Time Strategies

The articles I read were The Important Habit of Just Starting (article link) by Jory Mackay and 3 Steps to Recapture Time (article link) by Joynicole Martinez, which had some useful tips in it! One tip was to "learn how to diet in a candy store," which pretty much means that we need to put in long and tedious hours of work with no promise of a reward. It is like remembering you are on a diet and not caving into the pressure of all the tempting candy around you in a candy store. The other useful tip is to "practice the art of no." I think this is such a practical tip for life and that we can only do so much and we have to know our boundaries. I believe my biggest time challenge is just following my schedule. I can have everything written down but if I do not put action behind it, in the end it does not matter. For Week 2, I will stick with the suggested schedule I made for myself last week. I want to try it out and if it does not work, I will adjust it. I believe working ahead is the key to manage this class. However, working ahead is difficult for me because truthfully I have always followed the deadlines. Now, I will attempt to work ahead and use deadlines as a last minute resort.

Just Do It! Source: Wikimedia Commons

Technology

To be completely honest, I have never heard of approximately 95% of the technology tools mentioned by Dr. Gibbs! I know that we are millennials and we are suppose to be tech savvy, but I more like an eighty-year-old grandma in a twenty-year-old body. I have had some experience with blogging as I used WordPress for my class when I was studying abroad in Arezzo, Italy. I also have heard of Tumblr and Pinterest because some of my best friends are obsessed with those sites. I also bookmark important websites for easy access, but I have never used Diigo or thought of using Pinterest so that could be interesting! I have never heard let alone used Class Wiki before this course, but so far it is simple and easy to access which is nice. I am also a huge fan of Google Docs so I am glad to hear that we will be using it in this class. The thought of me taking an online class truly scared me at first because I am not tech savvy whatsoever. I am intrigued in learning how to create and publish a website because I believe this is an extremely handy tool for our future for any occupation. Overall, technology has never really been my friend, but I am excited to become better friends with it as the semester goes. :) 

The Power of Technology. Source: Pixabay 

Assignments

The assignments I am intrigued by are the Storybook project/the Portfolio project and the Blog Comments. I know we get to pick which one we would like to do, but both sound interesting and intriguing. I am not really a creative person, therefore, I might be leaning towards doing the Portfolio project because it is something we can keep on developing and revising! I think blog comments assignment will be fun because it is a way to interact with my fellow classmates. Since we do not meet in person and get the chance to talk and get to know each other, blog commenting will be our way of doing so! As a pre-medicine student, when I read, I read textbooks about biology, chemistry, genetics, etc. In college I have never really had readings in which it does not involve the equations and practice problems. In this class, I am going to be actually reading books/short stories which is exciting and nerve-wracking as well. The Extra Commenting and Back-Up and Review extra credit assignments sound interesting! Being able to interact more with my classmates and getting extra credit for it sounds. In addition. the Back-Up and Review extra credit is something I already pretty much do so getting extra points for it sounds like an awesome idea. :)

Assignment time! Source: Free Great Picture

Thoughts on Growth Mindset

I have never heard of Carol Dweck before this assignment, but I am glad you introduce the class to her, Dr. Gibbs! I believe for the most part of my life, I have been exposed to a more "tyranny of now" kind of mindset instead of a "power of yet" mindset. I believe from elementary throughout high school teachers and parents alike praise us for that letter grade. They push us to do whatever it takes to get that A or that 1st place trophy. It is like the process does not mean as much as the end goal. Society almost makes us seek constant and consistent validation instead of an appreciation and understanding of the process. However, I believe I am slowly gaining a "power of yet" mindset because of college. I got my first ever B and C during my first semester of college. I was devastated, distraught, and even a bit depressed for a while because this was totally unlike me. However, over that Christmas break I evaluated everything and I realized that we have to fall in order to get back up. I had to make those grades in order to realize life for what it was and I began to enjoy the process more than the outcome. I enjoyed the Growth Mindset Challenges especially the Mindset Motto/Mantra and Mindset Acronym. Overall, I think I can be interested in learning more about the growth mindset and how I can apply that to this class, other classes, and life in general! 

Cat Meme for the Win. Dr. Laura Gibbs. Source: Growth Mindset Memes blog.

Introduction to Me...Nikole Vargas :)

Hello everyone! My name is Nikole Vargas and I am currently a twenty-year-old junior here at the University of Oklahoma! I was born to two wonderful, caring, and supportive parents in the breathtaking city of Manila, Philippines. Life was great and I was the center of my mom and dad's world, until my sister came along 15 months later. :P Fast forward approximately two years after my sister was born, my dad got a job offer to work in the United States and next thing I knew we were living in Ann Arbor, Michigan (go Wolverines)! Now, this is a tremendous and wonderful opportunity for my family, but boy were we not ready for winters in Michigan. Coming from the tropical islands of Philippines to the frigid below-zero winters that Ann Arbor had to offer us, we had a lot to adjust to here in Michigan. I spent most of my childhood in Michigan as my family and lived there for eight years. Growing up I was an active child as I was involved in tennis, ballet, swimming, ice skating, and a little bit of gymnastics. As I grew older and some of my interests stayed the same while others have changed, I ended up being involved in tennis, ballet, pointe, swimming, piano, and a bit of golf here in Oklahoma! My dad's company transferred him to Ada, Oklahoma, and we have been living here ever since. The jump from a big city like Ann Arbor to a small semi-rural town like Ada was quite a shock for me and my sister. I remember this one time my sister and I saw a cow for the first time ever in our backyard, that we were so shocked and giddy that we took a picture with it haha!! Fast forward the awkward middle school years and the memories of high school, I found myself as a freshman at the University of Oklahoma!

