Famous Last Words: Shimmers of Hope

I read Homer's Odyssey this week and I'd like to say that the first part of the reading is the best assigned reading I've been exposed to up to this point in the course. I felt genuinely invested in the story as Odysseus' adventures unfolded, which also helped my note taking. In particular, my note taking, seems to have improved slightly from the first week we did so. As for the 2nd part of the reading, I wasn't able to dive quite as deep into the plot, so my note taking degraded in quality. Some of the information just seemed extraneous, so I zoned out slightly at times. Having a great story as your base really helps the story planning process. I wouldn't consider creativity to be one of my greatest qualities, but I felt "the creative juices flowing" this week. I really enjoyed trying to come up with a new story. Hopefully the planning and thinking I've done for next week's story will pay off. Maybe I can actually create a story people would want to read more of, wouldn't that be CRAZY!

(Miracle-Gro  --  Mike Mozart)
Source: Flickr

The content of my other classes (all math based) don't really crossover with the material in this class, but I would say that the Growth Mindset and H.E.A.R.T. challenges are helping me beyond this course. Talking to my roommate and trying new reading techniques (this week's extra credit) exposed me to the topics even further. I've been able to incorporate the reading aloud technique in my other classes this semester, and it has actually helped. Taking the time to read the material out loud allows me to slow down and be accountable for what I say. When not reading aloud, I am definitely guilty of partially zoning out and skimming words, sentences, maybe even paragraphs… Oops. I'm excited to see what challenges lie ahead and how I can improve all around!

Famous Last Words: Innovative Note Taking

(Boy studying  --  Lewis Hine)
Wikimedia Commons

Reading this week was very different than any I had done before. Well it actually was the note taking within the reading. Usually when I read, I focus on the plot sequence for the most part to get a grasp of the story. Then I hone in on the details that add to the story. In this situation, I had to stop myself from taking notes about the story's makeup of events, which was extremely unusual at first. I did enjoy the readings during the week, but I had to become accustomed to a new style of notes. I felt as though I was randomly making comments on things I liked versus didn't like (exactly what I did). After finishing the reading and writing my own story, I think I will be able to improve my note taking in the future. In the first week, I didn't read with my story in mind. Now that I've started week 3 reading, I am keeping what kind of story I want to write in the back of my mind as I go along. Then I jot down notes about details I like that will help my story grow where it needs.

I was impressed by the writing skill and creativity this week by my fellow classmates. I did both the blog comment assignments (usual and extra credit), so I was exposed to a lot of different material. It's great seeing how they take the original story and transform it into their own. I also did a tech tip on how to customize our canvas page. After choosing all of my options, I liked looking at other students customized pages to see how they differed from mine.

I have started week 3 assignments, so my main goal would be to get at least a week ahead in the next week, but I also have smaller goals. One of those being improving my writing and storytelling. I felt pretty uncomfortable with my first storytelling experience, but now I can tell that I am becoming more accustomed to do so. I haven't hit great strides of advancement with my writing technique, but there is a lot of room to improve so hopefully over the course of the semester that will come.

Famous Last Words: And So It Begins

Note to Self:

(writer's block-Jerry Seinfeld  --  the writing reader)
Source: Flickr

This week I would consider some of my best writing to be my introduction post. I wouldn't say that the writing quality was eloquent or that my vocabulary was top notch, but I was able to write freely and creatively. Usually when I write, I hit many road blocks where I can't think of what I should put down next. Throughout the writing process I get discouraged by these stopping points and begin to think about the word count, hoping that I will be able to scrape words together in a somewhat logical sequence. When writing an introduction about myself, as self-centered as it may sound, I did not have that issue. Now, it may be due to my knowledge of self, so I didn't have to do much thinking, but I was really able to have fun with the flow of writing. I usually don't take the time to talk much about myself when meeting people, but with this assignment I felt as though I dipped further into my hobbies, which was a fun experience. Also, choosing appropriate photos to insert into my blog post was a nice challenge to really put a picture to my words. I hope that my future writings can be even more enjoyable.

I don't feel as though my other classes have really started even though we have had a few meetings. Maybe that is because I am used to spending a lot of time for this class, but I am sure the workload reality will hit me like a sledgehammer soon enough. Considering that my other courses are mostly based on numbers and formulas, sadly I may not be able to utilize my new blogging and writing techniques in them. On the bright side, after spending so much of my time working with numbers, it will be refreshing to read and write about various topics that I choose in this class. One of my weaknesses would have to be writing, especially when trying out different styles, so I hope to improve in that area throughout this course.

My goals for Week 2 in this course are to be started on the Week 3 and 4 assignments. It is definitely going to be a stretch, but now is the best time to take on a great deal of work because my other classes are just starting to turn their wheels. For my other classes, I hope to be able to use some of the time management tips discussed in our Week 1 blogs to better plan my work in the future. This semester seems like it will be time consuming, but who knows, maybe I'll be reading this at the end of the semester wishing that I could do it all over again... that may be pushing it.