Speech Next Week

      To me, the idea of speaking in front of the audience makes me nervous and scared. I think that most of the people aren’t too comfortable with going on stage and speaking in public since it’s one of people’s greatest fears. Speaking is a form of art, and how to speak well needs lots of practices because practice makes perfect. When seeing speakers that can attract their audience all the time and delivering their speeches fluently and smoothly, I admire these people. The reason that the audience aren’t bored by the speeches is speakers know their topics thoroughly and they enjoy sharing with their listeners.

        I feel differently when giving a presentation than having to put forth a persuasive argument since giving a presentation is harder. After coming up with persuasive arguments, the next important thing is how do you convince your audience. By thinking about this, we have to think about how will we do our presentations in a way that most of our audiences can be successfully persuaded. Maybe we have to provide some graphical data or interviews, which are logical appeals, to better convince our audience to believe in our arguments.

        Before speaking in front of people, my heart would just beat faster and faster, and I can’t control about this physical change. Thus, I will breathe more air in to soothe my nervousness, to calm myself down. Some people tend to talk quickly when on stage because they’re not mentally or emotionally prepared, and the audience would miss some points. I hope that when doing my speech next week, I will have appropriate speed so that my audience can clearly understand what am I talking about.

Your Opposition

      The topic of my persuasive speech is “Abolishing School Uniforms,” and I’m on the supporting side. There must be counter arguments in a persuasive speech so that speaker can show the audience what’s the best choice. My supporting arguments are that first, students can develop their own style and be unique through arranging clothes by themselves for many years. Second, students will be able to buy new clothes. Third, it’s our rights for choosing what to wear, and schools shouldn’t violate this free right.    Moreover, I think this arguments is the most important one.

The opposition to my persuasive arguments are that first, students should spend every second on studying rather than wasting time on thinking what to wear. In addition, this is especially important for seniors, who have to worry about college application and school work. Second, some students don’t have enough money to buy new clothes, so they can just stick with their old ones. By listing out these opposing arguments, I think I am able to anticipate how someone might try to counter what I say.

If I gave my persuasive argument as a speech, I think people in the audience might question about the credibility of it. Throughout the whole speech, I use emotional appeal more than the other two kinds, which are logical and ethical appeals. As for result, in order to prepare for their questions, I could provide some statistics or facts showing percentage of students want to abolish school uniforms is greater than that of keeping school uniforms.

Writing or Speaking

   Among the two different kinds of methods of delivering my argument, I think speaking is more effective than writing. I think audience would be less bored by speeches instead of essays. When seeing audience start to lose focus and can’t pay attention anymore, the speaker can kind of roll away from his or her subject and come up with remarks spontaneously that could grab audience’s heart again. But, if readers are bored by essays, they would just put them aside and never pick the papers up again. However, there are some disadvantages of speaking. Audience can’t remember all arguments that speakers have made, so we have to repeat our points over and over. Nevertheless, I still think speaking is easier than writing. By making speeches with changes in tone and great enthusiasm, we can arouse audience’s emotion and call action upon our listeners. If it’s the case of writing, there are only connotative words rather than a person speaking directly in front of you. As for result, the effect of writing would be less than that of speaking. Moreover, I prefer speaking because it can help gain confidence and learn how to speak clearly. When standing in front of a group of people, no matter large or small, people would get nervous naturally. Thus, they would talk really fast and make the audience hard to catch what their speeches are about. As for result, we have to learn the skill of pacing ourselves when standing in the front. We have to learn to speak slowly and clearly. Most importantly, we have to make our speeches flow smoothly, and organizing notes on flashcards really helps a lot. I like speaking better because we can learn different kinds of other skills while doing the preparation work and on stage.

Your Argument

   The topic of my persuasive speech is abolishing school uniforms, and I would characterize my arguments as more emotional because I use words that would rouse students’ feeling of banning school uniforms. As for result, there’s less logical and ethical appeals, so my arguments are less balanced. I didn’t use a lot of date for either supporting or defending my arguments, and I only use ethical appeal in the very end while saying it’s wrong for schools to tell us what to wear since we should have the rights for our clothing. My supporting arguments are that by choosing what we want to wear every day, we can create our unique style and develop skill of managing clothing. Moreover, our rights of choosing what to wear freely shouldn’t be violated. In addition, the best thing among all is that we can buy new clothes. My counter arguments are that students shouldn’t waste time on their outfit, especially for seniors who are under great stress of college application and heavy load of school work. Some students don’t have enough money to buy new clothes, so they would think that not having uniforms is inconvenient for them.

