Famous Last, Famous Last Words (Week 15)

For this last famous last words assignment, I decided to have it as somewhat as a smorgasbord of all the different topics.  Also I threw in another pic of my cat because why not?

Skippy stuck in a empty pop case.  Personal Photo from December 2014

Your best writing for this class.
I felt like this last storybook was one of my better writings for this class.  After I had gone and looked at my older storybook assignments, it felt like as the semester progressed, each story I had put in there became more and more of my own.  For example, I felt like my first two entries were more of me copying and pasting my narrator into the situation whereas I felt like my last two were a bit more personal.

Other people's writing.
When I went through everyone else's storybooks for the last internet assignment, I was a little disheartened because all of the entries I had enjoyed earlier on didn't complete their storybooks.  I think out of the four or five storybooks that I frequented usually, just two really finished their assignment.  And both of those two that finished, one of them hastily drew their conclusion together and the other one, although he had all of his entries in, said that he was going to conclude his story in another entry.  I know that my storybook isn't perfect, but I wish that people at least saw their storybook through to the end.

Your other classes.
This week has been pretty frustrating for me at school because I've had three finals this week.  I know that instructors try to spread things out so we don't have everything within the same couple days but it didn't work out.  Now all I have is one exam Monday morning and then I am done.

Outside of school.
Not much is really going on, but of course I had to watch the Peter Pan Live! deal with Christopher Walken as Captain Hook.  It was wonderfully terrible.  Also, I saw a movie trailer for a new Disney Movie called  Into the Woods that reminds me of something that we would read in here.

Writing Post

* What did you like best about the writing for this class? What would you like to see more of?

 I really enjoyed the writing assignments for this class, it let me explore creative options that I haven't been able to pursue in a long time.  I thought the amount of writing was plenty.

* Did you choose the Storybook or the Portfolio? Are you happy with your choice? What information should I emphasize to next semester's students when they make that choice?

I chose the Storybook, and I was very happy with that decision.  I would say that the next semester's students should glance through all of the reading units so they don't get stuck with something from the very beginning.

* Do you have suggestions for the commenting process: suggestions about commenting on blog posts? suggestions about comments on Storybooks/Portfolios?

I thought the blog post commenting was fine but I wish that the commenting for the Storybooks were a bit shorter.  I felt like I could make meaningful comments fairly quickly but then I would have to ramble on after that to meet the minimum word amount.

* What kinds of comments did you find most useful as you working on your Storybook/Portfolio?

I found comments that were focused on plot issues were the most helpful.  You can fix typos and grammatical issues easily but if something in your story doesn't flow right it throws the whole thing out of whack.

* Do you think this class helped you to improve your writing?

Definitely, I felt like this class developed my creative writing ability a lot better than it was.

* What kind of writing do you see yourself doing in your future career? Will writing be important in that career?

I really don't know what I plan on doing and if it involves writing.  I doubt it however since I am pursuing a career in the sciences.

* As you look back on your writing this semester, what advice do you have for students who will be getting started next semester?

I would say don't rush it.  Sometimes I would have other work and then I would start doing stuff for this class and churn out something that I didn't like.

About the Reading

     For this assignment, I can't really think of a ton of things that would improve the layout of the class.  Everything was pretty streamlined and efficient in allowing us, the students, to choose which direction we want to go with the class.
     However, my main suggestion would be for the chosen reading units to still be grouped up in paired weeks, such as if you do Native American Stories you stick to them for both weeks, but I wish it was set up so you could read them at any time.  Personally, and I mentioned it earlier in another post, it was difficult with my storybook topic because I had to read essentially double because most of my stories were from one of the last sections.
     I also like the idea of having anthology units based on the themes.  It would give students a better idea on what to write about in their storybooks because they have a better idea what is in the untextbook other than just where it came from.

Essay for Week 14: Learning, Grading, and Schooling

I really liked this topic for the essay this week so I felt like saving it for the end of the semester in this class.  Having a mother, two aunts, an uncle, a set of grandparents, and a sister who are all teachers as well as having experience myself with tutoring and working in an after school program for several years, I have really been indoctrinated into the school system.  I absolutely love where we've come as a society in teaching and learning, yet I realize that there are many areas that we need to fix.  My background is in grade schooling (under 5th grade) so I will mainly be talking to that point.

For me, I believe that one of the biggest strengths that our school systems have is that our teachers have a great passion for instructing and guiding youth.  While I know there are always bad apples in the group, the majority of teachers I know absolutely love making an impact on their wards and pushing them to be their best.  Even when I was a kid back in first grade, one of my favorite teachers pushed me to strive for more.  I remember she would give me extra material to work on when I breezed through the regular material.  She made learning challenging yet exciting, and I actually got to work with her when I was older in high school.

 My absolute favorite comic series Calvin and Hobbes.  Web Source

However, the flip side to this is passionless teachers who are there acting almost like a babysitter.  For my school and several other public schools I know of, oftentimes sports coaches are put into certain teaching areas that they have no reason to be in.  While I know there are exceptions because I've had several, they care more about coaching than teaching.  Personally, I had a very weak background in history and social studies because our school filled in certain history positions with coaches who would be gone or more concerned with the upcoming games.  I know this can't be helped because its costs the already broke schools lots of money to have lots of teachers in different areas, but regardless the importance of equipping students with a strong education is great because although it is cliche children really are our future.

Week 14 Storytelling: Witchy Woman

Gruntilda finally had some peace and quiet since she moved away from the hubbub of the city, but all of that changed.  You see, Gruntilda was getting up in years, so she decided that it would be best for her health to move to the seclusion and fresh air of the forest.  She had saved her money over the years and used it to contract Wonka Sweets Construction to build the house of her dreams, a home completely made of candy that she had wanted since her youth.  The house was lovely:  wrought black licorice fence, graham cracker siding outlined with pure white icing, and peppermint shingles on the roof.

