Reading Diary A: Aesop for Children (Winter)

(Aesop Fables Book cover)

Aesop for Children (Winter)



1. The Wolf and the Kid: Kid thinks he’s a billy goat. Flock is heading home and he doesn’t listen to his mother when she tells him to come on. When he finally started paying attention, the flock was gone. The kid got spooked and took off running and bleating for his mother and runs into a wolf. The kid asked the wolf to strike up music so he can dance and be happy until he dies. The shepherd dogs heard the wolf’s song and took off after him. The wolf ran away and “called himself a fool for turning piper to please a Kid, when he should have stuck to his butcher’s trade. I like this story because the Kid doesn't really have a chance to live but he gets to live because he thinks clearly in a bad situation.

Moral: Do not let anything turn you from your purpose.



2. The Ass Carrying the Image: The Ass carries an Image and everyone is bowing down and in awe of the image. The Ass thinks it is for him and starts acting like a fool. The owner realizes what it is doing and puts him in his place. I really love this story. I think it is very easy for people to gloat and take credit for things around them that didn't really include them. It is a good lesson to remind us all to give credit where credit is due.

Moral: Do not take the credit yourself that is due to others.



3. The Lion and the Gnat: The gnat is bothering the lion. This upsets the gnat and then he stings the lion and the lion tries to attack the gnat but only ends up hurting himself. Proud of the what he has done, the gnat flies off to boast to everyone only to end up in a spider’s web. I like this story because of the double whammy at the end. You learn a lesson from the lion and from the gnat.

Morals: The least of our enemies is often the most to be feared.

&

Pride over a success should not throw us off our guard.

4. The Leap of Rhodes: A man traveled to foreign places and always bragged about all he had done abroad. He is specifically bragging about this great jump he had made and how no one else could. He said if they went to Rhodes anyone would vouch for him. Someone in the crowd told him to just do it here so they could see. This is another story that I feel like people need to read. It basically reminds you to shut up and stop talking and start doing. Actions impress people, not words.

Moral: Deeds count, not boasting words.



5. The Farmer and the Stork: The stork was invited to a Crane party. Turns out the Cranes are stealing things. They all get caught by the farmer and the farmer tells the Stork tough luck and that he should keep better company. Oh my goodness this is so relevant. I tell my younger siblings to watch the company they keep all the time. You may be the nicest person in the world, but if you run around with jerks that is what most people will think you are.

Moral: You are judged by the company you keep.

Tech Tip: Pinterest Board

I have used Pinterest for a few years now! It is a great way to share ideas and get new ideas online from other people! Here is a link to my Mythology and Folklore Portfolio board!

Week 1 Curation

I definitely just bookmark them in google chrome so I can find them later. I usually title the folders with a short abbreviated form of the class name or if the name is short then I put that on there. I am very familiar with Pinterest! I think it is a great way to share ideas and fun things with others! You get to follow all your friends and see their ideas and likes and hobbies. You can also follow other people who are just plain crafty and have cool ideas that you can borrow and go off of or improve upon! Pinterest is one of my favorite things in all honesty. I would love to use Pinterest for this class I just have not gotten around to making a pin board yet!

(Sharing is Caring by Thomas Christensen)

Growth Mindset

I haven't heard about growth mindset before, but I really like the concept of it! It does not tell you that you are dumb or make you feel bad about being wrong, but it tells you that you are wrong and that you can use that knowledge to your advantage to get you closer to the right answer.

I can relate to this on an academic level because I am not really the best at math. I have felt very dumb and not capable of getting the right answer in math classes because my mom is very good at math and does not understand why I cannot understand it. I have had to learn to cope with it by telling myself that I will eventually get it correct I just haven't gotten there yet and that seems what Carol Dweck says in her talk. You will get it right, you're just not there yet.

I am excited to apply growth mindset to all of my classes. I am taking some that I am excited to take and I am readily motivated to get work done and do well, but my experience in college is that they do not always work out that way. I am also retaking a class that I did not do well on in the past and I think by even retaking this that I am using growth mindset by saying, "I did not do as well as I can in this class yet".

The picture I chose is a logo that says,"Are we there yet?" I felt this is appropriate because I don't feel like I am where I should be yet. I personally feel like there is always room to grow and improve upon yourself. If you ask yourself,"am I there yet?" and you can answer yes, then congrats to you. However, I am a fan of growth and change and I personally hope I can never in this life answer "yes" to the question,"are we there yet?"

(Are we there yet logo from 2005 movie)

Storybook Favorites

The first Storybook that caught my attention was the Fairytale Case Files. I am interested in Forensic Psychology so anything that involves case files immediately intrigues me.

