Time Strategies

 Typically I am a very organized person when it comes to managing my classes and work, leading to decently successful results in the classroom. This modicum of success I have achieved up until this point I attribute to extensive time allotment and planning in the week. Every Sunday afternoon I sit down with a blank sheet of copy paper and write out everything that I have to do each day. I then look over at a fully fleshed-out schedule I keep at my deck and assign a task to each gap of free time in my schedule from my to-do list. Often, I am left with gaps where I still have free time and these I fill with leisure activities like reading, biking, or spending with friends. My method is reminiscent of the checklist strategy used in the article How Checklists Train Your Brain to be More Productive and Goal-Oriented by Lauren Marchese. This article speaks of how the act of completing something as simple as small goal on a checklist help keep up your motivation while helping fuel future anticipation for the work. In my personal experience, it is easy to finish what you start but it is quite difficult to take that first step. I dread making that list each Sunday but it has always helped me keep on track and successful thus far. I was glad to read that my experience with the struggle of getting started was not just me, evidenced in the article The Importance of Just Starting by Jory Mackay. This article focuses on how overcoming the initial forces of procrastination is the hardest step in being successful in a project. I"m looking forward to consciously monitoring how well my time management strategies work this semester with all my classes being online!

(Image Source: Pxhere)

Tinkering with Technology

 I honestly have never heard of any of the online sites or tools which were recommended we use in this class. When it comes to technology I have two left feet but I am excited this class will help equip me with some knowledge and experience in tools I am likely to use in my future. The thing I will definitely need to work on the most is familiarity with working online. Throughout college I have avoided using electronic methods as often as possible, even going so far as to refuse to use any source on an essay that I could not check out from the library. Hopefully, this class will help me to move past my lack of experience and to cultivate skills which I can use in the future instead of getting hopelessly lost in the reaches of the web!

(Image Source: Pixabay)

Assignment Reflection

 The layout of the assignment in this class is quite a bit different than any class I have had before. This is likely due in a large part to my never having had a creative writing course at OU, which seems to be a very important aspect of this class. While it is largely unfamiliar to me, I really do think I will like the flow of the class and it seems to be very intuitive. In many ways the outline of a generic week will be similar to mathematical order of operations: first you read the story, then you rewrite the story, then you comment and edit on the stories of the class. I'll admit I am a tad confused about the purpose of splitting the reading assignment into two parts; but I'm sure understanding will come with experience once the actual coursework begins. Additionally, I am super excited for several of the extra credit options, the most notable being the extra reading and microfictions!

(Image Source: HippoPX)

Introduction to a Concrete-Cacooned Cowboy

     Me, Myself, and My Home

Possibly the most important thing to know about me is that I am just a simple country kid that feels stranded in a sea of concrete here in Norman! I live on a ranch so far removed from other people I have to drive five miles to visit my closest neighbor and 45 minutes to buy a jug of milk. The clear skies and endless fields are an open and free haven for me compared to the night skies polluted with the lights of the city and the expanse of concrete. Possibly even more important than my dislike of the concrete jungle is the lack of having my dog, named Link, here in town!

The Best Dog There Has Been!

(Image Source: Personal Photo)

I ain't the biggest fan of big cities, but I have a goal while that brought me here to OU: to improve my home. My hometown is so small it isn't on most maps, unsurprising considering there are only 300 people who live there (299 when I'm in Norman)! As is a major problem with most small communities in Oklahoma, the schools don't get the support they need to make quality education readily available to their students. Growing up I saw dozens of students struggling in a school system which was incapable of providing them with the support they needed to be successful. Seeing this happen to so many students helped me find my passion for helping students. I came to OU so that I could become equipped to go back home and try and make a difference as an educator in a school which has long since given up hope. 

I am studying Letters here at OU not only because I love the subject material associated with this program, but also because it is typically representative of the subjects least well taught in rural Oklahoma schools. When schools face budget cuts it is always the humanities programs which are hit first. Oftentimes, humanities teachers are replaced with coaches who, while assuredly well-intentioned, are dividing their time between a subject they were not prepared for and the administration of their teams. The ones who suffer most in this exchange are students and I want to try and return home to stop this in Prue (my hometown school district). I am also seeking a Master's degree in History Education so that I may gain enough knowledge to hopefully help not only struggling students but also the struggling teachers of these drowning school districts.

