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.

Tech Tip: Google Language

Here is the Google interface in espanol (spanish)

Commenting Review Week

I believe that the comments in this class are very useful. They are used to connect with other classmates and to provide feedback on the work done. The comments are very encouraging and do contain constructive criticism. Other students may see a mistake that you would have never noticed; they may even give a great idea if they have a different thinking style than you. The comments that are most useful are the ones that are honest. I think it helps when they mention a specific part of the story to back-up their feedback.

When I am leaving a short comment, I try to focus on the overall and big picture of the story. I try to state what I thought overall about the story and then the layout of the story and how easy it was to follow and read. When I am leaving a long comment, I try to focus more on specific details and how the author came up with their idea for their story. The easiest part of leaving comments is the encouraging part. Of course, everyone has wonderful stories. The hardest part is suggesting changes to their writing. I know I am not the best writer, so sometimes it is hard to critique others.

The comment portion of the class is huge. It is very useful and I think the way that the commenting is done now is great. There are many chances to comment on introduction, storytelling, projects, and even various assignments. Commenting makes the class seem more connected, instead of just doing work and getting a grade for it. 

Inspirational quote

I chose the above picture because I think it can be applied to this class. In writing, you will never fail. You will just find ways that work and that do not work. The comments can help you figure out what works and what does not. 

Writing Review Week

I really enjoyed going through all of my storytelling posts. It showed how much work I have put into this class. Seeing all of the imagination of my stories was fun to reread. It is hard to pick one certain story as my greatest success. I believe that they all have their strengths and weaknesses. The strategy that I use to come up with my story is just thinking about how I would want a story to end, or changing the characters to something more exciting.

By reading other classmate’s storytelling posts, I have learned various things. One of the things I have learned is to change who is telling the story. This seems to be successful and changes the perspective of the story. Another idea that I have gotten from other students, is to just keep the overall them but change the story completely. This shows imagination and creativity.

With writing all of my stories, I have found my weaker parts of my writing. I am not good at commas, at all. All of the feedback given on storytelling is helpful. Yes, I may not use it all but it is all helpful. Feedback is great to remember when you are writing a new story as well.

Writing stories is not the easiest task. Sometimes, it takes longer to come up with an idea or even to pick the original story to begin. The biggest challenge is making it your own. This requires creativity and patience.

Overall, I think that the storytelling is great. It is very helpful in improving your writing, learning something new from feedback, and even just using your imagination. I enjoy storytelling. 

Imagination

I chose the picture above, because I believe that storytelling is all about using your imagination. With storytelling, you can really do whatever you want. It depends on how you interpret the story to begin with and what changes you want to make to the story. It is all about making it your own.

Reading Review Week

The reading diaries are very useful. They are functional in the way that you can remember the units that you read, what stories you liked, what you liked about the unit, and even ideas about storytelling. I enjoyed going through my reading diaries to see what I have read over these 7 weeks, because I honestly forgot how much I have read.

I honesty, do not read books on a daily basis. However, I have enjoyed reading various units. I tend to enjoy the units that incorporate animals as the main characters. My favorite units that I have read are either Aesop (Winter) or Jatakas (Babbitt). I really enjoyed how each story had a theme/a lesson to learn. I also like how each story is different and they do not all tell one story. That is why I believe that Cupid and Psyche was my least favorite unit. Do not get me wrong, I still enjoyed reading that unit.

Overall, I think the best way to find out if you are going to like a unit, is to read all the information given about it. Then go to the unit itself, and read one or two stories to see if it sparks your interest. There are many different options given. Therefore, you should be able to find something. Another, useful way to find a reading, is to read other classmates reading diaries. 

The Geese and the Tortoise

I chose the picture above because it symbolizes a story that I have read in more than one unit. It is interesting how different cultures can tell the same story but in a slightly different way. Each time I have read the story, I enjoyed it. 

Famous Last Words Week 7

This week has been a pretty good week, except for the weather. Yes, I like when class is cancelled, but I would much rather it be sunny and warm. My dog is tired of being stuck inside because of the snow.

This week, I have really noticed writing stories has gotten a little easier. Each week, I learn something new about writing. This makes it interesting and keeps my eyes open for suggestions. Everyone’s comments are very helpful. They are helpful in the sense of encouragement and constructive criticism. I really do read the comments given to me and take in consideration what was said. Needless to say, I have learned a lot about comma use. However, I am still not perfect at commas. I try to do my writing in places where it is quite. This helps me think and lets me really use my imagination. Also, when it is quite, I am able to focus more and not get distracted.

I have noticed how well all of the projects in our class are going. Everyone has such a different perspective of writing and topic for their storybook or portfolio. I think they people are successful when you can tell if they have used their imagination. I am overly impressed with how unique every story I read is. I like how everyone takes on stories from a different point. Even changing the smallest detail can change an entire story.

I am looking forward to next week, since it is a review week. I am hoping to work ahead so I can focus more on my other classes. However, it is midterm season, so I have a lot of tests and assignments to do. Also, next week, I believe that it is supposed to warm up later in the week.  This needs to happen because yesterday (Sunday March 1^st) was the first day of spring. I am more than ready for spring weather. 

(Spring Flowers)