore, he decided to give his life in place of the mother He went to the fence entrance and waited to be taken. When the hunters came for their prey, they saw that the king turkey was waiting to be taken.

The human said, "King Giving, why are you giving your life?"

"I am giving my life for a mother who wants to raise her son."

The humans did not want to kill a king turkey. They were also touched by the love the king turkey had for his people. Therefore, they decided not to take the king nor the mother turkey. The humans could settle for ham.

The pigs next door overheard the decision of the humans and prepared for war.

Turkey: Pixabay

Author's Note: 
For this story, I used the premise of the original story called The Banyan Deer by Ellen C. Babbitt. In this story, there are two deer kings that rule over their people. There is also a human king that enjoys hunting deer. Therefore, the human king's people build a fence around the deer to make hunting for the king easier. They hunted the deer for some time. The two deer kings deer decided to have their people take turns sacrificing their life. However, there came point when a mother deer needed to give her life. She went to her king and begged for her life, but the king told her she needed to give her life. Therefore, she went to the other king and told him her story. The other deer king decided to give his life in her place. Once the humans saw that the deer king was sacrificing himself, they decided not to kill the deer king nor the mother deer. They were touched by the king's love for his deer. In my story, I changed the characters to turkeys and I gave them names Thanks and Giving. I also changed the humans to a small family who hunts the turkeys. Otherwise, the premise of the story is the same.
       

Reading Note: The Quarrel of The Quails, Part B

For today's reading, I read the Jataka Tale The Quarrel of The Quails, by Ellen C. Babbitt. In this story, a wise quail is the leader of a whole pack of quails. Also in this community, lives a fowler who catches quails for a living. The fowler would increase the number of quails he caught by listening to the leader quail. When the leader quail would call out to the others, they would all come. The fowler would mimic this call and all the quails would come to him. He would then cast his net, catch all the quail, and sell them in the market. The leader quail eventually caught onto the fowler's schemes. He called all the quails together and told them the fowlers is taking many of our people. Therefore, when the fowler catches you guys, put your heads through the net and together, fly into a thorn bush. This will remove the net from you guys. Therefore, this is what the quails did. The fowler was unable to catch the quails for some time. The fowler's wife was getting angry because he was not bringing home any money. He told his wife, "The quails are working together. Once they get into an argument, they will no longer work together. Then, I will be able to catch them and bring home money." Therefore, the fowler waited. Eventually, the quails got into an argument. The community of quails then split into two sides. When the fowler cast his net over the quails, none of them would work with each other to remove the net. Therefore, they were caught and sold at the market. The fowler made his money.

This would be another fun story to cover! I would be changing the characters to a different animal and I may potentially add a twist ending.

The Quails: Pixabay

Reading Notes: The Elephant Girly Face, Part A

For today's reading, I looked over the story The Elephant Girly Face, by Ellen C. Babbitt. In this story, there is an elephant named Girly Face. The king named the elephant Girly Face because he was so nice, kind, and gentle. Everybody loved Girly Face. However, one night, a group of bandits planned on robbing the king's palace. The bandits sat outside of Girly Face's pin and said, "We will kill anybody that awakens, this is what bandits do." Girly Face overheard the bandits conversation. She believed that these bandits were teaching her how to act. Therefore, the next day when the king's men came to feed him, he killed both men. This went on for a little while. The king was worried about Girly Face. Never had he acted like this. All the king's men were afraid to go feed Girly Face. The king brought in a wise man that knew Girly Face for a long time. The wise man came to the conclusion that Girly Face had overheard bad talk. The king's guard then told the king, that there were a group of bandits that plotted their raid outside of Girly Face's pin. The king then had good men go outside of Girly Faces pin and say only nice and kind things such as, "We will never kill. Killing is bad. We will only be good." Girly Face then thought he was being taught again. He was a nice, kind, and gentle elephant after this.

I really enjoyed this story! I would like to remake this tale, potentially adding different characters and changing the premise of the reading. I may make the process of changing Girly Face back to a nice elephant more difficult. Or, Girly Face may not ever go back to a nice elephant. He could join the bandits becoming a historical outlaw.

Girly Face: Pixabay 

Story Lab: What is Myth?

For today, I will be doing a story lab. I watched the "What is Myth Video series." I will be focusing on the video What is Myth? Crash Course World Mythology #1 by Mike Rugnetta. Though these videos may be for the mythology course, I found the information provided, to be useful. Mr. Rugnetta explains the origin of the word "myth," which comes from the Greeks meaning story. There are many misconceptions that come from the word myth. People typically believe that the word myth means fake, or untrue. However, this is not always the case. A myth is a story, but it is a special kind of story. Mr. Rugnetta breaks down myths into two main points, significance, and staying power. Myths can be a way of explaining how the world originated, or how certain aspects of the world can be understood. Thus, myths have explaining power. Myths also have staying power. This means that they have been around for many centuries or even millennia. Ultimately, it is not our place to decided whether a myth is true or false.     

Myths: Sketchport

Reading Notes: The Banyan Deer, Part B

For today's reading, Part B, I read the story The Banyan Deer by Ellen C. Babbitt. The story beings by describing two great king deer that rule over their two kingdoms. One king rules over the Banyan deer, while the other rules over the Monkey deer. However, there also lived a human king that loved to hunt. He ruled over a large group of people. Every time he went hunting, he would want the people to come with him. However, people would get frustrated because they could never get their work done. Therefore, the people made a large park and surrounded all the deer by a fence. They told the king that he could go to the park and hunt whenever he liked. So, the king would visit the park and other times, he would send his cook. However, seeing how beautiful the two king deer were, he spared their life.

