Half Way Down, Half Way to Go

This marking period, I have learnt a lot from my Public Speaking class.

Firstly, I have become more familiar with speaking-related vocabulary and how each factor in a speech could alter the effects that the speech could bring up. This has allowed me to scrutinize my speech and my performance for what was effective and what needed more work on to enhance the piece. Along with comments and suggestions from my peers and my teacher, I was able to put up in my mind a performance that I would be satisfy with, which boosted my confidence when I actually presented in front of the class. I also applied the lessons I learned in class about the basic of public speaking and how the components would vary depending on the audience and the purpose in real life situations. Such knowledge helped me to prepare suitable speeches, which made me more confident and comfortable when I talked to the large crowd as I knew I had a good speech to present. In short, through theories and practice, I have become more confident and comfortable with speaking in the public.

Secondly, I have gained more knowledge about various forms of public speaking, ranging from monologue to debate. It was interesting to see the differences between each of them regarding style, components and expression, and then to apply those differences into the performance. And even though it was not initially one of my main goals for the class, it was certainly a great piece of knowledge that I have accumulated through the class.

Throughout this marking period, I have been focusing a lot on my style and expression for each of my performance because I thought that these two factors could significantly help connect the audience and draw them into the pieces. I worked a lot on my projection, my tone and my body language in order to best convey the messages and the emotions of the pieces. As I received comments and suggestions from my class and practiced with my friends or on my own, I was able to adjust my projection and my tone as well as picking proper hand gestures and facial expression. As the end of this marking period approaches, I feel more confident about my style of presenting as it has made some progress. I would continue to work on my style to make it even better during the next marking period.

I have also been working on my articulation. I often found myself having troubles pronouncing clearly some words, especially if I was speaking at a relatively fast speed. Fortunately, I had keen teachers and classmates who would point out the words that I need to articulate better and also how fast or slow I should perform a piece in order to make those words clearer. Thanks to those insightful comments, I was able to improve my articulation and my pacing so as to make my performance more compelling. Still, I would put a lot of effort into fixing my articulation during the next marking period, because I know if I could enhance my articulation, I would be even more confident when I speak publicly.

This next marking period, I would want to continue with my three old goals of becoming more confident and becoming better at expressing, in both oral form and written form. I would also want to explore more types of public speaking so that I could compare and contrast them in order to see the connection and the complexity of the performing world. I would also shift my focus from style to articulation because I know that is one of the big problems that I need to work more on. Last but not least, I would try to make each of my performance more “me” than the previous ones. 

Spoken Word Poetry performance

It's so simple,

 So basic, 

Yet we lack it. 

Interaction is nothing without it. 

Unable to make a bond because the fact is, 

We've missed the point. 

The point that connects you and me, 

And not just on a family tree; 

That connects us all from A to Z, 

And not just on eHarmony. 

 Trust.

 Where did it go? 

Or did we even have it years ago?

 Afraid to go on the right track, 

Because we might get stabbed in the back. 

Locking our doors and checking it twice, 

Like we're Santa Clause on a Christmas blight. 

Putting a lock on our phone for protection, 

Because your friends may use it as a weapon. 

Hiding what belongs to us, 

Because we lost our trust in all our lust. 

But trusting each other is a must, 

Because you cant spell trust without us. 

 Trust.

 A firm belief in the reliability, 

Truth, 

Ability, 

Or strength in someone. 

Can you think of anyone?

 I am sure you can, 

Maybe the one that holds your hand. 

But for how long?

 I'm sorry but it's true, 

People can back-stab you.

 But this can change starting with you, 

Because if you trust people, 

They'll trust you. 

You may get hurt but at least you'll live, 

With your heart on your sleeve and something to give. 

 So let's break this cycle of deceit and start this world anew. 

It doesn't start with them,
It starts with you. 