I think there is something about the subject of my argument that lends itself to one kind of appeal more than another. For example, I said that students can buy lots of new clothes if school uniforms are abolished, and I think this definitely appeals to their desires, which is emotion. In addition, the point of using time wisely and not having enough money are also emotional appeals.

Reflect on Your Essay

      Recently in the College Research and Essay Writing class, we’re doing persuasive essay, and my topic is abolishing school uniforms. Throughout the process of composing a complete essay, I find what’s particularly easy is thinking about supporting arguments. What’s particularly hard is coming up with mild opposing point of views because I don’t want my supporting points fail to defend thus seem weak and can’t persuade my audience.

        Writing a persuasive essay better uses a combination of logical, emotional, and ethical appeals in body paragraphs. For me, the appeal that’s easiest to make is emotional, because I try to use connotative words that rouse people’s emotions. Also, the most difficult one to make is logical appeal since I don’t have lots of data, statistics, examples, or facts.

        When looking at opposing viewpoints, although they make sense, I still can’t change my position. So, my position didn’t really change at all. In the end, I believe my own arguments, and I have to do so. Nobody would want to listen to your essay and it loses the power to persuade if you don’t even believe in yourself.

        There’s no perfection for everything, so my essay does has some holes in my arguments that an opponent might be able to exploit. In my essay, there’s an opposing point saying that schools shouldn’t abolish uniforms because students would waste too much time on doing outfit, and seniors especially can’t have any time to waste. I think this argument is pretty strong, and it’s hard to refute it. Writing a persuasive essay allows me to learn to think about both sides of opinions, and the technique of using different kinds of appeals.

Reason Sits Firm

   Reasoning is by using facts and logic to persuade your audience into believing or doing something. Thus, using reasons is a logical appeal. Chasm is like large crack on the ground. By saying “not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms,” the author was suggesting that reason, which was firm and wouldn’t need to worry about being defeated, didn’t allow feelings to take over. Heathens were non-Christians, but it also meant uncultured, wild people in the 18^th century. The author was trying to say that although wild emotions might run the things, it’s the logical judgment that had the final say in the end.

     In my opinion, I don’t really agree with the author’s point of view that reason eventually rules over emotion. I think it’s vice versa. I remembered one time I went shopping alone at my favorite store near the Mega 21 department store, and I bought nearly to $10,000. I had about ten new items because I hadn’t been there for about a month, and I didn’t want to lose any latest product, so I told the salesperson that I would like to have all new clothes, pants, and accessories. Although my wallet was already empty, I still had few more clothes that I hadn’t bought yet, so I rushed back home and asked my brother to lend me some money. Because of my feeling of wanting to have every latest product, my heart tells me to buy them all rather than stop buying. Thus, this is an example showing that for me, emotion usually rules over brain.

Persuade Me

    Three more months later I will officially be eighteen years old, and by that time I can finally drive car and ride motorcycle. After school ends in a month, my goal is to learn how to ride a motorcycle. I’m always jealous when seeing my friends riding their motorcycles and go to places wherever they want at any time. Not knowing how to ride a motorcycle limits my shopping area only within walking distances. However, the goal is not easy to achieve because my parents don’t even allow me to learn. They think riding a motorcycle is too dangerous, especially hearing that one of our nurse’s mom died due to a car accident. Moreover, I don’t know how to ride a bike, so it’s harder for me to learn motorcycle. Nevertheless, I’m trying hard to persuade my parents that they should let me learn how to ride a motorcycle.