Many deer were dying. Therefore, the Banyan deer king sent for the Monkey deer king. He said "Too many deer are dying. Let our people take turns, sacrificing themselves for the greater good." The Monkey king agreed. However, one day, a mother deer was chosen to be sacrificed. She went to her king, the Monkey deer king and said, "Oh king please, let me skip my turn until I can raise my boy. I want him to know who I am. After this, I will give my life." However, the Monkey deer king refused and told her she must give her life. Therefore, she went to the Banyan deer king and told him her situation. The Banyan deer king decided to go in her place. As the human king arrived and saw that the deer king was going to sacrifice himself, he said to the Banyan deer king, "I thought I spared your life?" "You did, but there was a mother that wanted to raise her young. Therefore, I will be taking her place." The human king was touched by the love shown by the deer. He decided to spare the Banyan deer king and the mother deer.

The Deer King: libreshot 

Reading Notes: The Ox Who Envied The Pig, Part A

For my reading this week, I will be focusing on the Jataka Tales. These are short and very fun to read! The story that I will be focusing on today is called The Ox Who Envied The Pig by Ellen C. Babbitt. The story begins by describing a farm on which two oxen, a pig, a farmer, his wife, and daughter live.

The two oxen are brothers named Big Red and Little Red. They work very hard on the farm and are only fed grass and straws. During this time, the farmer's daughter was about to be married. Therefore, the farmer's wife wanted to fatten up the pig to be eaten at the party. Little Red, being somewhat naive, told his brother “Why does that pig get such great food, when we are working hard on the farm and only get to eat grass?”

His older brother told him, “Do not envy the food of the pig because he is eating the food of death. The farmer is fattening up the pig to be slaughtered at his daughter's party.” Little Red was understanding but was still somewhat upset. However, soon enough, the pig was slaughtered and eaten at the farmer's daughter’s wedding. Little Red then understood not to envy the pig. “The pig was eating the food of death. I will be happy with my food.” I believe this was a great story. The story demonstrates a life lesson, that we should not envy or be jealous of others. 

I will like to write a story with the same premise as this one. However, I will be changing the characters to different animals. I will also be chasing the names of the characters. I may change the outcome for the little brother. He may steal the food of the pig and end up being eaten at the wedding as well. However, these ideas are still being worked on and thought through.

Big and Little Red: Pixabay

Week 11 Story: The Brave Squirrel

Once upon a time, there was a squirrel named Thomas. Now, Thomas lived in a great big squirrel kingdom called The Lost City of Acornlantus. Thomas was the only child and did not have a wealthy family. His father passed away years ago due to a rare squirrel disease. This was unexpected for his family of three. Therefore, at a young age, Thomas was forced into finding food for him and his mother named Sam. Thomas typically used a bow as his weapon to hunt. After years of using the bow to acquire food, Thomas could hit an acorn from great distances. He became the best bowman in the Lost City.

Thomas always wanted to be in the kingdoms royal army (KRA). However, Thomas was much smaller and weaker compared to all the other squirrels, especially in the kingdom's royal army. Therefore, he had an idea. He would find the strongest and biggest squirrel to help sneak him into the KRA.

Thomas walked around Acornlantus for hours, looking for a great big squirrel that could help him. Then, when Thomas was about to give up looking, he saw a great big farmer squirrel digging holes. He went up to the squirrel and said, " Hello brethren! My name is Thomas, what is yours? The farming squirrel startled, replied " My goodness! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Thomas apologetically replied, "I am so sorry sir, what is your name?" "My name is Steve. What do you want?" "I see you are digging holes, why?" "Well, I am digging holes for my work. I need to work this tedious job to make money for food." Thomas replied, "How about I make you a deal. You are a big and mighty squirrel and I am small. However, I am a great Bowman and I want to be in the KRA. If you go to King Acorn and tell him you want to help the kingdom's royal army he will surely take you in. Therefore, you can tell him that I am your page and you need my assistance. This will get me in as well. I will perform any duty that the King gives you and we can split the profits. You will never have to dig a hole again."

Steve was intrigued by the idea. He was tired of digging holes and making minimal money. Therefore, he agreed to Thomas's plan and they both went to King Acorn. As they approached the King, they were frightened that they might be caught in their trickery. "Why are you two here today?" Steve replied, "I am here to join the KRA. I am mighty and strong. I will be of great use to you King." The King examined Steve and was impressed by his physicality. "Okay, Steve you can be in the KRA. However, who is this small squirrel with you?" "He is my page named Thomas, I need him to carry around my supplies. May he also join the KRA?" The King was silent for a moment. "Okay, he may join as well. However, I have never let such a small squirrel into my army." Thomas and Steve left the presence of the King and were ecstatic.

The King gave Steve his first assignment. He was to kill a cat that was wreaking havoc on his kingdom. "Please, Steve kill this cat. The cat has murdered many squirrels in my kingdom. I will reward you greatly." Steve agreed and went to Thomas and told him the assignment that King had given him. "Alright, Steve! This task should be a breeze. I will kill the cat with my bow. Once I do, you need to take the corpse to the King and claim our reward."

Thomas found the cat. He drew back his bow, took a deep breath and released the arrow. The arrow whizzed through the air and pierced the heart of the cat. The beast died instantly. Steve then took the corpse to the King and was rewarded greatly. However, he did not split the rewards with Thomas. He kept it all for himself. Thomas was distraught. Steve also had Thomas removed from the KRA. Thomas was depressed. He went back home and did not know what to do.

Several weeks later, a cat army was knocking at the gates of Acornlantus due to the death of one of their own. King Acorn prepared his army and had Steve placed at the front line. He was to lead the army. Steve was very scared and nervous. Though Steve was big, he was a coward. He typically had Thomas perform his duties. Therefore, when it came to battling the cats, Steve ran home and left the battle.

Thomas saw that the squirrels were needing help. Therefore, he packed up his bow and helped the King's army fight off all the cats! The King recognized his great bowmanship and valor and rewarded him greatly.

