Life Lessons Learned on the Way Down

In this video Ric Elias describes his experience of being on the plane that crashed in the Hudson River. He said he learned three things while his plane started to crash and these three things are now life lessons that he tried to teach the audience.  My take aways from this video are to treat every day like it is your last because one day you could be gone. I also took away that everything changes in an instinct because life is unpredictable. I also took away that everyone should eliminate negative energy from their lives because it makes life happier. I also took away that dying is not scary it is only sad because you would miss everything else that goes on in life like growing up or being a great parent. His effective speaking techniques were to have the audience imagine they were in his place. He told them to think about what they would do in that situation and it engaged that audience. It made it more interesting because the audience could discover things about themselves they never would if they hadn't been put in that position. His presentation style was ignite because it inspired the audience to think about their lives and what would happen if one day everything was taken from you. He also used a story and empathy so that the audience would understand and connect to his story. It was empathetic because it made the story have emotional weight and therefore the audience would remember the lesson better. What matters is that everyone should live their life to the fullest because no one knows what will happen tomorrow or in a week. Life is unpredictable so everyone should live their life with no regrets. What matters is that everyone should eliminate negative energy from their lives and that everything can change in a second. These all matter to me because this is how I would like to live my life because it would be much happier than it is right now. It would make my life more enjoyable and therefore would affect everyone I was around. This matters to education because students would be happier at school and could decrease bullies because everyone could be happy if everyone learned from Elias's three lessons. This matters to the world because it would lead to a happier world and future. There would be less fights and less wars and therefore more people who get to live out their life to the fullest. These lessons that Elias lives by are very important and everyone should learn these lessons. These lessons were also learned by Elias when his plane crashed. On the way down he learned very important lessons that have forever changed his life and could change the world's future.

Parenting Taboos

In this video Rufus Griscom and Alica Volkman present their Ted Talk about parenting taboos of this decade. Rufus and Alica co-found Babble and Nerve.com. My take aways from this video are that parenting is not perfect for anyone even though there are certain beliefs that many pregnant couples believe to be true even though they are not. Another take away is that pregnant women should be told what is waiting for them when they get pregnant, how they might get depressed or feel disconnected from the society. The effective speaking techniques were to tell a story so the audience could make connections and understand the point of their Ted Talk. They also made the audience feel very empathetic for the couple when the story became sad. The presentation style was pecha kucha because they spent more time on each slide and were in charge of when the slides changed to a different point. They also gave a lot of information and statistics about happiness in the home with children and that helped illustrate the story more. What matters in this video is that parenting is not perfect and no one should go into it thinking that it will be absolutely perfect and how they dreamed it would be. What matters is that we should educate new parents and tell them everything they need to know about parenting and how it is hard so that they will not be as shocked as they would be without a class like this. This matters to me personally because one day I will hopefully be starting a family and I want to know the hard parts of parenting so I am prepared and know what to do when certain events happen. Why this matters to education is that education should offer classes that would teach this information so that parents can raise their children the best they could. I think that if a class like this was created then it should not be taught in high school because not many people will be having kids. I think that this class should be taught either in college for seniors or for only for adults who are expecting. This matters to the world because if we have parents that are better prepared to have kids then those kids can grow up and make a better future. The world would benefit because it would have a better future for everyone. However these parenting taboos seem to affect the preparedness of young parents and therefore these taboos should be stopped.

Right in the Neighborhood

In this video Dave Eggers talks about the importance of one on one time between a teacher and a student. In order to address this problem he created a tutoring center with some of his friends that were writers. What I took away from this video was that people should get involved in their community's public education system to help the children that will be our future. The speaker's effective speaking techniques were to use vocabulary that everyone would understand. It was a little hard to understand him though because he added in extra words such as "uh" that interrupted the flow of the speech and the idea. Egger's presentation style was ignite because it tried to inspire the audience to become more involved in public education. He also used humor to engage the audience and he related to many of viewers by admitting he was nervous. What matters from this video is the change in children's lives when they are given this one on one time with a teacher. What matters is that the kid's grades improved and a community started to build. What matters is that the tutoring centers were easily accessible and right in the neighborhood for help whenever the students needed it. Why all these matter to me is because that the children's lives that are being changed by these tutoring centers will lead our country in the future. This means a brighter future for students and therefore the world as a whole. This means that for me personally my future is brighter because of the one on one time between students and teachers. Why this matters to education is that these tutoring centers can increase students grades and understanding of the material they are learning. This matters to the world because if the younger generation growing up now has a better school experience and understands more it will lead to a brighter future. A brighter future matters matters to education because a brighter can and usually is created by excellent education. This matters to me because living in a brighter future can cause me to be more successful and provide a better future to the generation behind us. What matters is that this education movement could change our future for the better and it could just be right in the neighborhood. How do we know that the future will be more successful though? Do we just guess? Or do we have to make it our own and make it prosperous for ourselves?

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.