Growth Mindset Challenge- Curiosity: Quest for New Ideas and Information

This week I also decided to do a Growth Mindset Challenge. For the challenge, I read Jackie Gernstein's blog post about adding curiosity to schools. I completely agree with everything that she says because I do think curiosity should be encouraged and cultivated while one is in school. There are so many times that I feel like I don't have time to be curious because I'm trying to get assigned homework and readings complete. By the time all of this is done, my mind feels worn out and I would much rather just watch mindless TV rather than think about anything new.

Growth Mindset Memes blog.
Original image made on Cheezburger

I also think it would help encourage people to learn. Being naturally curious means that you want to know more. This would help so much during one's education. Especially in college where a lot of the gen-ed classes do not pertain to your major, but rather are trying to make you a well-rounded student. For example, I had to take a non-western dance class last year to satisfy my non-western culture class. Had I been curious about this topic, I would have wanted to know more and would have enjoyed the class more. 

I also think curiosity should extend throughout one's life. Not just during their schooling. I don't think a person is ever done learning. However, I could see how when I get older, there may be a time where I am not learning many new things since I am either working or doing my normal routine. If one is not curious, they will not pursue knowledge and will not continue to learn. I want to be curious so that I can learn forever and grow as a person. 

Learning by HEART- The Amazing Effects of Gratitude

This week, I decided to do a learning by HEART challenge. The one I did focused on happiness and it was a video that talked about the effects of gratitude. Basically, it said being grateful leads to one being happier. 

I completely agree with this video. I think being grateful definitely gives a person a healthy perspective and helps them focus on the positive in their life rather than the negative. Let's say that I chose to write down everything that happened to me during the day that was good. This would definitely help me focus on the good things that are happening around me and would help me completely shift my mindset.

I also thought it was interesting that scientists have only been studying the effects of gratitude for about 30 years. Thinking about how long some topics have been researched, this is no time at all! I am curious what else comes to light as researchers get more time to dig into the effects of gratitude.

I think the video was definitely a good reminder to me to focus on the good rather than the bad. When I get down or am tired, I can get fixated on everything that is going wrong that day which only makes my mood worse. I think writing down all of the blessings in my life would definitely be helpful since I could refer to it when I started feeling pessimistic. 

Reading Diary Week 12, continued: Robin Hood

Today, while reading, I couldn't help but notice how much detail is put into each story in the Robin Hood unit. For example, in Little John a Begging, the details about the number of beggars, whether the were blind or not, the specific forrest, where people were from, etc. I thought it was really interesting that the author decided to include so much information. I wonder how much of it was accurate to the times and how the author decided which places to include, etc? There had to be some research or trends that dictated what was included.

Including more detail is something that I am trying to do in my own storytelling. When writing my next story, I would like to reference some of the stories in the Robin Hood unit for examples on how to include all of the facts without making the story feel choppy and interrupted.

I really enjoyed Robin Hood and Maid Marian. I am a sucker for love stories, so I really liked the story of Robin Hood finding love with Marian. From the story, it sounded like they lived happily together for the rest of their lives, and that really made me happy. Some of these stories can be so dramatic, I was half expecting something terrible to happen to her. I guess the Robin Hood unit hasn't had many plot twists like that though. I have not yet written a love story for this class yet. That is something I would like to do before the semester is though. 

Robin Hood and Marian
(Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood)

Robin Hood's Death made me really sad! From my understanding, Robin's cousin basically stabbed the vein in his arm until he bled out. I was shocked to read that this was Robin's end. It's one of those things where when you read it in the story, the language is different so it doesn't sound that terrible. But, if you stop to think about it in real life, its truly horrific! My guess is that Walt Disney did not include this in the ending of his story, but I could be wrong. If I'm remembering right, I have not yet killed anyone off in my stories. Maybe it would be a cool exercise if I ended one of my stories with the death of a character.

All in all, I think the Robin Hood unit was not my favorite. Actually, the British/Celtic weeks did not really appeal to me in general. This is interesting since I would have thought I liked the British ones since I had assumed they would be similar to America's since the values and traditions might overlap more? I was proven wrong! 

Reading Diary, Week 12: Robin Hood Unit

I actually learned something before even reading in the Robin Hood unit. I did not know that there were multiple Robin Hood stories. I guess, due to the representation that Disney provides, I just assumed since there was only one story since there is only one movie. I don't know if I've ever seen the movie, but I am wondering if the movie tells the story of his whole life? Like all of the different tales combined or if it focuses and elaborates on one? Or maybe its completely different? I would like to research this and see.

The next thing I noticed about the unit was that the language was fairly different which made it a little difficult to read. I had a hard time understanding what was happening and actually had to re-read many sentences. This got annoying to me since I am not used to a language barrier. However, in my own storytelling, it might be cool to research a different way of speaking and incorporate it in. I have never tried to write using the ways of speaking from a different time, so this could be a real growing exercise for me. Since the stories are so long, this meant that it took me a long time to get through even one story.

Actual photo of me trying to read these stories 

(Pixabay)

I'm still not completely clear on what all happened in the story of Robin Hood and Little John. The language is so different! It is surprisingly difficult for me to read! Basically, I think it was explaining the story of Robin Hood and Little John's meeting and a fight that they had. One thing I really liked about the story was how it rhymed. I have never tried rhyming in my stories, so I think it would be a challenging yet fun exercise to try.

In The Shepherd, I noticed a lot of punctuation. I don't know if this is because the language of the time is more abbreviated from the formal version or why this would be, but there are so many apostrophes before words and other things like that. I also noticed they employed a lot of commas and semicolons. At the end of each line and the beginning of many, there is some kind of punctuation which makes the story look really busy to me. 

Robin Hood's horn seems like an integral part to Robin Hood's character. It seems to appear in each story. I would like to research whether a horn is a prop for a reason. Does it symbolize anything, or was it just an artistic choice of the author to include it?


Bibliography: The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child.