Week 8 Progress

Hey all!

This class is flying by! I don't know about everyone else, but I love the flexibility that this class offers. All the extra credit opportunities are definitely a bonus.

Looking back I am very happy with my progress so far, especially with my class load this semester. I am currently a week ahead and hopefully I'll be able to get further by spending a day over spring break. At the moment I do have a good routine, sometimes tests and quizzes throw me off my schedule, but otherwise I am pretty good on sticking with it. My favorite assignment by far is the weekly storytelling post because it gives me a chance to test out different writing styles and get all of my creativity on to a page. I love to make up things, exaggerate a bit, and just be imaginative with the stories. I am definitely using the extra credit options! Not as many as I would like to, but I still try to aim for at least one every week.

I try to definitely get my work done during the week so that my weekend stays open, so my goal is during spring break to work ahead a few weeks, so that the second half of the semester stays a bit lighter since there are still many more quizzes and midterms. I don't really have any pitfalls that need to be avoided, maybe not waiting until Sunday to complete my last assignment of the week? At the moment there's not anything new that I want to try. Although I have been thinking about doing a few of the extra credit assignments in places of the readings.

Hiking in the summer is my motivation!

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Hello again everyone!

So let's talk about feedback today... some people hate feedback whether it is good or bad and some people thrive when given feedback. I love it when I get feedback, because it makes me realize what I need to focus on as well learn not to make the same mistakes over. Feedback to me is really important since it gives me a different perspective to look at my paper from. As the writer, even taking a break and going back over some of my writings I tend not to catch my mistakes because I am only working with my knowledge, which by the way is very poor in English.

I have to say though my favorite type of feedback is both constructive and conversation ones. They both help me in different ways. Constructive feedback helps me improve my writings and work more towards what readers like. Conversation feedback allows me to build relationships and get to know more about the different people in my class that I would not get to otherwise. All of the feedback I have used has been very good and helpful in improving my writing.

I would like to think that I am leaving good feedback for others, especially my constructive feedback. It really varies from person to person on how her or she feels about getting feedback. I know I always try to include stuff that other students have not already mentioned and let the authors know what my thoughts were as the story went on. Though I have to admit I have come across some stories which are phenomenal and are amazing as is. My feedback strategy that I am using is working really well for me, I tend to read over the story/post twice and write what my thoughts were at certain parts and then go in for detailed remarks. While providing feedback, reading the various pieces has given me a few ideas that I would love to incorporate in my posts as well.

I love to read through people's introductions because each person is so unique and it is just fun! I mentioned it earlier but the blog comments (conversation feedback) is one of my favorite types of feedback because I essentially get to chat with others and also learn their thoughts.

I think I have a really good strategy going for my feedback posts, so at the moment I am not planning on changing anything. Although, I will say I might try other strategies later on. I have been playing around on blogger, but I like the style that I am using right now, what can I say?!


The image below describes me so well. I chose this image in particular, because without feedback my work would be raw and in order for it to be something good it needs feedback so that the errors are taken care of.

What I tell my teacher's all the time

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Hey All!

Let me start off by saying that the readings in this class are fantastic. They are the perfect length, not too long and not too short. Something that is manageable with all my other classes. My favorite reading I think so far was R.K. Narayan's version of the Mahabharata. I had never read that version before and initially had thought I would hate it, but I ended up really enjoying it. Getting to read for fun has really given me the refresher that I desperately needed from class textbooks.

I chose to try our various styles of notes, but found that I liked a combination of summarizing key events and highlighting important traits of characters that I will try to mirror in my own stories. The reading notes are definitely a great way for me to start getting my ideas flowing for the story post that week. While writing my story they serve as a really quick reference for key points.

I am definitely excited and happy about my class project! I am doing Navratri, which is one of my favorite Hindu festivals and cannot wait to share all the different aspects with everyone. What many people think of when they hear Indian holiday or festival is lots of people and food (response of various friends). Many of my friends are always curious about the Hindu culture, so I thought why not share this fun festival that so many people come together for? I know when we celebrate it here in Oklahoma students are encouraged to bring their friends, so that they can ask questions and join in on the fun.

I think so far my biggest accomplishment in this class is improving from the feedback I get. All throughout my middle school and high school career I always had like ten people check over my papers before I submitted anything. It sure taught me how useful feedback was and now I am able to help others. I always struggled to provide clear cut feedback, because I was simply just not good in English, but this has taught me how to give good and clear feedback.

How I feel about books