Stephanie's Blog

Well, I completed my first blog backup, so that is pretty exciting! My favorite thing that appeared in the announcements was the growth mindset cat meme, that appeared in the Thoughts on Feedback assignment. I really like how fun the pictures are that our teacher posts. It's also inspired me for new ideas to post pictures on my posts. I did have one question, is it possible to post pictures that you take yourself on these posts? Image: Dog Memes

This week I want to reflect on several aspects. First is the reading. While I managed to finish and enjoyed the readings for this week, I managed to learn a lot from them. They also sparked my interest in my possible storybook topics, which is exciting. However, I read another article in one of my other classes this week from HBR that I found relevant to my life this week called, Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker . With the career fair coming up and senior year picking up speed, I have been really stressed out about my future. This article focused on a feedback analysis method, where you learn about what your strengths are so you can play to them. You also learn about what kind of learner you are, whether its a listener, reader, or writer, this is important for things besides just studying. Finally, it made the point about determining what your values are because when searching for a company that you want to be a part of, its important to make sure your value match, so that you ca...

I like to think of myself as a perfectionist, which I think can be one of my strengths, but also one of my weaknesses. So, the first article I read was 14 Signs Your Perfectionism Has Gotten Out Of Control . I thought it was interesting that they brought up that perfectionists are often the biggest procrastinators, because this is also something I relate to, and it is really ironic. All of these points were valid, and although some of them weren't necessarily true for me, it reminded me something important. That although often striving for perfection leads to great success, it's important to be able to let yourself be vulnerable and let people see you for the authenticity you possess. Sometimes this will mean accepting negative and less than perfect feedback. The second article I would like to discuss is Using Harsh Feedback to Fuel Your Career . I really enjoy the HBR articles. This article reminded me that obviously we are going to get harsh and negative feedback in our liv...

Here are my four possible topics for the project after looking through the list of project topic suggestions. 1) Fairy Tale I haven't fully decided what I would do with this one yet, but I think there is a lot of ways you can go. There are many different kinds of cultural fairy tales and this would be interesting to research and come up with something. I wanted to do some kind of animal characters going on an adventure, so I think this would fall under this category. 2) Greek Heroes/Gods I think this would be a fun story to write. It would incorporate the topic I have most previous knowledge about. I was thinking about maybe doing a cross between Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. A group of students who attend a school for children of gods and mythological creatures go on various adventures. One thing that I would like this story to include would be following the Joseph Campbell's monomyth way of writing a story. This is basically: hero enters the unknown, has helpers, rest...

Haven't you ever had the thought: if only I could study in my sleep? For sixth grader Adam Wink, he thought this as he drifted off into sleep after hours of studying about the ancient cultures of the world. The last thing he remembered reading about was the Indian culture and how they believed in reincarnation and Buddha. As he drift off into sleep, his dream became very real and suddenly, there he was in 1920 India. He wandered the streets admiring the architecture and beauty. It was so different than anything he had ever seen before. Suddenly, he saw a group of other kids his age gathered in a group around an older teen who appeared to be telling them all a story. As he walked up, a story of Buddha who was reincarnated as a hare, was being tested on his word, began to unfold. He ultimately said that he would have to give up his life in order to save the king of the gods. As the hare was put to test he was spared and as a reward the shadow of a hare was placed upon the side of th...

The stories I enjoyed most from this group of stories this week were  The Origin Stories . Both of these stories, although from very different cultures, are still somehow similar, and I also found that there were even similarities to passages in the bible. The first story shows a man who is constantly unsatisfied with his position on earth. Each time he complains, a wise man with power over all changes him into what he thinks will make him happy, only to have the whole process repeat, until finally he says the man must remain as the moon because he is tired of granting him change. This relates to the bible in the sense that Jesus is always preaching on how we should appreciate the things we have, rather than seek to obtain more or better possessions. In the second story, there is also relevance to the moon, however this is more of a reward than a punishment. Buddha, born as a hare, was tested to see if he would sacrifice his own being for another. When put to the test by the king o...

After reading through the overview of the un-Textbook, I am really excited to see what all stories I will get to read! On the side bar the first things that grabbed my attention were  Homer's Iliad  and  Homer's Odyssey . These are some stories that I am familiar with, and have enjoyed learning about and researching in the past. My mom is super into Greek mythology, so I guess I'm biased, but I think the Greeks were so creative and thoughtful in their storytelling. Plus it is so expansive, its almost like they thought of a story to explain everything. I can't decide if this is something I will want to choose as my readings for next week since I have already read a lot about them, but definitely cool to see them making an appearance. The next thing I did was try to pick something really random and that I had never heard of from the side bar, so I chose  Tales of a Parrot . Apparently, this is a Persian story where the storyteller is a parrot! It sounds like a really d...

