Learning Challenge: Learn About Sleep

The H.E.A.R.T. Challenge I did this week was learning about sleep. The article I read was Why Sleeping May Be More Important Than Studying. In today's society, I personally feel the pressure to give up my sleep, so I can study. I have often fell into the habit of not sleeping very much at all the night before a big test in order to study more. This often resulted in me being so tired the day of the test that my brain could not think. I have often found when I try to do this, my brain is so slow at trying to do any task that takes any mental capacity. So I have already known about this correlation between sleep and performing well. I have personally felt the results of not getting near enough sleep. Nowadays, since I rarely get to sleep due to college and work and everything else, I often require needing to sleep for about ten hours before I feel anywhere near fully rested. This is an insane amount of time to be asleep, as I basically sleep half the day away just to try and catch up on the sleep I did not get throughout the week. 

On another note, something new I learned from this article is that high school should start their school day at 10 a.m. to account for the sleeping pattern of high school students. I definitely wish my classes in high school began at that time. The only downside to this is that I am sure the schools will not change how many hours the students have to stay in school, so this greatly reduces any afternoon time the students could use for other extracurricular activities or work. Overall, I wish I could prioritize sleep more my life, but with my current schedule and responsibilities, I cannot justify it.
Image information: Woman sleeping, Pexels

Tech Tip: Canvas Mobile App

I have been using the mobile app for awhile now. The app makes checking some assignments and grades really easy. I use this app a lot whenever I do not want to pull out my laptop. This way I can check Canvas Announcements, discussions, and messages from my professors. I will say this app makes checking certain details like due dates convenient for me. There has been a number of times that I thought I forgot to do a homework before class, but I just pulled out my phone and saw that I still had a few more days to complete the assignment. I have also been able to use my phone app for quizzes in class. This is useful for whenever my laptop dies on me in class, so this is really nice to have as a backup plan when things do go wrong. There is really no reason to discontinue using the Canvas app, so I will definitely be using the app in the future.

Reading Notes: Monsters, Horses, and Dragons

For this week's extra credit, I watched the videos from the  Crash Course Myth: Monsters, Horses, and Dragons unit. I learned about many stories of horses, serpents, wendigos, and dragons. I was most intrigued by the stories about dragons. I felt that with every new story about dragons, the more I was interested in dragons. The stories just kept getting me excited each time. The story that stood out to me most was about the creation of dragons and humans from the Serpents and Dragons video.

We do not get much description about each of the character's personalities, but the plot is what I found interesting. In this story, the world was divided in five separate parts with each part being ruled by a certain species. The monkeys were in control of the central region of the world and each other ruler of the other portions of the world made a trek to the monkey. This resulted in the monkey being impregnated, and the monkey gave birth to numerous eggs. The other rulers of the other parts of the world came back and stole the monkey's eggs besides the biggest egg. This egg hatched and produced a serpent. The serpent was in charge of retrieving the other eggs, and on that journey, grew into a dragon. The last two eggs that hatched were humans, and this is how our species came to be in this creation story.

I like how the creation of two separate species was intertwined to create this tale. This is an approach to this story that I would have not taken. This is a creative way to explain not just the birth of humans, but the way our world came to be through time. I have been interested in creation stories, and I have been able to learn more about how they are composed through the telling of this story.

Bibliography

Serpents and Dragons by Crash Course World Mythology

Image information: Snake guarding eggs, Wikimedia Commons

Feedback Strategies

In the first article I read on feedback, Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback, I learned what the concept of feedforward was. Instead of focusing on what was in the past and how to change what was already done, feedforward is based on giving suggestions on how to do better next time. This takes the person providing people with feedback a way out of the position of being an expert, and instead puts them in a place where they can help their fellow team members with useful advice for the future. I want to try this strategy with my team members. I am a team lead, and I have found that I am not often the most precise at giving effective feedback. I think using feedforward will change my feedback from what they take as judgement into a hopefully positive learning experience. I do get hung up on what they messed up on in the past because I know I have to go back and fix it, but with this method, maybe I can help correct their choices before we have a bad outcome.