The Brave Squirrel: Wikipedia 

Author's note: 
I did a spin-off from the Jataka tale called The Brave Little Bowman. In this story, a man with a crooked back wants to join the army and is a great Bowman. Therefore, he recruits the help of a big strong man to get him in. However, the strong man becomes complacent and believe he no longer requires the bowman's assistance. Then when their kingdom goes to war, the strong man runs away from battle because he is afraid. However, the bowman leads the king's army to victory and is rewarded greatly. In my story, I changed the characters to squirrels and gave each vital character a name.

Reading Notes: The Brave Little Bowman, Part B

For my reading Part B, I chose the Jataka tale called the Brave Little Bowman by Ellen. C. Babbitt. In this story, there is a small man that has a crooked back. He is a great bowman and wants to be in the king's army. However, he knows that the king would never accept a small crooked man into the army. Therefore, the bowman wanders around the city looking for a big man that would be able to help him is his predicament. The Bowman finally spots a very big strong man that is digging a hole. He goes up to the big strong man and asks "Why are you digging a hole?" The strong man answers by saying "I need to dig all day so I can make money to eat." The bowman then gives the strong man an option. He says "You are a big strong man, and I am a great Bowman. Take me to the king as your page and tell him you want to aid him in his army. Whatever task he gives you, tell me and I will execute them and we can split the rewards." Therefore, the strong man took the bowman to the king and got them both into the army. Their first task was to kill a tiger that was killing civilians. The Bowman killed the tiger and the strong man was rewarded by the king. They split the profits. Their next task was to kill a buffalo, and again, the Bowman killed the buffalo and the strong man was rewarded and they split the profits. However, the strong man started to become selfish and told the bowman that anybody can use a bow! I want the rewards for myself! Soon, an army began to advance on the kingdom and the king put the strong man on the war front riding an elephant. The strong man was terrified. However, the Bowman climbed up onto the elephant and said: "Don't worry, I will help you." The strong man was too terrified and jumped off the elephant and ran home. The bowman then led the army and defeated the intruders. He was rewarded. This would also be a fun story to cover! I would need to change the characters to animals because I may keep that theme in my portfolio. 

The Bowman: Public Domain Files 

Reading Notes: The Foolhardy Wolf

It is week eleven! For today, I read the Jataka tale called The Foolhardy Wolf by Ellen C. Babbitt. This story begins with a great lion that is immensely hungry. Therefore, he goes up on top of a mountain and scouts out his food source. He sees a great big buffalo and kills him. The lion eats all the buffalo meat. Full and satisfied, the buffalo goes back to his den. However, watching the lion was a very hungry wolf. The wolf was small and weak from not eating. Therefore, the wolf fell at the paws of the lion and begged him for food. The lion agreed and said, "If you serve me, I will feed you." The wolf agreed. The lion wanted to wolf to go upon the mountaintop and search for the lion's next kill. The wolf would then have to head back to the den and say "Mighty lion, come forth in thy might. Food is in sight." This was done until the wolf grew bigger and stronger from the help of the lion. The wolf eventually became complacent and wanted to kill the food source himself and take all the food. He told the lion, I want you to search for the food and say to me "Mighty wolf, come forth in thy might. Food is in sight." The wolf wanted to kill an elephant. The lion let the wolf dig his own grave. Therefore, the next day, the lion spotted an elephant and came to the wolf and said "Great wolf, come forth in thy might. Food is in sight." The wolf then charged the elephant missed and was trampled to death by the elephant. This would be a fun story to cover! I would like to add different characters and give them names!

The Mighty Lion: Max Pixel 

Story Lab: What makes a hero?

For today, I chose the story lab option because I have five stories. Today, I focused on the Ted-Ed video What makes a hero? by Matthew Winkler. I really enjoyed this video! Mr. Winkler discusses and analyzes the similarities between heroes in different stories. He calls it "The Hero Journey Myth." This idea is that all hero stories follow a similar path, which is a circle. He compares The Hunger Games and Harry Potter. Mr. Winkler states that the stories begin by 1. A call to adventure, 2. Assistance, 3. Departure, 4. Trials, 5. An approach, 6. Crisis, 7. Treasure, 8. The result, 9. Return, 10. New life, 11. A resolution, and 12. The new Status quo. Mr. Winkler states that a lot of great hero stories follow this circular path. Stories that contain this element are very relatable. We can use these stories as examples for real-life situations. For example, we all must one day be called to action, go on a journey and leave our comfort zone to ultimately reach our goals. As Joseph Campbell once said, "The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek." 

A Cave: flickr 

Reading Notes: Part B, The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking

For today's reading note, I focused on the Jataka Tales. In particular, I read the story The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking by Ellen C. Babbitt. The story begins with two wild geese who are looking for food. As they are flying around talking with each other, they spot a turtle that was sitting next to a pond. They stop and talk to the turtle and become acquainted. They do this for a few days and eventually become good friends with the turtle. They become such good friends with the turtle, they want to take him to their home that is very beautiful, but far away (this seemed suspicious to me). The turtle responds by saying I would love to go, but I cannot fly. Therefore, the geese come up with a solution to the problem. They say, turtle if you can keep your mouth shut, we will be able to fly you to this new home. The turtle agrees, and the geese grab a stick and both hold an end with their mouth and instruct the turtle to hold onto the middle portion of the stick with his mouth. All is going well at this point, the two geese and turtle are flying to their new home. However, as they are flying, a group of children sees the geese and turtle flying together. They all converse, saying wow have you ever seen such a thing? This is crazy. The turtle somewhat offended, says, so what if my friends want to carry me? At this very moment, the turtle falls to his death. The turtle was not able to keep his mouth shut. I believe this story demonstrates to us, that there is a moment to speak, and a moment to keep silent. For potential future stories, I will be changing around the characters! I would like to keep an animal theme. Therefore, I will need to think about what animals I would like to use for this story. 

