In this video Sarah Kay talks about spoken word poetry. She talks about the change she went through at fourteen years old when she first performed spoken word poetry. She also talks about three steps she underwent step one was when she said I can, step two was when she said I will. The third step was to figure out her own style of poetry like when we figure out how do go through life. These steps are huge take aways from this talk because these steps can be applied to anything in life. If there is any goal that a person needs to achieve they can use these three steps to achieve that goal. This speaker's effective speaking techniques are articulation of the words for everyone to understand and to use common words so everyone can understand what she is saying. Kay's presentation style includes connection with the whole audience. This could also be an ignite presentation because she tells a story to inspire others and to ignite something inside them. What matters in this presentation are the three steps she described. The three steps were
1. Say I can.
2. Say I will.
3. Make it your own.
These matter to me because every goal I set in life can be achieved by this three step process. When I was little I said I can and I started dancing and soon after I said I will. To this day I am still trying to make figure out how to make each dance move my own with my own style. What this means to education is that these steps can apply to learning as well. Students must say I can learn, I will learn, and then they must figure out their learning style to receive the best results. What this means to world is that the rate of achievement could go up if the whole world adopted these three steps. That could also mean more advancement in different aspects in society because there would now be an easy process to get work done or create something new. This could also lower plagiarism because the last step, make it your own, would prohibit the same idea being produced because no one thinks exactly the same. This easy process could lead to a brighter and more unique future.

Changing the World with a Little Thought

In this video Clay Shirky talks about how the world will be changed with cognitive surplus. Shirky defines cognitive surplus as the ability of the world's population to volunteer and to contribute and collaborate on large sometimes global projects. My take aways from this video are that this surplus of thought will change the world. I also took away that cognitive surplus is made up of two parts, the world's free time and talents and the other is the availability of information in the form of media and Internet and such. Shirky had very effective speaking techniques like speaking loudly and articulating all of his words so that the audience could understand him a little better. His presentation style was to throw a lot of facts at the viewers at one time and then explain later what they meant and their relevance. He also used a power point or slide show to further prove and enhance his points. What matters from this video is that the free time and talents of others combined with the availability of information due to media is going to cause the world to change. This matters to me personally because it will be mostly my generation that brings the change to the world. It matters to me because my generations' free time and talent mixed with the media will change the world. This matters to my education because a lot of this information that creates cognitive surplus is getting through to schools and thus creating even more availability of information. This matters to the world because the world is changing because of the amount of thoughts and ideas being produced. The world will never be the same because of cognitive surplus and that is why it matters to the world because we could be moving towards a bright future or a dark one. No one knows we can only guess and hopefully make this excess thought help our future not hinder it. How do we know what these thoughts will bring to our world? How can we be sure that it is a bright future not a dark one? Can we predict this new future? Can we only hope that cognitive surplus will better our world?

Rewards, Punishments, and Motivation

Today we watched a Ted Talk video by Daniel Pink. His idea worth spreading was the science behind motivation. He found that when given tests of mechanical skill the people who were offered rewards did better in those tests. However, when the tests required some creativity the group who was offered rewards usually did worse. I took away from this video that in different situations different motivations are used by those motivated and motivators. Another take away was that if/then rewards work very well for mechanical tasks. I also took away that people who were offered a reward for a test that involved creativity usually did worse and this is usually ignored in the scientific world. I also took away that there is a huge difference between what science knows and what business does. The speaker's effective speaking techniques include loud voice and relatively easy vocabulary. He also gives many examples for each of his points and expands and expands on that one point. His presentation style included his hands as he tried to describe the points and a PowerPoint with pictures of the experiments that he used as a resource. He also acted like a lawyer in some parts of the speech to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this was true. He also highlighted the important words in his PowerPoint to make sure that those words or ideas were noticed and understood. What matters is that motivations like rewards can actually hurt the productivity of an individual. What matters is that most companies still use rewards and punishments as a way to motivate an employee. These apply to me because in education and in the world punishments and rewards are often used as motivators. When in reality it affects the productivity of myself and many in my generation. This is true because in school we receive good grades for doing well on tests and worksheets and this is an example of rewards. These are rewards because when we are getting ready to go to college the rewards we received, in the form of grades, can be a great addition to the application. The punishment in this system would be bad grades and that can really hurt our chances of going to college. The reward at the end of the road is getting into the college where you want to go. The punishment is not getting into that college. This relates to school because school is a system that is based off of rewards and punishments. An example of this is on Reinhardt University's website where it talks about how students who meet certain requirements in honors classes receive a Honors Certificate. This applies to the world because most people who have a job went to school for that job and we are all being raised with the rewards and punishments system. When we are raised on that system and that is all we know that is what we expect and that will seriously damage our creativity and could cause us to hurt our chances of a job. If our chances for a job are hurt because of a set system my generation will struggle but what will happen to people in the generation behind us? Will the system change or will the future be a very tough place to live in?

