Public Speaking and the New Stage Fright

     Though I believed that I put my presentation together well, I often feel the need to rely on the visual content rather instead of speaking myself.  One of my biggest public speaking fears is that my voice will grow monotone as I speak.  Unless the subject I speak about is one that interests me, and therefore I can speak more passionately about it, I will occasionally slip into a monotone voice.  The reason behind the slip may be because I just want to present the material as best as I can, so using more infliction as I speak tends to be a part of the presentation I place on the back burner.  To get over this fear, I suppose I should look harder to see if the material I'm studying can link to something for which I feel passionate; maybe then I can speak a tad more naturally.

     Another fear, which I think is a more common fear students have, is to not get tongue-tied when speaking.  The only effective method for overcoming this problem is to practice reading over the material, or if remembering it word for word is no good, solidify the basic concepts in your mind.  As long as a student understands the material well enough to tell it like a basic story, it's better than being unable to speak smoothly at all.    

Seen and Unseen

If Barnes and Noble and Borders could rearrange their books in a fashion that would potentially net more profits, they could rearrange books by popularity.  Books, plays, and series that have garnered mass popularity, both old and new, would be located in the "Infamous" section.  Any material that was popular at the time of its release but did not leave an overwhelming impact could be found in the "Known, but not classics" department of the store.  Literature that should in the "Infamous" section, but did not achieve such status for whatever reason, would sit on the shelves on the "Under-appreciated" section.  The final section, which would be reserved for books that were utter flops, would be titled "Unloved."  With this method, the more popular sections would require mass shipments and make much money while the less popular sections collect dust.   

Critiquing The Tipping Point

     The Tipping Point, while an incredibly interesting and informative book, is not without its strengths and weaknesses.  Every time it introduced a new concept, The Tipping Point would use an example of the concept and then produce to describe the concept in detail.  However, the novel would occasionally throw example after example at the readers, overusing the idea with which the book would introduce the concept.  There were even times where the examples the novel described were confusing, such as the experiment in which subjects nodded their heads while listening to recordings.  

     A few of the ideas began to also sound repetitive after a while as well.  For instance, concepts introduced in later chapters could easily link back to early concepts, such as the law of the few.  I understand the book was more research oriented, and thus required more examples and concepts to seem "complete."  However, perhaps the book may have been better off if slightly more condensed.  

Second multi-draft

The first multi-draft was difficult because I struggled before I finally had a sense of direction.  There were several issues I wanted to discuss, but I had trouble narrowing it down to the one that 

a). I could best relate to and 

b). that could incorporate the ideas of Nickel and Dimed.

One of my goals was to not fret over incorporating the concepts of The Tipping Point into the paper as much, since it hindered my progress the last time.  Thankfully, the ideas from The Tipping Point linked more naturally to the topic I chose.

My second goal was to improve the speed at which I wrote the paper.  Fortunately, the writing process the second time did not take as long, since I felt more confident on the material.  Though I made sure the first paper also stayed within territory I knew, the second paper discussed topics I felt even more comfortable with, which may account for the flow for the second paper.  

Other than classes, I...

I often hear mixed opinions about what to do in one's spare time at Stockton. "It's a suitcase college, so it gets really boring." "Nobody wants to go home on the weekends because there's always so much to do!" I feel that my opinion lies in the middle; there's nothing to do if you don't look hard enough. Though I have not engaged in every single extracurricular activity offered, I have tried my best to attend a few.
The period I was most active with campus activities was Welcome week, as was most other Freshmen. It was a time in which we were all uncertain, which meant we were all open to anything new offered to us. After that, I must admit that I wasn't as aggressive in terms of finding something to do in my spare time. I did attend events such as the Club Fair, and I have joined clubs like Hillel and the Art Club, but I know that if I make an extended effort, I could find more to do. Perhaps this is because I'm still in a period of adjustment, and I'm still looking for a balance in terms of my studies and what I do for relaxation. I figure, though, that after this first semester, I'll have a better grasp over what I want to do.

1st Conference

As I expected, I received critiques on my introductory paragraph during the first conference. I really wanted to write about positive and negative influences produced by the media and the efforts of others. Yet after discussing the opening paragraph with my teacher, I realized that my thesis was not exactly "arguable." I stated in my original thesis that American citizens should make an extended effort to help those in need, but my teacher told me that this was not an arguable thesis because "shouldn't we all make an effort?" Then, I added a twist that really made a difference; I discussed how our capitalist economy's mindset of "every man for himself" does not benefit the struggling, lower class citizens.
Though I struggled to make the thesis provocative, I understood the professor's reasons for wanting me to do so. A thesis, even in a third person paper, has to have a bias in order to really give the paper sustenance. I felt with the revised thesis, the ideas I had already written for the body had more power and flowed better. In the future, I would like my teacher to help me with the placement of my thesis. In high school, the thesis had to be at the end of the introductory paragraph, no questions asked. Though I was prepared for the fact that this rule might change once I was in college, I feel that I'll need a bit of guidance before I can master the freedom of placing my thesis wherever I desire.

College and Careers

I chose to attend Stockton college because I believe as a liberal arts college, Stockton would help me select the path I would take in the future. My goal is to take a variety of classes, which will open up two paths for me. The first is to discover a new variety of subjects that may interest me that I have never before considered for a career. I have heard stories of people that go in with no idea what he or she wants to do, and then after sampling several classes, finally pinpoints his or her career.
The second path is to select one of my current interests for a possible career and get the advice needed to further develop my skills. I believe that is one of the key purposes of any college: for its well-educated and experienced teachers to pass on their expertise to the students eager to pick up the skills.
Both paths are vital to success in the real world, and while I plan to explore both, I also plan to eventually narrow down my career choice based on my studies.