Clara's Blog

Time management is my biggest weakness when it comes to school work. I find myself week after week struggling to find the motivation to get ahead of school or begin projects in a timely manner. I have noticed, however, that I can usually maintain steady work progress once I start a project or assignment. Jory Mackay talks about this in  "The Important Habit of Just Starting" , saying that once we get over the difficulty of beginning a project, we focus more on finishing the task than continuing to avoid it. Mackay recommends using a commitment device that prevents you from falling back into negative behaviors, which I think could help me from getting distracted. Another one of problems is underestimating the time I need to adequately study or finish an assignment. In  "Realistic Study Plans" , Amanda Collins gives advise on how to create realistic and achievable study goals. She breaks up the project into chunks and gives each section an adequate amount of time to ...

Aside from the spellcheck and the word count tool, all the technology we will be using in this class is unfamiliar to me. I've never done anything in my classes using a blog, the closest thing I've experienced is just doing discussion posts in canvas. I'm looking forward to learning new technology like image editing and website publishing for this class since these skills wouldn't be taught to me in other courses. Even during this first week, I've learned a significant amount about blogging and the tools we will be using throughout this semester.                                                                              Blogging

After reading through the core assignments that will be due each week I'm mostly intrigued by the stories since they seem interesting to read. I'm also excited for the storytelling assignments. My major is very math and science based, so I've never had to use creativity or storytelling for any of my school work. I think the storytelling could be a challenge for me in beginning, but I've always wanted to improve my creative writing. I also appreciate the amount of feedback that will be given throughout the semester so I can improve by learning from others. I plan on taking advantage on all of the extra credit options, but after watching the growth mindset videos I'm specifically interested in exploring the Growth Mindset topics and the H.E.A.R.T resources.                                                              Wikimedia Commo...

Growth vs. Fixed Mindset (Flickr) Before this assignment I had never heard of Carol Dweck or a growth mindset. I like to think I'm someone who enjoys taking on challenges, but it can be easy to become overwhelmed by them. The second video, "Make Challenge the New Comfort Zone" reminded me of something a previous cheer coach used to tell us. He told us that our routine should never become easier because we should always be pushing ourselves harder. He would also focus more on the effort put into the performance than the outcome of the performance. I've tried to carry that mindset into college, but it can be difficult. Whenever I perform poorly on an exam, it's easy to complain the material was too difficult or that I'm not capable of being successful in the class. I have to remind myself that some subjects might require more effort from me than it does from my peers to be successful. My biggest challenge since being at OU is time management and I'm int...

Hi everyone, my name is Clara Pianalto. I'm a junior and a Biochemistry Pre-med major here at OU. My favorite thing about my major is working in labs, which is funny because this was my least favorite thing about my major for awhile, but over the years I've grown to love the experiments. My friends and I began having so much fun during lab that we would constantly take pictures of our experiments and reactions. A picture of one the reactions from lab.  I originally only chose this major because someone said it will benefit me when taking the MCAT for medical school. Luckily, I realized I genuinely enjoy chemistry and science classes through my major. My long term goal is to get accepted into a medical school and become a doctor. Outside of school, I'm involved in a couple of organizations on campus. I'm a member of Greek life and also involved in Relay for Life, an organization on campus that raises money and awareness for the American Cancer Society. I joined Re...

Many of the past Storybooks grabbed my attention while I was browsing. There were many different writing styles and story-telling methods by the students. Real Housewives of Ramayana I began selecting storybooks for this projects by titles that caught my eye. As someone who loves to binge-watch the "The Real Housewives" reality shows, this title immediately caught my attention. The author writes from the point of view of the host, Andy Cohen, and introduces the housewives. The drama revolves around the five housewives Trijata, Kaikeyi, Surpankha, Ahalya, and Sita.The author mimics the concept and drama from the "The Real Housewives" with Ahalya being used as the antagonist of the story. The writing style of this author was creative and entertaining, while still being informative about the Storybook. ( Ahalya from Wikimedia Commons) The Untold Tale of Mandodari I selected this Storybook because I thought it would have a different writing style than the fir...

New York City  I've been able to visit New York City two separate times and have had completely different experiences both times. The first time I visited was during the holidays with my mother and the city was decorated beautifully for Christmas. We saw shows on Broadway and went site seeing, getting a full experience of the city. My second trip was with a close friend from Connecticut. Since she had always gone into the city as she was growing up, she knew all the best places to go. My second visit felt more authentic compared to my first trip when I was mainly touring the city. On both visits I fell in love with the diversity and fast-pace of New York City.                                      (Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City )