Week 8 Progress

Overall, I have been fairly happy with my progress so far. I have missed a couple of assignments that I need to do some extra credit for. I do not normally miss assignments, but sometimes that is the case. I do have a good weekly routine. I sometimes wait until late at night to do my assignments though. I enjoy the assignments for the most part. I think my favorite are probably the reading assignments. I like to read new stories, so that is why they are my favorite. I have not been utilizing the extra credit like I should be. I think that this is the main change that I want to make for the second half of the class. I want to avoid using the grace period as much as I have. I might want to try different storytelling methods for the coming weeks.

(A photo saying to get your stuff done today and not tomorrow. Source: Flickr)

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Overall, I think I have been receiving great feedback from my classmates. I think it is always helpful to get another opinion about things. I think I find the ones with suggestions the most useful. I do not always actually change my work, but I appreciate the different ideas that are given to me. I usually try to apply them to my future work if I can. I feel like I have been leaving fairly good feedback to my peers. I try to focus on one thing every time I read a story and offer feedback. The best strategies I have found are just reading the stories multiple times through. This ensures that I have a good grasp of what the writer is trying to accomplish. I feel like I get good ideas from reading other stories. I try to remember things that I like as I move along.

I feel like I have been getting to know people fairly well from their introductions. Of course, this is only a brief intro into who they actually are. I think my intro provides a fairly good glimpse into my life. I am happy with it so far.

I think that I should take other people's suggestions more seriously for the future. This would probably help me get more out of the feedback that I receive. I should also focus on giving more reasonable feedback that people can use readily. I do not want to make any drastic changes to my blog. I think I am going to update my portfolio a bit though. I could use a better title and intro page.

(Feedback graphic. Source: Cheezburger)

I chose this image because it emphasizes that there is always more on the horizon. It is easy to get caught up in the now. We should remember that something great is always right in front of us. 

Week 8 Reading and Writing

I think that the reading assignments have been going very well for me over the course of this semester. I had a lot of practice with this last semester, so I already had a system in place that I knew worked for me. The same goes for the writing. My favorite reading so far has definitely been the Ramayana. There were so many cool stories to read and write about. I really enjoy reading about battle scenes, and I try to focus my writing on things like this. My reading notes have helped me  quite a bit. I am able to write down some key things that I like about the story. When I revisit the notes I just put them into writing. I have not done any new strategies this year. I think the system I have now works great. I am also very happy with my project. I think the portfolio option is really great for me. It allows me to add my favorite stories. My biggest accomplishment so far is probably my portfolio stories. They are refined versions of what I write about during the week.

(This is a photo of Rama fighting the demon Ravana. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

This is one of my favorite photos because it accompanies my story where Rama fights Ravana's forces. I was a huge fan of the reading, and I was able to create my own story out of it. This was definitely my favorite part of the Ramayana.

I think for the future I should just keep doing what I have been doing. It has been working very well for me so far. I might try to get more creative with my writing options. I usually prefer to stick close to the source. I sometimes create new characters, but this is few and far between. I might try to put modern elements into my future writings.