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Week 2 Reading Overview

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Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4. Week 3: Cupid and Psyche Week 4: Women Saints Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6. Week 5: Ancient Egypt Week 6: Turkish Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.] Week 7: Japanese Mythology Week 9: African Tales (Lang) Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11. Week 10: Marriage Tales Week 11: Alaska Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13. Week 12: Celtic Tales Week 13: Faerie Queene Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15. Week 14: Hunt Week 15: Heptameron This spider reminds me of Anansi, the trickster spider who appears in some of the West African tales I've read before. (Image by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen via unsplash )  With these selections, I tried to choose reading units that I have little to no previous knowledge of. For example, I've loved the story of Beow
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Time strategies

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The two articles about time management that I chose to read were " How Checklists Train Your Brain To Be More Productive And Goal-Oriented " and " Increase your creative output with 14 time management tips just for creatives ." The first one I found interesting because I love to make checklists often and for various types of reasons, whether it's packing for vacation, doing chores around the house, or planning a homework schedule/to-do list. However, I'm very inconsistent about following through with them or continuing to make them. Sometimes I'll make checklists for a couple days in a row and I'll stick with them diligently, but when I fall off the checklist train, sometimes I fail to check my planner for a week or more before revisiting again. For that reason, the article inspired me to renew my dedication to creating—and following through with—the checklists I make, to keep my dopamine centers active and my motivation strong. The first articl
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Technology: My first impressions on the course websites & tools

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When it comes to the technology we'll be using in this class, I was familiar with quite a few of the tools listed on the course wiki. For example, I've used Canva before to design covers for some of the stories I've self-published on Amazon (or plan to self-publish). I've also used Twine before for a class project in Spanish for my transatlantic literature class last spring. I've used WordPress before to create an OU create website freshman year when I was in Intro to Mass Comm for Gaylord, and I've also used Wix before to create a personal portfolio website for my Capstone class in Professional Writing. Though I'm sure I won't be using all of these tools for this online course, I'm looking forward to brushing up on my skills with these tools when creating my projects. An example of one of the book covers I've designed using Canva. Simple, yet (hopefully) effective. (Personal image)  As far as the main course websites go, the ones I'
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Assignments: My first impressions

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After reading about the core assignments for this class, I think the ones I'm most excited about are simply the week-to-week reading and storytelling. I love the concept of reframing old, well-known stories to tell them in refreshing new ways, whether from varied perspectives or with beginnings/endings different from the originals. In fact, I know people who have taken this class online in past semesters, and it was them telling me about the storytelling assignments that made me want to take this class, too. As far as the extra credit opportunities go, I'm extremely interested in three of the more creative assignments: microfictions, biographical writing, and famous last words. I'd like to know a little more about famous last words because I'm still not entirely sure I understand what the assignment entails, but I know it sounds like a fun writing opportunity—and, with one of my majors being fiction writing, it sounds like it's right up my alley. I'm most
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My thoughts on growth mindset

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I've never heard of Carol Dweck before, but I really liked her TED Talk video about the concept of answering failure with "not yet" instead of just "no." I think this mindset could be very beneficial when it comes to academic performance and improvement, particularly for kids of elementary school age and maybe even middle school, too. When it comes to my academic work throughout the years, I think I've usually been pretty good at challenging myself and implementing a growth mindset, but in other aspects of my life, such as wanting to cook more healthy meals for myself and just become better at adulting in general, the growth mindset could be a helpful new way for me to view my goals. A swimmer streamlines underwater. In a way, the concept of streamlining —condensing your body into a straight, compact line to become more hydrodynamic —is a lot like the process of reaching a goal faster by identifying the steps you need to take and staying focused on th
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Introduction to a Wisconsin gal who likes a lot of things

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Hello! My name is Daniella Peters, and I'm a senior double-majoring in Spanish and Professional Writing, which is a fiction writing program in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. I'm set to graduate in May—kind of terrifying—but thanks to my 3.5 years of working at the OU Daily as a copy editor and now the copy chief, I have an internship lined up in Philadelphia this summer, and I can't wait to see where my career will take me next. Though I love working in journalism and find it extremely important to inform our communities and hold leaders accountable, my dream is to someday work in the publishing industry as well, specifically in the YA fiction market. In fact, I've even written YA fiction myself, and I have one short story self-published on Amazon. It's called "Brunch Boy," and I'd love for you to check it out! I love reading and writing! (Image by Susan Yin via unsplash ) As I mentioned in the title of this post, I&
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Storybook favorites: Wonder Women, The Stolen Child, Don Quixote

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Medusa. (Image by Lucky Lynda via flickr ) Wonder Women: Mythical Greek Women and Feminism This one is by far my favorite Storybook. I absolutely love it when writers and artists take a well-known legend or fairy tale and turn it on its head, with the villain becoming the protagonist—check out the StarKid musical "Twisted" for another great example, as well as the Disney movie Maleficent . With examples like these, I think they're not only fascinating but also important because there's a lot of value in telling a popular, widespread story from different perspectives. Even in real-life history, a complicated, consequential event will always be interpreted in various ways by different people. For example, fifty people could fight in the same battle and come out of it with vastly different ideas of what exactly happened during the battle—which side won (if any), why did the battle matter, and who started the conflict in the first place? In my freshman year hist
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