Review Week 15: Writing

Writing is a huge part of this class, but I never felt like the amount of writing required was unreasonable. My least favorite writing assignments for this class would probably be the weekly storytelling assignments. Sometimes I struggled with how to retell stories for certain units and these assignments took me a lot longer than necessary. Other than that, I generally liked the writing assignments.

I chose to do a storybook as my end of semester project and I'm satisfied with my choice. Personally, I felt a storybook would require more from me and push me harder, but I also think I got more out of it. Because storybook assignments were broken down week by week, I think doing a storybook is very manageable. I also appreciated the fact that we received comments from you on every story we added to our storybook!

I do think this class helped improve my writing. If nothing else, this class made me more confident in my writing. I know writing will be important in my future career. I don't see myself doing a whole lot of fiction writing, but you never know!

I included some advice in my reading review post, but I can say a little more here. This was the first online class I'd taken through OU, so I had no idea what to expect. I consider myself to be pretty good at time management, but I was still intimidated by all of the assignments. I would advise students to try to work ahead if possible. Also, don't worry if you have a busy week where you miss some assignments. There will be ample opportunity for you to make up points through extra credit and so on. Don't be afraid to ask questions and be sure to take this class seriously even though there are no assigned meeting times!

Review Week 15: Reading

I think the organization of this class was superb! Everything was laid out clearly and the class was designed in a way that allowed students to have complete control over their grades. I liked almost every one of the reading units I chose, and if I would've really hated a certain unit, I'm sure I could've found another one I would've liked. I really appreciated the number of units offered and I thought the Un-Textbook was really impressive and worked well. If anything, I might have enjoyed more reading and less commenting, but I thought the balance was fair. I understand that it's harder to measure reading assignments and commenting assignments are more concrete. I don't think an extra credit reading assignment would hurt...but at the same time, there are already several options for extra credit, so I'm not sure this is necessary.

I think the notes you provided were really helpful, but I didn't encounter any stories without notes that I couldn't understand. I also don't think more detailed introductions are necessary. The introductions provided were sufficient for me. In addition, the amount of images and the amount of different units seemed to be more than enough for me. Anthology units would be interesting. I also think anthology units might help inspire students when it came time to make decisions about their storybook topics.

My biggest piece of advice for future students would be to try to avoid becoming overwhelmed by the amount of deadlines. In my opinion, the sheer amount of deadlines makes the amount of work seem a lot worse than it actually is. Choose units you're interested in and don't worry about keeping every single little detail straight. It's easy to do well in this class if you put in the time and effort, so be sure to stay on top of everything!

Essay Week 12: Reviewing Celtic Fairy Tales

This week, I read the stories from Celtic Fairy Tales. Recently, it’s come to my attention that this will be the last unit I need to read and review to have enough points to make an A in this class! I find it hard to believe that this semester is coming to a close, but I’m glad that I was able to read stories I enjoyed for my last weekly unit.

I found the folktales in this unit to be complex and unpredictable, which is something I like. I know there are a lot of overarching motifs and themes in folktales, which is also cool, but when you’re reading about 20 every week, it’s nice to see new, unexpected stuff. I also like fairy tells with clever endings or endings that make you think, and this unit definitely provided some of those. Of course, in this unit there was one story that closely resembled the story we know as Snow White, and I enjoyed that as well.

In the overview, it is stated these Celtic fairy tales draw on a wide range of Celtic sources such as Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and Cornish, and I think this helps to make the unit as a whole more interesting. The subject matter and tone of this collection of  fairy tales are quite varied. Some were humorous and others were sad. All in all, it was a good mix.

Again, the length of the stories stayed steady around a page. This is my personal preference for readings. I also liked the traditional illustrations provided. While there weren’t notes on every story, the notes that were provided were really helpful. For example, the clarification on The Shee An Gannon and the Gruagach Gaire helped make a lot more sense of everything. I would’ve had no idea that “Gruagach Gaire" actually means "The Laughing Goblin.”

(Illustration of a leprechaun from Field of Boliauns, illustrated by John D. Batten)

Week 12 Reading Diary: Celtic Fairy Tales

This week, I'll be reading stories from the Celtic Fairy Tales unit. I'll go through, read the stories, and record notes about some of the most interesting ones for my reading diary, as I usually do.

The Field of Boliauns 
The first thing I did when reading this story was look into what a Lady-day was. According to Wikipedia, Lady-day is the traditional name of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin (25 March) and it is the first of the four traditional English quarter days. The "Lady" is the Virgin Mary. This wasn't necessarily important to know in order to understand the story, but anyway. The discovery of the leprechaun was a highlight of the story. Tom captured the leprechaun because he was after a fortune, and the leprechaun took him to a field of boliauns which are apparently ragweeds. The leprechaun promised not to remove the marking from the boliaun, and he kept his word...but he did manage to find a way to keep his treasure from being found and I thought that was really clever.

The Shepherd of Myddvai
I found this story really interesting. When the women came out of the sea, I was pretty surprised. I also thought it was curious that the man could only tell his wife by the strap of his sandal, for one because I didn't imagine women who lived in the sea to necessarily need shoes. Also, the whole three strikes thing seemed a little weird to me, especially when a tap on the shoulder was considered a strike.