The Turtle: GoodFreePhotos 

Reading Notes: Jataka Tales, The Foolish Timid Rabbit

For this week, I will be reading the Jataka children tales! They are so fun to read. For today, in particular, I focused on the story The Foolish Timid Rabbit by Ellen C. Babbitt. The story begins with a rabbit sleeping underneath a palm tree. As he awakens, an idea comes into his head. He thinks, what would happen to me if the world began to break up? Already on edge about this idea, a monkey drops a coconut right next to the rabbit. This sends the rabbit into a fit of panic and he begins to run. As he is running, a nearby rabbit wonders what on earth is going on? Therefore, the second rabbit chases the first and asks why he is running. The timid rabbit begins to tell him that the earth is breaking up. So, the second rabbit continues to run. Many more rabbits begin to join and are told that the earth is breaking up. A deer, fox, and elephant are soon also recruited and are told that the earth is breaking up. Finally, the king of beast, the lion sees all the animals running and makes his way in front of them. He roars three times and commands them to a halt. He then begins to ask each of them why they are running. The animals eventually say the timid rabbit told them the earth was breaking up. The lion then asks the rabbit to take him to where the earth was breaking and carries the timid rabbit back to where he was originally sleeping. As they arrive, they see that the earth was not breaking up and that a coconut had just fallen. Good thing the lion resolved the situation, or else all the animals would have just kept running. This is the end of the story.

The Timid Rabbit: Public Domain Pictures 

Week 9 Story: The Poor Family

There once lived a poor family in a Kingdom called Oklahoma. There was the father Dan, the daughter Emmy, and son Keegan. Though they were poor, they were happy because they had each other. They knew as long as they had the family, everything would be okay. Also, in the kingdom, lived a sage. Everyone in the kingdom was afraid of the sage because he had a very unapproachable countenance. Therefore, the majority of the kingdom avoided the sage at all cost. From the years of isolation, the sage grew angry. If he ever had the chance to encounter an individual, he would put a curse on them. This furthered the isolation of the sage.

One day, the poor family was out trying to find work. They had eaten all the food they had for the week. Therefore, it was a necessity to find work for food. Unfortunately, they were not too lucky. They searched all day for work but was turned away from everybody. Depressed, they made their way home. As they were walking toward their hut, the sage spotted them out. He made his way to them to put a curse on them. However, as he approached the family, he was shocked and confused to see that the family greeted him with a warm welcome. They were not afraid of the sage. They sat and talked with him. They described their predicament to him. The sage felt empathy for the family. He saw that the family was genuinely good. After all, they were the only ones who were nice to him out of the whole kingdom.

After a long night of talking and laughing, the family and sage had to part their ways. But before they departed, the sage gave the family a mantra and told them they could summon any god of their choice. The family was confused by the gift of the sage. Once the sage was gone, the family decided to test the gift. They looked out at their crummy field and shouted the mantra. Immediately, before them, stood the god of crops. The family was stunned that the mantra worked. They were so shocked, they could not even answer the god when asked why he was summoned. Before they knew it, the god took them up in a warm embrace and disappeared. The family then saw that their field was full of crops. There was enough vegetation to quench their hunger for years. They were happy!

Crops: Pixabay 

Authors Note:

For this weeks story, I did a retelling of the video that I watched. I watched the overview video Part B The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution by EpifiedTV (India). The story that I focused on, in particular, was called Son of the Son. In this story, a girl named Kunti is given a mantra by a sage. She says the mantra while looking a the sun, and the sun god appears. She is given the most beautiful baby boy she has ever seen. However, she has to give it up because having a baby while not being married will look bad. Therefore, she sets the boy in a basket and sets him off down a river. In my story, I changed the characters, and I ended with a happy note. 

Reading Notes: The Mahabharata, Part B video

For today's reading note, I watched the overview video Part B The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution by EpifiedTV (India). I am really enjoying the videos that give an overview of The Mahabharata. The videos are very engaging. I would like to focus on episode 9 within the Part B series called Son of the Son. 

The story begins with a young women names Kunti. She is wise and full of life. Kunti lived in a kingdom where the people feared a sage. The sage would curse people for the slightest hiccups. However, Kunti was not afraid of the sage. She gave him attention and was nice to him. Therefore, before the sage left the kingdom, he gave Kunti a gift. A mantra. Kunti wondered why the sage gave her a mantra, and what it was for. The sage told her that the mantra was a way for her to summon any god she wanted. Soon after the sage left, Kunti tested the gift of the sage. She looked at the sun and repeated the mantra. Immediately after she finished, a blinding presence was before her. It was the sun god. She was shocked that the gift was real. Kunti could not even answer the god when he asked why she was summoned. However, before she knew it, the god took her up in his embrace and then left. Kunti looked down and in her arms was the most beautiful child she had ever seen. She could sense that the boy was destined for greatness. He was clothed in armor and had gold earrings. However, Kunti was heartbroken. For she was not even married. Thus, having a child without being wedded would produce a bad image. The took the boy down to the river, put him in a basket, and sent him down the river. She cried and asked the sun god to watch over the boy. Kunti had to do what no mother should ever have to do. 

A River: Wikimedia 

Reading Notes: The Mahabharata video, Part A

It is week 9 and we are already halfway through the semester! I have started off strong in the course, now I'm going to finish strong.  Therefore, for this week reading of the Mahabharata, I watched the overview video The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution by EpifiedTV (India). I believe this was a great video that summarizes the Mahabharata. I also liked all the little doodles that were drawn as the story was told. To summarize what I have read so far, a king falls in love with a river goddess who agrees to marry him as long as he never questions her actions. Therefore, each time she gets pregnant she ends up drowning the child. After the 8th child, the king finally had enough and questions her. His wife ends up leaving him with the child. About 16 years later, the king sees a man with great bowmanship and figures out it were his lost son. He brings him back to the kingdom. The king then falls in love with a fisherman's daughter who won't let him marry his daughter. His son then goes to the fisherman and vows to be celibate if he would let his father marry his daughter. The fisherman agrees. Fast forwarding, this oath causes many problems for the kingdom because it is without a king. Having a long lost brother, he gets three ladies pregnant allowing for the kingdom to have a king. This is where part A finishes.
I believe I will be watching the rest of the videos for my reading assignments! I enjoy having a visual representation to what I have been reading in the past, and again, the doodles are awesome. I am looking forward to watching part B and Part C.

