I really don’t like to give speeches, especially in front of all my friends, but I knew that once I walked into my 2nd period advanced English class, I would have to. I knew that what was about to come after I was finished reading it, was not going to be pretty. I could imagine that what I was about to read would stick with me for the rest of my high school career at Nelsonville-York high school with all of my friends teasing me about it, and my teacher, Mrs. Maria , teaching all of her future freshman classes of what not to write about. As I saw all of this happening, I knew I had to prepare to face the consequences that would come when I was finished. Little did I know that this speech was going to be a huge turning point of my high school career, and affect the way I give speeches and how I talk to people.
It was a Monday morning at Nelsonville-York high school; the weather was decent for a September morning. The school year had just started about 3 weeks before the day came I had to present my paper. I had written about a word that best describes me and a song that best describes that word. Mrs. Maria , our freshman English teacher who loved all of her students and helped anyone if they need it, assigned us this paper to help prepare us for the end of the year term paper. The purpose of this paper was to help us get used to writing papers and to understand how we were supposed to write them. The word I thought best described me was random. I chose this word because in front of my friends, I can sometimes be random. I knew that I could pick any song that best describes that word because most songs are random. The mistake I made was trying to picking a song that only had twelve words in it, and that song was One of These...
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..., but that paper taught me that speeches can be fun you just have to laugh at the parts that people might find funny even though you think they’re embarrassing. Over the next couple of years at Nelsonville-York, I gave several speeches in front of the class, and after what I experienced with that paper, I enjoyed every single one of them. I also enjoyed reading monologues aloud to people, especially funny ones, because I find them fun to read in front of people now that the paper really brought out the funny side in me. I usually look at that paper as a dark part of my life, but I also look at it as a part of my life that really changed the way I write my papers, how I talk to people and how I react to what people say or do. Thankfully I didn’t have to give any more speeches about a song until I reached my junior year of high school, but that’s just another story.
David McCullough Jr., delivered the commencement at Wellesley High School in Massachusetts on June 1st 2012 to staff, the 2012 graduates, and their family and friends. The speech was straightforward and supplied valuable information for their future. . McCullough’s speech at times felt harsh, offensive, and insulting. His words and examples were given to achieve insight, knowledge, and awareness for each student’s future. The commencement expressed a great deal of achievement, but conveyed that there was more work to be done. His speech was effective and appreciated through humor parallelism, repetition, and anaphora. His point of view has obtained respect and determination by all those that have been challenged and have heard his words.
Few people are fearless speakers. As students, we generally feel the rumble of butterflies in our stomachs, but the most we have to lose is a good grade.
Although a personal statement is supposed to be mine, in the back of my head, I was thinking that an admission officer would look at this sheet of paper I had written and base my admission on it. Then I felt that although this was supposed to be my story, it was not really what I wanted to say because the purpose was to please someone else. At a certain point, all creativity was gone and my only goal was to have a perfect personal statement. The need to have a perfect personal statement did not allow me to write an essay that was truly me. I already had my mind set that I was going to write what I thought the reader wanted to hear instead of what I truly wanted. I decided, however, that although the two questions of “Is it good?” and “Does this suck?” Barry presents would haunt me for the rest of my life, if my personal statement was not truly me, then I was getting into schools for the wrong reasons. It was surprising how, for so long, I struggled writing this life-altering essay and when I just let it go, and started writing without worrying about perfectionism, I “…was both there and not there… and the lines made a picture and the picture made a story” (124). I was able to write an essay that mattered to me as opposed to something that was a misguided version of myself.
I found O’ Brien’s speech to be extremely educational as well as entertaining. He used his profession as a comedian to incorporate pathos (humor), which positively affected the graduates. “When I got the call two months ago to be your speaker, I decided to prepare with the same intensity many of you have devoted to an important term paper. So late last night, I began (O’Brien, 2011)”. O’Brien is making a joke, based on the common stereotype that college students procrastinate on papers till the day before the deadline. “Behind me sits a highly admired President of the United States and decorated war hero while I, a cable television talk show host, have been chosen to stand here and impart wisdom. I pray I never witness a more damning example of what is wrong with America today (O’Brien, 2011).” O’Brien regularly uses humbling humor that supports the delivery of his speech. O’ Brien portrays himself as humble because he feels as if he isn’t worthy of giving a commencement speech due former president Bush, a decorated war hero was sitting behind him. O’Brien seems puzzled that they choose a television comedian, over a president and war hero because he is arguably much more qualified and respected. O’ Brien then jokingly states, that there’s a problem with America if the...
‘I am going to fail’ was the very first thought that crept into my mind on that very first day of class. Before I stepped into the classroom on the first day, I felt pretty good about my writing. I had done previously well in English, and didn’t think this class would be much of a challenge. This all changed on the first day of school, when my professor talked about the level of reading and writing expected for this class. I remember thinking ‘I don’t read, why couldn’t I have been born someone who likes to read?!’ Since this moment on the very first day of class, I have grown immensely through hard work. In this essay, I will explain what I have learned over the course of this class about myself, and about writing.
