Growth Mindset: Feedback is your Friend

I really enjoyed the videos this week on Growth Mindset. While this was a topic I have heard about, I felt like the videos really put it in perspective. I liked that Dweck emphasized the idea of "not yet." When you fail at something or struggle with something it is easy to see yourself as a failure, but when you introduce the idea, "not yet," it is easier for you to see that while I don't understand it or know it now, I can learn.

Being in college and going to OU I think this is a tough idea to learn. With honor societies, parents and professor constantly telling you that grades are the most important thing. It put tremendous pressure on you, which can cause you to feel weighed down by others expectations. I really enjoy classes that have a blog/commenting aspect, because I feel like this fits into growth mindset. Instead of the professor telling you constantly that you either pass or fail, blog comments allow both the professor and student to challenge you, encourage you and help you. I feel like this form of feedback is also less threatening because at the end of the day, you can understand that they are just trying to help you get better.

A goal I have for this semester is to learn how to accept feedback. It is so easy to get defensive when someone challenges you or questions you, but I want to learn how to accept what they say, see where they are coming from and understand that they are just trying to make me better.

I think this is the biggest thing that college students need to know. While grades are important they aren't the end-all-be-all and the best chance to grow is to ask questions not only from your professors but from your fellow classmates. There will always be someone who can teach you something, you just need to listen!

Web Source 

Famous Last Words: Almost there

These last few weeks are in my opinion the hardest! You have so many papers to do and tests to ace that it can be overwhelming when you take a step back and look at what needs to get done! My saving grace these past few weeks is my lists! I love lists! Whether they are in my planner or on my weekly layout they help me organize my life and stop my mini freak-outs.

This week I read a lot of great pieces! It is so cool to see how people incorporate their favorite things into their stories. A great way to do this is to just look at the things you use in your daily life and incorporate that into your story. For example if you like Pride and Prejudice, you could consider what would happen if Mr. Darcy had a cell phone? Would it revolutionize the way Elizabeth and Darcy fell in love?

This creates an instant twist to these well known stories! Other than that, things are going well in my other classes! I have almost survived my first semester of graduate school, which is a big accomplishment for me. I feel like all of the writing this class requires has made writing easier for me. I have always loved writing but this class has pushed me to write on a deadline, which is great for my time management!

Overall, the best thing I have learned from this class is to get ahead while you can!! When you get bogged down in other classes its a nice breeze to have the work for this class done early! I hope I can continue getting ahead as I finish out the year!

This is me this weekend as I try to finish all of my homework! Web Source 

Story Planning: The Revenge of Ravana

For this week I am planning my storybook story. This week in my storybook I am introducing Lord Ravana, which is my Indian version of Lord Voldemort. I wanted to spend more time introducing him, because it will be the big climatic shift in my story.

Storybook: 

• Harry Potter Themed 
• 4 Hogwarts Houses are named after the Rama and his brothers
• Lord Voldemort is now Lord Ravana 
• The Pandava Brothers (who are now ghosts) will help Harry, Ron and Hermione defeat Lord Ravana 
• They will also be assisted by the Patil Sister

New Story: 

• My idea for Lord Ravana (which was influenced by the comments on my last story) is to introduce him by having him attack the school 
• This sudden appearance of Ravana will not only be a big action sequence for my story but it will allow all of the characters to react
• An attack on Hogwarts would be sudden and throw the students into the midst of it. This would be a great way to get my characters to interact and to start working with the Pandava Brothers to stop him
• In my last story I stated that McGonagall  has a hunch that Lord Ravana is back, but never confirmed it with her students or the faculty
• Because of this McGonagall will be a major character in the preparation in fighting Ravana
• The main characters I will focus on for this story are the Patil Sisters, Harry, Ron and Hermione with a small appearance from the Pandava Brothers (they will be the ones who initially tell the students the information needed to stop Ravana) 

Mahabharata by Narayan

The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan

Fight scene at the Department of Mysteries. Web Source 

Reading Notes: Ravana Humbled Part A

For this week's reading I chose to read Ravana Humbled, so I could get more inspiration for my Lord Ravana character in my Harry Potter remake.

• The first thing I noticed when reading the comic is of the two main characters that are arguing, Shiva and Parvati, one of them shares a name with one of the Patil Sisters in my Harry Potter story 
• This would be fun to have Parvati Patil say a story where she was named after the original Parvati 
• Ravananugraha
• I did not know there was a story all about Ravana (the demon king)
• This will be very helpful in my development of Ravana as my new Lord Voldemort
• From my research I found that after being trapped under the mountain for thousand of years, Shiva finally let him out because of his beautiful singing 
• Shiva also granted him the sword Chandrahasa.
• In my version he will use a wand gifted by Shirva
• I am torn between this Ravana and the one we meet in the Ramayana 
• This one has so many redeemable qualities that make you forget he is still a demon 
• Using this new information I need to rethink how I will introduce Lord Ravana back at Hogwarts
• One idea is I could have him attack the school
• An attack on Hogwarts would be sudden and throw the students into the midst of it. 
• The next idea is that Dumbledore or McGonagall could announce to the class that the school is on lockdown because the Dark Lord is back. This would basically run like a press conference to the entire school

An older picture from the cover of Ravana Humbled graphic novel. Web Source

Ravana Humbled: An Arrogant King Finds New Friends