Tech Tip Site Navigation

So somehow earlier today, while updating my storybook. I managed to make my new story a subpage of my Introduction and to completely delete my navigation bar. Needless to say, I was freaking out because I could not figure out how it just happened. Luckily, I figured it out by following the GoogleSites: Adjusting the Navigation Panel blog to help me figure it out!

I decided for my webpage that a horizontal navigation would look best since a lot of my titles are really short. It works really well for these since the whole title can fix in the box. Also, I think it helps focus the viewer on the text since it takes up the whole page, rather than leaving space on the side for the navigation panel. It also easily lays out how many pages they are and makes it super easy to navigate to each. All you have to do is refer back to the top, just like you would when searching on Safari or Google Chrome. 

Once I got the Navigation Pane back by going to More-->Edit Site Layout-->Horizontal Navigation. I then, had to figure out how to get the first story out of the Introduction page. I went to More-->Manage Sites--> Pages (from the left hand tool bar). From there, I could drag the Cinderella page to underneath the The Magic of Reading page. This popped it back out to being a page of it's own!

I hope this could help anyone who's struggling with the same issues I did! To view my Storybook site, click here.

Reading Plan- Weeks 9 and 10

For week 9, I want to read the stories of the Mississippi Valley/Great Lakes unit. I chose this unit because I do not have any experience with the Biloxi. I want to learn more about the values they incorporate into their stories and the information they deem valuable. As I've mentioned before, I like reading different cultures ideas on creation and how things came to be, and this unit seems to be centered around this. In addition, I like the idea of trickster rabbit and would like to read more about this. Lastly, to be honest, I like how many of the stories in the unit are pretty short. I have a really hard time maintaining attention and focus for long, multipage stories. 

For week 10, I want to read the stories from the Inuit people. I think their stories will be fascinating because their setting will be in the polar world and it contains levels of supernatural beings like ghosts. I'm really excited to read more of this unit since I really enjoyed the first story, The Coming of Men, A Long, Long While Ago. 

Visit Greenland, Flickr

Blog Ideas

There were several blogs that I enjoyed looking at, however there were three that really caught my eye. 

Two of them were sort of for the same reasons. I thought Adrienne's blog Mythology and Folklore was cool because she used color schemes I hadn't seen before. She really inspired me to play with the background and text box to find a look that really captured my personality. I also really liked the images that she used. I thought they were well thought out and added to her interpretations of the stories. From what I read, Adrienne and I could probably be very good friends because we have the same humor and like the song Lush Life.

The second blog I enjoyed was Cassie's blog. I mentioned this in my comment to her, but for some reason her color scheme reminded me of strawberry ice cream. I also liked the cream, off-white color she used for the text box. It added color without it being overwhelming or busy. 

Lastly, I really liked the color scheme of Jasmine's blog. I really enjoy the color combination of the teal, black and white, and pink. She did a good job of adding in color without it seeming overwhelming. I also enjoyed how she linked her Pinterest account to her blog. It added an element that I did not see on many others and really intrigued me! I wanted to get to know more about her and had the possibility to through clicking around on her Pinterest boards. 

Mid-Semester Time Management

At the beginning of the semester, I decided to lay out my schedule for this class with each week starting on Sunday. I would aim to get the reading done for the upcoming week on Sunday, the storytelling done on Tuesday, and the weekend assignments started on Thursday and done by Saturday. As much as I want this schedule to work, it just doesn't with me. That is why I have decided to change my week start date to Monday. Between Monday and Tuesday, I will get the reading done. By Thursday, I will have the storytelling done as well as start the weekend assignments. Then, Sunday I will finish up the week's assignments to have them all in on time. 

Working ahead, in my mind, would be to have the storytelling done on Tuesday to allow the rest of the week to prepare for the project and my weekend assignments. I think this is usually a feasible task based off of my experience. However, I don't want to make it an absolute deadline for myself. 

A checklist to use to highlight completed assignments

Ideally, I would also start the weekend assignments earlier than Sunday so that my Sundays are not as stressful. However, with the way my work and class schedule is this semester, usually I do not have time to do so.

Some strategies that I want to use for the rest of the semester is setting aside specific time that I will use for class, but making it shorter time. For example, rather than saying "I'm going to work on assignments all Tuesday afternoon", I want to set aside a specific hour or two that I will really focus on getting work done. I think having this set time and then giving myself a break will allow me to stay more focused and motivated than having just the vague idea of "the whole afternoon to work". Also, I will be motivated to get my assignments done if I know that I can actually relax and watch an episode of Netflix in an hour rather than putting off the work and taking a break early, but being stressed the entire time. 

An idea for how to break up my study time- The Pomodoro Technique

Another time management skill that I want to use is to write my assignments down in my planner more. I used to be very good about this. However, recently I have relied more on my memory which has resulted in my rushing to finish some things due to the fact that I forgot the deadline. This results in a lot of stress for me since I don't like feeling like I am turning in sub-par work. Writing down when assignments are due and writing down a plan for getting them done will help me stay on track.