Pip Pip Hurray!

This week I decided to try out the StoryLab assignment. I read ch. 2 from the EmpoWord website, which is a great website for college-aged students to gain writing skills. I included a list of pointers that I read which I really enjoyed and found useful. Hopefully, you all will also see the importance of these tips! "We're all stories, in the end." This is by Steven Moffat from Dr. Who, and the author of this chapter wrote some interpretations. I loved how he said that each of us has our own stories, but also our stories are intertwined with the stories of many other people. To me, this shows how important it is to be respectful of other's stories and be willing to learn and listen to others.  Narrow your scope. People get bored quickly when you are sharing a million different ideas. Pick a few different BIG ideas and focus on their details when telling a story.  The Idea Generator on pg. 98-99. This is such a cool form that helps to generate a story and assist w...

I really enjoyed doing the repetition reading notes from yesterday for part A and so I decided to try them out again today. I think the Fables of Bidpai is a really great unit to use these reading notes because all of the fables have lessons that show repetition. For these reading notes, I am focusing on the three stories about snakes. The first story I read was The Sparrows and the Snake. The sparrows had just hatched their young in a nest by a house. The father sparrow went to fly and find food for his family, and when he was returning he saw the mother sparrow out of the nest. He asked why she left the nest and she said it was because there was a snake in the nest who had eaten their young. The father bird flew to the house and snatched the flame from the owner's hand. He then dropped the flame on the snake in the nest, which killed the snake. This teaches readers to not pick on people or underestimate the underdog. The next story I read was The Frog, The Crab, and The Serpent. ...

Poor Man, Rich Man, Young Man: This week, I chose to try out the new style of reading notes called Repetition. In this note-taking style, I was instructed to read and take notes over repetition patterns I saw in the readings. I read the Poor Man, Rich Man, Young Man, which was a great story selection to practice this note-taking strategy. All three stories about the men are written in the same style and include a lot of repetition. In the Poor Man and the Flask of Oil, the poor man found himself wishing for things that the oil might bring him. Throughout all his wanting, he was not being grateful for what he had. Because of this, the oil fell and spilled all over him. This lesson taught him to not be greedy and be thankful for what he had. In the Rich Man and the Bundle of Wood, the rich man was also greedy. He never paid full price for anything, even if it was to help someone else who really needed help. In the end, his house and barn ended up burning down because he was greedy and ...

Oh, it's dark in here. It's really, really dark in here and I am tired of the dark. I have been in this ring for years and years...I lost count after my 563rd year. I just gave up hope at that point. I used to rehearse my lines every single day, hoping that someone would rub the ring and let me get out of this dark hole! Now I just sit here, somber and bored, waiting to die. Which I know won't ever happen because genies don't die. We just sit in the dirt of the ring, waiting. All of my friends that were down here got to leave. Their rings were rubbed by not mine! It's just not fair. I hate the way I've become; negative, lame, and boring. I just cannot help it though, I am sad and I won't stop being sad until someone lets me out of here! Genie by Cool Silh  The reason I am so willing to get out is because one time, just once, I was out of the ring for a day. Someone accidentally touched the ring when they were digging for some other piece of treasure...

Focusing on the Setting: This week I am starting a new note-taking strategy using the "Focus on the Setting." I thought it would be cool to talk about the setting when reading the Aladdin and the Lamp stories because I have seen the movies and I have a picture in my head. Although, I can imagine that the imagery will be different in the story. I am excited to be able to write about the imagery that I read instead of just see it on a screen. "Play all day in the streets with little idle boys like himself" This sentence allows me to imagine Aladdin playing in the streets with all of the little boys who were poor and only knew the streets. Aladdin went on a journey through gardens, fountains, and to the mountains. I picture this as green and luscious and beautiful, and then becoming desert-like as they neared the mountains. This would have been so cool for Aladdin to see because he was used to only seeing the streets. I picture the part of the story when Aladdi...

Essential info for my storybook about Ruth and Boaz! yay Sources: Bible Story A video overview of Ruth Lessons to be learned from Ruth Insight on Ruth's story Stories to include: Two stories from Ruth's perspective.  One story from the perspective of Naomi (Ruth's mother in law) One story from the perspective of Boaz Writing style: I want to write these 4 stories in the style of a journal entry. I think it would be cool to feel like you are reading a raw and emotional journal entry written by each of these characters focusing on how they were feeling throughout the progression of Ruth and Boaz's love story. I want to start with Ruth's original journal entry about staying with Naomi and then going to meet Boaz. Then I want to include Naomi's perspective on Ruth and Boaz. After that, I will write about Boaz's thoughts on Ruth, and then I will end with Ruth's final thoughts and feelings towards Boaz.  Main ideas:  My two main ideas...

A Harvest (this will make more sense as you learn about Ruth and Boaz!) Here is the link to my Storybook about the Love Story of Ruth and Boaz :)

It had been seven days that all of the animals had been stowed away on the ship. They were hungry. They were tired. Their paws, claws, and hooves hurt. It seemed as though every moment another type of animal was complaining about something, and it took all Noah had to be patient and try to tend to their every need. He was exhausted as well; not only did he have to build this giant ark, load all of the living things on the entire earth into the ark, load and take care of this family, but he also had to feed every species on the boat. Imagine herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores all living in one boat. It was all Noah's responsibility to keep them from eating each other and from eating Noah and his family! For such a long time, as well. This was not just a week-long, leisurely vacation with his family. This was the entire responsibility of saving the world that God had put in Noah's hands! So yes, stressed and exhausted is an understatement. On the eighth day, Noah was walking ...