Topic: The topic of fairy tales is pretty familiar to me. The title told me that it would most likely be about solving mysteries from fairy tales and that’s what it does.



Introduction: The introduction from this storybook really does a great job in setting up the next stories. I really like how it is a play off of Sherlock which is one of my favorite shows. I found that very clever.



Design: The physical layout of the page was very easy to follow. The images were well chosen and went with the project very well. I would really like to implement a side bar that takes you to each 

section when you click on it like they did.

(Fairytale Case Files)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next Storybook that I really like is the Tales of Persephone. Persephone has always been one of my favorite Goddesses and to see someone telling the story from a different perspective is very interesting and refreshing!


Topic: The topic is very interesting! I knew from the title exactly what we would be talking about. This person did a very good job!



Introduction: This introduction had me hooked! I couldn’t wait to dive into the stories!



Design: The design is nice. There really isn’t anything special that I would like to take from this page, but I do find it interesting that this is laid out in diary form!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The last storybook I chose as my favorite was the E! True Hollywood Story: Women from the Bible. This is such a cute and clever idea, oh my goodness!



Topic: I am familiar with the stories of the women from the Bible. I love how this person gave it a modern twist though! The title told you everything I needed to know before clicking on it!



Introduction: The introduction is set up like the begin of an E! segment. It is really cleverly written and sets up the stories perfectly.


Design: I like how it is set up as dialogue through out most of it. The pictures before each one are very well picked also! I like how the title is the link to the cover page at the top and not included in the side bar.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exploring the UnTextbook

The first section that caught my eye were the American Indian Fairytales. This section sticks out to me because my grandpa is Chickasaw Indian and I have grown up listening to old Chickasaw stories that he has told me. I am interested in exploring this area of the UnTextbook more to see if any of the stories he has told me turn up! Below is a picture I chose from the American Indian Fairytales section. I chose this picture because one of the things my grandpa always told me was that stories could take you anywhere you wanted to go. I felt this picture was appropriate because the UnTextbook is like a playground(database) full of equipment(stories) for people to enjoy.

(Indian children playing in the forest)

Oh my goodness what kind of UnTextbook would be complete without Alice in Wonderland. Even though technically the term "unbirthday" is from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol, it does show up in the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland. This section caught my attention because I love Alice in Wonderland. I wanted to be her when I was little! She was so adventurous and she could talk to animals! I couldn't help myself and I went ahead and looked up and posted the "Unbirthday Song" from the animated film below!

("Unbirthday Song")

The next section I would like to explore is the one on the Canterbury Tales. I got the privilege of reading some of the tales when I was in high school and I loved them(the Wife of Bath's Tale is one of my all time favorites). I even named my first Betta fish Geoffrey Chaucer. I can't wait to read the stories I missed! 

I have such a soft spot for nursery rhymes. I am looking forward to going through this section too because I think nursery rhymes are cute and cleverly written. There is a bigger story behind each one of these little verses! A lot of them sound so silly, but seriously think about it! They are like ridiculous warning labels. Something had to happen for them to make these up! I would love to put a story to each one. 

Introduction Fall 2015: Is it Christmas yet?

Hello all!



School: So I am a senior this year and will be graduating in the spring! I am extremely excited to be graduating, but at the same time I am sad to be leaving OU. I am a Psychology major and hopefully will be attending graduate school to get my Masters in Forensic Psychology. I am very excited about this next chapter in my life and look forward to the new opportunities that a new school, a new town, new friends, and maybe even a new state will present!



Summer: I spent most of my summer working. I work here on campus at Financial Services (accounts payable, we are NOT Financial Aid. You’d be surprised how many calls I have to transfer over there). I have worked there since I was a Freshman. I have learned a lot about what different departments do on campus and have memorized most of the major departments on campus’ numbers. I did get to spend a week camping alone out on my family’s farm (my favorite place) back home in Marlow. It was so nice just to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a few days.



Pets: I have three pets and I love them all so much! I have a ten-year old black lab named Chloe. She is super sweet, but she’s up there in dog years and cannot hear very well. I have another dog named Daisy. She is a blue heeler mix and she is very hyper. She is super loving, but she has a hard time showing affection because she cannot keep still ever! My newest addition to the family is a cat. Her name is Ollie. She was given up by her family and we rescued her a few weeks ago! She is still learning how to deal with Daisy’s over enthusiastic affection. She spends a lot of time under the bed, but when the dogs go outside she’ll come out and play! 