(Source: poetry soup.com)

It's A Matter of Debate

Debate Topic 1: Video games are too violent
Pros:
- Promote shooting, killing and violent actions which are unusual in the real world.
Examples: Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Crossing Fire
- To increase the effects, producers often emphasis the violent scenes
- Statistics:
+ For every 10 minutes of playing video games or computer games, boys between the ages of eight and 18 will see between two and 124 acts of violence. (Source: Mediaviolence.org)
+ 78 percent of acts of violence in the first ten minutes of video games depict lethal acts of violence. 78 percent of the action is shown up close, and half of the violent segments have humor in them. (Source: Mediaviolence.org)
- It has become a trend: producers are aiming to come up with video games that are as violent as possible in order to get more profits.
+ In 2012, only 9% of video games are rated M - Mature. However, in 2013, the number has gone up to 12%. (Source: ESRB.org)
Cons:
- Most parents strictly control their children's video games pattern and habit, so video games are violent but at an acceptable level.
+ 73% of parents regularly check a game's rating before making purchase (Source: theESA.com)
+ 95% of parents monitor the content of the games their children play (Source: theESA.com)
- Violent games present only a small portion of video games in general. Therefore, it is unreasonable to conclude that video games could be assumed to be too violent.
+ In 2013, 46% of video games were rated For Everyone, while only 12% are considered Mature (18+) (Source: ESRB.org)
+ 64% parents believe games are a positive part of their children's lives (ESRB.org)

Debate Topic 2: Homework should be banned.
Pros:
- No homework gives students more free time to spend on their hobbies, their friends and families
- No homework also results in less a less stressful life for students
- Homework has little value in enhancing education since it is a requirement. Students generally do not like being forced to do something and thus, they would gain nothing from doing required homework. Homework would often stress students out, exhaust them and make them hate school more. In other words, homework could devalue
+ Statistics:
+ 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor. (Source: news.stanford.edu)
Cons:
- Homework helps students to apply the knowledge they learn in class to a variety of problems
+Sometimes homework has real life problems that teach students useful problem solving skills
Examples: my math homework asked me to develop a model predict the growth of Ebola, or to calculate the amount of money I could earn from a bank's saving interest.
- Practice makes perfect and homework help foster what students learn in class, hence they would understand more and remember the information longer. This could also means that the curriculum could be more rigorous and cover more area of information, making a course more interesting and informative.
- Homework could give many children a meaningful way of spending their free time instead of playing video games and watching TV.

A few Awesome Topics for Debate

1. Year round education is not a good idea for student learning (number 6 on the list)

2. Single-sex schools are better for students (number 13)

3. Androids are better than iPhones (number 26)

4. The death penalty should be abolished (number 31)

5. The government should provide wireless service for everyone (number 47)

6. Social media comments should be protected by free speech (number 57)

The Outgoing Daughter of Poetry

Looking for a breakaway from movies and comic books? Try spoken word poems, a type of poem designated for public performance for various meanings instead of just being printed in collections and newspapers.

This week, my Public Speaking class was challenged to perform a spoken poem of our choices, and we had quite a fun time experimenting this new type of performing art.

Nadya put up a smooth performance accompanied by a suitable background music. She made a good use of her low tone and created a good, slow enough rhythm, though she could use more body language.

Drew, as usual, performed a meaningful poem with a variety of tone and body languages, especially hand gestures. His chosen music also adds up a gentle, sad tone to the overall piece.

Jade, while seemed nervous, managed to pull off his poem with change in tone and expression when needed and the sad music made the poem more intense. Sometimes his voice was not loud enough to overcome the music and his emphasis on the shouting could be more emphatic, but generally it was a nice performance.

Sophia gave one of the best performance with the right music and the rap style. Her variation in postures, body languages, emotion and tone that went with the music made the piece compelling. It sounded almost like a real rap song instead of just a simple poem.

Christina was really brave when she chose to redo a poem that the class had already seen. By cutting down certain part, choosing a slower rhythm and different tone, she succeeded in bringing her own version of the poem.

Caroline was another person who did a really wonderful job in spoken word poem. Her motions and movement as well as the music added up to the attractiveness of the performance. The tone and the pacing were also appropriate with the piece.

Donaven made a remarkable performance by turning a part of a song into a spoken poem. The music choice, the rhythm and body languages all helped create a appealing piece, though sometimes the extra hand gestures were a bit distracting.

From the beginning of the project, I struggled mainly with two things: my music choice and my pacing. I don't have keen ears for music, and I found it hard to find a music piece that fit the tone and the rhythm of my poem. In the middle of the project, I changed my poem because I found another one that I liked better. Again, I had trouble with pacing the piece because I tended to make it too fast, which was both hard for my audience to hear and for myself to pronounce each word correctly. However, with feedback from my classmates and teacher, I was able to pace myself more slowly. Though I had good emphasis, I still need to work on coming up with more creative body language to accompany my performance.

What about you? Do you want to try create your own spoken word poetry or maybe even perform one? Trust me, it is more interesting that you may think!