Seven Steps to the Perfect Story from the Saturday, September 19 announcement:
I wish I had this when I was younger to help me write stories!
Showing posts with label Week 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 4. Show all posts
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Week 4: Famous Last Words
The reading for this week went really well. There were so many short stories to read for both diary A and B, but I enjoyed the majority of them, so it wasn't a problem. I noticed that the Jakarta stories focused a lot on morals, especially greed.
I think I did some good writing this week. I also cut my writing time down to about an hour to write a story. Before, it took me at least 2 hours to write something decent because I'm very particular and I do my proofreading while I write (which is weird, I know, but I always read and reread while I'm writing, so I can't help it).
As for my other classes... This week was a very hard week. I had two exams on the same day and I really struggled to balance studying for both because they are fairly difficult classes--Introduction to Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Not to mention the biochem professor is known to have very very very hard exams and the cell biology exam is entirely free response (which is bad because you already know I take forever to write). It was hard, but I'm glad that I made it to the weekend with an optimistic outlook for this semester and a desire to make sure I am able to balance work, school, and activities even better.
I think I did some good writing this week. I also cut my writing time down to about an hour to write a story. Before, it took me at least 2 hours to write something decent because I'm very particular and I do my proofreading while I write (which is weird, I know, but I always read and reread while I'm writing, so I can't help it).
As for my other classes... This week was a very hard week. I had two exams on the same day and I really struggled to balance studying for both because they are fairly difficult classes--Introduction to Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Not to mention the biochem professor is known to have very very very hard exams and the cell biology exam is entirely free response (which is bad because you already know I take forever to write). It was hard, but I'm glad that I made it to the weekend with an optimistic outlook for this semester and a desire to make sure I am able to balance work, school, and activities even better.
Meme by me. Made using Imgflip.
Week 4: Curation
My three favorite items from this week are:
The God Checker Website.
I thought it was so cool that there is an entire website dedicated to information of mythological gods! There are gods from a plethora of cultures--such as Oceana, Tibetan, Celtic, and so many more! You can find out information such as how to pronounce the god's name, alternative names, location, power, and even a good/evil rating (which I thought was hilarious). Here is a screenshot of one of the "facts and figures" charts! It doesn't have just this though!
The God Checker Website.
I thought it was so cool that there is an entire website dedicated to information of mythological gods! There are gods from a plethora of cultures--such as Oceana, Tibetan, Celtic, and so many more! You can find out information such as how to pronounce the god's name, alternative names, location, power, and even a good/evil rating (which I thought was hilarious). Here is a screenshot of one of the "facts and figures" charts! It doesn't have just this though!
Screenshot of information on Loki. Website: Godchecker.com.
This is a Tumblr blog by Ed Kwong that is dedicated to making art of various mythological creatures such as Leviathan, Cipacli, etc. I liked the artwork style and I think it would be useful for a classmate's storybook or portfolio.
I found a gorgeous picture of Yuki-onna for my own storybook and I wanted to share that. This digital art is so elegant and detailed and the artist captures the ghostly aura that Yuki-onna gives off all the while maintaining her infamous beauty.
Digital art of Yuki-onna.
Posted by PFU *. Website: Pinterest.
Week 4: Growth Mindset
For this week, I used AutoMotivator to make some growth mindset memes that I think convey very good messages.
"Not Yet" meme created by me using AutoMotivator.
I chose this quote for this meme because I remember how Dweck showcased the importance of the words "not yet" because they don't impose a limit on you, they just explain why you can't do something in this very moment... but if you work at it, you can.
"Challenge Yourself" meme created by me using AutoMotivator.
I thought this quote was good and it went really well with the picture.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Week 4 Storytelling: Stay Gold
Why isn't he here yet?
It's half past three already. He's half an hour late.
He's usually never this late... Oh no, what if something happened?
~~
Moments later, a soft knock on the front door broke Marie's reverie. The Goose finally came. A tad late, but he came nonetheless. Marie let out a sigh of relief.
She stood up from her seat at the kitchen table and strode quickly to the door to let the Goose in. He waddled in and set himself down in the living room. Compared to other geese, he was about twice as big. Because of his size, the first time Marie saw him, she actually wanted to catch him to make some delicious goose soup. That was before he started talking.
She thought back to the days when her daughters had to beg near the crossroads each day and she had to work long night shifts just to make ends meet. It was awful and she wondered how they managed to keep going. The thought of the disgusting, cockroach-ridden, old apartment they used to live in near the cemetery sent her reeling. They were lucky to not have caught anything nasty while living there.
