Reading notes: Homer's Iliad part B

     Homer's Iliad  retold by Alfred Church, link to online reading

     The horses feel so much for Patroclus which I would not expect. I like how Zeus adds so much for foreshadowing to the story. It is nice how Achilles is portrayed as an honorable man and understands how Priam feels, or it could be that he is doing what he is doing only because the gods say to do so. There is so much anger that Achilles feels because of his dear friends death that it pushes him to drag the body of the one who killed him. I strongly believe though that he still is a decent human since he takes pity on Priam.

Priam begging Achilles, by Ivanov

Reading Notes: Homer's Iliad part A

Homer's Iliad  retold by Alfred Church , link to online reading. 

Even though the Greeks and Trojans have different cultures they seem to both care about women the same way. When Helen is taken by Paris, his father is mad that he caused all this trouble but does not question why the Greek are attacking or want to get rid of Paris and Helen. Paris seems to be very materialistic like Andromache. I am surprised with how involved the gods are with the humans and how Zeus is wary of how is wife will react when she finds out Thetis, Achilles mother, has gone to him for help.  The character of Achilles is well formed to where he wants nothing to do with Andromache because he sees him as too greedy but still let Patroclus and his men go to protect the ships of the Greeks Even if he knew that they would most likely die. He was worried about losing Patroclus and did ask him not to grow big head but knew that he was his own man and would find a way to go to battle with or without his permission.

Reading Options

     For week two, I want to read Homer's Iliad since I had read homer's Odyssey in high school and did not understand why the journey took place. I also really enjoyed the movie Where art tho brother and know that is is a different version of the Odyssey which is what I plan on reading in week three.
     Since I have such a strong Irish background I look forward to learning about the Celtic fairy tales in the British and Celtic unit. I really enjoyed the Irish story from a previous assignment that talks about leprechaun and mermaids. and I have heard about the Canterbury tales but am not too familiar with them and would like to know more about them. I really enjoy reading stories that have stories within. It makes it easier to absorb lots of short stories rather than only big one. The picture below is from on of the Celtic short stories that I thought looked very elegant.

From the short story "Gold Tree and Silver Tree"

Tech Tip: Canvas Profile

I had already changed my profile for my leadership class but enjoy changing it regularly so here is what it is now:

Dog that I wish was mine

Wikipedia trails from the Minotaur to the Ecumene.

In my Wiki search I started with the Minotaur, later taking me to Achelous, the god of all water or a river spirit. From Achelous, I found out about Oceanus and from there I ended on Ecumene. I liked learning about the different variations of the Minotaur, which always have him ending up in a labyrinth. I had never heard about Achelous the River Spirit, so finding out that he was originally the god of all water was quite exciting. I liked the name of his father, Oceanus for I wanted to find out where he got his name. When Finding out his name I did not know what they meant by habitable hemisphere which came up as Ecumene which means civilization in Roman Culture. Oceanus is the river stream at the equator. 

"But dad! I don't want to go!"

Dante and Virgil meet the Minotaur, illustration by Gustave Doré

Growth Mindset

From Flickr by BK

I have never heard of this type of learning but it is quite interesting. My dad always had a different still of teaching us and it seems to follow this style. I am interested to see how to integrate growth mindset learning into today's way of learning. I know from my time at OU the majority of my teachers are very adaptable to fit the way I want to learn and try to make sure all the students are able to learn in their own way. I am excited to see how I can implement this new way of learning in my Linear Algebra and Circuits and Sensors classes. 

Time Strategies

Benjamin Franklin

     I believe that I am a very organized person and as long as I make sure to schedule everything appropriately I can get almost everything I need done. I agree with the Myth of "Too Busy",  I think its a good idea to rethink the word "busy" and replace it with "prioritizing my time". It reminds me of something someone told me which was, instead of replying "I'm too Busy", say " I believe my time is more important else where". While it is harsh to say that it, I believe it helps with making sure that what is most important gets done first. I also agree with "11 ways unsuccessful people mismanage their time". When I do not remember to plan out everything I need to do in my agenda, I usually end up falling behind and am overwhelmed. I also make sure to write things down like they have an earlier due date just in case I do catch a procrastination bug and need a jump to start moving again. Another way I make sure that I get everything done on time is I start on projects the day I get them to gauge how long they will take an then double that predicted time to make sure I do not run out of time. In the article "Four Questions to help you overcome procrastination", one of the questions is "How can I make this easier?". I never would have considered this as a way to curb procrastination but it makes sense. My number one way to stay on task and not miss anything is to write everything down on my agenda. I seem to do better if I always have something to do.  I believe that a body in motion stays in motion and that a body at rest stays at rest has a greater meaning than just a law of physics. 

Storybook Favorites

   The three stories that sparked my interest were Fairytale Cases, Creatures of Irish Lore  and Jackals of Telekeshi.
   I am familiar with the stories the were introduced in the Fairy tale Cases and liked the extra element of the detective being added in there. The author did a good job bringing the stories together. It was also nice that where the detective influenced the story was different. He came in after the traditional story with Hansel and Gretel to say what had already happened with the witch. In Rumpelstiltskin, the detective helped be a part of the story in that he found the name when the original story said that the lady was in the woods and she heard him say it. The images where okay but could have been picked better to hep set the scene for the story. The image of the detective in the introduction did help with setting the character up. The layout was good and very similar to the other stories.
     The images selected for the Creatures of Irish Lore fit the story really well. I am not familiar with these stories so hearing about the creatures in an old pub setting made them that much better. The author did a good job tying everything together. It was nice that there was a description  of where the stories were going to be told. I enjoyed the picture below because of how pristine it looks. The picture also looks like it is about to rain so it sort of sets the scene before the start of the story. 

Cliffs of Moher

The Jackals of Telekeshi took from stories that I have never heard of. I enjoyed the setting of the stories and the author did a really good job of tying all the parts of the stories together. I would have preferred the order of the stories to be different. It would have flown better if the baboons story was first since the introduction ending on the the note that the baboon was going to tell a quick story. The images selected for the story fit well and I enjoyed the yellow background which brought the story together well. I really liked this picture that was used with the lion's story. 

The Lion and the Jackal