Here at The University of Oklahoma I am studying psychology/pre-medicine with a minor in chemistry. I believe the cool thing about psychology is that it is applicable to everyday life. When we hangout with our friends and family and when we meet someone new, psychology is something we see and use everyday. The best class I took last semester was the freshmen level class called Experiencing Music! It was such a fun and upbeat class that was a breather from all my hard science classes. I actually made some wonderful friends in that class and we still talk and hangout this semester! My biggest accomplishment last semester was getting all A's! I never made a grade below an A from elementary through high school, and college initially came as a shock to me; however, as I continue and grow in my college experience, I have finally been able to pull off all A's so that is really exciting for me. Over break, my family and I went to St. Louis, Missouri, and had a big reunion with our close family and friends!

When it comes to favorite books, movies, and TV shows, I have got to say that I love romantic comedies! Some of my favorite books include The Fault in Our Stars and Wuthering Heights. Some of my favorite movies and TV shows include Friends, Gossip Girl, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, and 10 Things I Hate About You. All extremely girly movies, I know, but they are just so dang good!! :)

The future is honestly kind of scary! Sometimes I forget I am a junior in college and that the real world is fast approaching. As a little girl, I remember looking up to my "big sisters/role models" who were in college and thinking that that was so far away, and next thing I knew I am them now. It is crazy how fast time goes by! As the real world approaches, my plan is to attend medical school (knock on wood) to hopefully one day become a pediatrician! I have always wanted to become a doctor and I love babies and children, and something about being trusted as a physician to take care of a family's bundle of joy just means the world to me. Therefore, cheers to about seven to eight years more years of school! :-) You can find me studying pretty much 24/7 at the Great Reading Room at the Biz!

I hope you all enjoy getting to know me and I cannot wait to get to know everyone as well! Here is to a wonderful semester! :)

My Favorite Place at OU - the Great Reading Room. Source: Wikipedia

Word Count: 760 words

My Storybook Favorites

My Storybook Favorites

Storybook #1: 

  Link - Gossip Girl Ayodhya

  Title - Gossip Girl: Ayodhya

  Paragraph - This Storybook immediately caught my eye because of the title! I have watched the TV show and I was obsessed with it in high school. I thought it was really cool and interesting to mesh together a popular TV show from our generation and Indian epics. It is extremely unique and different that I would have never thought of myself. The design and format of the Storybook was simple and not too overwhelming. The navigation of the site was easy to understand and I did not have a hard time navigating through it. I enjoyed the Introduction as it gave necessary background information and the present situation of Rama and Laskshmana. 

Storybook #2:

  Link - Hogwarts Storybook

  Title - Hogwarts: The Loyalty of Brothers

  Paragraph - The title of this Storybook was intriguing and made me want to click on it to investigate what it was about. I thought it was so cool to take something as popular and famous as the Harry Potter series and incorporate it with Indian epics. The navigation was easy to figure out. The author used this dark blue backdrop and I believed it helped set the "Hogwarts" mood. In my opinion, the author did such a wonderful job writing the Introduction that I truly could not stop reading it. The way she presented and described the four different houses was great and I loved how the author included a Buzzfeed quiz with the answer key!

Storybook #3:

  Link - The Ganges

  Title - Tales of the River Ganges

  Paragraph - I have heard about the Ganges river since elementary when I was taught about it in history and geography classes. The Introduction was wonderfully written because it was like a story itself. The way the Introduction flowed and the spacing format was a style I could see myself doing. The format was simple and font of the words was a nice size so I did not have to squint. Even if the Introduction itself was quite lengthy, it kept me wanting to read more. 

The Ganges river running through a city. Source: Tales of the River Ganges Storybook

Word Count: 310 words

Favorite Place - One of the Many!

When it came down to choosing a favorite place, I chose the city of Manila, Philippines, because it was the city that I was born in. Other cities that came to mind were Ann Arbor, Arezzo, and Clermont-Ferrand. I was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for about 11 years before moving to Oklahoma; therefore, I associate many wonderful childhood memories with the city of Ann Arbor. The cities of Arezzo, Italy and Clermont-Ferrand, France are significant to me because I was blessed with the opportunity to study abroad in those two cities, and learn more of who I am as a person and who I want to be. However, for now, I chose Manila, Philippines, as my favorite city to talk about because that is where my roots originate from!

Manila, Philippines: Manila is the capital of the beautiful country of the Philippines! It is the city where I was born and had my earliest memory of having a teacher named Ms. Twinkle in nursery school. From enormous modern skyscrapers to endless stores to shop, Manila has it all! My favorite aspect of the city is the breathtaking churches, some even dating back to the 1500s.

Binondo Church is oldest Catholic Church in the Philippines

(Binondo Church - Manila)