A little more than thirty two years ago I was beginning my senior year of high school. I had finished my junior year deciding that I would continue my education after high school and attend a college or trade school after graduation. Since making that decision very little had changed in my life. I had chosen a career and set some goals but didn’t really understand the hard work it would take to achieve my goal. Then I met my twelfth grade English teacher Mrs. Cook. On the very first day of school she introduced herself and made an announcement. “This class will prepare you for college. If you do not plan on going to college get up right now and go to see the counselor and change your schedule”. English composition had never been my favorite subject and I began to panic. As she went on to describe the rigor of the upcoming course, three of my classmates exited the room. I have never been a quitter and I realized at that moment if I were
High school has taught me to value the lessons I learn about myself as highly as I value the lessons I learn in the classroom. I read Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried in my Advanced Placement English Literature class this fall. The book is set during and after the Vietnam War, and delves into the emotional and physical burdens that the soldiers carried. Instead of a traditional essay that discusses how and why the author uses specific literary devices, my teacher assigned a paper entitled “The Things I Carry”. The purpose of the paper was to experiment with first-person narrative writing and explore our own lives and emotions, like the characters in the novel. My paper exposes a raw, personal view of myself. Writing is a tool I have
Writing has come naturally to me due to my past and experiences. My first language was not English and for this reason I devoted myself to learning what I could and more. Any project that was given in school, I chose to do a written essay or paper. This gave and continues to give me practice and experience to the English language. If I want to get anywhere in life in America, I have to read, write, and speak English fluently; otherwise I would be known as less by my peers. As of today, I can read, write, and speak English fluently. However, speeches are still a difficulty; I feel as if I am being judged, but I know I can overcome this obstacle with practice and experience.
It seemed like a normal day when I entered Mrs. A’s AP Language and Composition class, but little did I know that she was going to assign a very important project that was going to take forever. I took my seat and wrote down what was on the board. Then I sat patiently and waited for Mrs. A to come explain what we were doing today. When the tardy bell rang, Mrs. A glided into the room and gave us all a stack of papers. She then proceeded to discuss our upcoming assignment, a memoir. As she explained the very important assignment, I wondered whom I would write about. No one really came to mind to write about and I thought for sure I would never be able to get this thing done on time. I finally decided that I would write in on my mother, Kari Jenson. I knew I would probably put the project off until the very end and do it the weekend before even though it would get on my mom’s nerves. Putting work off was just how I did everything, it worked for me. When I arrived home from school that day, I told mom about the project. I told her I would most likely write it about her and she was overjoyed.
I was puzzled and wasn't sure what to talk about tonight. I had to prepare this speech ahead of time and turn it in for approval. I much prefer doing things spontaneously, using all the skills I have developed over the years, you know, sorta letting people (being the teachers and parents) know that we really were listening! It's much more fun interacting with other people, watching their reactions, and playing along with them. But, I had to do the right thing, So while I was contemplating my topic, it came to me - this is what I want you to take with you as we depart the Bryan Station School District and move on into life.
It is often argued about who, in our generation, will become the ‘next Beatles’; the biggest band in the world. Many bands have held this title, but none have met the expectations of the legendary 60’s band. Due to their popularity, even pop group One Direction have been gifted this moniker, but the opposition and has far outweighed the hype. With rock music experiencing a temporary lull, could it even be a guitar based band that squares up to The Beatles? And what boxes would they have to tick to achieve this milestone?
As my English 101 class comes to an end, I have realized how much I have transformed as a writer. In this essay, I am going to explain what I realized my strengths and weaknesses are as a writer and how they have manifested themselves throughout the quarter. I was skeptical at first coming into this class knowing that English takes formidable work and dedication, but I am very proud of the progress I have made. We completed a great deal of work throughout the quarter; from grammar exercises, summary reviews, and two challenging essays. Throughout the quarter I found myself improving in each category. As a writer, my skills and confidence have developed into more clarity and thought, something I have always wanted to be, as a result of a well constructed class that led to a superb educational experience.
The class helped me learn how to overcome fear of public speaking which was brought about by anxiety and fear which was mainly contributed by lack of exposure. During this class I learned many ways of overcoming this menace, the class groups that served as the audience helped in practicing and getting over the anxiety and fear I also got positive critic...
Coming into speech class, I mentally and physically prepared myself for what was in store. I never really like giving speeches, especially impromptu speeches. Signing up for speech was hard for me to do because I absolutely did not want to take it and was considering not taking it in high school and wishing that I would never have to take it. My fears for COMM 101 was being judged. I am not really one to care about what people think about me, but something about public speaking gives me a fear that people will judge me if I stutter or not be able to complete a speech. I just wanted to do my best in this class and just breeze through this class and get it over with. Getting up in front of the class for my first speech, was petrifying for me
I opened my mouth and shook my head. From deep inside my soul a melody flows out of my chest, off of my tongue, and finally caresses my lips with the sweetest touch, and my song fills the air with a boldness like that of the glory of the angels. The sound of my song is that of unfathomable wonder, a voice as sweet and smooth as the face of a child. I sing and sing and sing my heart out, and I wonder and wonder and wonder in awe of the sound that is coming from my mouth and my throat and my soul, and I sing with more power than I have ever felt before.