Time Strategies

I love how we were given individual schedules for our availability so that we can all stay on track. I spread out mine to 1 or 2 hours a day on my free days which will also give me the ability to do extra work to get ahead on days where I have extra free time or catch up later in the week for tasks that I was too busy to get done early. I agree that this class will be much easier if I get ahead and start knocking out assignments before their due date. This will also remove the stress from doing an assignment last minute (like I'm doing right now).

Clock (Freesvg)

In "The Psychology of Checklists," Lauren Marchese talks about the importance of checklists. I think this is a great strategy for getting work done as you see the S.M.A.R.T. goals (as discussed in the article) and want to achieve them to get the dopamine release. I also think that by seeing these goals I will want to get them done so that they aren't looming over me every time I see them.

Class Technology

A lot of the services or sites that we will be using this throughout the semester for this class are new to me. I am excited to learn more about blogging during this course as I think it will be a useful skill. Adding a spell checker and word counter will also be useful outside of this course in corresponding to emails and in many other scenarios.

Technology (Pxhere)

Assignments

I believe that I will enjoy the structure of this class. I like that each week will be very similar in style and assignments as this will make it easier to plan this class around my other classes. I am interested in learning more about the semester long storybook project as this will be something that I need to make sure that I stay on top of throughout the semester. This class is very unlike the other classes that I have taken online as those have usually been very unstructured and the assignments were jumbled throughout the semester which made it very hard to stay on top of. 

Studying (Flickr)

Growth Mindset

I had never heard of Carol Dweck or the growth mindset before. My general thoughts about growth mindset is that it is something that is very beneficial and can be helpful for many students, but growth mindset should not be the way that school primarily works. I thing that part of school should be based around growth mindset, but as discussed, it does not work well with grade based systems and this is required to some extent in order to evaluate performance of college and job considerations.

School (Pixabay)

One thing that I believe Carol Dweck is overlooking is that when they go to schools to implement test growth mindset in the classroom, they are providing higher education than would be provided in these areas. This could show that part of the problem in these areas is the under funding of the education system which I think is a major problem.

Introduction to Me

My name is James Tanaka and I am originally from Colleyville, Texas. I am a currently a senior at The University of Oklahoma majoring in mechanical engineering and plan to work for Siemens Logistics once I graduate this May. I currently work as a bartender at Redrock Canyon Grill in Norman and have worked there for two years.

Dallas Cowboys Star (Wikipedia)

My biggest hobby is watching sports. I watch sports of all kinds, but football is by far my favorite. As a Dallas native, I am a fan of all the Dallas sports teams, the Dallas Cowboys being my favorite. When I was younger I also played most sports. Soccer was the sport that I was the best at. I ran track as well and the events that I ran were the 300 meter hurdles as well as the 400 meter relay. Another hobby of mine is playing video games on my Xbox One. The game that I play the most is Call of Duty as well as Overwatch.

My favorite foods are probably pizza or hamburgers; however, I enjoy most kinds of food! There are very few foods that I don't like but I cannot stand sour cream. The best kind of candy is anything chocolate and my favorite ice cream is cappuccino chunky chocolate from Braum's. The best cake is the triple chocolate cake that my mom makes. The restaurant that I frequent the most is Chipotle and I love their guacamole.

Juice WRLD (Flickr)

I enjoy rap music and my favorite artists include J. Cole, Young Thug, Future, and Juice WRLD. Currently, my favorite album is either Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial by Roddy Ricch or A Love Letter to You 4 by Trippie Redd. I don't enjoy listening to country music but like to listen to jazz and edm music frequently.

Storybook Favorites

I browsed through the story books and reviewed the introductions of the three following stories.

Storybook (pxhere)

First was "A Trickster's Tale" and I was very intrigued. While the intro doesn't tell as much as I think it should about what the story will be like, it is very creative and draws the reader in. The first person point of view and the use of dialogue is very effective in this introduction. The dim color of the picture sets the scene of the story and because it is the first thing you see, prepares the reader for what is to follow. Overall, this was a very creative intro and I would like to read more of this story. I would also like to possibly model some pieces of my storybook after this one.

The next story that I reviewed was "Death's Story" which was not as strong as the previous story. Firstly, the image on the introduction page did not seem to relate much to the information given in the introduction and did not add anything to the story. The introduction itself also did not provide the reader with much information and leaves much of what the story will be about up in the air. I think that the content in this introduction could be improved while the layout works well.

Finally, "Tarzan and Jane's School for Feral Children" was the third story that I reviewed. I liked the premise of this story as it is a spin-off of a classic story that I watched as a child. This was effective in drawing me in. The pictures are relatable to the story as it shows the characters and relatable pieces of the story. I like the risk that the author took in drawing from a classic and I think it paid off in this introduction.

My Favorite Place

My favorite place is Laguna Beach in California. This is the area where my dad grew up and I have spent many summers here.

Laguna Beach, California (PublicDomainPictures)