Reading Diary B for Week 1: Celtic Fairy Tales

I chose to finish off the Celtic Fairy Tales unit and my favorite story was The Tale of Ivan.  This tale was a similar story to ones I've read in the past where the man goes on a journey to find better work, so that he can better support his family.  He does find work, but also learns quite a few life lessons as well.

As he is applying those life lessons on his way back to his wife, he learns a lot about the people around him and about himself too.  He holds steadfast to what he was informed to do and finally finds his way back to his wife, who is very happy to see him again.

This story also makes me think about my own life and how my husband would do anything he needed to support his family.  He also has very strong beliefs and morals and would have down exactly as the man in this story did on his way home.  The male character in this story reminds me a lot of my husband.  I can also relate to the wife character because I would have been loyal and waited for my husband to return like she did.  I have very high standards and morals as well.

I also like how the family was rewarded for their good deeds in the ending of the story.  The husband not only received his wages for the 3 years he worked for the farmer, but also was rewarded for doing exactly as he was advised to do.  He and his wife ended up living in a nice place and having money to support them.  It makes me think of the saying, "A good deed shall not go unrewarded".  I firmly believe that and try to do a good deed everyday at the minimum.  I love stories with a good moral and a happy ending. 

Ivan

Reagan Diary A for Week 11: Celtic Fairy Tales

I chose to read the Celtic Fairy Tales for my Reading Diary "A" submission and my favorite story was The Horned Women.

This was a story about a woman who was approached by twelve witches each with a different amount of horns on their foreheads.  They bewitched the woman and tried to get her to do their bidding for them.  As she was trying to perform some tasks for them, she heard a voice that told her to say and do certain things to make the witches go away.  She did as the voice had told her by putting feet water around the house, making a cake with blood from her family members and other things like that to save her family from the witches return.

When the witches returned, they weren't able to reenter her home because she had performed the tasks that the voice of the Spirit of the Well had told her to do.  The witches finally went away and left her family alone for over 500 years.  Her family kept the traditions alive so that their family would continue to be safe from the witches (horned woman).

I really admire the woman's tenacity and willingness to do whatever it took to save her family from the witches.  She was a mother of young children and good mothers will do anything in their power to protect their children.  She showed a great strength even though she was originally overcome by the witches spells in the beginning.  She believed that her family would be safe if she listened to the voice and did what it said.  Because of her actions, her family remained safe for many hundreds of years.

I can relate to how the character felt about her family because I would do anything I could to keep my family safe.  I think that is why I liked this story so much because I can see myself in this story's character.  We can all be fooled by false or bad people at times, but once we figure out they are trying to hurt people we love, then that's when the "momma bear" personality in me comes out.

The Horned Women

Commenting Review Week

STEP THREE: Write up a blog post where you share some thoughts about the commenting in the class so far. You can write about anything you want; the following are just some prompts to give you some ideas to think about as you write your post:

• Do you feel like you are making good connections with other students in the class at the blogs?

Yes, I think I am making good connections with the other students in the class.  I like how you put us in different groups sometimes, plus I like to choose people at random to comment on their posts.  I hope to eventually comment on at least one post from each student int he class.

• What kinds of interactions do you think are most helpful in creating good connections online in a class like this?

I definitely think that having us comment on other students Introductions has helped us get to know each other better.  Also, commenting on other student's writings has helped me get to know other students personalities better.

• What kinds of comments have been most useful to you so far on your blog posts?

To me, both the constructive criticism comments, plus the positive affirmations have been extremely helpful to me.  Sometimes I need to know what's wrong with my story and other times I need that pat not he back & "good job" comment to help keep me going.

• If you have received Project comments, have those been useful so far? (Not everyone has gotten Project comments yet.)

Yes, one person helped me with grammatical errors and some sentence structure issues, while others told me they were inspired by my story and they remained engaged in my story because of the way I write it.

• When you are leaving a short comment, what do you usually focus on?

I try to focus on the positive parts of their posts like keeping me engaged in their story, the way they write their character dialogue, and overall storytelling techniques.

• When you are leaving a long comment on a Project, what is your focus?

My focus is both positive affirmations, plus constructive criticism on grammar, sentence structure and paragraph lengths.  

• What is the easiest part for you about writing comments? What is the hardest part?

