Week 1 Review

I backed up my files. I also checked if I missed any Declarations. There are always some pictures that are interesting to me in the daily announcements. I see them and just smile a little everyday.

The one I found to be the most interesting is shown below. It is most interesting because it is so true. Real learning does take a lot of work!

Monday, August 31 class announcement.
Source: Class announcement 

Tech Tip: First Tweet

I tweeted my first tweet ever with the class account. I learned a little about how to do some things on Twitter. Still haven't understood how to follow someone or do other things. But will most likely leave it at that as I am satisfied with just having a Facebook account right now.

Week 1 Curation

I keep track of all the online resources I need for school in my bookmark folders. I name them separately and there are folders inside my bookmark folders. The truly important resources are in my bookmark tab. With bookmarks, I think I am doing a good job with keeping track of information that I need.

I am familiar with Pinterest and Twitter, but not with Known. I don't have an account for any of them. I always associated Pinterest with pictures of things people wanted and Twitter being another social media site, hence, I didn't feel the need to have an account for any of them. I want to learn more about Known as I thought it was really interesting. I will also try Twitter and see how it is using the class Twitter login information.

Picture encouraging sharing.
The bird out of the cage most likely to resemble the Twitter logo.
Found in JustShare Blog. Source: JustShare Blog

Growth Mindset

I have not heard of Carol Dweck or the growth mindset before. After reading about her and the idea of growth mindset, I am sold on the idea. I really liked the concept of growth mindset. I think it will make future generations more intelligent and hard-working.

I do not have a growth mindset as it's more important for me to get an A in a class or an exam rather than enjoy the subject or learn more about those subjects. Sometimes when I do badly on an exam, I too look for others who did as badly as me so that we can share the pain together. While at OU, I learned that I have gotten more competitive about my grades as I need to get a high GPA. From this, I also learned that the grades have become more important to me than the information itself. To fix this will be my biggest challenge.

I will be very interested to learn more about the growth mindset this semester as I will look to break away from my old mindset and enjoy and learn the information I am learning. I liked the challenges that are outlined in the blog. I will try my best to do some while I write the stories for this week.

Learning about growth mindset could help with my PE courses as I need to retain those information for a long time. Currently, while I stress about the grades, the information I learn sometimes get lost, but I think growth mindset will be able to change that.

Growth Mindset Meme "You can always learn more".
Source: Growth Mindset Meme Blog

Storybook Favorites

I looked through lots of projects to find my favorites, but all of them looked very nice and detailed. I felt the ones I have read did a great job in providing good stories with great designs. Having said that, I found the following three to be my favorites as of right now:

The first one is Law & Order: SSU. I picked this because of my interest in watching detective shows. You might remember me saying I finished watching all episode of criminal minds, another detective show. I am midway through Law & Order also. So I liked this project very much so due to its brilliant use of the theme of the show. Making the characters agents was a great idea and then telling their story through case files makes it seem like a real episode of Law & Order. The introduction gives a good summary into who they are and each stories provide great details.

The second one I picked is Wolves in Fairy Tales. I picked this because this also used a detective show theme and also because I liked how the detective is a wolf trying to catch the culprit, a much bigger wolf. The introduction does a great job in providing background into who the suspect is and who the detective is. It also does a great job in providing the three stories in an order so that they look like the work of the suspect. The design is also great as it mixed images with words effectively.

The third one I chose is Ghostly Adventures. I picked this for two reasons: ghosts and Oklahoma. I instantly clicked it when I saw the title. I love ghost stories. I love this even more because these are ghost stories in Oklahoma. The introduction provides great insight about the background of the stories and the main character. It instantly hooks you into wanting to read the details about each place. The design (dark background) makes it better when you are reading the details about those places.

Exact image from Law & Order: SSU.
I picked this because this project was my most favorite.
It was originally made by an user named Vascer.
Original Source: Wikipedia.

UnTextbook Choices

Unit 1: Folktales of Bengal 
I am from Bangladesh. So when I see something that is related to Bangladesh, I instantly look at what it is. This was one of those occasion. I looked and I heard some part of the story but don't know most of it. I am looking forward to reading the whole thing.

Unit 2: The Voyages of Sinbad
There used to be a Sinbad show on TV when I was little. Sinbad's adventures really excited me when I watched the show. I watched every episode so I am a little familiar with his adventures but now I am looking forward to reading detailed versions about it from a first-person point of view.