The Mahabharata: Wikimedia 

  

Week 8 Progress

Looking back at my work in this class, I can see that I am a couple days ahead of where I need to be! This is great. I hope to get further ahead and potentially finish the course early. I have 228 points while for an A this week, I needed only 205 points. I am going to keep up this work style and knockout as much extra credit I can on the weekends. I look forward to the next half of this semester!

Motivation: flickr 

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Looking through my initial thoughts about comments and feedback, I can see that this process is great for an online course where us students cannot physically interact. The comments and feedback allow us to talk and interact with each other in a different way compared to a traditional classroom. The comments that I have received from students have been beneficial. I like how they start with what they like about my story and transition into suggestions that might make it a better read. It is always great to get an outside perspective on what will make my stories better. I am excited to see the feedback for my future stories.   

Feedback: The Blue Diamond Gallery 

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Entering into week eight of the semester, I am happy with my reading notes and stories in my blog. I will also not be changing the layout to my blog or website! I like them the way they are now. The stories this semester have been really interesting. I enjoy sitting down and reading the Ramayana and Mahabharata. So far, I would have to say I like the story Riddles by The Lake by Donald A. Mackenzie the best. I also look forward to coming up with wacky little stories that correlate and utilize the premise of the Indian Epics. So far, I believe my note-taking method has benefited me while I write my stories. I typically include the main premise and characters of the stories into my notes. From them, I try and come up with a fun and enjoyable read. One thing I might change is that I might add what I will be including into my story. As the week goes by, I tend to forget what I will be changing my story into. Writing these stories and having feedback from others have drastically improved my writing abilities. However, I will say that I am still not great; but, I am getting better and it is a process!

I am looking forward to the next eight weeks of the semester!

Picture From My First Portfolio Story: Sketchport 

Here is a picture from my first portfolio story. This picture has some sentimental value because it reminds me of my first finished portfolio read. 

   

Week 7 Story: The Riddled Journey

Once upon a time, there lived three twin brothers, Floaty, Arrow, and Freedom. The three brothers were in their teenage years. They were somewhat mature for their age. However, they were still naive to the true ways of the world. From a very early age, the brothers' mother Po tried to teach them the dangers that pigs can face. She explained to them how she lost her husband, their father to a terrible wolf. This wolf was notorious around the pig community. A couple times a year, the wolf would prey on the pigs, killing them and making a delicious meal from their remains. However, he justified this act by giving the pigs an opportunity to save their life. The wolf would give the pigs a riddle to solve. They would only receive three attempts to answer the riddle correctly or they would become his meal. The name of the wolf was Riddler.

One day the three brothers were asked by their mother to go visit their grandma Ruth. They all agreed to go and prepared for their journey.

"Now remember kids, be careful out there. Be on the lookout for the Riddler. He tends to come out this time of year. Do not cut through the woods and stay on the main roads to get to grandmas."

"Yes, mother. We will stay on the path (they replied in unison)."

As they made their way out the door, Po kissed each boy and saw them off on their journey.

The three brothers traveled for 45 minutes down the path towards grandma's house. As they stopped for a break, they realized they still had 2 more hours of travel left at the rate they were traveling.

"Freedom, Arrow, we still have 2 hours of hiking left before we can reach grandma Ruth's house. This is taking forever!"

"We understand that Floaty, but mom was clear with her instructions. We do not take shortcuts."

"Y'all are just afraid. We are young and wise. If we were to encounter any danger, we would be able to reason our way out of it. We would arrive much faster if we just cut through the woods; we could cut an hour and a half off of our journey."

"No Floaty. Arrow and I agree that we will stay on the path until we reach grandmas."

The brothers packed up their things and continued on their journey. However, unfortunately, as they were making their way, Arrow fell and knocked himself out.

"Freedom, we cannot continue on the path to reach grandmas and carry our brother! We still have an hour left of travel."

"Fine Floaty, you win. We will cut through the woods, but you will carry Arrow."

The two brothers began to cut through the woods. After 15 minutes of traveling, they reached a bridge. They could see the outline of their grandma's house. They were ecstatic. However, just before they crossed, the Riddler climbed upon the bridge preventing them from passing. The very sight of the Riddler scared Freedom and Floaty so much they released a loud high pitched scream! The scream was so loud, it woke Arrow!

"If you want to pass, you must answer my riddle. I will give you three attempts each, pigs!"

After calming themselves, the three pigs concluded that they could outwit the Riddler. They each took their turn at the wolf's riddle. Arrow and Floaty were not fortunate though. They attempted the wolf's riddle and failed to answer them correctly. The Riddler devoured them on the spot. Freedom was the last to go. He was distraught from losing his brothers. However, he was determined to live.

"Okay, Riddler. What do you have for me?"

"Oh, I am positive you will not answer this right! What letter of the alphabet has the most water?"

"C."

Riddler was dumbfounded. The pig was right! Never had a situation like this happen before.

"Well, I am a wolf of my word, pig. You may pass!"

Freedom made his way across the bridge. As he crossed, he seized an opportunity to revenge his lost brothers and pushed the wolf over the bridge. The Riddler fell to his death. Freedom finally arrived at his grandmother's house. He was sad because he had lost his brothers. However, he was proud that he rid the community of the terrible Riddler.

