Thursday, November 19, 2015

Research for Ted Talk

Intro:
"You need to go to college, get a good job and have a family of your own." Have you ever felt like this was the outline of your life? Something that defined you even before you knew what a "major" was? Have you ever felt like you need a college degree to be successful? Well I'm here to say stop stressing, because that is not always the case. If getting a degree is your dream, that's great, but people need to know that is not the only option out there. The loans and debt that one has after finishing college can be overwhelming and you

Topics:
Applying process
Get quotes, stats, relate to students in room currently applying to collages
Stress put on people to know their major, and career at an early age
Not guaranteed a job afterwards
Going to have to find direct evidence
TONS of student debt
Give examples of amounts

Successful People who Never Graduated from college:
Steve Jobs (Net worth $11 billion in 2011)
Richard Branson ($4.9 billion)
Dave Thomas ($99 million)
Michael Dell ($20 billion)

Main Points Explained But Still In Need of a lot of Editing: To show people that there are other options out there besides college. Although college is great for some people, it may not be the best choice fore others. Especially if they are having difficulty financially (relate back to student loans). I want to be able to state this without making college seem bad. I just want to show people that there are other options out there and when making decisions about the future, college is not the only path one has to take. There are a great amount of jobs that can include passion without a degree being needed. Also, success does not come directly from getting a good degree in college. Success comes from passion and handwork (maybe I could find a quote of someone saying how to get success). There have been many successful people that have not gotten a college degree (refer back to successful people list). Then maybe go into how even getting a degree does not guarantee a job. If you can not get a good job you can't pay off student debt (talk about average student debt, maybe find some more statistics on how many people graduate with student debt.) End by saying that college is a choice but you need to think is it worth it in the end?


Main Takeaway: Although college is great, the process of applying can be stressful, you are not even guaranteed a job after you receive your degree, and you can graduate having to face the pressure of student loans and debt hit you afterward. Sometimes you need to think to yourself, is it really worth it?

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249683

69% of 2013 senior graduates left school with an average student loan debt of $28,400, but debt ranged from  $18,656 to over $30,000. - http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/11/13/average-student-loan-debt-hits-30-000



According to this graph, over time the amount of college graduates that are unemployed has dramatically increased, while students graduating with a high school degree have started to become more employed now than ever before.














http://www.businessinsider.com/these-two-charts-prove-a-college-education-just-isnt-worth-the-money-anymore-2012-6

If you do feel that college is not the right thing for you, there are many great jobs where a degree is not necessary.
Jobs that high school graduates can have: http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/20-great-jobs-without-college-degree

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Outline of College Ted Talk

Intro:
"You need to go to college, get a good job and have a family of your own." Have you ever felt like this was the outline of your life? Something that defined you even before you knew what a "major" was? Have you ever felt like you need a college degree to be successful? Well I'm here to say stop stressing, because that is not always the case. If getting a degree is your dream, that's great, but people need to know that is not the only option out there. The loans and debt that one has after finishing college can be overwhelming.

Topics:
1.) Applying process
        a.) Get quotes, stats, relate to students in room currently applying to collages
2.) Not guaranteed a job afterwards
        a.) Going to have to find direct evidence
3.) TONS of student debt
        a.) Give examples of amounts

Successful People who Never Graduated from college:
Steve Jobs (Net worth $11 billion in 2011)
Richard Branson ($4.9 billion)
Dave Thomas ($99 million)
Michael Dell ($20 billion)


Main Takeaway: Although college is great, the process of applying can be stressful, you are not even guaranteed a job after you receive your degree, and you can graduate having to face the pressure of student loans and debt hit you afterward. Sometimes you need to think to yourself, is it really worth it? 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249683

My Review on Peter Pan

    This past weekend, I, along with many others, saw the original Peter Pan performed by the Cheshire Academy theater program. I saw the first showing and therefore understand how nervous, excited and stressed everyone must have been. Overall this play was very good and interesting. Since I have only seen the Disney version of Peter Pan before this, it was nice being able to see a different side to the story. This was a very good play and you could tell that a lot of effort was put into it.
All of the actors did a very good job portraying their characters. I think that everyone really fit the part they were given. Also, if one person had to play the part of two different characters in the play, they did a very good job of separating the two. The one person was able to have completely different personalities for each specific character they were playing.
I believe that all the costumes and props in this play were amazing. Personally, I loved the scene on the pirate ship with the masts and red lights. I thought all the lighting was very cool, although there seemed to be a few mistakes with the first show. For example, Sam had to kind of move with the light one time but everyone was able to easily adjust which was good. It seemed like there was a lot of work put into all the costumes and I think that everyone looked great for the final product.
Compared to the Disney version, this Peter Pan had a lot of comparisons but also some differences. This play was a bit darker than the Disney version, but this is a bit obvious because Disney is generally meant for smaller children even though many, many older people like it as well. In this play people actually died unlike the Disney version. What really surprised me was the suicide of Captain Hook. Also I found it shocking and very symbolic in general during the part when Peter was standing, steering the boat with Captain Hook's hook on right after he killed himself. The red lights and Peter standing there was very dark and eerie. Also when Captain dropped his sword and Peter gave it back to him, it showed Peter wanted to win, fair and square. I feel like Captain Hook was what kept Peter's life interesting so he didn't want everything with him to be over.
This play was truly fantastic and I'm very happy that I was able to go and see it. Everyone worked very hard and did a great job performing in front of so many people. The take on the play was new, different and interesting and the whole thing was a lot of fun.