The easiest part is to write what is good about a story.  The hardest part is writing the constructive criticisms without sounding judgmental or snooty.

• Do you do a lot of commenting on other students' work in your other classes? Is your major one in which peer comments are generally an important part of the classes you take?

Writing comments on other students work has never been a part of my college experience so far.  The only times I have ever had to make suggestions before was when I attended University of Phoenix and we did A LOT of group work.

• How do you make use of comments when you revise your writing?

I read each comment and make the adjustments to my story.  I try to incorporate everyone's suggestions into my writing.

• Are there comments people have given you about your writing that have really made a difference for you in your writing overall?

Yes, one student commented that they would like to see more character dialogue in my stories.  I plan to incorporate that into my next story.  The sentence structure & paragraph comments have been helpful too.

• Do you have any suggestions for improving the commenting component of this class? 

I really can't think of anything to make it better at the moment.

Inspirational Quote

Writing Review Week

STEP THREE: Write up a blog post where you share some thoughts about the writing in the class so far. You can write about anything you want; the following are just some prompts to give you some ideas to think about as you write your post:

• What have been your greatest writing successes in the class so far this semester?

I think my most successful writing successes have been my storytelling assignments: Pat-A-Cake, Christine the Faithful and The Psychic and the Leopard.  I'm including this picture from my Pat-A-Cake story because it has been my most favorite story to write so far.  The story was inspired by my daughter, Mary, and her desire to bake all the time.

(Image information: Pat-a-Cake by Mary Brigid Barrett and Illustrated by LeUyen Pham)

• What writing goals do you have for yourself in the second half of the semester?

My writing goals are to complete more of the Reading Diary Assignments and spend more time on my Storytelling Assignments.

• As you look at your Storytelling posts, what do you think are some good strategies for coming up with good stories?

The best strategy for me is to use some ideas from my own life.  I always seem to write better when I have a personal connection to the story.

• Have you been able to get some good writing ideas from looking at the writing other students are doing?

I have been able to get some good writing ideas from other students, especially Stoffel, Allison, and Bria. They use a lot of actual character dialogue in their stories and I haven't quite perfected that technique yet.  I plan to use their techniques in the future.  I'm in no way saying that I'm not influences by the other students int he class.  I'm just saying that those students have made the biggest impression on me and my writing so far.

• Is the feedback you are getting from me and from other students helping you to improve your writing?

Yes, the feedback has been quite helpful in revising my stories.  They notice my grammatical and sentence structure errors when I don't.  I have also used suggestions about creating smaller paragraphs and will be adding character dialogue in my stories in the future.

• What kind of feedback is most helpful for you in your writing?

Any kind of constructive criticism is helpful to me.  I'm not a writer and I know it.  Any comment makes me into a better writer.

• Have you learned anything useful about yourself as a writer, about the writing process, about writing techniques, etc. from your work in this class so far?

Yes, I have learned that although I have more years under my belt in college than almost everyone else in this class, I am no where near as good a writer as some of the younger students in this class.  I'm learning a lot from everyone else in this class including the instructor.  

• What do you feel are the biggest challenges you face as a writer? What do you think could be most helpful to you in facing those challenges?

My biggest challenge I face as a writer is my own mind.  I tend to tell myself that I don't write well or I don't know how to put a creative spin on a story.  Sometimes I over-analyze myself and my ability to write.  The thing that has been the most helpful is seeing all the positive comments on the stories I have written already.  That helps a great deal.

• What do you find most inspiring as a writer? What do you find most rewarding? 

The most inspiring things to me are reading other people's stories and incorporating their writing styles into my own writing.  When I do incorporate other student's writing styles into my own, I get a lot more positive feedback.  That is definitely a huge reward for me.

UnTextbook Online Reading Options

When you're down exploring the different options, write up a blog post — "UnTextbook Online Reading Options" — and answer the following questions as relevant to your experience trying out the Hathi, Internet Archive, and Google options (along with the PDF option if you tried that one).

1. Device. What kind of computer or table did you use to do this experiment? (i.e. desktop, laptop, iPad)

 I used my home desktop computer to do this experiment.

2. Browser. What browser did you use? If you downloaded and read the PDF version, what PDF reader did you use, or did you just read the PDF in your browser?

Browser Used: Safari

3. Best Option. Did one of the options — Hathi, Internet Archive, Google, PDF — appeal to you more than the others? What makes this one better?