Thanks to the Goose, however, her family eventually moved into a posh neighborhood far from all those bad memories of the past. His monthly "gifts" have provided them with more than enough wealth to live on for the rest of their lives. What was the monthly gift you ask? It was a beautiful golden feather.
Marie remembered that day two years ago when the Goose gave her the first feather. She was running at him with a butcher's knife when he suddenly yelled, "Wait!!! I'm no ordinary goose. You can't kill me!!!" She dropped the knife and just stared at him in confusion. Once the threat of imminent death was gone, he continued, "Look, I have this... power... to think and talk like a human. You probably think you're dreaming at this point. Well go ahead, you can pinch yourself if you don't believe me. I also have an ability to create golden feathers that you can sell for lots of money in exchange for my life. I have seen your daughters while I was flying over the outside market. It's them with the dirty clothes and the matted, ratty hair, right?"
She didn't know what to think of this stalker-ish, fat Goose, but she was certainly interested in that golden feather. She then told him, "Show me the feather and prove to me that it's actually valuable. If this proves wrong,we'll be having roasted goose tonight." He used his beak to pluck a single feather from under his wing and handed it to her. It was beautiful and polished. It felt real, but she couldn't be too sure since she wasn't an expert. She took the feather and the Goose to a jeweler nearby to see how much it would get. She thought it wouldn't be worth more than ten dollars, but to her surprise, the shop owner offered her ten thousand dollars. What the heck, right? It turned out, the feather was made of 100% gold, which was impossible to obtain, even by using the most complex refining process. However, she wasn't too caught up about the details; all she cared about in that moment was the huge lump of cash that she was about to deposit into her bank account.
While plopped on the couch, the Goose began to talk, pulling Marie away from her thoughts. "So I've been thinking about leaving the country. Maybe to Canada or something because you know the moment Donald Trump is able to do well in the presidential polls, you need to skedaddle pronto. Plus, it looks like your family is financially stable now, so you don't need me anymore," he said. Marie froze and panic settled over her. "No, but we do need you. The girls haven't gone to college yet and I don't even have a job right now," she said, trying to throw out any excuse she could. The Goose stared at her blankly and said, "Well, now you have the ability to get a good job and work for your own money."
Her? Work? What a joke. She hadn't worked in the last two years and thinking about the myriad of toilet bowls she had to clean before disgusted her.
The Goose got up and pulled out a golden feather, handed it to her, and said, "Here's the last one. Maybe you should keep it as a souvenir of our friendship and not sell it." She couldn't believe he was serious. Then Marie really panicked, and not knowing what else to do, she grabbed the Goose and plucked a handful of feathers. The problem was... none of them came out gold. No... no... NOOOO!! She couldn't stop herself and ended up pulling all of his white feathers out.
The Goose ran from her. Looking at her, the Goose said in a solemn voice, "Did you know my feathers only become gold if I want them to because they take away part of my lifespan each time I pull them out? I only did so because I cared for your family... It looks like my kindness over the past two years wasn't enough for your greed." He turned and spread his wings to fly away, leaving Marie for the last time.
Author's note: For this week, I chose to retell the story of "The Golden Goose" from the Jakata Tales Unit. In the original story, there was a goose with gold feathers and a poor mother with two daughters. The goose met the family and out of the kindness of its own heart, it gave one of its feathers to them to sell so they would live in comfort. The goose would continually give the family his feathers, but the mother didn’t trust the goose. She planned to steal all of this feathers the next time he came by. Her plan backfired because when she did that, all of the feathers were white and grew back white because they only become gold if they are plucked against his wish. As a result, the goose flew away and never came back again.
I kept the main plot of the story the same and I added in some dialogue to bring more 'reality' into the story. I also wrote the story with parts of the mother's/Marie's thoughts (in italics) instead of just an omniscient point of view since I wanted to depict her thoughts about why she tried to steal all of the goose’s feathers. I also added in a reason as to why the goose’s feathers didn’t turn gold when they were plucked against his will. I think this story has very good lessons to teach. One is that greed can and will ultimately cause you to lose everything. The other one is that you have to be grateful for the people that help you or they will leave you in the end. If anyone watches 'Once Upon a Time' on TV, I think this would be a good story to make into an episode! :)
Bibliography:
"The Golden Goose" by Ellen C. Babbitt, 1922. Website: UN-Textbook.
