TED Talk Response #4

Rose George talks about sanitation problems in her TED talk. She talks about how serious of an issue it is, and how she thinks that the solution to it is to talk about it. She said that diarrhea is the number one cause of child mortality, and we don't widely know that because we don't talk about toilets and defecating. Rose's speaking technique is sort of a half beg half protest. She states facts boldly. Then she asks the audience to do something about it, in this case talk about toilets more often. Her presentation style uses pictures to enhance what she was talking about. She told her audience that people in third world countries often didn't have a toilet to use. That didn't sound harsh enough so she put up a picture of a child crapping next to a freeway in India. This is actually an extremely important subject. Poop is a major cause of death in many places in the world. Even though a lot of money is being put into clean sanitized water, almost none is put into installing toilets, which can be as simple as a hole in the ground.

Mini-Saga

He wearily stepped out of his car. Looking up at the cloudy sky, he sighed and proceeded up the steps to his house. His wife was in the window, staring at her feet. This was going to be another sad evening. But his wife wasn't standing, she was swaying slowly.

TED Talk Response #5

Ken Robinson talked about how schools don't encourage students to be as creative as they can be. He talked about how schools around the world are focused on Math and Science and at the very bottom they teach arts and dance. Ken Robinson said that he thought that creativity was the key to success in the future. Robinson was very informative in his speaking style. He was casual in speaking, but he spoke seriously. He was funny here and there to add flavor to his talk, but for the most part he didn't joke around. Another thing was that Ken Robinson just talked. He just spoke. He didn't have anything to elaborate on his subject. He didn't have a slideshow, he didn't have pictures or music or things like that. He just spoke about his topic. But he spoke in a way that you could picture in your head what he was talking about. His topic on how schools are killing creativity warns society that schools aren't preparing children for the future enough or even in the right way. He warns that if schools don't start incorporating creativity and art type things into their curriculum  things could go wrong.

TED Talk Response #3

John McWhorter talks about how people think that texting is degrading language, and how they are wrong. He goes into describing how people in previous generations had thought that the youth of their time had been  throwing away the classical ways of speaking and writing. Well he gave an example of someone in 63 a.d. who thought that Latin was being spoken to casually. That just happened to turn out to be French. McWhorter is very serious when he talks. He speaks intelligently, informatively  but every once in a while he throws in some humor. That's what makes his audience like him. He teaches, but adds just enough fun so people don't fall asleep. His presentation style is simple and has been done over and over again. He talks about something, and his slides go along with it to help explain what he is talking about. Everyone who watches this video, well almost everyone, will realize that texting is not in any way degrading how we speak or talk. It's just evolving how we speak or talk. His main message is for people who worry about this kind of thing should calm down.

TED Talk Response #2

Seth Godin talks about how he thinks things are broken. He thinks they're broken for different reasons, and that may be good or bad. He says that there are several reasons that an object, system, or idea may be broken, and gives examples with solutions. Seth Godin makes his talk funny. He makes his audience like him by making them laugh. He is serious about the topic that he is talking about, but deliverers it in a light hearted fashion. His presentation style uses something like pictures on a Power Point. He presents his main idea and why he is speaking, then he shows pictures of his examples and talks about them. Seth Godin's TED talk shows why things are broken. This shows people the inconvienceses that the broken system, object, or idea causes. This in turn inspires them so that when they create something, they take into mind how to make it as efficient  workable, and easy to use.

TED Talk Response #1

What makes this video great is the lessons that Sarah Kay presented. She talked about being open to all experiences in life, not just the happy ones, but the sad ones as well. That allows you to learn from what went wrong in that experience and handle things better the next time something like that happens. Kay uses a very laid back speaking style. She makes her presentations feel like your a friend that she might meet for lunch. Even though she is nervous she is really, relaxed and calm in an energized way. Her presentation style uses her work to illustrate her point. She lectures, but in a casual way. In a few weeks our class will be doing a speech. A pretty lengthy speech as well and up until now I have had no idea how to do public presentations. This gave me an example of what looks good, but also let me know that it's not the only way to do it. This TED talk also reminded me to learn from my mistakes. It reminded me that good days are just around the corner if we can hold out for just a bit longer. Kay also inspires teachers. She gives them new ways to teach poetry and new ways for students to learn. The last thing Sarah Kay reminds us of is that the world is not a nice place. It can be downright cruel. You have to be open up to everything to catch those glimpses of happiness. Ernest Hemmingway once wrote, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." Morgan Freeman said that he agreed with the second part. Well I do too. It is a mean place that can punch you in the mouth. You have to take your joy from the healing.