Week 15 Tech Tip: Typing Game

I played the Ninja Cat typing game. It was my first time playing this type of game and it was pretty fun!! There is a lot of action and it was cool to use the katana to slay the dinosaurs when they got to close. I tried to play some of the other ones, but on the website Ninja Cat was my favorite!
I used to play a different typing game called Typer Shark when I was younger. It is by far my favorite of all typing games! You should give it a try!.

Week 15: Writing Post

What I like the best about the writing for this class is that you gave up the choice and topics of what to write about. Not only that, but also, the writing was from our perspective. It was interesting to read different peoples reactions to stories. The comment system was great too. I feel like I have made a lot of friends with people that I haven’t even seen before! The comments other students leave also provide a lot of feedback when I am writing a story or taking notes. The most useful comments were the ones that gave constructive criticism or suggestions. Students would help me better my wringing and storytelling skills by nicely leaving me a comment and suggesting what I should look at. Other comments that help are the ones when people really enjoy your story, and they praise it. It gives me a huge confident boost when I take the time to write a story, and I learn that people enjoy them in return. For my main writing assignments I decided write a Storybook. I’m very happy with my choice. I had the opportunity to write about the topic I truly love. I think that you should emphasize how FUN it is to write the storybook! It is really the best option in my opinion.

This Class had helped me improve my writing a lot, especially narrative writing, before taking this class, it had been about 2 years since I had to do any type of writing. It was safe to say that I was rusty. The many writing assignments and feedback from Mrs. Gibbs helped me out a lot! My advice for students taking this class next semester is to Work Ahead and do the bonus. It will help you our greatly in the end.

Week 15: Reading for the Class

Now that I reached the end of the class, I would like to discuss how the reading went. The best part about the readings is that they are not too long. Each major unit had different stories that were only about 10,000 words or so. This made it easy to read and talk about many different types of stories. I think that the Un-Textbook was setup absolutely perfect. There were lots of topics to pick from, and stories within those topics to choose. I think that all of the bases were covered throughout the semester. There is no way someone would not be able to find at least one story that they liked.

I have never had to write as much in any class as I have in this one. When you add everything up, it’s probably well over 40 pages of text. It was a unique experience for me and definitely a positive one. Even though the workload balance was about 35% reading-65% writing, I do believe that it was a perfect fit. Even you are writing stories and essays it is important to let other readers know what you are feeling and the many different writing assignments helped with that.

I don’t think any change needs to be made for the Un-Textbook next year. It had a good balance of pictures, introductions, and notes. I can’t think of any more topics that you could include in the book. Maybe, modern?

Google Translate

The Google Translate feature is sweet. I didn't even know that it excited. I wish I had known about this in high school when taking Spanish! It would have made my life so much easier. Here is the Translated text from an Italian Aesop Story. The Translation seems decent enough for me comprehend.


 The cow, the goat, the sheep and the lion


There is never to be trusted alliance with a powerful tale that proves my point. The cow, the goat and the sheep were resigned to injustice in society with the lion on the slopes wooded. Caught a deer from the large body, so the lion spoke, without the parties: "I'll take the first because I'm the lion, and the second, as a partner, you will assign me, and then, since I'm the strongest I'll have the third; woe to those who touch me the fourth. "So she alone, the evil impudence, took away all the prey.



Phaedrus, I, 5.

Essay for Week 11: Beowulf

This week I read the epic Beowulf in in the British Isle section of the un-textbook. The reason I chose this story was because I remember having to read the whole poem in high school.  I am most familiar with this story, and reading it again was great. Beowulf is one of the better epics that exist today. What makes the story so good is that you get a powerful story in only about 15,000 words or so.

Beowulf reminds me of Odysseus in some ways. Both of them are heroes and kings of their land. People depended on them to lead, and overcome the obstacles in the say. There are some key differences in the two that I believe. Odysseus is more of a genuine leader, I believe, and Beowulf was appointed leader because of his natural skills. Beowulf was more known for his brute strength and ability to fight, and Odysseus mostly used his wit to defeat monsters. One could argue that Odysseus was better of the two because he didn’t die, but I don’t even want to go there. I think both heroes at O are great.

In Beowulf, I was excited to see him defeat Grendel and his mother. He literally saved a lot of people from the horrible monster. It was an extreme disappointment when he died by the dragon. I was not even expecting it, and it was a very tragic death. I think that Beowulf should have not went to slay the dragon. He already proved himself enough and killing the dragon was overkill in my opinion.  Overall I really enjoyed the story of Beowulf, and I can add it in my collection of hero stories, I wonder if there are any other stories that feature Beowulf on some other adventures I would love to read them if they did.