She stood up from her seat at the kitchen table and strode quickly to the door to let the Goose in. He waddled in and set himself down in the living room. Compared to other geese, he was about twice as big. Because of his size, the first time Marie saw him, she actually wanted to catch him to make some delicious goose soup. That was before he started talking.
She thought back to the days when her daughters had to beg near the crossroads each day and she had to work long night shifts just to make ends meet. It was awful and she wondered how they managed to keep going. The thought of the disgusting, cockroach-ridden, old apartment they used to live in near the cemetery sent her reeling. They were lucky to not have caught anything nasty while living there.
Thanks to the Goose, however, her family eventually moved into a posh neighborhood far from all those bad memories of the past. His monthly "gifts" have provided them with more than enough wealth to live on for the rest of their lives. What was the monthly gift you ask? It was a beautiful golden feather.
Marie remembered that day two years ago when the Goose gave her the first feather. She was running at him with a butcher's knife when he suddenly yelled, "Wait!!! I'm no ordinary goose. You can't kill me!!!" She dropped the knife and just stared at him in confusion. Once the threat of imminent death was gone, he continued, "Look, I have this... power... to think and talk like a human. You probably think you're dreaming at this point. Well go ahead, you can pinch yourself if you don't believe me. I also have an ability to create golden feathers that you can sell for lots of money in exchange for my life. I have seen your daughters while I was flying over the outside market. It's them with the dirty clothes and the matted, ratty hair, right?"
She didn't know what to think of this stalker-ish, fat Goose, but she was certainly interested in that golden feather. She then told him, "Show me the feather and prove to me that it's actually valuable. If this proves wrong,we'll be having roasted goose tonight." He used his beak to pluck a single feather from under his wing and handed it to her. It was beautiful and polished. It felt real, but she couldn't be too sure since she wasn't an expert. She took the feather and the Goose to a jeweler nearby to see how much it would get. She thought it wouldn't be worth more than ten dollars, but to her surprise, the shop owner offered her ten thousand dollars. What the heck, right? It turned out, the feather was made of 100% gold, which was impossible to obtain, even by using the most complex refining process. However, she wasn't too caught up about the details; all she cared about in that moment was the huge lump of cash that she was about to deposit into her bank account.
While plopped on the couch, the Goose began to talk, pulling Marie away from her thoughts. "So I've been thinking about leaving the country. Maybe to Canada or something because you know the moment Donald Trump is able to do well in the presidential polls, you need to skedaddle pronto. Plus, it looks like your family is financially stable now, so you don't need me anymore," he said. Marie froze and panic settled over her. "No, but we do need you. The girls haven't gone to college yet and I don't even have a job right now," she said, trying to throw out any excuse she could. The Goose stared at her blankly and said, "Well, now you have the ability to get a good job and work for your own money."
Her? Work? What a joke. She hadn't worked in the last two years and thinking about the myriad of toilet bowls she had to clean before disgusted her.
The Goose got up and pulled out a golden feather, handed it to her, and said, "Here's the last one. Maybe you should keep it as a souvenir of our friendship and not sell it." She couldn't believe he was serious. Then Marie really panicked, and not knowing what else to do, she grabbed the Goose and plucked a handful of feathers. The problem was... none of them came out gold. No... no... NOOOO!! She couldn't stop herself and ended up pulling all of his white feathers out.
The Goose ran from her. Looking at her, the Goose said in a solemn voice, "Did you know my feathers only become gold if I want them to because they take away part of my lifespan each time I pull them out? I only did so because I cared for your family... It looks like my kindness over the past two years wasn't enough for your greed." He turned and spread his wings to fly away, leaving Marie for the last time.
~~
Golden feather by Soraya Leathers. Source: Pinterest.
Author's note: For this week, I chose to retell the story of "The Golden Goose" from the Jakata Tales Unit. In the original story, there was a goose with gold feathers and a poor mother with two daughters. The goose met the family and out of the kindness of its own heart, it gave one of its feathers to them to sell so they would live in comfort. The goose would continually give the family his feathers, but the mother didn’t trust the goose. She planned to steal all of this feathers the next time he came by. Her plan backfired because when she did that, all of the feathers were white and grew back white because they only become gold if they are plucked against his wish. As a result, the goose flew away and never came back again.