Freedom, Arrow, and Floaty: Wikimedia 

Authors Note: 
For my story, I did a spin-off from the Riddles by The Lake by Donald A. Mackenzie. In my story, I completely changed all the characters to pigs and a wolf. They had to travel to grandma's house similar to the Red Riding Hood story. In the original story, a Yaksha, which is a celestial being, lives in a river. After a long hunt, the Pandava brethren are tired and thirsty. Therefore, they stop at this river which begins to talk to them saying "answer the question that I present to you before you take a drink from this river." However, Nakula, Sahadeva, and Arjuna overtook by thirst do not head the voice in the river. They take a drink from the water before answering any riddles and they die.
Yudhishthira, the wiser of the brethren, was able to control his temptations and listened to the voice in the river. He asked, "Who are you?" The voice in the river begins to tell him that he is a yaksha and his people died from not heading his counsel. Yudhishthira then listens to the yaksha and answers all the riddles that the yaksha had for him. At the end of all the riddles, the yaksha reveals himself in the form of Dharma, the god of wisdom and justice.

Reading Notes: Mahabharata, Part D

For today's reading,  I will be finishing up the Mahabharata reading part D. Out of the readings from part D I enjoyed the very last story The Afterlife by Donald A. Mackenzie. I was interested to read what Heaven and Hell were depicted as in the Indian Epics.

In the story The Afterlife, Yudhisthira finally made it into Heaven. He was welcomed by Indra and was informed that only he had made it. His brethren did not make it into Heaven because they had fallen short during their time on earth. Yudhisthira was sad and disappointed at this news. Therefore, he asked to be taken where his brethren were. He believed he should not spend eternity away from them. Therefore, a celestial being took Yudhisthira to Hell where his brethren were. Yudhisthira was shocked by the very sight. He saw true darkness, mutilated corpses, and streets that were made of blades. He wanted to leave immediately. However, he heard the voices of this friends and family. He came to the decision that he wanted to be left here with them. However, at this moment, the gods appeared and all the horror left and dissipated before his very eyes. The gods informed him that they were putting him through a test to see if he was truly good. He had passed.

Yudhisthira was then taken to Heaven and his earthly body was washed away. He became a celestial being. He was then taken to Swarga where all his friends and family were, along with all things he loved on the earth.   

The story finished with Indra welcoming everyone to Heaven. He stated " All mortals rise to eternal bliss, casting off their mortal deeds, by uttering gentle words, and by enduring all suffering with patience. This holy life is prepared for you."

Heaven: Max Pixel 

Reading Notes: Mahabharata, Part C

This week, I will be finishing the online public reading of the Mahabharata. For today's reading notes, I will be focusing on part C of the reading. In particular, I enjoyed the story Riddles by The Lake by Donald A. Mackenzie. This reading reminded me of a story where a troll that lived under a bridge would not let anyone pass until they answered all his riddles correctly. If they happened to fail to answer the troll's riddle, they would then be eaten.

In the story Riddles by The Lake, a Yaksha, which is a celestial being, lives in a river. After a long hunt, the Pandava brethren are tired and thirsty. Therefore, they stop at this river which begins to talk to them saying "answer the question that I present to you before you take a drink from this river." However, Nakula, Sahadeva, and Arjuna overtook by thirst do not head the voice in the river. They take a drink from the water before answering any riddles and they die.

Yudhishthira, the wiser of the brethren, was able to control his temptations and listened to the voice in the river. He asked, "Who are you?" The voice in the river begins to tell him that he is a yaksha and his people died from not heading his counsel. Yudhishthira then listens to the yaksha and answers all the riddles that the yaksha had for him. At the end of all the riddles, the yaksha reveals himself in the form of Dharma, the god of wisdom and justice.

I am going to do a remake of this story relating to the troll under the bridge. The ultimate premise of the story will be that self-control is needed even at your weakest moments. I will probably incorporate other childhood fables into my story as well.   

The Riddler: Deviant Art 

Story Lab: Ted Talk Grammar

For week six, I have completed the Story Lab instead of the Story writing. Out of the eight videos that I watch, I found two really interesting and helpful. I believe these videos will help me in my future writing.

The first video that I watched was When to use apostrophes by Laura McClure. She goes on to explain that there are really two main times to use apostrophes. Apostrophes need to be used to mark possession. In this case, the apostrophes will belong to the noun. If the noun is singular, then the apostrophe "s" will be located between the noun and "s." However, if the noun is plural, then the "s" will need to be placed after the "s." 

The second video that I watched was When to use semicolons by Emma Bryce. I particularly liked this video because I struggle with semicolons. It was mentioned in the video that semicolons are stronger than commas, but they are less final than a period. Therefore, semicolons can be used to clarify ideas that are infested commas. It was also mentioned that in general, semicolons can be used in two cases. For one, they can be used when things are being listed in a paper. Semicolons can also be used to break up sentences and make connections. For example, two independent sentences or clauses that relate can be fused together by adding a semicolon. This will ultimately allow for a better sentence flow in writing.

I enjoyed the Story Lab this week! However, I also look forward to using these techniques in my creative writing. I am excited to see what story I can produce next week. 

Grammar: Pixabay

Reading Notes, Part B, The Burning of the Forest

For today's reading of the Mahabharata, I would like to focus on the story, The Burning of the Forest by John Mandeville Macfie.

In this story, Arjuna and Krishna go on an adventure together. The story starts off by describing a party that Krishna and Arjuna are at. There are a lot of people there with women and they are drinking a lot. They drink to the point that they have an unsteady gait. Next, as Arjuna and Krishna are sitting together, drinking at talking about their adventure, the god of fire Agni comes up to them. Agni goes on to tell them that he is hungry and that he wants food. However, the food he wants is not a normal food. He wants to consume the Khandava forest with fire. However, the god Indra prevents Agni from consuming the forest by drenching it with rain. Therefore, he needs the help of Arjuna and Krishna. Arjuna and Krishna want weapons in return for their help. So, Agni gets them a chariot of weapons and a bow that has an unending quiver of bows. Now that they have their weapons, Arjuna and Krishna fight a big battle with Indra and end up defeating him, thus allowing Agni to consume the Khandava forest.

