Goals: Old Accomplished & New Discovered

Hey Everyone!

Happy Halloween!

My first marking period ends on Halloween so this week has been pretty busy, despite the fact that there was no school on Monday or Tuesday. . . But we’ll leave that aside!

This week, we have to write about the goals that we set for ourselves at the beginning of the class. Remember that very first blog post where I told you about three songs and three goals? If you don’t remember, my goals were to be able to know how to act and speak when in front of a crowd, to look and be more confident when speaking in front of people and for this blog to be interesting for others.

This marking period, was a really successful one, in my opinion. I think that my presence when I’m on up on the podium is really starting to show through. When I watch over my past videos, I can really tell that towards the end of the process of learning, memorizing, and presenting each type of speaking, it gets better and better. I can tell when I got more confident and started to think about things other than just the memorization. But, I have noticed that when I haven’t really gotten to that comfortable stage, and even sometimes when I have, I start to fidget with my sleeve or something. That is one big thing that is taking away from my first goal, to know how to act in front of an audience. The fidgeting really gives away to the listeners that the speaker is kind of nervous. I think that I improved on the confidence level because once I got the hang of the poem or the monologue, I was able to relax a little more on stage. Another improvement was that adapting and trying to change through the comments of my teacher and classmates. They really helped me in many ways. They were the ones, who because they were having a hard time just like me, made me feel more comfortable in what I was doing. Their feedback really helped as well to improve and continue on with my learning.

For the next marking period, I want to work on my memorization of the speaking that we will be doing. I want to try to memorize my part faster, so I have more time to work on the other aspects of it, such as emotion, expression, and body language. In this marking period, I want to try to work on the speaking at home more, so I have that much more practice with the material. Another goal I want to accomplish is that I want to try some speaking parts that are slightly out of my comfort zone. This will help me when I have to talk about things I don’t really want to talk about. Taking myself out of my comfort zone will bring me to another whole level in terms of challenging myself. It would be harder to even choose topics to speak about. But I will take that challenge. I hope that I will be able to accomplish all of these goals in addition to maintaining the ones I have already achieved. . . Wish me luck!

Debates: Video Games & Homework

Hey y'all!
This week, in class, we are going to be working on debates. To prepare for the debates coming up, we had to research both pros and cons about each of the two topics. The first is 'homework should be banned' and the other is that 'video games are too violent.'

The first topic, about homeworkers being banned something that I know a lot about, considering that I have to do it everyday. But, I don't know if homework itself should be banned. One good thing about homework is that the students can really tell if they know the material without the teacher's help; it's a good test. Another good thing is that homework could be used to go ahead in the material, while class time is used to understand what is going on during the homework. "According to Cooper’s much-cited review of homework studies, there have been 20 studies since 1962 that compared the achievement of students who received homework and achievement of students who did not. Results are that 14 of the studies showed benefit in doing homework, while 6 did not." (4) On the other hand, the students get more practice with the material taught in class.  Another point is that if there is no homework, kids will be wasting their time watching TV, or getting into trouble. Also, homework teaches time management. When there is a lot of homework, the student s need to know how to get all of it done. That is a skill that will be used for the rest of their lives and all kids need to know how to use it. But too much homework can be a bad thing. Nowadays, kids have so many after school activities, that homework can only get done late at night, so time that should be spent sleeping is spent doing work. "'Kids are at school 7 or 8 hours a day. That’s a full working day and why should they have to take work home?” said education expert Etta Kralovec told Today.'" (2) Home work can cause a lot of stress especially at the young age when kids start to get overwhelmed. Another thing is that once you're behind, it's very hard to catch because the students have to do the current homework as well as the past assignments. In most classes, homework is worth only a small part of the grades, so taking it out would not be a big deal. "In his book The Homework Myth, Kohn points out that no study has ever found a correlation between homework and academic achievement in elementary school, and there is little reason to believe that homework is necessary in high school." (3)  Lastly, the free time can be used for something useful, such  as learning something new, being with friends, or even sleeping. "Half of kids in grades 7-12 spend one hour or more on homework on a typical weekday, compared to just over one third of kids in grades 3-6, according to a 2007 Metlife study." (1) And this is only an average. On some days, it could be much more than an hour going up to 2 or even three hours spent solely on homework. Now, how much it is benefiting the kids, you be the judge.