(personal photo of my cat, Ollie; taken August 2015)

(personal photo of my dogs, Chloe and Daisy; taken December 2014)

Favorite things: My favorite movie is the Avengers. I love most of the Marvel movies, but the Avengers is my favorite. My favorite TV show is The Walking Dead, but I also really love Criminal Minds. I have re-watched the all of the seasons for both shows several times (nerdy, I know). My favorite holiday is Christmas (my birthday is December 20th so this falls in this category!). I don’t really care about all the gifts around Christmas, I am just a really big fan of the magic in the air around this time. There’s just something about Christmas that makes everyone so different (I don’t know if this is the right word…excited, childlike, joyful?). And this brings my post to an end.



Is it Christmas yet?

(personal photo of my dog, Daisy; photo taken December 2014)

----Karisa

Storytelling Week 1: The Empty Wagon

Did you see my wife, did you see, did you see,


Did you see my wife looking for me?


She wears a straw bonnet, with white ribbands on it,


And dimity petticoats over her knee.






(traditional nursery rhyme)


_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _






There once was a happily married couple in a small mountain village. The man was a tall, skinny fur trader whose wife was a petite and jolly woman. The woman usually wore thick fur coats and boots while braving the harsh, cold winds of the mountains with her husband while he was on business, but when they went into town to trade and purchase goods she dressed in her finest dimity petticoats.






_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _






She wears a straw bonnet, with white ribbands on it,


And dimity petticoats over her knee.





_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _







(coal scuttle bonnet)










One day, they were making their weekly trip to town. The woman loved to stare out the back window of the wagon while they passed the big, beautiful lake. She was leaning out the window to get a closer look at the ducks playing in the water when their wagon hit a bump and the woman fell from her seat and was left behind as her husband never realized she was gone. She got up and ran after the wagon, but she was not fast enough to catch it. She began to walk in the direction of the town hoping to get there before the shops closed.






As the man pulled the wagon into town he called back to his wife. When there was no answer, he figured she had fallen asleep on the long ride from their cabin and continued to the place in the town square where they usually sat up their trade post. He parked the wagon and hopped down and began to unload the pelts. One of his usual customers, a man who owned a fabric shop in town, came by asking if he would trade some of his furs for fabric for his wife to make a dress. The fur trader told him he would if his wife found something she liked and agreed to it. So he went to the wagon and knocked on the back.






KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!






“Sweetheart!? The man from the fabric shop down the road wants to trade you some fabric for some of the furs! …Honey?”






He peered inside the wagon. As he looks around he realizes that his wife is no where to be found. He thinks back to the last time he spoke to her.






“THE LAKE!” he realizes, “she must have leaned to far this time and fallen out!”






He was hoping she was able to walk her way into town and had possibly started shopping already. He took off running through the town asking everyone he could find if they had seen her.






_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _






Did you see my wife, did you see, did you see,


Did you see my wife looking for me?






_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _






But no one had seen her. Finally, he walked into the last store next to the entrance to the forest on the outskirts of town.






“Hello! Have you seen my wife?”






“You know, I think I have. There was a woman who just left about five minutes ago wearing a straw bonnet and a dimity petticoat who was mumbling something about needing to find her husband!” revealed the store clerk.






“That’s her! Thank you!”






The man ran back to the wagon and found his wife sitting on the edge of it with new fabric in hand.






“I traded with the fabric shop owner, I hope that’s okay.” she said.






“Of course! I was coming to wake you up to pick out some fabric when I realized you were gone!”






The couple loaded up after trading all their furs for the week and headed back into the mountains to do it all again. Though this time, the woman kept her hands and feet inside the wagon at all times.






_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _






Author's Note. This story is based on the nursery rhyme "Did you see my wife?". You can see the original nursery rhyme at the beginning of the story. You can find the rhyme in the The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang (1897). In the nursery rhyme, the man was going around looking for his wife. He described what she looked like and the rhyme never mentions if he finds her or not, so my inspiration for writing this story was to give the couple a happy ending. Nursery rhymes always seem to take place in my mind in small mountain villages (I am not sure why), and fur traders seemed to be a worthy occupation of a couple who lived up in the mountains.






I chose the title based off of one of my favorite BBC Sherlock episodes, The Empty Hearse.

My favorite place

(Image information: Personal photo of a sunset taken at my family farm;

Photo from July 2015)

This picture is from our family farm back home! I love it out here! It is so peaceful and quiet and you can see for miles around because it is up on a hill top. There is nothing like driving miles away from the nearest city and just enjoying nature! I love being in Norman and going to big cities around the country, but there is just something serene and relaxing that makes our farm my favorite place to come back to and relax at after being on the go for a while. 

Comment Wall!

Welcome to my comment wall!

Testing New Blog

TEST TEST TEST