One thing I do every Sunday is sit down and write down everything that has a due date and when I need to do it by. Then I go in and fill in times that I need to work on or do other stuff like grocery shopping or working out. By writing everything down, it helps me manage my time and stay organized throughout the semester. I feel comfortable with my study habits thus far, and plan to continue them in this class as well. The only thing that sometimes stands in my way is procrastination. It is crazy how you can have so much to do sometimes that you barely have time for breathing, yet you still find yourself procrastinating. This is why I chose to read the article,  How to Beat Procrastination , which was published in the Harvard Business Review. One of my other classes this semester is using articles from HBR and so far I think they are all really interesting. One thing this article talked about that really stood out to me was that our brains are naturally programmed to procrastinate....

So far, the only new thing to me about this class is the blog part, which I think will be really interesting! I have never created a website of my own, but I have played around with it before so that may be a little bit challenging if that is a part of the project I want to do. This is my second online class but this one already feels way more organized and I really appreciate that it is self paced and there is a grace period if you get behind. It is really nice that our teacher is so on top of the emails too. How I felt when I first started this class: Image: Know Your Meme http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-have-no-idea-what-im-doing

So far I am really excited for this class. It seems to be really organized, and all of the units on canvas sound interesting. I think the top two things I am most excited for are the readings and the storytelling. This is such a different class than most of the classes I have to take and I am excited to explore the different kinds of mythology that I have never learned about before. The only kind of mythology I am really familiar with is Greek so I am curious to continue learning about the various cultures and how they tie stories into their lives. The readings will allow for this. The storytelling part is also cool because it will allow for creativity to flow in the use of writing, and retaining the knowledge in a different and fun way. The extra credit option is really nice too because if you do enough of it, it will allow for you to complete the desired grade in the class early. Image: Pinterest  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/24206916727078624

I had never heard of Carol Dweck before this assignment, but after watching the videos I really enjoyed them. I think she does a great job of trying to encapsulate the difficulties that people go through, and why they may or may not face them positively. I think this "growth mindset" way of thinking is a great way to think because there are so many challenges that we all face throughout life and if we, as she said, run from the conflict nothing will ever get done. Challenges are healthy and help us live up to the best versions of ourselves. This is something that I really appreciate, also, because in my major there are a ton of conflicts and problems that are difficult to solve or even attempt to solve, and it is important to face these challenges with an open and positive mind. It is really important to have people out there like her reminding us that we are all going to face challenges, but we must accept them and live up to our highest potentials. I like this picture becau...

Hey everyone, my name is Stephanie Krawczyk. I'm from Tulsa, Oklahoma and I am beginning my senior and final year here at the University of Oklahoma studying Chemical Engineering. Although there are a lot of cool things about m major, I think the coolest thing about my major is that even though I have learned so much in my time here, there is so much out there to discover and continue learning! I love my family and I love that Tulsa isn't too far of a drive from them. And they can make the trip up to see me too. I have a younger brother, Adam, who just moved into his freshman year at the University of Arkansas, and I am so excited to see where his life takes him in the next couple of years. Also I have one dog who is the coolest dog in the whole world (even though all dogs are amazing). Her name is Kacy and she's 10 years old. I always make my parents send me pictures of her. Here is a picture I took of her: One of my other favorite things is food. I can't think of...

The first storybook that stood out to me was Everything is Froggy by Tana Moore: https://sites.google.com/site/everythingisfroggy/home This book stood out to me because the title was interesting and after reading the introduction it was clear to me that whoever wrote it did a really creative job. Everything is frog themed, which the title did a good job of describing. I really liked the part where she called it a "Frog Blog." Frogs are a great thing to make stories about because they are so colorful, they can be small or large, and they are portrayed in other stories with all different kinds of roles. I really liked how there were multiple aspects to her book and that several short stories made up the book. This is the layout of what I pictured the books to be like and the fun and creative colors and pages, when I first heard of this project. Image: Frog with Glasses, Everything is Froggy https://sites.google.com/site/everythingisfroggy/home The next storybook th...

Here is a picture of my favorite place, the beautiful and fun, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Azamara Club Cruises,   https://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/cabo-san-lucas-mexico-cruises

Hey guys this is my test post!