I found beautiful sentences for part A of my reading notes for this week and I really enjoyed it, so I figured I would do the same for part B. Although, I am going to specifically focus on beautiful sentences from one story so that I can feel fully prepared to base this weeks story that I write on the story from part B that I write all of my notes from. The Flood: "He answered, and said: 'I saw thou wast very busy, and I did not wish to add to thy cares." I thought this sentence was so sweet. This was said by one animal whom Noah found in the corner of the ark. The animal had not eaten and when Noah asked why the above sentence was his reply. He saw how busy Noah was while he was trying to feed all of the animals aboard, and he did not want Noah to feel anymore stressed than he already was feeling.  "The lions began to roar, the oxen lowed, the wolves howled, and all the animals gave vent to their agony, each through the sounds it had the power to utter....

I wanted to focus my reading notes this week on beautiful sentences. I never spend much time really paying any attention to sentence structure or appreciating the complexity of sentences, and so when I saw this option for a new style of reading notes, I figured it would be something good to try. I love the way the Bible is written, but I don't think I've ever read scripture purely to enjoy the beauty of the sentences. Something I have been studying recently is the concept of what beauty is and how it is portrayed in the Bible, and so I thought this could be a stellar way to view beauty in the Bible in a different sense. Here is my list of beautiful sentences and why I think they are beautiful: "And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done." ...

I have had a relatively large amount of experience giving feedback to others in a work environment, as well as in a leadership position. In my sorority, I was the vice president for a year. In this position, I was primarily responsible for discipline and member development. Basically, I gave feedback to members of my sorority for an entire year. This taught me a lot about how people respond to feedback, as well as how I respond when others give me feedback. I found that when you extend grace to others, more times than not it is returned to you. Also, most people respond well to feedback when it is offered lovingly and confidently. When you shy away from conflict and deliver feedback with a scared attitude or are too harsh, no one wants to hear it and no one responds well. From the gallery, I really related to the topic of being specific about problems that need to be fixed. If you just say something like "I like it but it can be better," that doesn't help anyone! When you...

The key feature or main goal of the love story between Ruth and Boaz that I want to highlight is Ruth's loyalty to her mother in law and then, of course, the love connection between Ruth and Boaz and how that develops throughout the story. 1- I would do one story about Ruth and her mother in law (Naomi) and how they became close. In the Bible story, it does not expand too greatly on the time before Ruth decides to stay with her mother in law instead of leaving her to find a new family. I think it would be neat to focus on this aspect so that the readers know a little more of the back story and understand Ruth's character. 2- I would do one story about how Ruth and Boaz met and their first impressions of each other. I think it would be neat to hear both of their perspectives about each other, and then also the perspective of Naomi on Ruth and Boaz together. 3- I would want one story about the progression of their relationship and how it grows and develops, again including ...

"That darn Mary...I can't believe her. Every time I ask her to do something she's always got an excuse. "Oh but Martha I have to go to read," or "Martha I'm sorry I told ___ I would walk to the well with her so she could tell me about her latest problems," or "Oh Martha I really wish I could do that for you this morning but I told the women of the town we could meet and have a Bible study at that time." Okay I get it. She's a good person. But sometimes it would be nice to have a little bit of help around the house! All I ever do is cook and clean and cook and clean and cook and clean. Guess who reaps the benefits but never contributes? Mary. What am I going to do about her?" Martha's head was swirling was thoughts and complaints about her little sister who just didn't get it. Martha doesn't understand Mary, Mary doesn't understand Martha. They have a great relationship and they love each other a lot, but Martha has...

Mary and Martha Although I read each of the different stories in the Bible Women unit, I kept coming back to Mary and Martha. Ever since I can remember, I have always loved the story of when Jesus comes to visit their home. I think the reason I have always loved it is because every time I read it, I learn something new. When I was younger, I related to Mary because I was a child and I didn't understand why Martha felt like she had to be so busy and be doing all of the preparation. In my mind I just thought, "Martha, Jesus is at your house, why would you be scrambling around doing other things when He is at your house and you could be spending time with him?!" Now that I've gotten older, I feel like I relate more with Martha in a lot of ways. I know that I should stop and spend time with Jesus, but a lot of times I get caught up in the routine of my daily life and I start to only think about what I think  Jesus would want from me--preparing a great "meal" a...

Bible Women pt. A includes Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, Potiphar's Wife, Jephthah's Daughter, Delilah, and Hannah. Characteristics: Eve: Eve does not like to follow directions Eve is easily influenced!  Eve is really not that great at listening Eve's sin of eating the forbidden fruit was the first sin to be committed.  Sarah:  Sarah starts out as disbelieving and does not think she will bear a child.  Sarah is very old. Sarah has never been able to have kids but her and Abraham have stayed faithful to each other.  Sarah ends up having a child and everyone celebrates.  Hagar:  Hagar was forced to conceive a child to Abraham, who was Sarah's husband.  Sarah hated Hagar when she conceived a child.  Hagar went to the wilderness.  Rebekah: Rebekah was beautiful and a virgin. Rebekah gave water to the man at the well.  Rebekah was a great hostess to the man at the well and ended up being sen...