Friday, November 13, 2015

What Makes A Good Ted Talk

    This week, we saw a lot of amazing Ted Talks made by professional public speakers. Many of the speakers had similar techniques throughout their speeches, but there were different qualities involved as well. Our class learned a lot on how to make a great Ted Talk for our upcoming project.
Every Ted Talk we saw had excellent visuals in the background, while the speaker was talking. That seems to be one of the main things that makes a Ted Talk different from a regular speech. Visuals allow for listeners to stay interested in what the speaker is saying. Having pictures can also remind a speaker what they are going to say next. Another thing the Talks had in common were they were all spoken by adults. An interesting thing I would like to research in the future would be seeing if there are professional Ted Talks made by children or teenagers like us. I don't watch Ted Talks too often so I don't know the answer to this question yet but it is just something I noticed that interests me.
There were also things that people did differently in the Ted Talks. For example, some talked longer than others. Even though I believe there is a time limit for each Talk, I still just thought to note this difference. Since the limits were different, some speeches seemed more rushed than others. Some people spoke very clearly while others were harder to understand and the number of visuals in each presentation also were different each time. Although all Ted Talks have a main takeaway, some of the Talks have a more serious ending statement than others. This was evident as we watched the speeches where some topics were overall more serious then, say, the one before it.
We learned a lot of ways to make a good Ted Talk. We learned that we need an introduction that establishes credibility and grabs the audiences attention. The body of the presentation should have all your content and talking points. Putting humor throughout the presentation is also helpful. In the conclusion you need to have a clear take away. You can end in a question, you want the audience to continue thinking about, or a call to action, making the audience want to do something about what was said. These techniques ensure that the audience will remember the clear, main point of your argument.
Overall I am pretty excited to start this project. This project is taking place over a long period of time but I plan on starting research as soon as possible. I need to do a lot of research on my topic to obtain a decent amount of credibility. I also want to find some direct quotes from professionals that actually work and live learning about my topic, which has to do with the myth of having to go to collage to succeed. I am planning on saying my speech, recording it and putting it into iMovie. I will then add my pictures to add visuals to the presentation. I'm really glad that we got to choose our topic and I am excited to start research. I think that this will be a great learning experience and will prepare us for other projects in the future.

http://blog.ted.com/10-tips-for-better-slide-decks/

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Ideas For Ted Talk


  • The Idea of Having to go to Collage to Have a Good Future
  • Reasoning Behind Lack of Reading as Kids get Older
  • Coral Reefs and Marine Animals 


Sunday, November 8, 2015

Ted Talks

 This is a quick, inspirational video that shows 8 steps on how to be successful.
https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_st_john_s_8_secrets_of_success?language=en#t-191386

This man talks about how doing something for 30 days can help start or subtract habits from your life.
https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_cutts_try_something_new_for_30_days?language=en#t-188271

This lady talks about good things being able to come from bad situations.
https://www.ted.com/talks/stacey_kramer_the_best_gift_i_ever_survived?language=en#t-178771

Friday, November 6, 2015

Evaluation of How To Speech

     "How-To Speeches" are speeches that explain how to specifically do or prepare something. My How-To speech talked about the importance of body language interpretation in other countries. I talked about how different body language can be offensive in other countries and gave a few specific examples. In the end, I believe I did a very good job on my final speech.
     In my last draft of performing the speech I used one, organized note card but had most of the speech memorized. I believe that my speech was interesting, though I could have maybe added more detail to make it exciting. I believe that my topic was clearly introduced and given clearly throughout the presentation. Although I did not get the speech perfect on the first try, I believe the final one was pretty good. I thought my volume was loud but not yelling and I don't believe that I stuttered too much. I don't think that I was reading off my notecard and I believe I made good eye contact. I don't think I was swaying a lot, like I usually do, but I may have touched my hair a few times which could have been slightly distracting.
     I thought the content of my speech was very clear. I started out with my credibility and tried to show that I knew what I was talking about. I believe that my topic was clearly introduced. I tried very hard to logically explain my topic and show specific examples of types of body language that should not be used in certain countries. I tried to explain why they were disrespectful as well so I had to find background on the subject. I had three different examples that I tried to clearly represent and show to the audience. My conclusion was kind of short but I wanted to quickly sum up the point of my talk so I believe that went well. I could have tried harder to make the conclusion a bit more interesting but thought it was pretty good overall.
     Even though I did some things correctly there are still many things I could improve on. I feel like I need to articulate more and also wish I was able to memorize the entire speech. If I memorized the whole speech I would be able to make even more eye contact and it would seem like I knew what I was doing, therefore increasing my credibility. Although I do go to a school with people from over 30 countries, I still don't think I have a large amount of credibility on the subject of national affairs due to the fact that I have never even been out of the United States. I needed to act more confident to seem more credible than I actually am. My conclusion was better than my first draft but I believe I still could have made it more interesting for the listeners.
    Overall, I thought my speech was good but could have used some improvements. I now know what I need to focus on in creating our next project.



http://www.inc.com/ss/jeff-haden/20-public-speaking-tips-best-ted-talks