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Blog 1: Post-Presentation Reflection (9.23.21)

What did you learn about yourself as a presenter through this first experience?

In this first presentation I feel that I learned a lot more about my abilities in public speaking. I have never liked talking in front of a class before and I get nervous or nauseous just thinking about it. It certainly is not my strong suit, however I know that I can do it if I try. When I think about my mindset from before and during the IRT Presentation, I was completely overthinking it. I had "overhyped" it and was more concerned about getting the information across, rather than trying to make it engaging or fun for the audience. I noticed that when I am presenting I become a little fidgety and shaky and tend to look for the teacher rather than at the audience. Presenting has never come easy for me, and doing it without any notes is certainly difficult, but I learned that when I present I need to relate to the audience on a personal level and ensure that I don't overthink it as that just leads to more nerves.

What do you plan to do differently/change next time?

Next time I present, I want to ensure that keep the audience engaged throughout the presentation and make it clear so they know what the point I am trying to get across is. From the feedback my group received, it seems that we had almost lost our sense of direction in the presentation and tended to be a bit too repetitive. We ended up overcomplicating it and seemed to not really make a proper conclusion, in that we failed to make a more universal/broad point. I think next time we need to make efforts to make our presentations come around "full circle". I also know now that I need to practice a lot before hand so I feel comfortable enough to get up there and speak on a topic and I also need to stop myself from overthinking. When I overthink it leads to a more messy and self-conscious presentation which doesn't work out well for me or the audience.

What will keep as part of your deliberate presentation bag of tools?

Something I would keep for next time I present is engaging with the audience. I found that the personal connections/analogies we made, where we discussed our own experiences of playing the Atari ET game, and by asking questions directly to the audience, where they could almost be apart of the presentation, were highly effective. It was one of the best parts of our presentation as it helped to break up the hardcore facts we were giving and help people relate/understand what we were saying. I also think the fact that we split up our slides and had different people jump in on each really helped to make a more cohesive presentation. Rather than assigning one topic per person, we each made sure we knew information about all the slides so we could jump in whenever, making the presentation flow better.

What do you want to steal from another presenter for your next presentation?

For my next presentation, I would definitely steal the engaging presence the Rubik's Cube group had made. By incorporating an actual rubik's cube into their presentation and showing us in a "demo" form of how to solve it was really innovative to me. This was one of the most interesting and lively presentations to watch and I found that by adding a real life demo can help with audience excitement and engagement. I would also say that the way they were moving around the room and were following almost the same movement patterns really helped to make for a more cohesive presentation, and is definitely something i would incorporate into my next presentation!

Blog 2: Questioning (10.20.21)

1. Is there a safe way to integrate GMOS into developing countries?

2. How can we break the stigma surrounding GMOS?

3. How can we show those who oppose GMOS the benefits they can have on society?

4. Will the integration of GMOS help to create equal opportunities for those in developing countries?

5. Is the nature of genetically modifying an organism ethical?

6. How would people react if multiple countries allowed the production of GMOS?

7. Why are people unable to see the benefits of GMOS? Does it have to do with how they were raised, or possibly religious beliefs?

8. Would the implementation of GMOS be a solution to climate change?

9. Since GMOS are way to ensure food security, why is there so much opposition to it?

10. When designing GMOS is there a way to make it have more than one benefit? Meaning would it be bad to implement more than one new gene to these crops/organisms?

11. Why are we raised to believe that GMOS are bad?

12. What goes into the production of GMOS? How long does it take? Is it possible to supply/create a lot, as some countries that use them are struggling to find more as there aren't enough. (Nigeria cowpeas)

13. Are developing countries at greater risk if they don't choose to implements GMOS?

Blog 3: Evaluating Questions (10.20.21)

1. Looking at communities in India facing a common diseases, how can the implementation of GMOS be used to help? How effective will they be?

2. Is there a safe way to integrate GMOS into developing countries in Asia? How can we garnar support for them and show others the benefits they can have? (EQ I have selected)

3. How GMO crops help to solve climate change today and lead to developing countries to gain and equal footing in society?

How is my EQ interesting?

1. My EQ is looking into a common belief that many people have about GMOS. It is focusing on the effects GMOS could have in Asian developing countries and how we can form acceptance so that GMOS could be implemented into these countries. It is interesting as it is relating ones personal beliefs and misunderstandings about GMOs to a more global perspective and seeing how they can be used in a safe way in these countries.

How is my EQ arguable?

1. My EQ is arguable as it is asking people to think about their own beliefs of GMOs. Everyone has a different perspective or insight towards them, so by getting them to understand how we can implement these safely, it might be able to change any bias they have towards GMOs.

How is my EQ answerable?

1. My EQ can be answered through research about how GMOs can be used in these countries and looking into the benefits they have for people. In order to answer people's questions about the risks of GMOs my question could be used to ask people who have seen the benefits or disadvantages of them.

Blog 4: Flipgrid Reflection (11.22.21)

Why did you choose the prompt you did?

I chose this prompt as it was the one I felt most confident in my ability to tell a story a with. I felt there was a lot of freedom with this prompt, but also had some structure already as I knew it had to relate to the string theory itself. I was able to explore a simple topic, but then relate it to something greater than that which was truly fun to do!

What challenges did you face with this flipgrid and how did you work through them?

Some challenges I faced was having to talk without a script. It was honestly really hard not having an reference while recording and it took me a while to adjust as I kept wanting to make it perfect. To combat this I ended up doing multiple takes and creating key lines for me to remember when talking. This helped to guide my story and allowed me to be able to say all the points that I wanted to.

How and why did you shape your story in the way you did?

I shaped my story in a way where I took something simple that we all do and know (a shoelace/tying your shoe) and then explaining how this process and the way life goes relates to one's path. I took the simple shoelace and related it to the string theory as I felt that it was the best way for me to convey it. I shaped my story this way as I felt that if there was some common ground or something basic that everyone would know then people would be more likely able to follow my story and understand how it relates to the string theory.

What felt successful?

I think I was able to convey what I wanted to in my story pretty well. Although I may have missed some points that I had in my outline, I feel that i got across the message I wanted to. I also feel a lot better about presenting now and think I could easily do it without notes as long as I practice!

Blog 5: MHL Field Trip (12.16.21)

Today I felt that I was really able to organize my research in terms of writing and I finally have a sort of game plan as for where I'm going now. I did struggle for a while with navigating what to talk about in each section, but after doing the first one I feel like I am in a much better place than before, in regards to knowing what I am supposed to do now with my ROL. I think it also helped being able to have someone to talk to when I had questions as we were all working on the same thing and I also really liked being in a different environment as I felt more motivated to work.

Blog 6: MOTH Reflection (2.7.22)

Going into the MOTH talk I was anticipating that I would be nervous for it. Typically I hate standing in front of people and giving a presentation or just talking to large groups of people, but for this surprisingly I felt fine. I realized I put less stress on myself for it and just went with what I knew. I spent less time emorzing a full script and rather just knew some points I had to hit for it. When I was up there it was also kind of fun telling the story. I knew it as it was personal to me and I felt comfortable sharing it with everyone. I found that although I'm not the best public speaker, doing this type of practice really helps and I actually really enjoyed doing it. I would say sharing my MOTH was really fun and when I was up there I could feel myself getting energized. Doing this was very exciting for me and I feel much more comfortable talking in front of people. I have found that when I know the topic and am confident in it, I am talk about it with ease even when I am out of my comfort zone.