Famous Last Words: Week 9

I am glad that we had spring break to finish the end of week 9. I was overwhelmed with classes and tests the week before spring break. This class has really helped my writing skills and my ability to proofread others work. We definitely have a lot of practice doing it. I still have to be somewhere quite to be able to write and to come up with ideas. However, I have not tried many different writing styles. I tend to stay in my comfort zone and do not experiment too much.

I wish that I would have used the week of spring break to get ahead. However, I did not. I did not go anywhere over spring break. I enjoyed having a break from school though. My best friend had her baby over break, so I was able to spend a lot of time with her and her newborn. Also, I got to go shopping and play with my dogs. It was a nice, calm, and relaxing week. 

Now that spring break is over it is time to finish out this semester strong. We are on the downhill slide until graduation. I hope that I can keep my motivation with it being so close until graduation. I still have a lot of tests and assignments in my classes. I even have a test this week. Clearly I have not studied for it yet since I did not do anything over spring break for school. My capstone class probably has the most work left. We get to start our experiments and testing people this week. This class is a lot of work, but it is cool getting able to conduct our own experiment. I am excited that we are half way through this semester. I am hoping I am able to finish this class early so I can focus on my other classes more. I hope that it stays warm and sunny like it is today. I feel like I am in such a better mood when it is nice outside. 

Pretty spring picture

Essay: Tejas Legends

This week I read the unit Tejas Legends. I was very impressed with this unit. Each story was unique and interesting to read. The titles of the stories caught my attention and I believe that this helped me keep reading. I read the entire unit in one day, instead of breaking it up. This unit I was really able to see the connection between the stories and the Native American culture with an emphasis on Texas. All of the stories did a good job of incorporating some part of Native America. This could have been the animals involved, where the setting was located, and even things that are unique to their culture. Most of the stories had a positive overall theme. This was the part that I really enjoyed. The stories focused on the nature. Therefore, the main characters of each story were normally an animal and a plant. I enjoyed how they drew relationships between the animals and plants. 

Texas Picture

This unit is a good unit for most people. The language that the stories are told in is easy to understand and follow. There is imagination in each story. Plants and animals are able to talk and have personalities. None of the stories were confusing to me. Each story has some notes from Laura. These notes help explain what the story is going to be about and even provide a little more background information. The notes are extremely helpful and add wonderful information. I would suggest this reading to anyone.

All of the information given about this story provided on untextbook is accurate. I do not believe that anything needs to be added to this unit. It is a great unit full of wonderful stories and a lot of background information about Native America. This unit is in my top 3 or 4 of the semester.  

Reading Diary B: Tejas Legends

Tejas Legends

How Sickness Entered the World
This title caught my attention. It made me wonder what the story was about how people got sick. I really enjoyed how the Indians and the snake were incorporated into the story. This really brought out the native american culture of the story. I like how the story was mainly about revenge and that is how sickness entered the world. The sickness even hatched. Every wigwam got some kind of sickness. I think that this story can take many different directions. Therefore, it is a great start of a storytelling. I believe that you can add what kind of sickness each wigwam got and elaborate on that.

The Pecan Tree's Best Friend
I enjoyed reading this story. I believe that orioles love pecan trees in real life. This story was full of some imagination and elaboration. However, parts of the story can be very practical. I love how the tree and the oriole were so close. Another great story, which can be used for a storytelling.

oriole

In this unit, there are many great stories. This unit did a great job of really incorporating Native American culture. All of the stories have great plots to start a storytelling. Most of the titles were able to catch my attention to where I wanted to read to find out what the title was talking about. Overall, this was a great unit and was a wonderful read.

Reading Diary A: Tejas Legends

Tejas Legends

When the Storm God Rides
This was the first story of the unit and it caught my attention right away. The first paragraph was very intriguing and I could picture the islands right away and how they were made. I also liked how many animals the island was made for. The story really does a good job of helping you picture what was going on.

The Plant that Grows in Trees
This was a very cute story. I like how it incorporated the thunder bird once again. The first paragraph explains the overall story about how mistletoe is found in trees because a bird once put it there. This opens the story to use your imagination on why the bird put the mistletoe in the tree. I liked how the bird and the mistletoe could talk, this really helped the story.

(Mistletoe in a Tree)

The Cloud That Was Lost
This story caught my attention by the title. Of course, I want to read about how a cloud was lost. I knew right away that this story would be full of imagination and I was curious how it would be incorporated into Native America. I really enjoyed how this story made the cloud come alive and have a personality. The cloud was sleepy. I bet they do get warn-out staying in the sky all day and night.

Grandmother River's Trick
I love how many fish were incorporated into this story. This story used great imagination and was fun to read. I am glad that Grandmother river was able to trick the garfish and that all of the other fish were safe and got to play around.