The next topic is about video games being too violent. Many games today involve much violence with the goal to kill or hurt or hunt down others. After a while, the kids will start think that violence like this is ok and 'normal'. Children start to lose their empathy for those who are dead and dying. Because have seen so many deaths in their games, they believe at it's not as bad as it is. They may even think that they get a second chance like they do in the games. Studies show that there is more aggression in the people who play violent video games on  a daily basis. "These actions or gestures are stored in their memories and children do feel the urge to try them out in their real lives on their siblings and in school, thus increasing the bullying tendencies." (6) Ninety-seven percent of children have played violent video games before. As technology is advancing, so are the video games. The blood and gore are more and more realistic. As children play these games everyday, make a them seem as not a big deal.. Just something that can be done over. The games could also scare some, as they get more and more real and 3-D. On the other hand, these games could be merely be a good way to let out some stress. Some might say it is better to let anger out on virtual beings, than human ones. Another thing that these games are very realistic, giving the children a good idea of what real warfare is like. It gives them a taste of what the real world is like. "Even in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or depression, researchers found there was no evidence to suggest the games had a negative effect upon their personality." (7) A third point is that the parent should teach
their children right from wrong. The  parents should be watching over the children to make sure they know what is good and bad. "For children who do play video games, it is more important to monitor the content than it is to set time limits, Murphy says." (5) The rating on  the boxes of the videos games itself should also be followed. If  the box says that the game is meant for teens, only teens should be playing them.


1). http://parade.condenast.com/337259/linzlowe/weigh-in-should-schools-ban-homework-altogether/
2). http://parade.condenast.com/337259/linzlowe/weigh-in-should-schools-ban-homework-altogether/
3). http://www.education.com/magazine/article/The_Homework_Debate/
4). https://schools-education.knoji.com/should-homework-be-banned/
5). http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=12662
6). http://www.dawn.com/news/1061850
7). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2403032/Violent-video-games-like-Grand-Theft-Auto-DONT-harm-children--therapeutic.html

Or

Six Engaging Debate Topics

1).   Year round education is not a good idea for student learning.

2).   Students should not be graded on their handwriting.

3).   Parents should be allowed to choose their baby's gender.

4).   Smoking should be illegal.

5).   Every student should be required to take a performing arts course.

6).   The US Government should fund a space mission to Mars.

A Reflection on Spoken Word Poetry

Hello Everyone!

In my class, we have been working on presenting spoken word poetry. We had to choose a poem, find music to go with the words, memorize it, and then present it with the class. As usual, all the elements of public speaking needed to be on point. My poem is part of my last blog post, so you should go check it out!

One important thing that I learned about how and when to pause when you're speaking. In a poem, it's especially important because the pauses are how the audience knows when you're starting or ending a new paragraph or topic. In other types of public speaking, the pauses are useful  when the speaker wants to transition into a new subject. It helps the audience. Some of the most effective performances were the ones that had music that went well with the poem. The music really added to what the speaker was saying. For example, Jade's music was from Harry Potter, but it worked very well with his poem. The music rose and fell according to the words of the poem. It added to the emotion to the piece. When the speakers used hand gestures or facial expressions, it helped to understand the meaning of the poem. The speed of the poem, and in turn, the music was also a big factor. The faster the poem, the more risk there is for the speaker to talk too fast, making it harder for the audience to enjoy the performance. It was harder for the people were trying to convert song lyrics into a poem, because the beat of the song's music is always in your head.

My poem, was about a woman who was bringing water back to her village in Africa. I think that one of the things I did well, was finding music that would for my theme. I found some instrumental music on YouTube that was perfect. According to the feedback given by my classmates, the music added another level to the performance. Another thing that I thought I did well, was the speed. Because the music was slower, it was easier to keep speaking at a more understandable pace. The main thing that I improved on as the learning process went was the memorization of the poem itself. That was one of the most difficult parts of the process for me. It was harder for me to keep it in my head while, I was actually presenting it, because if I got distracted, I would forget the whole  thing.  But, I feel that the time it took for me to memorize the poem was much less than the last time. It was easier for me. The parts that I believe I need to work on are adding emotion and memorization. These two hard areas can hopefully be achieved through practice and experience.

Hope you enjoyed my poem and see you later!

My Spoken Word Poem

http://youtu.be/IG5SD9dprHM

Her Head

Joan Murray

Near Ekuvukeni,
in Natal, South Africa,
a woman carries water on her head.
After a year of drought,
when one child in three is at risk of death,
she returns from a distant well,
carrying water on her head.

The pumpkins are gone,
the tomatoes withered,
yet the woman carries water on her head.
The cattle kraals are empty,
the goats gaunt-
no milk now for children,
but she is carrying water on her head.

The engineers have reversed the river:
those with power can keep their power,
but one woman is carrying water on her head.
In the homelands, where the dusty crowds
watch the empty roads for water trucks,
one woman trusts herself with treasure,
and carries water on her head.

The sun does not dissuade her,
not the dried earth that blows against her,
as she carries the water on her head.
In a huge and dirty pail,
with an idle handle,
resting on a narrow can,
this woman is carrying water on her head.

This woman, who girds her neck
with safety pins, this one
who carries water on her head,
trusts her own head to bring to her people
what they need now
between life and death:
She is carrying them water on her head.