PROJECT REFLECTION
I'm normally not great grade-wise. However when people give me autonomy I'm fine. I'm better when I get to choose what I do in all aspects. I think that this project was to make up the brain project and boy did I need it.
I worked so hard on this project, and I loved. Every minute of it. I had to be civil and not profane in my posts but aside from that it's just.... me. My voice, my opinions. I normally write like and it is
b a d. Olivia, my resident grammar-police friend, constantly bashes me. However, I just imagine I'm writing all this to Emily. Because she's a very good friend of mine, and she has a basic knowledge of all of this and my personality. I would never super dumb things down for her, because she's whip smart. And so, I direct all this like I'm talking to her, which I ironically haven't told her.
Sometimes in school you have projects that help you gain your bearings, or sea legs. And this was it for me. Because of all this, I bumped up my grade, and I think that my classmates' opinions of me have improved.
I'm not going to get guard captain.
I'm too much of a freshman, and to be given the power at that point would go straight to my head- I know myself.
But I do want to be completely candid with my goals. In the questions of the greatest strengths, I was straight up like "I shouldn't be guard captain keep me in mind for 2019"
I keep forgetting I learned a completely new thing.
...it was new???
I was writing this and I was about to type; "It's nto a new thing that I learned, however" but no... it is a new thing.
I worked so heard if feels like there wasn't really a time where I didn't know sabre. Oh my.
If anything, that single thought deems this a success.
YAY!
TED TALK REFLECTION:
Everybody missed my metaphor.
I'm not exaggerating, or trying. Everyone also missed my big point, which I guess was there if you looked for it, but still.
One of my largest skills is public speaking. I can get on a stage and talk all I like, and I can command a room. At the very least I like to think I can.
I've been preparing for this project more than I have for anything except for my midsummer's night dream project. The passion that I have for what I chose was so helpful in all of this. I was less stressed out for less than any other project. It's my new thing which seems stupid but works. Prepare until the beginning of the last moment, and then try and forget. It's what I did for the jazz competition this past friday where I won a solo award, it's what I approached this whole past marking period as.
So I began with a relative metaphor. Sabres aren't sharp unless you catch them wrong. You don't get injured if you start on the right foot. That's the general idea I tried to start with, and I should've said it in my talk, but that relates to what I learned about the project, that you need to control and channel your strengths and efforts.
To be completely honest with you, I think I did really well. Which is kind of pompous, but I think I did, I got some laughs, and at the end everyone was interested in the aspects of my presentation. They all wanted to see if they could do it. And that also made everyone more amazed at the speed, accuracy, and general nonchalance I had about doing spins.
As much as I think I'm good at public speaking, that comes from how much I love it. If you know me, you know I l o v e to talk. I like sharing my thoughts. If I have to keep something in, I just can't (aside from secrets I'm pretty good with those).
I have been practicing for a significantly shorter amount of time than I spent writing and refining my script.
I tried to include jokes, but for most people a few jokes are cool but you shouldn't let it revolve around them. I added in some pictures I found hysterical that others did not find as funny.
I got on stage, and I think I did pretty well. However, the stage and the general nature of my project takes out the difficulty of what I was doing, and I missed out on that. However, afterwards, I let some people try and do spins. I know I shouldn't let anyone else toss/ spin my equipment, however, everyone except for one person, were too scared to actually let go of it. And then they reinforced every note I had made in my talk which was pretty cool.
I did a toss on air blade on stage, and caught it, and I did a double on stage. Afterwards, my equipment was sitting there and I was talking to Olivia who deals with staffs in Karate, (she's a black belt go her) so she understand the general nature and control necessary. But other people saw Olivia, and started asking me what to do. It was this really cool feeling, the kind of feeling I bet Anthony and Kate felt when they brought in food and we loved it. It's this satisfaction and validation.
When people tried to do a single spin, which I got down within my first minute of me picking up a weapon, no one could really do it. And that also reminded me that I not only have passion for guard, but I'm good at it too?
What was funny is the general idea of my talk was channelling your strength- specifically wrist strength. And when people tried to do spins they weren't and it was just kind of bittersweet. Yeah, it's cool, but you didn't listen unless it directly affected you???
The talk went really well in my opinion, but grade-wise my opinion isn't the one that counts.
Also, I'm glad I didn't have a clicker. It seems ridiculous, but I am glad. I got to use my hands more, and the note-cards were a "just in case" thing. I seriously doubt any future gifted kids will be reading this but here are tips that I found helped me, and it may turn out that they were wrong and did nothing. Only time will tell.
1. Don't Procrastinate
I'm serious, on this project out of all of them you were given a chance to do something fun and interesting, and so why should you fel the need to put it off? This talk is just recounting your journey and a bigger idea, just be familiar with your talk.
2. Don't begin with "For my genius project I,"
In fact, try and avoid the words "genius project" all together. We all know that what you did, you don't need to tell us again.
3. Practice
So my mom (currently) works with 2 TED Talkers, Adam Grant and Angela Duckworth, and at her conference there was AJ Jacobs, Luke Dubois, Brian Little, Tim Urban, Katherine milkman, and Geoff DiMasi. And I asked her to ask them for advice, and there only thing was to practice. They said that if your talk is the worst, and you know it you can use a little creative justice to make it better. If your talk is the worst you can use inflection and hand movements to make it more interesting.
4. Visuals
If your project can be shown and presented, please do. If it's a language, speak a bit of that language. If it's guard, do a couple of tosses. If it's art, show your art. This TED Talk is your way to tie together your project and a theme of life, which you can't do without your project.
5. PLEASE DO NOT NUMBER
I do not quite know if these get good grades, but they are s o b o r i n g. And my numbering, I mean saying the stuff on your outline. Yeah, you say your hook. But don't say, first off, I learned 1. and then 2. and then 3. and my application is ____. That's so bad. You're not connecting with us. Most actual TED Talks have numbers, but they're normally describing a specific process. This may have been a specific process, and if it was for you, great. But if not, if you were going deeper into something you liked, or there was no step-by-step thing, don't put in steps!!!!
6. Have faith in yourself.
This is all mine. If you think it's gonna suck, it will. If you think that your transitions are bad, they'll be choppier on stage. Even if you think you're lying to yourself, it's better than straight-up tearing yourself down. You're gonna be great, and if you include the basics you're not going to fail. Believe in yourself! You've been doing this for upwards of six weeks, you got it.