Beth Gellert
So sad! I had a feeling the story would end in a way similar to this. Many folk tales end with a 'too little, too late' type of sentiment, as this one did.
"Too late, Llewelyn learned what had happened while he was away. Gellert had stayed behind to guard the child, and had fought and slain the wolf that had tried to destroy Llewelyn's heir."
In haste and panic, Llewelyn had doubted something he had no real reason to doubt (a dog that had given him a lifetime of loyalty) and both the dog and Llewelyn ultimately paid.

Brewery of Eggshells
The illustration for this story was pretty terrifying, so I assumed something weird was going to be happening before I even began reading this story. The woman's twin babies were not aging, which led her to believe that something was wrong. After being advised by a wise man, the woman did her little cooked eggs thing and found out that the children were not normal after all. She thew them into the lake and, come to find out, they were actually goblins.

Essay Week 11: Using Apostrophes and Apostrophe Comic

This comic is funny because it’s so painfully accurate. In the comic, an old man and an old woman are depicted sitting at a table. The old man asks the old woman if she is making any New Year’s resolutions, and she tells him that she will try to criticize him less. In response, the old man tell the old woman “Thanks dear. Your great.” The old woman corrects him and he says, “I agree. We’re both great.”

I think the first thing that makes this comic funny is the dynamic between the two elderly people. We all know people like this, which makes the comic relatable. Next, the old woman says at the beginning that she is going to try to stop criticizing the old man as part of her New Year’s resolution, but she immediately criticizes him when he makes a usage error. I thought this was really humorous. She seemed to have the best intentions, but she couldn’t let the error slide. I’m constantly correcting people as well, even over text message. Errors like that drive me up a well. Lastly, the old man doesn’t realize his error, so he doesn’t understand what the old woman is really saying when he is being corrected. He is oblivious, like so many people seem to be when it comes to contractions and apostrophe usage.

I also visited The Oatmeal’s How To Use An Apostrophe page. The examples they gave were funny and clever and could be potentially useful for people who don’t know the difference between your/you’re, its/it’s, and so on. At the bottom, the illustration suggests to hold off on using apostrophes when in doubt. I don’t know how good of a rule this really is, but still. I think usage rules are something everybody should be sure to learn. They aren’t that difficult and they make a big difference.

(Cartoon by Brian Crane)

Week 11 Reading Diary: English Fairy Tales

This week, I'll be reading stories from the English Folktales unit. I'll go through, read the stories, and record notes about some of the most interesting ones for my reading diary, as I usually do.

The Rose Tree
This story was very dark, but that was probably also the quality that drew me into it. I think we tend to think of fairy tales as watered down stories for children, but this is clearly not the case around the world. I was very sad the little girl had to die at the hands of her stepmother in this story, but in the end, the stepmother got what she deserved.

The Old Woman and Her Pig
I liked that this story was cumulative. There is something charming about the cumulative story telling style. I will admit that by the end, everything was seeming a bit redundant...but I still enjoyed it. I was glad the pig jumped over the stile and everything was resolved in the end.

The Master and His Pupil
I enjoyed this story, even if it was somewhat predictable. I had fun imagining what other tasks the apprentice could have given Beelzebub and how these tasks could have escalated as well. Of course, the wise sorcerer saved the day in the end.

Molly Whuppie
This was a total girl power story and I loved it! Molly was able to make it out of the dangerous, terrible situation she found herself in only because she relied on herself. I also never knew this was where the whole 'Fee, fie, fo, fun' thing came from.

Mr. Miacca
I thought the concept of Mr. Miacca was mysterious and intriguing. The fact that people use a mythical figure like this to threaten children into behaving was also interesting to me. The twist at the end (where Mr. Miacca spared Tommy's leg and cut off the couch leg) really surprised me!

Fairy Ointment
Wouldn't it be nice to have fairy ointment of our own! At first, I took the fairy ointment as something that just improved the condition and quality of things around you. However, when Dame Goody saw the squinty man at the market, I realized that the ointment allowed her to see the magical things that others couldn't see as they really were.

Essay Week 10: Reviewing Eskimo Folktales

This week, I read the stories from Eskimo Folktales. These folktales feature a variety of subject matter. Within this Eskimo Folktales unit, you will find stories about the spirit world and village shamans. There are also stories of evil spirits, zombies, ghosts, and cannibalism. However, all of the stories aren’t super extreme and dark. Some of them are about animals or family dynamics and, of course, there is a creation story. There weren’t really any general themes throughout, but I didn’t mind. The varied subject matter kept things interesting.

The Eskimo Folktales are actually Canadian Inuit stories recorded by a polar explorer in the early years of the 20th century. After reading a few of the stories, I was curious about the origin of the names of characters, so it was interesting to me to find out they were Canadian Inuit names. The names were really long and complicated. I couldn’t even type them for my reading diary; I had to copy them and paste them in every time.

I enjoyed the illustrations that were included, even though a lot of them were bizarre. They looked hand-drawn and even though they weren’t in color, there was a lot of detail in most of the illustrations.

All of these stories were one page stories. This length is preferable to stories that are one long, continuous thing. As I normally do, I completed all of the readings in one sitting. This helps me keep my thoughts together and once I get going, it’s just easier to make some time and take care of it. Also, this means I can take care of both of my declarations at once.

Some of these stories had notes and some did not. I appreciated the notes that were included, but the stories without the notes weren’t difficult to understand. As mentioned in the notes in the beginning of the unit, these stories are recorded in a way that’s stylisticly similar to the way the stories would likely have been told in oral tradition. I think this makes the stories pass in a lively way.

(Illustration of Nukúnguasik done by a native Eskimo artists, Eskimo Folktales unit)