 



Grendel by J. R. Skelton

More info: Wikipedia

 

Storytelling for Week 11: Beowulf in Heaven

Beowulf in Heaven

“You may have heard about my story in the books, But I assure you that there is a big whole in it that you may not have known,” Beowulf said to the many other people that were in heaven. “There was two very important phases in my life that I feel were skipped in the book. The first one is the time period when I was training as a mere child and up to a young man. The second one is the time period after I defeated the wretched Grendel. Listen to all that took place in my like during these periods if you want to fully know my story.”

After my parents send me away to my live with my uncle I had to underdo serious training from day one. At 5 years of age, everyday, I would have to get up and do 500 pushups throughout the day.  Now at first it was challenging for me, but it wasn’t so hard because of how strong I already was. After each year the number per day increased 100, so you can imagine that when I was 20 had to do 2000 push-ups a day. I was pushed to the absolute maximum of my abilities. An important thing that I worked on during my training as a boy was my balance. Yes, I was strong and fast, but I was very clumsy. I needed to work on my hand eye coordination and my balance. My uncle came up with an idea to help. He would Make my run around in a circle and then try to climb up this small cliff. It was very hard at first, but eventually I got the hang of it. After awhile I mastered all of my weakness, and in my twenties I couldn’t have felt any better.

When Grendel was slain, the whole world knew who did it, and everyone wanted t praise me. I made sure to keep a level head and he humble toward everyone else. I soon became King and we lived many years in peace from any monster. There were some other battles amongst our people and the neighboring cities, but I swiftly took care of them. For the next 40 years or so, I had now seen any action at all. I was definitely not in my prime anymore, but I still felt good. One day a slave approached me and told me of a dragon that guards a great treasure. I couldn’t resist but to take the opportunity and go slay this dragon myself. Many of you think that I died because of my foolish men that ran away and hid while I was attacking the dragon. What really happened was that due to my old age, I was having a hard time not becoming fatigues. I also had major joint pain in my knees, so whenever the dragon swooped its tail, I didn’t have a fast enough reaction time and it stuck me to my death.

“So this is really the reason why I died, Beowulf said. “I have done many great things in my lifetime, but I must admit that the fight with the dragon might have been the most foolish thing. I knew from before that I wasn’t in my prime. It had just been so long since I fought in a real battle. I just wanted to try. Looks like it didn’t go my way.

Author’s Note

Beowulf: by Just Jared

This Week I read the Story of Beowulf in the un-textbook. For this story I wanted to fill in the reader on the details in between some time periods. If you read the story It is easy to see which parts I am talking about. The reason why I chose to write my story like this was because while I was reading it, I thought to myself. “I wonder what Beowulf did for all of those years while he was training, or how did he spend his time when he became king.” I added my own scenarios to fill in the gaps. I hope you enjoy the story..

Reading Diary for Week 11: Beowulf

Part 1

Beowulf was always a strong individual since birth it was noted that he was strong. His parents took him away to live with his uncle so he could train. As a young boy he was often made fun of for his clumsiness.

This part reminds me of Spiderman or Peter Parker. Everyone used to make fun of him, but he turned out to he really strong and a hero.

Beowulf had to go to the land of Daneland to slay the monster Grendel.

We come to find out that Grendel haunted the Land and killed innocent people. It especially liked to kill young soldiers and eat then whole. Only the king, and the elderly were left. The King threw a feast in the hall of Heorot. It was the first time Beowulf and his crew had a chance to rest in over twelve years!

Part 2

After the feast all of the men went to sleep. While they were sleeping a mist appeared and swept the room. It was Grendel! (This part reminded me of the movie called The Mist. It is about monsters that live and only kill people within the mist.) Grendel used a magic spell to further keep the men asleep as he came through the door. The spell did not work on Beowulf because he wasn’t fully asleep yet. He ate one of Beowulf’s men in his sleep. Beowulf then woke up and the two started to fight.

Eventually, Beowulf slayed Grendel in battle; leaving his arm for souvenir. Everyone rejoiced, but that came to a end quickly because they found out that someone else has been killed. It was Grendel’s mother. Beowulf went to go find her. When he found her he killed her and again sliced the head of Grendel, and took it back to the king. Once h Beowulf returned home he eventually became king and many years passed of peace and happiness. One day a slave told him of a dragon guarding a treasure. Beowulf now an old king went to go slay the dragon, but he was killed.

I have read this story before and high school and I liked it. The only thing that sucks is that Beowulf dies. That is just how most Epics are.

Keyboard Tech Tip

Here is how you say Hello. What is your name? (In Japanese). I used to live in Japan for 5 years so I wanted to see if I could remember some of the symbols!