    First, a motorcycle is more convenient than a car when buying food at traditional markets. If I drive a car to the markets, then I not only have to worry about where to park, but also need to concern whether it will be taken away by toll truck. Moreover, a motorcycle is easier than a car in finding parking place because by moving other motorcycles, there will always be spaces squeezed out. Second, when encountering heavy traffic, a motorcycle, can move freely between cars, which are stuck. Third, buying a motorcycle is way cheaper than buying a car. Seeing all these advantages of a motorcycle, I hope that my parents can change their minds and willing to let me learn.

Free Write!

     Today the basketball team practice is pretty relaxing because we only play 3 on 3 and 5 on 5 games. In addition, there isn’t any physical training afterwards. After the practice ends, it’s time to take pictures for the yearbook. Just few days ago, the seniors wore the gown and took the graduation pictures at the park across the school. Having the gown on makes me feel strongly that we’re going to graduate! Moreover, there’s a sense of sadness coming toward my heart. I can’t believe that three years have just gone so fast, and the seniors are going to depart the country and enter the new journey in life within two more months. As for result, I want to keep lots of memories of my last year at high school by asking Angel to take as many pictures for me as possible on the court today.

     The girls basketball team has three seniors, and I don’t whether the team will still exist next year, so I really cherish every practice time that I have with my teammates, with the coach. One more month later the seniors don’t have to come to school anymore. At first, this sounds pretty exciting. But, after thinking about it for a while, this is rather sad because we won’t be able to see our friends as often anymore. In the end of the group shots, the three seniors come up with many poses and ask Angel to help taking pictures. I think we spend about forty minutes on shooting the pictures, which is a long time. However, everything is worthy because this memory is so valuable and meaningful to us. Most importantly, we have to thank Angel for spending such a long time and taking pictures for us.

Spring Break

        During the Spring Break, the seniors and the 8^th graders all went to Bali Club Med for the graduation trip. As soon as I got to Bali, I could feel the heat coming toward me, so I started to sweat. The enjoyable time in Bali was memorable and fun and we tried lots of activities. For sea activities, we did snorkeling, wind surfing, sailing, parachute. While doing snorkeling, our group was lucky because the weather was well, and we got a chance to see lots of fishes. Wind surfing, probably the hardest thing that I tried of this trip, made my muscle grow. It was so difficult to get balance on the sea, and I think I only stayed about 0.5 seconds while standing on the board. When doing parachute, I saw the beauty of Bali while high on the sky and I was impressed. Other than those sea activities, we also did rafting, which was extremely interesting. I shouted to motivate my group to get ahead of others and although I nearly lost my voice, we still got the second place.

At night, the seniors didn’t just go back to bed and sleep. Rather, we played in the swimming pool at midnight with drinks and enjoying the sky, which was so clear that we could see stars. Besides swimming, we also played badminton, basketball at night, and I never had this kind of experience before. Not only the drinks are nice, but also the food. The buffet was amazing, and it served international food, which contained both Asian and Western kind. In addition than the main course, the desserts were really delicious that everyone missed them when we got back to Taiwan.

Other than missing these fun activities, we also missed the G.O.s there. They were so passionate that they sometimes would come and eat with us. Moreover, they could sing and dance well, which could be seen at shows every night. Not only they can entertain the audience, but also everyone can speak at least 3 different kinds of languages. The last night in Bali everyone was hyper, and it was funny that most of the seniors played majong for the whole night. I was drinking crazily that I got drunk and needed others to get me back into my room. After arriving at Taiwan, I bet all the seniors must feel that we want to go back to the great vacation time in Bali Club Med.

Unconvincing Argument

   We may encounter many arguments, however, not all of the arguments have the abilities to convince us successfully. I think that reasons that make an argument unconvincing could be lacking of evidences and appeals. When someone is trying to “sell me something,” I could feel that he or she is not talking truthfully and he or she just keep on talking to see whether he or she has chances to let me buy his or her products.

    I remembered an instance when I was shopping at downtown, a person came to me and asked me whether I want to buy his handmade bag, which cost $150. Moreover, he told me that the money was for fundraising his university’s club. At that point, I directly told myself that I refused to buy the bag not only because it was too expensive which made me feel I was cheated, but also the person was talking insincerely. When I looked through his eyes, he seemed unconfident, which made his attempt at persuasion not work on me. In addition, he just kept on rambling without having any pause. I think he was just trying to make consumers had no time to think, yet he failed.