It Started with a Driving Lesson

In this video Caroline Casey talks about what she learned when she turned 17. She was born and lived in Ireland and now works for human rights. When she was 17 she wanted to learn how to drive. Her parents bought her a lesson and she was very excited but every year she would go to the eye specialist to check out her eyes. The specialist noticed it was her birthday and asked her what she was going to do. It was then that she figured out that she was and always had been legally blind, and to think this all started with a driving lesson. My take aways from this video are that everyone has to look past limits to get where they want to go physically and mentally. I also took away that you must believe in yourself and be yourself. I also took away that being totally yourself is freedom that you need to find who you are by yourself. Everyone is extraordinary and people need to look past limits to find the extraordinary parts of each person. In this video Casey tries to relate to the audience to get her point across. She also is dramatic and uses emotion to have the audience understand what she went through and why it matters to her. The emotion in this video also catches the attention of the viewer because it is a sad story. The presentation style of Casey was mostly direct and to the point but once it reached the point she expanded on the idea. She would reach the point fast and then enhance the point with a story to make the viewer more emotionally attached and makes them want to learn more. How all the things that I took away from this video apply to me personally are that I want to live by that standard. I want to and try to everyday look past the limits in myself and in others. I try to recognize the extraordinary parts in everyone everyday and I try to believe in myself. While in high school it is hard to be completely 100% you is hard because we may not know who that is yet but we still try to be our own person. This applies to education because teachers often look at the limits of a rubric and grade us accordingly on how we followed that rubric. This has changed in my English class because we are presenting our own TEDxtalks. We were told the topic and told to start preparing with no limit. The rest also apply to education because school is a place to find yourself and what you are good at. It is a time to look past limits and be yourself or find yourself. These all apply to the world because if everyone lived by these standards we would have a world that constantly progresses because we are not inhibited by limits. It also applies to the social systems of our world because many times others can bring us to a sad place when we do not believe in ourselves. This can also happen when the one who is trying to bring people down does not believe in themselves or has not found themselves yet. This can be explained in an article about bullying. It explains the science behind the bullying through tests and the social significance. If the whole world worked on looking past limits and finding all the extraordinary things life would be happier for many people. Caroline Casey did a wonderful job of making the audience understand this message and to think that the beginning of the life she lives today started out with her wanting a driving lesson.

Educated out of Creativity

In this video Sir Ken Robinson stated that schools are killing creativity. He thinks that as children we are the most creative and as we enter school that creativity is lost and educated out of us. Something I took away from this video was that if we are afraid to be wrong we will never invent an original idea. He also says that as we progress through school we are tested on our ability to memorize and to never be wrong. Robinson said that as we are educated we become more and more afraid to be wrong. This is very true because when we take tests because we want to do well and not get anything wrong. In class students are afraid to ask questions for fear that they will be wrong. While delivering this talk Robinson had very effective speaking techniques. These included volume and vocabulary that everyone would understand. He also incorporated stories that would complement the main idea and make that idea easier to understand. Robinson had a very effective presentation style because he kept everyone in the room interested. He frequently told jokes that accented the story and helped the meaning of his idea become clear. What matters in this talk is the fact that the teachers now are educating a new generation for jobs that haven't even been invented yet. What matters is that the creativity that is in all of us as children is lost when we grow up. What matters is that the creativity that has been lost is what we will need when we are adults and looking for a job. These all apply to me personally because I am being educated in the system that is educating me out of creativity. In my English class we were told that our final will be a TEDxtalk. We were given a topic and told to start preparing. Instintly I was lost along with many of my peers, we were expecting a rubic or something else to tell us what to do. Now many people in the class have no idea what they are going to present. We were given the freedom to be creative and we didn't have any idea how to be creative. This applys to education because they are the ones preparing us and they don't know what to prepare us for. This applies to the world because most of my generation around the world is being educated just like I am and therefore when we are older we will have to figure out what we have to do to get jobs. I am being prepared for the jobs that do not exsist yet and that is personally scary. It affects me because my future is uncertain along with most every kid in my generation. It affects education because they are the ones who are preparing us for this uncertain future. The creativity lost through education will be needed in the future applies to me because when I am out of college I will be searching for a job and that job might require the creativity I lost throughout schooling. This applies to education because the education I am receiving is what is taking away my creativity. This applies to the world because the creativity that companies will be demanding is being taken away from many children that will need it in the future. This could be very dangerous because when we get to that age to find a job how will we get one? If we are not qualified for a jo because we have no creativity what are we suppossed to do? The future is daunting and if the system that is suppossed to be getting us ready for the world is acutally hurting our chances then how are we really prepared?