I would like to change the characters in this story. At this moment, I am not too sure who I will be changing the characters too. I may potentially change the characters to animals. I would also like to change the food source that Agni has to eat. Or, I may write a story from the perspective of Indra. I could go into the reasons why he is protecting the forest in the first place. However, again, at this moment I am not too sure which direction I would like to take my story. Overall, I believe this was a great story!

Forest Fire: Pixabay

Reading Notes: Mahabharata:, Part A

This week I am going to be reading the online public domain for the Mahabharata. However, for today, I read part A and was introduced to the various characters that will be making up this story. From my reading, I found two stories that I particularly enjoyed. The two stories are The Contest and The Arrival of Karna by Donald A. Mackenzie. I liked these two stories for a couple of reasons. For one, I enjoy the action and flaunts that are demonstrated by the warriors. I also enjoy the surprise and suspense that is demonstrated when two brothers (who do not know each other) have to compete. 

In the story The Contest, Bhima and Duryodhana engage in a competition by battling with one another, demonstrating their abilities with the bow and so forth. However, a new contender soon enters the contest by the name of Arjuna. Now Arjuna is a prince and a great warrior. As Arjuna takes the contest, he walks onto the battlefield with golden armor and demonstrates perfect aim with his bow. He hits every single target, big or small. The crowd cheers for him. Everybody thinks he is going to win the contest. 

In the story The Arrival of Karna, just as everybody thinks Arjuna is going to win the contest, a new contender arrives by the name of Karna. He is godlike, wearing golden armor and carrying a colorful bow. He portrays himself as somewhat cocky. Saying that whatever Arjuna has demonstrated today will be no match for what he can show everyone if they will allow him. At this time, Arjuna and Karna do not know that they are brothers that were born from Kunti. Karna does everything that Arjuna does on the battlefield and is praised. Arjuna is very mad at this point and challenges Karna. They almost begin to fight, while the fathers of the two warriors prepare to help their son, their same mother was torn between her sons fighting. However, the situation is de-escalated and they do not fight.      

I will be changing the characters of this story. I may potentially write a story from the mother's perspective of how she feels about her two sons being angry and wanting to fight one another. 

Arjuna vs. Karna: flickr

Week 5 Story: Thor Finds Abigail

Thor eventually realized that Abigail had been kidnapped and was living with a decoy for about a month! Distraught and furious, he focused his anger towards the decoy that played him. Thor interrogated the "fake Abigail" for a couple of days until finally, Loki's handmaiden told him the location of his wife. Graciously Thor released the handmaiden. Eventually, Thor mustered up a plan and made his way to the location of his wife called Lanka. As Thor approached the city, he saw that Loki was equipped with a massive army of demons. However, the mighty Thor was unafraid! Fueled with rage, he battled for three days, slaying wave after wave of demons. Hela, the general of the army was growing anxious because she was losing all her troops. Fearfully she made her way to Loki to discuss a plan.

"Loki Thor has slaughtered over 75% of our troops! We need you to help us on the battleground. Or you can just give up Abigail and we can flee?!"

"I will never give her up Hela! She is mine! I will fight Thor this very day and have his lifeless corpse by the next!"

Hela was very afraid of Thor. Therefore, she abandoned Loki and fled. 

Loki made his way to Thor with what remained of his soldiers.

"Loki where is Abigail? Bring her to me and I will leave you with your life!"

"She remains in my palace Thor! However, if you want her back you will have to go through me!"

Therefore Thor and Loki fought a mighty battle. Thor used his lightning to zap Loki. However, Loki, being the god of deception shapeshifted hundreds of himself to fool Thor. Thor was unable to identify who the true Loki was. Each time he zapped one Loki away, another appeared. This went on for some time until Thor's friend Brahma came to aid him. Brahma gave Thor his weapon the Brahmashirsha Astra to use on Loki. Thor shot Brahma's weapon into the air and as he watched, it made its way to the true Loki and pierced him through his heart. The battle finally ended. This day, Thor got back Abigail. However, unfortunately, he lost a brother. 

Thor: DeviantArt

Authors note: For this weeks story, I did a null of the stories The battle of Rama and Ravana and Ravana's Death by Donald A. Mackenzie. For my story, I changed my characters to Thor, Loki, Hela, and Abigail. However, I still kept some characteristics from the Ramayana such as Rama fighting the demons at Lanka, and using the weapon of Brahma to defeat Ravana and ultimately win back Sita. 

Reading Notes: Overview: Paley. Sita Sings the Blues

I have already been through the online public domain of the Ramayana (parts A, B, C, and D). Therefore, for this weeks reading I watched the video Sita Sings The Blues by Nina Paley. I have to say this was a great little film! I really enjoyed how the creator of the film was able to summarize the Ramayana in a fun and enjoyable manner.

To summarize, the Ramayana begins by contextualizing who the main characters are. We have Rama, Sita, and Rama's enemy Ravana. Rama is exiled from the kingdom by the King Dasharatha. Sita eventually follows Rama into exile where he fights these demons. We then figure out that Ravana is taken with Sita and he kidnaps her. Rama then goes through a journey to find the love of his life and has an epic battle with Ravana, eventually killing him and he wins back Sita. However, Rama is not happy with Sita because she housed with another man. Therefore he is kinda cold to her. To me this is shocking! It wasn't her fault! she was taken by Ravana! Therefore, there is a little tension within their relationship. Sita finds out that she is pregnant and is left in the forest by herself. Sita thinks that all of these hardships are occurring because she was potentially bad in the past life. She eventually has two kids named Lava and Kusha and they learn to sing praises to Rama. And this just about sums up the film. However, Sita sings one more song pertaining to her love for Rama one last time.