    I also had experience of convincing someone but were unsuccessful, which was the time when I was doing on street toothbrush selling for Eden Charity. Even though my feel were sore and my back was totally wet, me and Caroline only sold forty something toothbrushes out of 100 ones. I realized that the art of talking is high class, and it was so difficult to make people move. Moreover, Caroline sold most of the toothbrushes, and I was impressed. The reason I think I was unsuccessful was I didn’t talk proudly about my subject and I should be more confident to show all kinds of benefits and the purpose for selling toothbrushes.

       

Evaluating an Argument

   I don’t believe in everything I read or hear because I think people should be skeptical. We should doubt things rather than putting in all our trust, or else we would only result in getting deceived easily. Throughout our lives, we have heard about lots of things, and everyone determines what and what not to believe by own standard. For me, when encountering statements that are too boastful, exaggerated, or beyond normal human capabilities, I choose not to believe until my eyes really see what happened.

    In evaluating the effectiveness of an attempt at persuasion, I generally go on a “gut” instinct about an argument. To me, feeling matters more than logic, so it’s the emotion that’s guiding me rather than the brain. When hearing upon arguments, I would first see whether an argument fits my taste. If I like an argument, then I would go into the process of breaking it down and thinking about its reason to make sure it has good and strong support that wouldn’t be defeated easily. After digesting all arguments that I like, I would go back to other arguments that I didn’t pick at first. Then, I would think about these arguments and check if their reasoning is firm enough. In the end, I would compare and contrast between arguments I prefer and don’t prefer, and this is the time when logic comes in. My brain would then help me to determine what’s believable or trustworthy and what’s not.

    Knowing how to evaluate an argument can help me to construct one of my own because by tearing down the argument piece by piece, I would then know what are the supportive points and reasons that defense well. In addition, I would know what to avoid in order not to get ruthless attacks over and over.

Opinion v Thought

   Recently, the two hottest international news are Japan’s devastating earthquake and the bloody rebel in Libya. Upon seeing the rebellion in Libya, this event reminds me of the current opinion exists that runs the world: most of the terrorists are from Middle East Asia. No matter in reality or in films, people from regions of Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, or Pakistan are always portrayed as terrorists. The United States of America, which is the strongest country among the world, is the hero that wants to stop the spreading of terrorism.

    Because of the great strength that the United States has, it has become the target of terrorist attacks. Speaking of terrorist attacks, the event of September 11 attacks has to be mentioned since it’s probably the most critical one that ever happened in the history of the States. The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda hijackers who intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. As for result, everyone on planes and many others working in the buildings were killed.

    Most of the terrorist attacks that aim at the United States are from organizations such as the Taliban or al-Qaeda, which are located in Middle East Asia. I think this is why people would have the opinion that there could almost be an equal sign drown between people from Middle East Asia and terrorists. Although this opinion angers people from Middle East Asia, I think it sounds since seeing from past records, there is a stronger potential for people in Middle East Asia becoming terrorists.

Getting What You Want

   I am a person who loves shopping, especially for shoes. Moreover, I’m probably the one who has the most pairs of shoes in our family. I have so many shoes that nurses at our house often asks me whether I have shoes for them. I remembered when I was in elementary school, one of my dreams was to collect all brands of shoes. Throughout 5 or 6 years of hard working, I finally possess almost every brand of shoes. However, there are many new brands coming out every year, so my effort of collecting has to last eternally. Other than having all brands of shoes, I want to have different kinds of colors of shoes so that I can distinguish from others.

    I remembered the time when I wanted a pair of gray shoes very badly that every day I could only think of it. Whenever my thought was struck by it, I could hardly concentrate and work. Despite already having about 18 pairs of shoes, I told my mom that I was crazy about the gray shoes. I convinced her to let me have what I wanted by saying that I dreamed for it every night and promised her that I would listen to her on every matter. I used the technique of emotion to move her because it’s easier than using logic. Humans are irrational animals, so we couldn’t always think in terms of reasons, and this is why sometimes our minds don’t follow our brains because we are affected by emotion. Nevertheless, I think that the best way of persuasion is using both logic and emotion. But for me, I think emotion works the best for me because I seldom come up with firm reasons to stand for my points.