What I learned from How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk was how to provide useful feedback. I often give feedback after I find something wrong. I do not often ask if they want feedback, so in that way I do not put the ball in their court. I feel with this way, I may come across as if I am just constantly judging those people on my team. I have a quite expressive face, so I believe that they have mentioned that they do not want to see the disappointment on my face when they mess up. By following the listed steps, I can probably improve my constructive feedback process with my team members. I can give them the why, put myself on a more level playing field with them, ask them if they want to hear it, and be honest with them. This honest approach will help give a why, how, and hopefully give them a reason to want to improve on their own.

Image Information: Communication, Pixabay

Topic Research: Princesses and Goddesses of the Philippines

While doing more research into Filipino Fairy Tales, I found myself drawn to women with titles. The main titles I found were women that were goddesses or princesses. Unfortunately, most of these stories about princesses were about how a prince or some male could win them over by doing some task. I want the females in my stories to have a choice in their outcome. I want them to have their own motivations and be strong characters that are not just told what to do. I do not want them to essentially just be a prize for a male to win.

The first story like this came from a tale called Why the Ocean is Salty from the Un-Textbook. This story was about the goddess of the dark who wanted a snow white mansion in her part of Heaven. A key feature of this topic for me would be how she uses her influence to get what she wants. I would like to portray her as someone who is in charge of her fate and knows how to accomplish her goals. In this same story, the Ocean is her own sentient being that did not want her slumber disturbed. This takes a twist on the  story, and the ocean halts the work of millions of workers constructing this mansion by destroying them all with waves. I think the Ocean would be an interesting character that has all the might of well, the ocean, behind her.

Another story I found while researching was about a princess and Juan. Juan has to complete some nearly impossible tasks to have a chance with the princess. Instead of making this a story where he wins her from her father, I would want to make this a story where the princess loves Juan, but the father is trying to keep them apart. This way, the princess has motivation and a say in what she wants in her life. This story could nicely break up into three episodes to tell the tale of each task Juan has to complete to be with the princess. The final story is about a prince who saves a princess from a dragon. In this story, the princess could play a vital role in her escape. Instead, of just being freed because of the prince, she could already have a plan in place. This way, whenever she finally has the help of someone else, she is able to escape.


Links to other versions of Juan and the princess in Filipino Popular Tales: Princess's Sacrifice and Juan and the Impossible Tasks

Image Information: Ocean wave, Pexels

Week 3 Story: Left in the Dark

Five thousand and five hundred years. This was the sentence of exile given to Adam and Eve from God. Adam and Eve had gone against God's command and had eaten the Forbidden Fruit. Eve had been enticed by the serpent while Adam had listened to her, and now they were both fit for punishment. This punishment came in the tall order of five thousand and five hundred years kicked out of Paradise. They now had to learn how to live on their own in a place that did not account for their every need. Outside of Paradise, they took up residence in the Cave of Treasures, and here is where Adam and Eve went blind.

"What is this darkness? Eve, where are you?" exclaimed Adam.

"I am over here," echoed Eve's voice throughout the cave, "but I cannot see you."

"Losing my sight is too great a burden to take, why must I be punished this way?" roared Adam. His voiced ricocheted violently off the hard rocks. "I have already been forced to leave Paradise, and now you take away my ability to see this wretched part of the world? Will you just strip me apart piece by piece?" he implored of God, whom he knew could hear him.

God took pity and responded to Adam, "Just as the angels who obey me are allowed to live in the brightness of Heaven and not deal with the dark of day, you are also held to the same standard. Once the angel has turned their back on me and betrayed me, they are cast out of the brilliance of Heaven to the world that has darkness. For your betrayal, you have been cast out of Paradise to experience the day and the night."

Adam exasperatedly said, "Please, oh Lord, take us back into your Paradise! Take pity on us as we confess our sins! We know what we did was wrong!"

"Five thousand and five hundred years have not passed yet, as you know that is the length of your punishment. I had to command that you not eat the Forbidden Fruit or else, I would have committed sin for not warning you first before doling out punishment. Once this time has passed, I will take you back into Paradise," admitted God.