こんにちは。 あなたの名前は何ですか？

Essay for Week 10: Native America Review

Native America Review

For the last couple of week’s I read the stories in the Native America section. I thought that the section was satisfactory. Overall I would give it a 7/10. I enjoyed the readings, and they were all very creative. The first story I read was called “Hero Tales (Thompson). This was my favorite story! Since I am already in love with Hero’s and epic adventures, it was only natural for me to choose this one, and I really enjoyed it. I like how most of the stories had a moral point. Besides the main plot, there was also an overall meaning of the stories.  In the Jealous Uncle story, the little boy had to look past his uncle’s wrong doing. Toward the end of the story however, the uncle crossed the line and the boy killed him. The story about the Bluejay was also great. The adventures were so random that it made the story fun.

My least favorite story was the one I read this week called “Indian Fairy Tales” These Stories just didn’t really stand out to me that much. Most of them were hard for me to follow. There was one story that I really enjoyed and that was the one with the North Wind. Other than that story, the most interesting think within this section was Iagoo. I chose to write my storytelling post over Iagoo because I feel like he is the most important part within the fairy tales. He makes it all happen, and without his stories, none of this would be possible.

I learned from this reading section that most of the Indian stories have deep meanings within the story. Basically the story is never just told for “fun.” Most of the stories were also pretty graphic and ruthless with the deaths of major or minor characters, but it wasn’t distracting or anything. It was just something I noticed. Overall, I was a little surprised about how well the section turned out. It was definitely enjoyable.

Tipi by: John C. Grabill

More info on Tipi's: Wikipedia

Storytelling for Week 10: How Iagoo Became so Smart

How Iagoo became so smart

Prologue: Iagoo was one of the best storytellers in the world. Those of you that may have already heard about him know that he was a very wise man.  This contributed to him being such a great storyteller. Have you ever wondered why Iagoo was so smart? Or have you ever wanted to learn more about his origin? Well, I have the story for you. I grew up with Iagoo long ago. I knew him since I was at the age of 2. My Name is Lindi and I am going to tell you a little more about Iagoo and how he came to be today.

Iagoo was the first-born son from our Mother and Father, and I was the second. We are 2 years apart, but people could hardly tell the difference since was so much bigger than Iagoo. I was the BIG little brother. Growing up, Iagoo and I shared a close bond that most siblings do. We did everything together like farming, hunting, and dancing. We loved for each other very much, but one day we went our separate paths. We were both intelligent for our age and when we became teenagers, we were allowed to choose our own paths. I was interested more in hunting and gathering. Iagoo, on the other hand was more interested in Knowledge. He wanted to get out into the vast world and explore. He wanted to learn about knew things, and one day come back and tell the tribe what he had learned. Since Iagoo was older than I was, he decided what he wanted to do. He chose to leave the tribe and live out on his own.

On his own, Iagoo was able to explore the world and truly live among the animals. He traveled from village to village, and met many different people and tribes along the way. He also listened to several ancient stories that he never heard of. He found himself within a village far up north where it was very cold and frigid. Here, he learned about the story of  Shin-ge-bis and the North Wind. He leaned about the weather and seasons. They were determined by these Kings or Queens, such as the North and South Wind. Iagoo then traveled west and along the way heard stories about the eagles and bears. Further west he leaned about the little boy and girl in the clouds, from a large tribe in what is present day California. Basically, anywhere we traveled Iagoo heard the stories that come from that particular place, but stories is not the only thing Iagoo learned. Each village or tribe taught him of certain techniques or technologies that they knew. For example, far of in the North, Iagoo was shown how to surviving the harsh conditions by, making coats out of bull hide, and assembling huts out of pure snow if necessary.  In the East he learned how to fish and make various types of tools. Out West Iagoo learned how to swim and build a boat. Lastly, further down south, Iagoo learned how to make better-crafted weapons for hunting. He also learned how to scout out prey, and extract water from plans if necessary due to the extreme heat in the south. This is only a fraction of the knowledge Iagoo learned on his exploration, and after he was done, he came back to our tribe to spread his knowledge.

This is the Iagoo you see today. My brother, the wisest man to ever live amongst us. Iagoo spreads this knowledge he was learned not just for our entertainment. He is only one person, and we much remember that it is our job to keep this information alive. Iagoo will not be around forever and neither will you. It is up to us to spread the gift that Iagoo brought on us.

Three Horses by Edward S. Curtis

Author's Note:

This week I read American Indian Fairy Tales from the Un-textbook. I decided to base my storytelling post not from one of the stories listed, but from the storyteller himself, Iagoo. Iagoo is known to be the wisest and best storytellings in all of the Indian tribes.  Throughout the stories within the un-textbook, there are brief paragraphs that reference Iagoo. He is shown as an extremely all-knowing person. In my story I wanted to try and explain his origin from my perspective. It is completely made up, but I feel that it "could" be a valid fit for his origin. I just want to shed some light on him in particular since he is telling all of the stories.