Persuasion Examples

According to the definition from dictionary, coercion is use of force or intimidation to obtain compliance, and persuasion is the state or fact of being convinced. I think the difference between the two terms is that one is forcing you to do something, which you’re unwilling to do, and the other one is trying to change your mind via telling you to do other things. I draw the line between being forced to do something and being persuaded into doing it by determining whether the things we’re doing follow our heart, and whether our mind is willing to do these things.

        School bully is an example of coercion because the bullies force you to surrender all of your precious possessions, and they beat you up in the bathroom if you don’t listen to them. Moreover, they threaten you for becoming prostitutes if you don’t buy drugs from them. All of these evil forces make good students fall and become corrupted.

        When buying things, some people might constantly change their minds because of other people’s suggestions. I remembered the experience in which I went shopping with my parents for buying a new schoolbag. At first, I wasn’t going to buy the one I’m using now, but I changed my thought because my mom successfully persuaded me that the one I’m using now is more suitable for me since it has a bag for me to put water and it’s bigger. These two points attracted me, so I decided to buy the one that my mom thought was better.

Real Questions

        Throughout our lives, it’s unavoidable that we face lots of questions. Some questions just come into our mind without our notices, and some questions form after we thoroughly think over. Sometimes, we might think wrongly that our questions are solved when our minds stop being annoyed by them. However, these questions aren’t real ones. According to the quotation, the real questions are the ones that interest our minds and motivate us want to keep researching and discovering deeper.

        When learning about Earth Science in middle school, I remembered I always had lots of questions while the teacher was lecturing. Why was Earth the most suitable place for humans to live? How did the universe first form? Where did ancient animals and plants go? How did the first generation species develop their body systems or their skills? These questions make me wonder a lot about the mysterious world that we live in, thus I would want to give an specific answer to each of these interesting questions. Nonetheless, it’s impossible to give definite terms to them because these questions are too broad, thus there are too many elements contained.

        These questions wouldn’t bore me at all, rather, they excite me. At that time, my favorite class was Earth Science because it made me want to explore more about this world, and I could feel my heart beat was always beating hard on my chest since I was really focused and into the subject.

Logic v Emotion

Although this quotation is short, it’s sending a powerful message. It makes me feel that pollution is a serious and severe issue, and people have to find ways to deal with it. Moreover, as the environment gets harmed, it could never go back to the way it used to be in the past. I can find the negative connotative word “evil” in this quotation, which associates me to have the idea of that pollution is really bad, just like the fiendish demon is doing hurtful and harmful things. Humans shouldn’t think that they can get away from pollution because eventually the toxic elements build up in the food chain, thus humans are getting the most amount of toxic. A small action which we spray a kind of anti-virus thing on grass, the process of pollution starts. The cow would eat the grass, and in the end humans would eat the cow. When going one stage up further in the food chain, there will always be 10% loss. We not only absorb the energy, but also the harmful stuffs.

        I think Carson mainly uses emotional appeal since her words are so strong and so powerful. The first part of the quotation, which contains the word “evil,” is definitely an emotional appeal because it makes people arouse strong feelings such as feeling regret or sin. I think the second part of the quotation, where the word “irreversible” is also an emotional appeal because people finally understand how bad and how serious the situation is.

Effecting Change

     Although words are less powerful than visual images, they can create the same meaningful and profound effect as actions do. I think that writing can be used to bring about change by spotting out problems and help providing solutions. In the American Revolutionary War, the 13 colonies collaborated with each other and wrote the Declaration of Independence to oppose the Great Britain. The 13 colonies felt treated unfairly and without justice by the British Empire since they were being taxed on almost everything, including tea, letter, house, etc. Moreover, the 13 colonies didn’t have any representation in England’s Parliament, so they think that what the British had done to them was more unforgivable. Thus, the Declaration of Independence was founded and the Great Britain gave up its claims to America. The successful independence was not only a significant event for the United States, but also to the whole world because it inspired other countries to rise up and fight for their own rights.