I liked the Internet Archive option the best.  I liked that the pages were an ivory/beige color which made it easier on the eyes to read the story.  Plus, the Internet Archive option had a "Read Aloud" button.  If you wanted it to, it would read the book to you.

4. Worst Option. Was any one of the three options  — Hathi, Internet Archive, Google, PDF — really undesirable for some reason? If so, what made it undesirable?

The least desirable option for me was the Google Reader.  The pages of the book were bright white and I didn't like staring at the screen for very long.

5. Reading Online. Do you do often read books or other long text documents on your computer? Please give details about what kinds of long texts you read on your computer and what program(s) you use to read them. Do you usually do your reading online or offline?

I do not usually read books or long text documents online.  I prefer to read offline with the book or document in my hands.  Reading on the computer is tiring for my eyes and I prefer lounging on my couch or bed to read versus at my computer desk.

6. Taking Notes Online. Do you have a good method for taking notes when you are reading online in a browser window? For example, I open a plain text file resize my browser window and text file so that they both appear on the screen, and I take notes while I read. What note taking method do you use for material you are reading in your browser window?

If I have to take notes while reading something online, I usually open up a Word document and copy & paste important info into the Word document.  I can easily switch between the two screens so that my copy & paste methods works pretty well for me.

7. PDF Notetaking. Do you have a good method for taking notes when you are reading a PDF? For example, I prefer to read PDFs using GoodReader on my iPad, and I use the highlighter to mark notes, and then I type them up later on my desktop computer. What note taking method do you use for PDFs?

I usually just print off the PDF document and then highlight important info on the printed document.  I guess I'm old school when it comes to note-taking.  Lol

8. Hard Copies. How often do you print reading materials out as hard copies? What are your reasons for choosing to print out a hard copy? Do you do your printing at home or on campus?

I almost always print out hardcopies of any documents I read.  I like to have the physical copy to refer to whenever I need it.  I don't have a laptop or iPad as my convenience, so the hardcopy is critical for me to have in my possession.   I print all of my documents at home.

9. Other Comments. Do you have any other comments to share...? Please let me know! I'm really curious to learn more about people's reading practices and preferences online!

I'm an older student, so I prefer the methods that I grew up using.  Printing off hardcopies, using Word Documents, reading actual books, etc.  However, I do like the convenience of doing research online on my home computer versus the method I used when I was growing up: Microfiche and card catalogues.  Yuck!  I think that may be one of the reasons I never enjoyed reading as a child because I HATED the Dewey decimal system at the library.

Famous Last Words: Week 7

My post for this week will be mixed with positive and negative things that have happened to me and/or my family.

First of all, I finally realized that I had "bitten off more than I could chew" in regards to taking 15 credit hours this semester.  I made the decision to drop out of a class to lessen the pressure I was feeling every day and the fear that I was not going to pass all my classes if I didn't reduce my stress level.  This is both a positive and negative decision for me.  The positive is that I will feel less pressure and stress on me from all the demands of maintaining such a full class load.  The negative is that I won't be graduating this semester after all.  I'm ok with that because I know I will only have to take 1 class next semester and I'll finally be done.

My family life has also had some ups and downs this week.  My husband had surgery to repair a broken foot, so that has put a lot more responsibility on my shoulders for keeping the house in shape and taking care of the kids more on my own.  The positive things have been I've had more "quiet time" to myself since I'm not enrolled in so many hours now.  I actually have more time to devote to studying and housecleaning.  Lol   I do love being a mother, housewife and student, but I do also want to get out into the workforce someday.  I know my time will come, but it will just be delayed a little bit due to reducing my class load.

The snow has been so beautiful to look at and I've taken lots of pics of the kids playing outside in it.  They love it, but I'm not really a cold loving person.  We love to watch the birds eating birdseed off of the windowsill and the bird feeder.  We've seen so many cardinals in the snow.  Their red feathers make them stand out against the white snow! 

 (personal photo of my kids--February 28, 2015)

The funniest thing that happened this week was when my son took a couple of our cats outside and put them in the snow.  I was cracking up watching them shake off their paws and try to figure out how to get out of the cold snow.  I'll post a pic of one of them in the snow.  I guess that's about it for this post this week.  Thank you for reading it!

(personal photo of my cat, Luna--February 28, 2015)