– How the Raven Stole the Sun

“How the Raven Stole the Sun” is a book of a Native Alaskan folktale and the copy I listened to was written by Maria Williams and illustrated by Felix Virgil.. It is about how raven, a trickster spirit, managed to trick a wealthy person to release the sun, moon, and stars into the sky so everyone could enjoy them, even if most of the reason why he did it was because he was curious about what was in the boxes. This is one of the only Native Alaskan stories I can remember off of my head because I was read it frequently in my preschool and I still enjoy the story to this day. I could not find any biases in it other than potentially the wealthy person in the story being bad (but eat the rich, so go off). But everyone in the story (despite the few people) are native alaskan, so I think that it would be fine considering that it isn’t playing into any stereotypes that would be bad for the group.

I think this book would do great to expand someone’s library in a diverse way because it’s a fun story with beautiful, colorful illustrations that would hold a child’s attention, and it’s also folklore of native Alaskans that don’t portray them in a way that is harmful to them. I will admit that because this is a folktale it is iffy to share with children too much (as the article discusses), but if someone is looking for a place for an indigenous book in their collection, “How the Raven Stole the Sun” would be a wonderful place for that. 

– How the Raven got his Crooked Nose 

“How the Raven got his Crooked Nose” is an Alaskan Dena’ina Fable. The retold story I listened to was written by Barbara J. Atwater and Ethan J. Atwater and illustrated by Mindy Dwyer. The story was about how a raven trickster named Chulyen got a crooked nose because he didn’t fix it when he put it back on his face after stealing it back once he lost it. The story teaches that when you do something, you should take it slow and do it right so you won’t have to live with something unfixable–like Chulyen’s crooked nose. I think this story was very enjoyable and I loved how the grandmother was telling it to her grandchild. I couldn’t find any sort of biases in the story and I think it was just a lovely fable to teach the lesson of not rushing through everything if you can help it. 

I think this book would also be a wonderful addition to any library if they were wishing to diversify it a bit more. As it is a Fable, I would say that you should be careful about not having too many as they can be questionable at times and not teach the right things, but this is a simple, fun, story that should be perfectly fine. This was a colorful book with interesting and beautiful drawings and ways of showing things that I haven’t seen in the children’s books I’ve read. 

After taking the mindset test, I received the results that I am working towards a growth mindset, but my fear of failure and rejection from my peers holds me back from achieving that and my goals. I am not surprised by these results as I am far too often afraid of upsetting people and failing at life and school. I blame this fear on the fact that I was placed into gifted and talented programs as a child and never really challenged at anything during my formative years. Through the research and learning I’ve done in this class so far, I am aware that this exact thing is what leads to people having a fixed mindset. I would like to report that this fear of rejection is only majorly in an academic setting and I think I do have a growth mindset for social relations and other people. 

I know I’ve had a fear of academic rejection (rather than rejection from my peers) and I have known for a long time, so when I’m frustrated by something that is extremely challenging to me, I shut down into tears a great majority of the time. I have extremely intense emotions all of the time due to (self-diagnosed) Neurodivergent in specifically the autistic field so it only adds to my frustrations because when I get overwhelmed and upset, it makes everything 20x worse. Usually, I am able to overcome struggling and challenges, but I don’t have an easy time doing it in a mental and physical sense. Instead of helping me learn like I know it does from the various studies shown, I instead feel exhausted from the strain and just more and more frustrated at the thing I am struggling with. It makes me want to give up and curl in a ball to try and stop the overwhelming feelings of relief that it’s finally over with, residual frustration, and anger at myself for not being able to understand it the first time. It is something that I am trying to work on, but it is incredibly hard. The results of me being reluctant to do things because I am not good at it immediately and reluctant to do things really does line up for me, even if not all of the results are accurate (I do not care about what my peers think for me for the great majority of the time, but rejection among close people is true). 

I think that with more practice I can achieve the growth mindset I am trying to achieve and capable of, but it is undoubtedly going to be much more difficult for me to reach that point with the fact that my brain does not work the same way most people’s do. I am not blaming this on me not having a growth mindset, but it is certainly one of the causing factors in being stuck in this seemingly endless loop of trying to understand and live in a world that just isn’t meant for me a great majority of the time. But, I will be doing my absolute best to achieve it so I will be able to be a better educator in the future. I believe that having a growth mindset or be willing to actively try and change your mindset into a growth mindset is incredibly important for an educator to have and I want to be the best teacher I can possibly be when I get to that point in my life.

Dear Randoma Studently,

Hello, this is Mx Ari. I am writing you a proper letter instead of an email, because I feel like it is more personal than a simple email. You came to me yesterday (when you are reading this, I am writing this the same day) talking about how you were struggling with being able to learn the coursework on top of your other classes. I want to write you a letter talking about how struggling is completely natural, despite how presumptuous this may seem. 

Like I stated before, Struggling is a completely natural process to grow your brain. We learn best after failing and picking ourselves back up, after all. Though it may not seem like it now, I’m sure that you’ll be able to keep up and get everything done on time if you keep practicing.  I understand completely how hard it is to not be able to get everything done because of external factors, whether it be because of family or homelife, the amount of workload you’re receiving from myself and other teachers, or simply because your brain is not letting you be able to do things. I, myself, have experienced all of those and struggled to cope with them. I have what is called executive dysfunction due to low dopamine levels in my brain, which means doing  things like focusing and completing things, even if I’m interested in it; but it is so so much harder when you aren’t interested in the task. That is why I try to give primarily classwork over homework. I’ve found that being in an environment where you’re already focused and on the task makes it much easier to get it done. 