     Another important event that happened in the American history is the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. were all prominent characters in the event. The “I Had a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr. was a turning point for the Civil Rights Movement. When he delivered the speech, people’s emotions were stirred up, and they felt that they shouldn’t be oppressed and treated in a belittled way anymore. They realized that it was time for them to urge all the black people to strive for their rights, and they let the white people see their strong demands. Again, the Blacks finally got to be treated equally, without racial discrimination. From these two historical events, I can see that writing’s role ignored in bringing about social changes.

Decent Writing

   I think her quote means that nobody can write out good books without trusting how knowledgeable their readers are, and I agree that what she said is always true. Instead of underestimating audience’s intelligence or capacity to absorb information, writers can also overestimate. Sometimes when describing chemical processes or how natural events take place, writers don’t include too much scientific information because they assume that their readers already know about this. However, without the essential and necessary information, it’s like a puzzle or riddle set in readers’ mind and can never be solved unless being provided with writers’ keys.

    I have had many experiences of having too much or too complicated information dumped on my by a speaker, and this happened most often in the AP Calculus AB class. For most of the time, I could follow the teacher and digest what she just taught as long as we’re not in a rush. But, when the teacher is under the pressure of teaching certain chapters within a limited amount of time, she would try to squeeze as many information as possible while using up the whole class period.

   I’m not a math person, so my head would start to feel dizzy, I would become nervous and lose track, and I couldn’t absorb anymore information as the teacher begins to teach such a great amount of materials. Moreover, what’s even worse is that my thoughts would all be mixed up and I would forget what the teacher taught 30 minutes ago. At this time, I could only take down notes with no thinking, and then review about everything when my brain has gained fresh air. Toward the teacher, this action would make me feel that she’s too hurry. If only minority of the class gets what’s going on, then the teacher should teach again, but clearer and slower.

Change of Heart

   As we get older and learn more and more stuffs from school, our mind would enter to a higher and deeper level. As for result, we would think differently and solve things after more consideration when facing same events. I think that my writing in this class has changed my ideas about my attitude toward basketball. For the significance experience college application essay, my topic is about basketball because it’s probably the only thing that I’m most passionate about and has the strongest feeling. As the training of this season becomes more harsh and tiring, I once would have the thought of quitting the team. However, I never do so because I would remember my essay every time I have that notion.

   In the essay, I wrote that I joined the girls basketball team when I was in grade six, but I quitted after several months since I couldn’t handle the exhausting practices anymore. Seeing all my other teammates who stayed had such great skills, and I didn’t, I learned from this experience that I shouldn’t give up easily. Rather, I should stand up and fight against all challenges coming to me. Again, I join the girls basketball team after six years, and this time I would act more mature. No matter how hard the practices have become, I would tell myself to keep going because I don’t want to be regretted when I look back to this time after ten years. I know that I have to endure all kinds of hardships to prove that my heart has grown stronger and fearless, and I have learned from mistakes.

Understanding

   I’m a person usually with no defined goals, however, the situation changes when on the basketball court. When playing basketball games, I know clearly what my heart wants, which is first performing successfully what Mr. Li expects us to do and second winning the game. I believe these things are not just my wants, rather, the whole team would feel the same way and understand me. But, these are just the things that I hope for to happen. In reality, we always do badly for the first and second periods because we’re not getting used to the places where the games take place, which are new for us. Also, our brains are not warmed up even though our bodies are, so we couldn’t think carefully on courts, thus doing lots of rush actions. Because of our nervousness, uncertainty, unsureness, the opponent teams can always get many points since we’re not fully ready as they are. As for result, we’re always getting way behind the opponent teams in the third period, and I don’t like the feeling of chasing after the other teams because we’re under such great pressure and our physical strength definitely goes down, so we’re playing would only be even worse, not to mention we’re amateurs.

     Today, we have a game against Pen-Shi High School, and I hope that we can learn from past experiences. As soon as we get to the court, everyone needs to be ready to play, and each person’s brain should be able to think clearly. This season, our trainings move to a different direction, which is more of physical training. Mr. Li has devoted so much effort into the team, and we should show the other school what we got to let the coach feel satisfied.