I kept the main plot of the story the same and I added in some dialogue to bring more 'reality' into the story. I also wrote the story with parts of the mother's/Marie's thoughts (in italics) instead of just an omniscient point of view since I wanted to depict her thoughts about why she tried to steal all of the goose’s feathers. I also added in a reason as to why the goose’s feathers didn’t turn gold when they were plucked against his will. I think this story has very good lessons to teach. One is that greed can and will ultimately cause you to lose everything. The other one is that you have to be grateful for the people that help you or they will leave you in the end. If anyone watches 'Once Upon a Time' on TV, I think this would be a good story to make into an episode! :)
Bibliography:
"The Golden Goose" by Ellen C. Babbitt, 1922. Website: UN-Textbook.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Extra Reading Diary: Monkey King Unit
For this week's extra reading diary, I will be reading the first half of the Monkey King unit.
"Monkey King" by SnowSkadi. Source: DeviantArt.
Handsome King of the Apes
- The name of the mountain is very eye catching--the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits--I hope there are lots of flowers and fruits there
- Ooh, the rock has supernatural powers.
- Why was there only an ape, but no other animals that bursted out of the stone egg?
- Two streams of golden radiance.. like light?
- These monkeys lived for so long--300 years+?!
The Great Sea
- They are scared of dying? Humans have a much shorter life span than they do!
- The Monkey King was a good monkey in that he wanted his family and friends to live forever instead of growing and old and dying, so he tried to look for ways to gain immortality. Whether that means becoming a buddha, blessed spirit, or a god.
- He went to the mortal world to seek immortality
- Humans didn't care about living, but cared about wealth
Sun Wu Kung Gets His Name
- The saint taught the monkey domestic tasks to lessen his wild nature and gave him his name.
The Master
- The Monkey King desperately wanted to gain eternal life, so he refused to learn about any technique of attaining the great truth without it giving eternal life
- The three blow across the head from the master was actually a secret code!
Learning the Art
- The master decides to teach MK the way of eternal life by magical incantation
- MK then practiced what his master taught him such as breathing techniques and how to tame his spirit
- He also learned how to transform himself 72 times
- He could also fly by forming clouds at his feet!
Sun Wu Kung Departs
- MK was showing his friends some of the things he learned and was scolded by his master
- This made sense because these arts are to be secret
- The master then sent MK away as a punishment
- MK stayed loyal until the end by paying his respects to his master before leaving
The Devil-King
- During MK's absence, a group of devils came and wreaked havoc at his home by taking away his children and kin.
- The cave the devils lived was the "Cave of Kidneys." What a hilarious name.
- MK has 84,000 hairs on his body that he could transform into little apes that could fight with him. How cool!
- He was able to successfully save his children (yay!)
The Dragon-King
- The MK's character turned bad. He soon used his power to steal from armies
- He wanted to find a weapon to suit him and his subjects told him of the Dragon King's magical weapon in the Great Sea
- The MK set out to obtain the weapon, but none of them were heavy enough for the MK's tremendous strength
- MK has powers over all the elements, so he can't drown in water or even burn in a fire
The Dragon-Queen
- The Dragon-Queen then offered the great iron bar of the Great Yu but the Dragon-King did not want to give it to the MK
- Reluctantly, the Dragon-King showed MK the bar, but the MK couldn't lift it and asked that it be a little shorter and thinner
- The rod then listened to the MK and grew smaller! He found out he could command its size.
- MK wanted armor as well but the Dragon-King had none for him and MK threatened him with the rod. He eventually got his armor.
The Nether World
- He tucks the rod in his ear. How handy!
- He was taken to the place of death aka the nether world.
- MK demanded the Book of Life and read that he would die after 324 years.
- He then scratched off all the names of his kin off in the Book of Life, meaning they would never die!
Week 4: Reading Diary B
I will be reading the second portion of the Jataka Tales (Babbitt) Unit.
- The moral of the story was that people shouldn't be greedy and cherish what they receive, rather than asking (or in this case, demanding) for more.
- I like that the feathers were gold in this story instead of the eggs since I believe that the goose that laid the golden eggs was ultimately killed in order to obtain more eggs.
- This story definitely teaches you that you shouldn't give someone a task without teaching him/her how to do it beforehand!
- Finally a story where the wolf wasn't the antagonist!
- This story shows that when you don't know how to appreciate people, you will end up losing them.
- The lion in this story did not even say a word of thanks to the woodpecker and even said he was gracious enough to not eat him when the woodpecker helped him get the bone out of his throat.
- Ungrateful lion!
- Wow, the King wanted to eat the monkeys as well as the mangoes.
- The monkey chief was so kind to let all the other monkeys climb on his back.