Candy House.  Web source

Gruntilda loved her new setup, it was everything a retired witch could want.  As she sat in her candy cane rocking chair reading over some old spells sipping her brew, a small noise made its way to Gruntilda's ears.  Nibble, nibble, nibble.   She tried to ignore the noise and continue reading but it wouldn't go away.  Nibble, nibble, nibble.  Too distracted to keep reading, Gruntilda looked high and low for the source.  Giving up, she went to return to her book when all of a sudden, the sugar glass window was smashed and the chocolate windowsill ripped off by two pudgy hands.

Rushing to the window, she found a fat little girl with chocolate smeared all over.  Another crash came from the peanut brittle porch and the roof was gone, and laying among the peanut wreckage was an obese little boy.  Gruntilda broke down and began to weep, her poor dream house had been wrecked by these two unhealthy children.  With anger in her old witch's heart, she spryly grabbed the two immobile children and threw them in her big cooking pot.  She grabbed some potatoes, carrots, celery, and made a nice child stew.

Author's Note:  For this storytelling, I retold the story of Hansel and Grethel from the witch's perspective and made her the protagonist.  I added back story and a reason for why she would be randomly in the middle of the woods.  I also made Hansel and Grethel chubby and inconsiderate because who would eat somebody's house instead of knocking on the door and asking for food.  I decided to end the story with the kids getting eaten, because why not?

Bibliography:  Household Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm by Margaret Hunt (1884). Web Source

Reading Diary Week 14: Brothers Grimm (Hunt)

Brothers Grimm (Hunt)

Hansel and Grethel- I always thought that Hansel and Grethel used breadcrumbs to find their way but I like this version.  If they were starving though why didn't they try to catch the animals in the woods since they said there were animals?  Also, Hansel's plan isn't brilliant because even if they do make it back then what?

Hansel and Grethel (cont.)- Why didn't Hansel just use the rock technique again?

Hansel and Grethel (cont. again)- So the witch built a house to lure children in the middle of the woods?  Are these woods teeming with children?  The characters in these stories aren't that bright.  I will say that Hansel is by far the brightest though.

Hansel and Grethel (end)- I liked the ending, it had a nice conclusion.  What does the last sentence mean though?  It reminds me of something Jesus might say to confuse people.

Thumbling- This is a pretty interesting story, it reminds me of Tom Thumb or whatever that story is; I bet that this was the original.

Thumbling (cont)- I feel like Thumbling is going to piss off a lot of people with his antics and get in trouble.

Thumbling (end)- I like how these Grimm stories come full circle.  It seemed with some of the other stories it would end up in weird places.

Allerleirauh- A very weird premise for a story, it reminds me of a creepier, incestuous version of Arabian Nights.

Allerleirauh (cont)- What would come from putting a ring inside the soup?

Allerleirauh (end)-  Why didn't Allerleirauh just say who she was?  I get playing hard to get but this was just weird, almost like she was forced into marriage.

Storytelling for Week 13: Naked and Afraid

Winter had hit our forest home in full force so my buddy, Choo Choo, and I had nowhere to stay.  You see, we are fairies and as everyone knows fairies live outside in the buff.  Normally, we live outside through the winter season because it is usually not cold in our neck of the woods.  We tried our best to find somewhere warm but to no avail.  Since we both had no clothes, we also decided it would not be a good idea to snuggle up for warmth.  We tried to find shelter at Mr. Squirrel's house, but his house was completely filled with nuts and he had no room for us.  We also tried Mr. Bear's house but he snored too loud while he was hibernating so we couldn't stay there.  After asking all of our woodland friends for help but getting none, we decided to head to the humans' town to find shelter. 

However, we had just as much luck among the townsfolk as we did among the forest creatures.  The big people’s dogs would scare us off or we couldn’t get into their houses since they were sealed up tight.  Finally as night hit its coldest point, we found an old, rundown cobbler’s home so we decided to camp out in there.  It was shabby compared to the other houses but we didn’t care, it was somewhere that was out of the cold.  We hid and slept during the day so we wouldn’t run into the humans that lived there, an old man and his wife.

One night as we woke up from our daytime sleep, we saw a small bit of leather set out for the cobbler to a pair of shoes.  At first we were going to steal the leather and make some clothes for ourselves, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough leather for two sets of clothes.  With so much free time on our hands, we decided to go ahead and just finish the old man’s shoes for him.

The next night, two sets of leather were laid out but we still didn’t have enough to steal, so we finished the shoes again.  The night after that, four sets of leather were laid out and we had enough, but deciding that the cobbler and his wife were almost as bad off as us, we decided not to steal their materials.

For weeks this continued on, Choo Choo and I would make shoes from the ever increasing amount of leather, and they would always have it cut out.  We decided it was time for us to move on so that night we made ready to snag some leather and hit the road, but luck would have it that we saw the old people watching us from behind a terrible hiding place so we couldn’t make our move.  We finished up the shoes and called it a night.  

The next night, the old people were at it again, watching us from their hiding spot but then we realized there was no leather for us to work with, but instead tiny suits all made of leather.  Now that we had our clothes, we made off back to our woodland home, warm and chaffed in our leather.

Jimmy Fallon as the Leatherman, WebSource

Author’s Note:  For this storytelling, I used The Elves from the Brothers Grimm unit.  I decided to tell the story from the perspective of the elves.  I was also watching old Jimmy Fallon highlights on SNL when I came across The Leatherman, so I used that as a base for my elf characters.  I also made the elves have a motive for making the shoes instead of them just showing up and finishing them.

Bibliography:  The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales by D.L. Ashliman (1998-2013). Web Source