Overall again, I believe Nina Paley did a great job portraying the characters of the Ramayana in this film. The film really brought the Ramayana into perspective for me because I was able to put a face to all the characters. This allowed me to relate more to them and understand the struggles of each character. 

Rama and Sita: The Blue Diamond Gallery 

Comment Wall

Here is a link to my portfolio: Corbin's Portfolio

Cat and Mice: Sketchport 

Story Lab: Ted Talks

For today, I pursued the Story Lab route. The two videos that I watched, were The danger of a single story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Imaginary friends and real-world consequences by OU's own Jennifer Barnes. I really enjoyed watching these videos, especially the one by one of OU's own professors. Her talked stimulated me to think about the potential downfalls of forming fictional relationships.

In the talk Imaginary friends and real-world consequences, Professor Barnes talks about how people develop relationships with fictional characters that they see on TV, read in a newspaper, or in books like Harry Potter. She even went on to state that as an overall society, we have spent just as much, or even more time reading about these people compared to the time since the dawn of man. This blew my mind! She went on to express that we form these types of fake relationships because in some ways they can help boost our self-esteem and confidence. Another stat that she presented also bothered me. When comparing the grief felt by people losing one of their favorite fictional friends to a distant acquaintance; people were more grieved by the loss of a fictional character! Therefore, this made me wonder about the potential consequences of becoming too close to something that isn't even real.   

In the talk, The danger of a single story Chimamanda talks about stories in her life of how she has been affected by "single stories." She goes on to explain that as individuals when we do not read all the stories that are present, we can become somewhat narrow-minded in our views. For example, she told a story of how she gave a talk at a university where a student mentioned to her his apologies of how "all the men in Africa are abusive and he knew this from reading one story." She responded by saying "she has read the book American Psycho, and she was sorry that all middle-aged white men in America are killers." We as people must not downplay anyone, culture, or society as one thing. If we do, that is what they will become in the eyes of the youth.

Be Creative: Wikipedia 

Reading Notes: Battle Between Rama and Ravana, Part D

The Three stories that I read today are Rama Attacks by Sister Nivedita, Battle of Rama and Ravana by Sister Nivedita, and Ravana's Death by Donald A. Mackenzie. I picked these three stories because I believe they tie into together very nicely. In the first story, Rama Attacks, Rama has set off on a journey to fight Ravana and win back Sita. There is a great big war with animals and Rama is beating Ravana's armies pretty badly. Therefore, Ravana knowing he is losing the war tries to deceive Sita by saying Rama has lost the war and is dead. Therefore, Sita is heartbroken and wants to die. However, Ravana's general walks in and tells Ravana that he is needed for war. Sita now knows that it was a trick. In the next story, Battle of Rama and Ravana, there is an epic battle between Rama and Ravana. Rama uses his bow and shoots off a whole bunch of Ravana's head, but they keep growing back... Ravana uses one of his weapons that had a face with fangs and shot fire out of his mouth. In the last story, Rama finally defeats Ravana by using a fiery weapon that Brahma created to protect gods. Rama shoots it Ravana's heart and kills him. Therefore, Rama wins the wars is welcomed into the city. He wins back Sita. 

I believe I can tie this into my previous story with Thor, Loki, and Hela. I will definitely be focusing on the deception that Ravana uses on Sita. However, it will be with Loki. I may also use the weapons that were utilized in the war. I can go off on a side story of how Thor came into contact with Brahma and obtained this great weapon that kills Ravana (Brahmashtra).  I may also add a twist to the end. 

Rama vs. Ravana: Wikimedia 

Reading Notes: The Rainy Seasons, Part C

For this weeks reading in Part C of the Ramayana, I will be focusing more on the story The Rainy Seasons by Romesh Dutt and Arthur William Ryder. Rama has already figured out that Sita is missing (because Ravana has kidnapped her). A new king is also set into term (Sugriva) who is willing to help Rama. However, Rama cannot go and talk to him because it is the "rainy season." Therefore, Rama must follow the terms of his exile and wait for the rainy season to end in order to enter a city.

In this story, Rama essentially opens a door to his fears and anguish of losing the love of his life. He goes on and spills his feelings for a couple of verses. I will be focusing on this the most. I may talk from the perspective of Sita and have her do the same as Rama. I will also be relating the story back to the one I wrote last week.

Rainy Seasons: Public Domain Pictures 

Learning Challenge: You Need Sleep

For my learning Challenge, I watched the video "What Would Happen If You Didn't Sleep?" I can tell you that I will be sleeping a whole lot more! I knew about the health hazards that could arise from not sleeping. However, I did not know the stat that people who get less than 6 hours of sleep are 4 times more likely to have a stroke later on in life! I have to admit, I use to be interested in seeing the effects that not sleeping would have on me. However, I will not be trying this after watching this video!

Get Sleep: Max Pixel 

Growth Mindset: Learning With Passion and Enthusiasm

I did the growth mindset challenge "Watch a Video About Growth Mindset." The video that I watched for this challenge was "Learning With Passion and Enthusiasm." This video discusses the very similar paths that learning and happiness take, not only in a metaphorical way but also scientifically! The video talked about how our brains release dopamine and endorphins when we are excited/happy and that these neurotransmitters are coupled with our abilities to learn. We will learn in a better/faster fashion if we are more excited about the process of learning compared to when we are bored and learning. 

Growth Mindset: flickr

Tech Tip: Canvas Notifications

For my extra credit tech tip assignment, I chose "Canvas Notifications." I personally found this very helpful! I signed up my email to notify me anytime anything is loaded up to Canvas. This is extremely helpful because I always use my email. I will play around some more with my notification preferences here in the near future.