- I admire that the King was able to see the monkey's actions and decided to take care of him for the rest of his life.
- It's true that you should make friends because once you're in trouble, you have no one else to help pull you back up on your feet
- True friends are friends that will help you when you need them the most and sometimes, they're the hardest to find
- I think the lesson this story teaches is that one shouldn't overstep their boundaries
- This is kind of different than what I believe in. In a way, this is teaching someone to have a fixed mindset. To not try to become better than what they are.
- The wolf was killed for trying to catch bigger prey after he grew big and strong.
- This story was a good one!
- I was confused at first as to why the village trader took the man's son and said the bird had carried him off, but then it made sense because the town trader had also told an outrageous lie as to why the plow was gone
- The village trader just wanted his plow back.
- Here, the wolf is the bad guy once again!
- I guess this story is telling us appearances can be deceiving.
- The wolf tried to play the good guy and called the lion "Great Lion" to get on his good side but then played him and caused left him for dead.
- I think the lesson here is that you should listen to advice or instructions that are given to you.
- Because Brownie did not listen to his father's instructions, he nearly lost his entire herd.
The Elephant and the Dog
- This story was very cute!
- I think the moral of this story is that you can make friends with anyone! Even an elephant and a dog were able to become such good friends that separation would cause them depression!
Image from "The Elephant and the Dog" story.
Source: UN-Textbook.
Week 4: Reading Diary A
For Week 4 Reading Diary A, I will be reading the first portion of the Jataka Tales (Babbitt) Unit.
The Monkey and the Crocodile
The Monkey and the Crocodile
- The monkey in this story is very cunning when he said he left his heart behind.
- Why did the writer have to call the crocodile "stupid" though? He was just a little Crocodile.
- If his mother wanted to eat something, she should have gotten it herself rather than making her son do it since he doesn't seem to know much about catching monkeys!
- I didn't know that crocodiles closed their eyes when they open their mouth.
- I like that the little Crocodile was very persistent. He really wanted that monkey heart for his mommy Crocodile.
- The king put fish into a lake where his sons would play around in? That doesn't sound safe for the fish at all if the lake was small!
- The poor turtle didn't do anything at all but the king wanted to have it killed. Wow.
- The king and his people were actually really foolish because they found the turtle in the water in the first place. If they put it in water.. it would just be like putting it back where it was living comfortably...
- This story was kind of twisted.
- I suppose the lesson here is to not talk too much or it else you'll gets in lots of trouble?
- Turtles are usually very smart in most stories, but in this one, the turtle was not smart at all!
- I feel like the message of this story is to treat others with kindness and that being mean or demanding will not get you anywhere.
- When the man beat the ox, it was flabbergasted and didn't even move an inch, making him lose all his money.
- Once he apologized and spoke to it in a kind way, it drew one hundred carts for him and earned him lots of money.
- This story felt like there wasn't a moral, but I thought it was kind of funny
- The poor little rabbit freaked out whenever a coconut fell on it and thought the world was breaking up.
- Then every other creature it came across believed it and started running around too!
- Luckily the lion was there.
- Maybe the moral of the story was that in some dire situations, we all need someone who is level-headed to help us out? haha
- I felt that this was a great story about sacrificing yourself for another.
- In some cases, most people are not as merciful as the king, but luckily the king decided to stop hurting the deer after seeing the King's sacrifice.
- This was a good story!
- I like that there was a mysterious element to the story with the riddle given by the water-sprite to each of the princes.
- I felt like because the elder prince was able to answer the question right, he should be given the authority to rule after the king dies.
- I wonder why the queen wanted the sun prince to become the king?
- I'm not sure how this story teaches the value of hard work.. is it because the pig did not do much work, which is why the farmer chose to make a feast out of the pig instead of the oxen?
"The Ox Who Envied the Prince"
Source: UN-Textbook.
- The Crane was very deceitful in this story!
- I like that justice was served at the end with the crab killing the crane.
- This is another lesson that tells us what goes around will ultimately come back around aka karma will always get you back!
- I think those names are very deserving for each fish!
- I noticed that in the intro for this story, there are versions of this story where not all of the fishes got away. Is it perhaps the "thoughtless" fish who got caught in the other ones?
- Why is it that lycanthropes are the characters who are always thought to be "wicked?"
- I think wolves are very honorable animals!
- This story seems like a spin-off of the little red riding hood story.
- The moral of the story here is not to be wicked and greedy.
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