Finishing on a slightly less serious and more personal note: I am an avid musician (having been playing guitar 15 years and learning bass, mandolin, and piano in the intervening period), hobbyist chef (I am best at baking pastries but am starting to expand my repertoire into other areas), and legitimately a cowboy (I have worked on the ranch for the past seven years and have ran the gambit of cowboy activities from branding cattle to building fence to chasing obstinate heifers across a field like an absolute fool!).

Growth Mindset

 Growth Mindset

While I have heard of Dr. Dweck's theories of growth mindset before, I have never paid much attention to them or given them much credence. I had always thought it was some fad educational theory that someone had dreamed up to create a name for themselves and garner some notoriety; but that is certainly no longer the case. During her TED Talk, Dr. Dweck showed the empirical evidence that creating a growth mindset learning environment is resoundingly successful in creating better students who are more driven to learn. As she continued describing the qualities of growth-driven and those of fixed-stagnated students I began to have the growing realization that much of what has driven me both in school and life has been deriving from a fixed mindset. Instead of looking for opportunities to challenge myself, I have assumed that a challenge means I am not equipped well for that scenario. Instead of seeking to grow past that, I have steered clear of that which I know I am not as good at so I could continue to succeed in that which I specialize. 

As a result of this realization, I am determined to try and find ways to break myself out of this mold. Instead of shying away from challenges, I am going to try and seek out new intellectual and relational avenues which I have struggled with in the past in hopes of growing to be better equipped for them in the future. To do this, I plan on taking many opportunities to grow my understanding of growth mindsets and seeking out opportunities to put what I learn to use. I plan on taking advantage of the opportunities offered to me in this class (which are undoubtedly outside my comfort zone) to grow in the areas which this class focusses on: discussion, imagination, and, to a degree, acceptance of randomization!

(Image Source: The Times)

Storybook Favorites

Avatar Aang's Lost Tales 

I absolutely love this Storybook! I grew up watching the Avatar series and rediscovering the stories of Aang was incredibly refreshing. I greatly enjoyed the creative take on some of the stories from the franchise and the new spins and twists which the author included in their telling. Additionally, I greatly enjoyed the introduction of the storybook. While I enjoyed the show when I was younger, I never thought too much about the cultural roots of the story or the philosophical applications of how humans interact with that which they do not understand; both of which the introduction did a great job of framing both for initial understanding and continued interest.

Minor Olympians

When reading through this Storybook it was obvious the writer had read Rick Riordan's stories of the Greek gods and goddesses: a favorite of mine! These stories from which the storybook author borrows some ideas and language are already reframed versions of Ancient Greek myths. However, one author cannot hope to do justice to the mass of Greek myth; there's just too much. The storybook takes some of the tales which were left out by Riordan and gives them life. These stories give depth to characters and their motivations while helping create a cohesive story which ties together many characters in a common thread of compassion and dutifulness.

Draconic Heroes

What I enjoyed most about this storybook is how each story stood alone within a grand framework of mythos. No character connections between stories and thousands of miles separating the cultures represented in each of the stories; giving a wide scope to the world created by the author and credence to the real-world prevalence of dragon myth. In these stories I love how the dragons were depicted as wise and judicious lords of the skies and waters which guided mankind by sharing their knowledge with all who care to seek it.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Image from Avatar Aang's Lost Tales

Favorite Place: Home on the Ranch

Undoubtedly my favorite place is back home on the ranch. At heart, I am a simple country boy that is supremely content with the peace and beauty which characterizes my life on the ranch. I have lived and worked at the ranch since I was fifteen and some of my best memories come from those pastures and fields: learning to drive a car and a tractor both in the field next to my cabin, the sight of thunderstorms rolling in over the prairie, and innumerable sunrises and sunsets which would steal the breath from any artist at their grandeur and majesty!

(Thunderstorm Overhead: Personal Photo)

(Sunset over the Field: Personal Photo)

                                                    (Work Pens: Montgomery Hill Gallery)

I haven't traveled much or seen the wonders which proliferate the world, but I love my home on the ranch and the simplicity that comes with it; there has been my anchor and security and that's truly all I need.

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