Unit 3: Twenty-Two Goblins
Goblins are fresh on my mind as I watched all the Harry Potter movies again couple of weeks ago. The similarity that I can see to the Harry Potter goblins and the goblins in the story is that they are very smart. Another reason why I am interested in this is because I am really looking forward to seeing what happens and to the answers of the riddles. 

Unit 4: Tales of a Parrot 
The main reason I picked this is I am eager to find out what happens the master of the house comes home. I want to just read the ending to see what happens, but at the same time, I don't want to ruin the whole story for myself. I will wait and read it when I will do this for the weekly assignment.

Picture from the Goblins stories.
I picked this because this story is the one I am most eager to read first.
Source: Twenty-Two Goblins. UnTextbook.

Week 1 Storytelling: The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

Three animal friends who lived on a farm wanted to explore the world. They decided one day to just leave and see where the road takes them. The three friends consisted of a dog, a mouse, and a cock. The dog was really big. The mouse was really small. And the cock was a mix of both. They traveled and traveled without a final destination in mind.

As the day was coming to an end, darkness was taking over the sky and the moon was starting to peek through the small clouds. The three friends came across a forest and were wanting to rest for the night as they were very tired. The dog and the mouse asked the cock to look for a good place to sleep as the cock was really good at moving from tree branches to tree branches very quickly. The cock found a place where all three of them can sleep peacefully and safely for the night. The tree consisted of many branches and a door shaped hollow trunk. The cock slept in one of the branches and the dog and the mouse slept in the trunk of the tree.

As the moon was dropping into the other side of the planet, the sun was starting to peek through. At the slightest sight of light, the cock awakened. He started crowing as loud as possible because that was his daily routine. In doing this, he woke up the dog, the mouse, and a fox who was sleeping nearby. The fox was very angry to be awakened, but calmed down and was very happy at the sight of the cock. He ate a very full meal the night before, but he was hungry as soon as he saw the cock standing on the branch. He started approaching the cock and started a conversation with him:

“Good morning to you kind sir. I am very happy you woke me up as I have some very important things I have to do. Say, I have not seen you around here before; are you new here?”

The cock met some foxes before on the farm and he knew all of them are very cunning and willing to do anything for a meal. So he knew this conversation must be leading to the fox trying to eat him. He decided to converse back and see where it leads:

“Good morning to you too sir. You are quite welcome. To answer your question: yes, I am new here.”

Hearing this, the fox instantly decided to work his plan and claim his breakfast:

“Alright then. Why don’t you come down and I will show you around this place!!”

“Sounds great,” exclaimed the cock knowing this is the fox’s plan. “I am coming down through the other side of the tree. Why don’t you go around?”

“Okay,” said the happy fox.

While going to the other side, the fox saw the mouse, who came outside after waking up. Seeing the mouse, the fox got hungrier. He chased the mouse for a little bit but decided to stop because he had a bigger meal awaiting. He returned to the other side of the tree. By now, the cock had gotten into the hollow trunk of the tree. From inside the cock yelled:

“Hey Mr. Fox, come towards this way.”

The fox happily stepped towards the trunk of the tree. Just as he was about to get in, the dog jumped onto the fox. The dog towered over the fox as he was very angry. With just a few hits, the dog subdued the fox.

After this incident, the three kept moving for more adventures. They faced more obstacles on their journey, but they kept going. Along the way, they met others who were also out to see the world. This made them instant friends. They don’t fear anything anymore as their pack now consists of: 5 dogs, 3 chickens, 1 cock, 4 mice, and 2 rabbits.

Picture of the tree where my version of the story occurred.
Taken by Dab Bartek. Source: Wikipedia.

Author’s Note. This story is based on the fable “The Dog, The Cock, And The Fox" found at the Aesop for Children book. This book was illustrated by Milo Winter (1919). The story provides two lessons: deceiving can lead to the destruction of one’s own self and greed is a bad thing. If the fox had not deceived the cock or if he was satisfied with the mouse (which he didn’t go after due to greed), he wouldn’t have been attacked by the dog. The original version consisted of the dog, the cock, and the fox. The dog and the cock was looking for an adventure; they sleep in a tree for the night; and then the fox comes due to the crowing of the cock and tries to deceive the cock; finally, the dog attacks the fox. I have added the mouse character and the second lesson in the story. The conversation they have are different and longer. In the end, I also added a happy ending for the three characters: roaming free and seeing the world with other animals.

Bibliography: "The Dog, The Cock, And The Fox" by Milo Winter, from The Aesop for Children (1919). Web Source: Gutenberg Files.

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