For Monday, 4/12
For my paper and presentation I will be discussing why LeBron James will be a Cleveland Cavalier next season, regardless of whether or not they win the championship this year. I will weigh the pros and cons of him staying vs. leaving, and use facts to prove that the pros outweigh the cons. The only problem that I see myself encountering with this paper is that I am arguing for a PREDICTION that I am making, so it will be hard to use cold, hard facts to actually PROVE my point, but I think I will be able to write an effective paper in terms of PERSUADING the reader into believing my side of the story.
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For Wednesday, 4/14
I personally am not a fan of presentation assignments because I really don't like public speaking, but I see the need for them in the world. They are important because they allow you to connect with your audience on a much more personal and emotional level than a paper would allow you to. Things like body language, tone of voice, reading pace, posture, etc. also allow the audience to read deeper into the meaning of your text rather than just using the words on the page to decipher the point you're trying to get across. I really don't enjoy public speaking because for some reason I get really nervous and it usually has an effect on my presentation. Teachers assign presentation assignments to students despite the general disdain for them because they are important. It is something that a lot of us will have to do once we begin our careers, and without the proper practice that we need at them it might really hurt us later in life if we don't know how to properly present a topic outside of a paper. For this reason I find merit in projects like this, and I'd say there's merit in completing anything, whether you like it or not.
The article is about "A Modest Proposal" that the Irish should begin eating babies after letting them fatten for a year, as a way to solve both hunger and poverty. He argues that if the poorest citizens eat their babies, it will serve as a free way to go get food, and will also reduce their cost of living. I think it is an interesting stance to take because it is a good way of showing that as long as you make a solid, well-thought out argument, you can make the most ridiculous ideas sound even the slightest bit reasonable. I think he wrote it to prove this point, as well as to satirize the current conditions of his country.
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For Friday, 4/16
I was not in class and therefore did not receive a thesis, but I will do my best to make a free response for this day as well as I can. A good thesis statement for my paper would be: "LeBron James will re-sign with Cleveland this off-season because he can't make more money anywhere else, will not have a better shot at winning anywhere else, and will not be able to build the legacy that he strives for unless he plays his career out in Cleveland." This thesis, in my eyes, is solid because it clearly states my point, and also offers the basic arguments that I am making in favor of my point. A bad thesis for my paper would be: "LeBron James will re-sign with Cleveland this off-season because it does not make sense for him to go to any other team." This is a weak thesis because it does not actually offer any factual evidence backing my thesis, just an opinion.
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For Monday, 4/19
If I were to turn this reading into a presentation the first thing I would do is create a PowerPoint. Each principle would have it's own slide, which I think is a very solid base for your presentation. PowerPoints allow us to be reminded of our main points while still allowing room for the presenter to expand on the ideas further. The next thing I would do is for each point, try to either show an example, or get a member of the audience to create or find an example. Examples bring points to life, because the audience can then actually connect with how he point relates to real life presentations, and audience interaction will strengthen a presentation as well. In addition, I will make sure not to contradict myself on any of the points. If I humiliate myself and react poorly to it or fail to use a sense of humor while talking about the importance of humility and humor in a presentation, then I am making everything that I am saying pretty worthless.
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