Presentation 1 Reflection

Last week was such a crazy week, and I'm glad it's finally all over! In addition to all the projects and exams I had last week, I did my Presentation 1 on Wednesday. I decided to do my presentation on betta fish--one of the most popular fish you can buy today. I focused on how to take care of a betta fish properly and why you shouldn't keep bettas in a flower vase. I also prepared a handout on how to buy a healthy and happy betta.

Even though I was prepared for my presentation, I got nervous. I hate that I always get butterflies when I do public speaking! I handle most "non-graded" presentations much better! I have to admit that this presentation was easier than most because I knew the topic I picked so well. Overall, I feel like I did a good job, but I think I could definitely improve on not getting nervous. The class seemed to like the presentation, and hopefully I helped a few bettas out there get a better living environment from their owners...which was what I hoped to do!

I thought that the presentation was a really good assignment. Learning how to do a good PowerPoint will help in almost every profession, and it will definitely help in most of my classes!

Reflections on Last Week

So far this semester, I have to admit that we haven’t had to do anything really challenging or terribly time consuming, but we have done a lot of things that have been very helpful. Well, this is how I felt until I read over the blog and looked at the syllabus again. After reading what all is due within the next two weeks, I’m feeling very uneasy, unprepared, and stressed out. We have been talking for a long time about all these assignments, but I guess I just didn’t realize that it was all happening so soon. On top of everything due for this class, I have even more to do for my other classes. I guess that’s my biggest concern. In the middle of working two jobs to pay for school, I have to find time for school! Never again will I take eighteen hours and try to work two jobs.

Even though I’m stressed out, I’m ready to get everything done. I feel like all the earlier assignments we've done were just the foundation blocks to the house we are building. In other words, we’ve done a little bit, but we’ve still got a lot to do. I know that probably sounds a little cheesy and cliché, but I think it’s a good description of what’s going on in the class.

I’m pretty confident about the presentation assignment. I’ve decided to do my presentation on betta fish since a lot of people have them as pets. I’m still debating on whether or not I should use Giggles, my betta, as a prop. He’s hard to carry all the way across campus, and I’m not sure I want to explain how he got his name. That could take like 2 minutes of my whole presentation time. I don’t feel prepared at all for my interview. I always get nervous about interviews. Also, I don’t like to admit it, but I really have no idea what kind of job I want to get after I graduate. As for the portfolio, I think it will be very easy to put together and post on Blackboard. And then there’s the group project…I feel like our group is behind, but hopefully that will all change soon. But then again, I’m not sure where exactly we should be right now. Are all the other groups still researching, or are they already designing a website? I feel like we are stuck in the research phase until we start putting all of our ideas together and making the actual website. Finding times to meet together seems to be our biggest problem.

Presentation 1

So, for this week, we were asked to write about what presentation topics we are considering for our Presentation 1 assignment. The presentation is meant to be more of a presentation graded on the PowerPoint you prepare and how you speak to the class. The latter really scares me…”a grade on how well I speak to the class.” See, there’s a reason why I haven’t taken my communications requirement yet. I really hate speaking in front of groups of people. I guess my only question about the assignment is what exactly is graded as far as the “speaking to the class” part.

For my presentation, I am thinking about a few topics, and I’m not really sure which one to pick right now. First of all, I am a huge Hanson fan and I know a lot about them. I even have pictures from concerts, pictures of me meeting them, and tons of books for reference. The biggest problem with choosing this topic is that most people really don’t want to listen to me talk about Hanson. I also know a lot about house design and architecture, but I think I would have to do more research to put a presentation together that covers it all. Plus, it is such a huge topic that I would have to narrow it down to a more detailed topic like just kitchen design. The third topic I am considering is how to take care of a Betta fish. I’ve had three of them so far, and I’ve learned a lot about how to take care of them...I’ve learned a lot about what NOT to do!

Right now, I really think I will go with the Betta fish topic, because that is probably the best topic for me to present. Even though I am really interested and would enjoy doing a presentation on kitchen design, I’m not sure how to present that information easily. And then there’s Hanson…a topic that I would like to do because of everything I could include, but there’s not much interest in that topic among the class. As you can see, I still need to narrow it down and pick one.

The "Incident"

Recently, an event happened in Clemson that made headline news. When someone talks about "the incident" we all know what they are talking about. Just in case you are reading this and don't know what "incident" I'm talking about, here's the story:

A group of students hosted an off-campus “gangsta” party over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Pictures got posted on Facebook.com of a girl with padding to make her rear end look bigger and another person in "blackface."

I’ve talked about the party in almost all of my classes with my peers this past week, and I didn't find out about it until Tuesday night what had happened. I have a bunch of mixed feelings about the whole thing. First of all, I do not think that the students meant to upset or offend anyone, but they definitely did.

Secondly, I think theme parties are meant to display an extreme stereotype. For example, an extreme stereotype for computer scientists might be that they all wear big glasses, pants that are too short with high socks, and a pocket protector. Do you really think that they are like that? Of course not! My point is that no matter what you do, unless you are really careful, you are going to offend SOMEONE.

As for the incident, I do think that the whole thing got blown out of proportion, and I do think that it was extremely bad timing to be throwing a party of that nature. The media has had a field day with the incident. Not only did the incident hurt those that it offended, it hurt Clemson’s reputation even more. I am glad that the students came forward and made a formal apology to the public. Hopefully, this has taught us a lot about the issues we still face today.