"Take heart in the fact that this darkness was not intended to be part of your punishment. This is merely what is called night. This darkness will end. Night only lasts for 12 hours, and you will see the brightness of day again. The night time was intended to be a good time for rest and reprieve from the toils of day for yourself and your children. Take night as a gift and understand I did this to help you and not to hurt you," comforted God. God then let them be in the Cave of Treasures.

Adam and Even, disgruntled by this conversation, cried to themselves in the wake of God's words. Though God had tried to comfort them, they were discontented by the steadfast choice to keep them out of Paradise. Adam and Eve stayed like this until morning came, the only reprieve to their long night.

Author's Note

This story was inspired by the The Darkness from The Forgotten Books of Eden edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. I was first intrigued by this story because of the title, The Darkness. I thought this was an ominous way to bring light to this part of Adam and Eve's story. This is a retelling of The Darkness where Adam and Eve have been kicked out of Paradise and have experienced night for the first time.

Bibliography

The Darkness from The Forgotten Books of Eden edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr.

Image Information: Sunrise, Pexels

Reading Notes: Adam and Eve, Part B

To continue the unit about Adam and Eve, I read the story The Darkness from The Forgotten Books of Eden edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. This story stood out to me from the others because of how Adam dealt with the new things in life outside of the Garden of Eden. Adam had been coddled while in the garden, so each new thing was basically a fright to him. The mere aspect of not being able to see was enough to essentially give him a heart attack. Before this part of the story, the reason he died was because it was night time, and for the first time in his life, he had to experience darkness. This was enough to fully give him enough of a shock that he just died and left Eve in the Cave of Treasures to deal with the blindness caused by darkness and his death alone. Luckily for Adam, God looked down and saw his death. Upon seeing this, God brought Adam back to life and tried to explain the reasoning for the darkness. In God's mind, the darkness was there to give life a chance to take a rest from the toils of each day. I appreciate how God explains why the darkness is not necessarily an inherently evil thing. The darkness is only temporary, and the light will come again. The light is for Adam's children to do their work, and through the light and dark there is a balance. Unfortunately, Adam does not deal with change very well, and in this version of events, he pretty much dies when something new happens that he does not like.

I like how God explains what he can for why he made the choices he did. I think this adds valuable dimension to the character and does not try to make God an unfeeling and without reasoning type of god. This shows the development and attempt at doing justice in a way that God deems as fair. This shows that God has not abandoned them, and he truly cares for them in His own way. God does try to stay with them and let them know they are not alone.

Bibliography

 The Darkness from The Forgotten Books of Eden edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. 

Image Information: Darkness, Pixabay

Reading Notes: Adam and Eve, Part A

This week, my reading was from Adam and Eve from the Biblical reading options. I have known about Adam and Eve since I was a young child. I decided that reading their story again would refresh my memory, and I would have a chance to see how other parts of the world tell their story. I particularly liked how The Punishment by Louis Ginzberg (1909) was told in a way that was not as traditional as the way this tale was told in the Bible. This telling helped give more insight into the thoughts of the different characters. The characters were Adam, Eve, the serpent, and God. Walking through their punishment, the reader sees how Adam makes excuses for eating the Forbidden Fruit and following this behavior, so does Eve. This was not what God was intending, as had they confessed to their sins, the reader learns that God would have let Adam and Eve stay in Paradise.

More motive is shown behind God's intentions as well as the serpent's. God wants to truly let Adam and Eve stay, and He gives them a chance to make up for their mistakes even though they had the ability now to discern between good and evil. We also see that God is wary of the serpent, so He does not even let the serpent speak to defend himself. This was surprising to me, as this behavior seems to be out of character with God's since He gave Adam and Even both a chance to make up for their sins. The serpent's reasons for convincing Eve to eat the Forbidden Fruit to try to bring Adam's death was new to me.

I liked how this story had motives behind each character's actions. We see a play of power and deceit unfold in a way that does not go unpunished. I would like to be able to create characters that have concrete motives and desires that drive them.

Bibliography

The Punishment by Louis Ginzberg (1909)

Image Information: Serpent, PxHere