9TH GRADE:
First of all, I want to explain my reasons for the examples on this segment of Effective Communication and maybe for the rest of the DRSL segments. I wanted to present the form and importance of understanding and an evolution of how I dealt with my work throughout the school years I had at AMES. To show a starting point in these segments and show how I changed not only in terms of effort, but in subject too. So at this point in my first DRSL in Effective Communications, I wanted to show off a presentation I did for my 9th Grade English class. This presentation was made for the purpose of understanding and researching some Greek characters before going into reading the epic poem of The Odyssey. What I show for myself here is a below moderate presentation as a starting point. It may look average, but I'm definitely sure I botched the presentation when presenting it (you can also tell here as almost all the information here is a bit lazily placed). As a Freshman who started high school at AMES, I was so worried and self conscious around my own peers that I became really shy and stressed around them in worriment for a loss of affection. So, when presenting this in of about the first 3 weeks of AMES, I became the most inept and stressed person I could be, being shy and everything, up in the front of the class. Although this may show a weakness rather than an achievement in my presentation skills, it also shows a changing point and a personal achievement on its own merit. I'd call this a personal achievement because I had the courage to go up there and present the best I could despite all my personal conflicts of social image for my perseverance.
10TH GRADE:
Here going into my 10TH Grade Sophomore year, I've had a bit of understanding of my social identity but still struggled to share myself openly. I can definitely say I still had issues with going up towards the front of the class and presenting things. Sure, regular subjects were easy as they had nothing to relate towards your person and can be presented in general matters. But, for this presentation, I had to present a personal worth of myself towards other people. Going thorough my own personal struggles, I had been faced a new struggle of making a presentation in Spanish class describing my youth and nostalgia. So what this presentation features is just that, my interests I had as a youngling. It sounds simple as I also had to present this in Spanish, but still being closed person and all, I felt this as a big struggle as not only sharing myself, but my memories and nostolgia. What made finally made this easy, as I found out while watching others and presenting, is that this nostalgia brings a relations towards others and their own youth. I remember as I was up there struggling a bit and, out of nowhere, heard people take interest or agreeing with what I had on my slides. Because they opened up and took interest in my presentation, it made me more comfortable and have confidence going through the whole presentation. I take this presentation as an accomplishment of finding an effort towards relating my audiences while presenting as that what brought a whole new understanding towards relating with others.
11TH GRADE:
Now going into my 11th Grade: Junior Year, I came back a different person. I became more loose about myself and the things around me, looser than I'd usually be. My approaches toward everything: work, friends, strangers, would be different at this point where I grew a bit careless. I changed as a person. And even though I changed as a person, changes always come with their own ups and downs: the good and the bad. For the good: I became loose about my self issue and reflection. I was more open that I could ever be with my friends and more open towards others. I became what the kids would call "chill" and thanks to that, I grew honest relationships with my peers around me. But the downside of my change? I became loose towards my work too: lazy to be exact. I was falling behind in some classes and didn't put in my greatest effort, but I mainly got through. This change was effectively bad as I'd stress myself out for not doing anything and not do anything about it until I finally needed to, this is where this presentation comes in. This presentation right here culminated in of about an effort to have a personal project where I'd actually put effort into, and that was a research project on current events or conflicts happening in the United States. With a serious intent, I chose the issues surrounding Freddie Gray and Baltimore, of unjust acts of oppression and police brutality. At first, I was hesitant: this subject was so serious and new at the time that I was worried that I wouldn't give it justice. But after the having such a strong interest of the subject with a lack of opinion, I decided to research into it. Concluding to this presentation and a research paper, I'd say this would have to be my strongest presentation yet. This presentation was entirely on my own and the struggle with it was the subject. The subject was entirely recent and it was difficult to form an opinion, if needed. What was also difficult as there was a bunch of information towards this subject to inform the audience about the situation. I had to tackle both all by myself and it was pretty nerve wracking. So going on with all my planted research onto the presentation, I went up to the front of the class and tried the best I could. During that presentation, I took about half an hour. I explained what was happening, I gave my thoughts and opinions on the matter, and I talked about what's happening for the issue at this current moment and where it could go. I got a full score on my presentation and thanks to this research project: saved my grade in the class. This presentation is what I'd call the climax or peak point of my Effective Communication career in AMES so far, as I've put so much work into this presentation and did exceedingly well on by myself on such a difficult and a fresh issue.
12TH GRADE:
Going into the 12th Grade: Senior Year, I've reaffirmed myself and my person into a bigger focus towards work. I'm still pretty loose in character, but now I'm a bit more strict into this year as I need to graduate. These examples aren't the best I have to offer compared to my 11th Grade year, but they're still pretty good examples, non-the less. So here are two examples: The first is a Lab Report in physics. With this report, I was presented the challenge of doing research with pre-existing knowledge of physics and hands on experience of running through the experiment and gathering results. What was so difficult about it was the fact that I had explain all of the processes in full detail and explain the results of the lab in Physics terms. This certain lab report was one of the best I've done in terms of grade, worth, and detail.