I am not insinuating that you have the same thing as I do (but if you’re interested in researching more into it, I would highly recommend it), but I am simply trying to express that I have experienced similar things and you are not alone in feeling overwhelmed and unable to do schoolwork. I doubt you are “lazy” and I think you are a very hardworking individual. This is why I suggest that you take advantage of my no-penalty late work policy and make sure you’re able to get your other class work done when you can. And if you need an extension on the one hard deadline I have, please email me and just keep me informed. 

As for some strategies to keep focused that I’ve found, there are very few that have worked for me, as many other people with executive dysfunction. But I would recommend trying different strategies until you find something that works for you. For example, if you feel like you would be able to use a planner to help you, you should invest in one and highlighters, if you instead are able to get things done with reminders in your phone, you should try that. Another strategy would be to have a friend of yours remind you and make sure you’re on task so you will be able to get it done with the fear of rejection and failure your friend instills in you. If none of these work, I suggest that you should keep trying to find new ways. Part of learning and growing is trying out new things and failing. Though it is extremely disheartening, that’s just a part of being human and growing. If we never did anything we had trouble with, we would not be where we are as a species. If most people in our species were able to think this way, we most certainly would be far further ahead than we are today.

Preventing struggles is almost impossible to be able to complete as that is what our brains need to grow, but being able to overcome it with strategies is what makes life life. For humans and animals alike. When we push through the struggle and are able to find a way to get past it or work through it, prepares us for something else similar that we could struggle with later on. So, my advice is to work through the struggles to the best of your ability and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Build the foundations of struggling and working–learning–through them when you are still learning all of the time and your brain hasn’t finished developing. It is so much easier to be able to have the foundation for these skills for when you are struggling with things that are harder to get help for. I’ll be here for you whenever you ask. 

I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember to just keep me informed for when you intend to turn things in. 

With much love, your teacher,

Mx. Ari

Salutations

My name is Ari and I need to write about myself for my blog, so here it is :,)

Some things about me:

• I write, read, and play clarinet
• I use any pronouns and am AroAce
• I draw and am not very good at it though I am trying
• I am writing a graphic novel (ironic)
• I’m in drama and enjoy making slideshows
• I sometimes make my own earrings :))
• My sense of style is immaculate
• My dream job is being an author, but I also want to be an English Teacher

Continuing that thought, the reason I wish to pursue a career in education is because I genuinely enjoy teaching and English is one of my favorite subjects. I want to be able to provide an environment where people can grow and learn without being judged because being judged by others is one of the worst feelings. Since humans are pack animals and depend on society to be healthy in the head (that’s why seclusion can be so devastating to the human mind) being judged and not being able to interact with your peers positively is truly an isolating experience and not being accepted by peers truly affects and destroys a person’s head. An example of this is the rate of suicide among transgender youth when they are accepted by their parents vs. when they are not. A direct quote from the Trevor Project website says, “Transgender Health that found acceptance of one’s gender identity from adults and peers was associated with significantly lower odds of attempting suicide among transgender and nonbinary youth”. The writer, Josh Weaver, continues to describe how 8,000 transgender and nonbinary youth study from across the United States were asked to take part of this sample and this is what they concluded. Another direct quote from one of the doctors (Dr. Myeshia Price) at the Trevor Project foundation states; “The findings of this study are clear: transgender and nonbinary young people who feel accepted by the people in their lives, are less likely to attempt suicide,”. Key findings from the article, ” “Association of Gender Identity Acceptance with Fewer Suicide Attempts among Transgender and Nonbinary Youth,” that was referenced in the article by the Trevor Project tells the reader that, “Transgender youth with acceptance from at least one adult had 39% lower odds of attempting suicide in the past year compared with their transgender peers who were not accepted”. In conclusion to this point, I believe that providing people (and especially youths) with a safe space to just exist in with no question of whether or not they will be accepted is incredibly important and I want to be someone who provides that if I can.

Something I am passionate about is my writing. As you can see on this page, I took a creative writing class before and posted my writings on here as well as an attempted other sites but they did not publish my submission (unfortunately). As you have seem before, I am writing a graphic novel and, while I don’t have the story fully mapped out yet, I am working on it when I have the time. Drawing and writing are something I love and I absolutely can’t wait until I can put my characters and ideas to the page once I fully get the loose version of the story written out. I refuse to have bad writing in my trilogy whatsoever.

Sources: (APA formatting does not work on a blog post, so please live with me TvT)

Weaver, B. Y. J., & Weaver, J. (2021, November 3). Acceptance of transgender and nonbinary youth from adults and peers associated with significantly lower rates of attempting suicide. TheTrevor Project. Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://www.thetrevorproject.org/blog/acceptance-of-transgender-and-nonbinary-youth-from-adults-and-peers-associated-with-significantly-lower-rates-of-attempting-suicide/ 

Price, M. N., & Green, A. E. (2021, November 1). Association of Gender Identity Acceptance with fewer suicide attempts … Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/trgh.2021.0079