Reading Diary B: Tejas Legends

Tejas Legends

When the Rainbow Was Torn

From Blog

So this story is about a rainbow that was split into. It got hung up on some flower thorns and then ripped away. I won't be choosing this as my story this week.

Reading Diary A: Tejas Legends

Tejas Legends

When the Storm God Rides

Image from Blog

This was an awesome story! It was about a god that road a thunder bird. The indians were terrified when this happened. This story was basically about a hurricane like storm. It also talks about different islands created by the god to protect birds. I will probably write about this story this week. 

Extra Reading Diary: Myths of the Cherokee

Myths of the Cherokee

How The World Was Made

Mother Earth

I really like this story. I absolutely love reading how other cultures believe we were all created. I should have picked this unit for this week. This whole story was just how the earth was an island floating on the water, but the animals wanted more and more space. Soon the earth had more space for animals and men to roam and then it was turned into the earth we know and love today.

The Journey To The Sunrise

So this story is about some men who wanted to know where the Sun went at night to live. So they found this rock thing that the sun lived in. One of the men tried going through the door, but was crushed by a rock. The other men were too afraid to try so they walked back home. They traveled so far and long that they were old and wrinkly when they got back to their home. 

Reading Diary B: American Indian Fairy Tales

The Boy who Snared the Sun

A mural depicting Tawa, the Sun Spirit and Creator in Hopi mythology.

This story starts out during the cold winter. A moose comes up and this guy was going to kill it, but this other person tells him not to. Iagoo goes into a story about how moose used to be way greater. People didn't eat animals, they only ate fruits and veggies. There were more animals than there were men. 

This little man that didn't grow past three feet decided to catch the sun. He did and the sun stopped rising and the animals had no clue what was happening. 

The animals couldn't figure out how to free the sun. 

Finally they came up with a plan to free the sun, but the animal that did was turned into a pile of ashes. 

Reading Diary A: American Indian Fairy Tales

Iagoo, the Story-Teller

From Blog

This would be a great little intro to use for storytelling. Iagoo is a storyteller that all the children love. He knows all the great stories of the indians. The way it was written, it sounds like Iagoo passes down not only stories, but life lessons to all the children. 

Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind

This story starts out with the battling forces of the North Wind versus the South Wind. The North wind wanted everything cold and dead, but it was no match for the South Wind, which breathed life into the living. 

Some fishermen were out fishing up north in the summer, and the North Wind started to show up. They had to leave but Shin-ge-bis kept laughing strangely and wouldn't leave. Could North Wind have put his magic on this guy? This would be a great story to build on. 

Reading Plan

Week 9: American Indian Fairy Tales
Week 10: Tejas Legends

Week 11: Nursery Rhymes

Week 12: Celtic Fairy Tales

Week 13: Fables of La Fontaine

Week 14: Europa's Fairy Book

Miss Auras, by John Lavery, depicts a woman reading a book

This will be my life the next few weeks. 

Reflections: Looking Forward

Looking forward, I seriously need to try and get at least two or three weeks ahead. I love this class, but scheduling has been the hardest part. I am also hitting a brick wall in creativity with my storybook. I need to take a week and surround my self with halloween themes. This is the time of the semester when everything starts piling on so I really need to get with it. I am still very happy with my grade in this class at this point thought!

Stressed Man

This is how I am starting to feel right now.

Reflections: Looking Back

Wow these past 7 weeks have gone by so fast! I surprisingly really like this class! I have taken a few online classes before and they have always been the worst. I am still struggling with scheduling, but it's better each week.

I really enjoy being able to express myself through stories. I forgot how fun it truly is to create something from your imagination. It has really helped me destress during weeks of nonstop news writing.

My favorite thing about this class is exploring all the fun folktales we have learned as kids and know where they come from. I also like comparing different cultures to see the similarities and differences we all have.

Imagination by Mehdinom

I'm letting my inner child out for this class. 

Storytelling Week 7: No Service: Group Project

What's worse than having a hoard of fire ants stinging you? Being in a group project. At least that's what Annie, a junior business major, thought. Annie is your typical straight A college student. She always reads every chapter for class, writes a novel when taking class note, and somehow finds time to get enough sleep.

Annie is not happy right now though. It's 8:42 p.m. on the day before her midterm presentation is due. No one in her group could meet in person so they are stuck messaging back and forth.

Annie checks her phone.

“1 NEW MESSAGE,” her screen blared.

“Hey guys, so I have taken the initiative and designed the layout of our project. Take a look and tell me what you think!!!!” a message from Hannah read.

You have got to be kidding me, Annie thought. This girl has gone to maybe three classes and she thinks she knows what’s going on?

“3 NEW MESSAGES,” her screen flashed.

“Nice! Glad someone is doing that. I don’t have time for this,” Joey typed.

“Guys as long as I get a c in the class I really don’t care what we do…” from Ryan.

“Awesome, I didn’t really put that much time into the layout but I don’t care as long as we pass,” Hannah replied quickly.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME, Annie screamed internally.

“I am almost done with the CORRECT layout of the….” Annie started to type.

“1 NEW MESSAGE,” her phone alerted her.

“K guys lets call it a day and get some margs at campus corner.” Hannah replied.

Swish. Whack. Shatter.

Annie threw her computer across the room in a fit of rage.

“Oh crap. Oh crap! WHAT HAVE I DONE”? Annie screamed looking at her busted computer.

Annie has lost all of her work for the project and now has no way to talk to her classmates.

Annie failed her midterm presentation the next day.

(Broken Laptop)

Author's Note:

This story was based on the South African story The Lost Message. In the original story, different types of ants got together to find a way to stay safe from their enemies. No one listened to each other and they did their own thing. The kind of the insects found this out and sent a messenger beetle to tell the ants the secret of unity. He never arrived to the ants so they don't know how to unite. 

Same goes with this story. Annie let her anger and frustration get to her and destroyed her work. She wasn't able to finish her project and she failed. 

Bibliography:
Book: SouthAfrican Folk-Tales
Author: James A. Honey
Year: 1910

reading Diary A: South African Folktales

South African Folktales

The Lost Message

Anteater

So this story is about how ants came together to find a place to retreat when they are being attacked. The story says the ants have many enemies since they are small and destructive. 

When they held a meeting, there were many different types of ants to talk about the problems they face.

Basically the story is about how all these different ants couldn't come to one agreement so they separated and did their own thing. 

The king of the insects heard that their ideas weren't working so he sent a beetle to tell them the secret of unity. The beetle never arrived so they still have no clue what they are doing. 

The Story of a Dam

So the story starts out with a great drought throughout the land. The lion summons different animals to see if they could find a way to collect precious water. So basically these animals that worked so hard to create this dam didn't take care of it. 

I think I will try to combine these two stories. 

Extra Readin Diary: Brothers Grimm (Crane)

Snow White

Snow White

I absolutely love the Brother's Grimm! I always thought this story was creepy, even the Disney version, but this one is way creepier. I would really like to turn this story into my own. Maybe the next time we get to pick a theme, I'll go with this. It is such a classic story with a great theme. There is so much to work with as well.