Higher talk planning sheets and completed work

There are 2 poly-pockets pinned to my classroom door containing the above, should you wish to pop into the school over the weekend to collect and prepare for Monday!

Thanks,
Ms B.

Higher Talks

Please remember that Higher talk assessments begin on Monday. Here is the advice that I was going to give you today:


‘The bottom line is, public speaking isn’t drilled into us at school the way it is American kids – and it ought to be. Most of us only find ourselves in the spotlight as adults, having built it up to A Big Scary Thing in our minds. But because this now feels natural to me as breathing – I don’t just like it, I really and truly enjoy every last second of it – I’m constantly amazed by how many women say they couldn’t possibly do it. How unconfident they feel, in front of an audience. (It’s not exclusively a female issue – but perhaps men feel less free to admit it.) Fact is, today – even if it’s presenting a report to a board of executives, or standing up at the annual staff get-together to offer a few words of praise to a departing colleague – most of us are going to have to open our mouths to speak in public. Josephine Fairley-‘The Telegraph’



Hate giving presentations? You are not alone

Wallechinsky et al (1977):

Asked 3000 pupils “What do you fear most?”

41% placed public speaking at the top of their list

(above the fear of sickness, loneliness or death…)


Why do we hate talks so much?

Mostly we are scared of making a fool of ourselves in front of others, but please remember that you are in a HIgher class- evenryone is in the same boat and they all know how nerve-wracking it is. No-one is going to make fin of you, and since your talks are on an essay that you have already written and had marked- you can guarentee that your subject and techniques used are going to be good!

Why do we have to perform solo talks?

• It is highly unlikely that your career path will allow you to avoid speaking your mind publicly.
•  Information is redundant if it is not shared.
•  Organisations are aware that people prefer listening to messages rather than reading them.
•  Speaking to more than one person allows a healthy and dynamic exchange of views and is the quickest way to exchange information to a large number at once.
• There are also many cases outside of a career where an ability to speak publicly is incredibly useful: including interviews etc

Performing

What makes a good talk?


In order to produce a good talk you must be able to


• Organise and summarise complex information effectively.


• Communicate this information clearly.


• Manage time efficiently.


These are all skills which will help you learn.

 These are also highly marketable skills.


General performance tips



1. Finding the right register:

Most speech is conversational.

Most written text is grammatically convoluted.

 Getting the right balance between formality and informality in a presentation is very tricky.

• Avoid colloquialisms (“sort of” or “kinda”)


• Try to avoid erms and ums.


• You want your audience to respect you, not like you.


• Try to speak more slowly than you would normally.


• Use pauses for emphasis (as opposed to raising your voice)


• Don’t let your voice fade away at the end of sentences.

 Anxiety reduction


The easiest way to reduce anxiety is to have a well prepared and well rehearsed presentation.

However, if nerves are still a problem, try the following…


• Visualisation: Imagine yourself giving a brilliant presentation.
• Breath deeply.
• Relax muscles / Release tension.
• Take a script which you can read if all else fails.
• Do something else really stressful just before…(drastic, but works!)

Unfortunately, the most effective treatment for public speaking anxiety is exposure. E.g. it gets better with practice


Know your audience:

This is easy for you - they will be fellow students plus me.

In other words, the majority will know as much or less than you do about the topic.


Academics have to face a wide variety of different audiences.

I have talked about my research/teaching to:


• Members of the public


• Other teachers and SMT- including those outwith this school!


• Parents and pupils


• University pupils

In each case, the talk had to be tailored appropriately, but a good general rule is that it pays to keep things simple.


Practice


• Practice giving the presentation to a friendly audience and ask them for honest and constructive criticism.

• Be prepared for it to hurt!

• Act on it.

• Meeting the time-limit is very important, and requires practice.


• So practice out loud on your own with a clock.


• Practice can be counter productive - if its just winding you up, stop!

•Record yourself and watch back- embarrassing perhaps but then you can see your mistakes and fix them!

Misc

• Make eye contact.

• Talk clearly to the back of the audience.

• Don’t mumble the ends of sentences.

• Be enthusiastic (or pretend…)

• Ask me to warn you when you have two minutes left.

• The only way it gets better is to give more talks. So practice!

• Book yourself a treat for immediately afterwards.

 

Good Luck!

L- Nat 3 Media Creation design

Higher homework for Feb break (sorry!)

Persuasive proposals to be completed for Monday 22nd (first day back!!)

'Queens English Society' Task- Choose a stance- whether you belive the society should have been closed or not- then change the article to persuade. Use the information in the article and bend it. Add lots of persuasive techniques and any other info you can find. Try to structure it properly. Try to make it stylish and powerful!


Have a lovely holiday!!

Persuasive plan and example plan

My Persuasive Essay Plan

• You must have at least four main points to thouroughly convince your reader
• Each point should be supported by two pieces of evidence
• Evidence should be a variety of: professional opinions, real life examples, statistics and data, quotes, article excerpts, anecdotes, trusted website information etc.
• Keep track of where you found your evidence. To do this, idenitfy your sources in the bibliography section at the end of this proposal.

Good luck!!! 

 

___________________________________________________________

 

Full Name:

 

 

Title of Essay:

My Overall Argument:

___________________________________________________________________________________

First Point:

___________________________________________________________________________________

• Evidence 1:

• Evidence 2:

___________________________________________________________________________________

Second Point:

___________________________________________________________________________________

• Evidence 1:

• Evidence 2:

___________________________________________________________________________________

Third Point:

___________________________________________________________________________________

• Evidence 1:

• Evidence 2:

___________________________________________________________________________________

Fourth Point:

___________________________________________________________________________________

• Evidence 1:

• Evidence 2:

Bibliography

This is where you keep track of where you found your evidence. It is necessary to include a bibliography when you submit your completed essay.

  Evidence for body paragraph 1:

 
1)







2)






Evidence for body paragraph 2:

 
1)







2)







Evidence for body paragraph 3:

 
1)







2)







 Evidence for body paragraph 4:

 
1)







2)

Sample Persuasive Essay Proposal

Full Name: Emily Smith

Title of Essay: Why we should assist Euthanasia

My Overall argument: Euthanasia should be legalised

 

___________________________________________________________________________________

First Point:    Disallowing the practice of Euthanasia to people who suffer is cruel

___________________________________________________________________________________

• Evidence 1: "The current prohibitions require a person with great physical strength and/or mental suffereing to continue to endure their suffereing against their wishes, which cannot be right!"- Article from the 'Guardian Newspaper', written by Dr Kailash Chand, GP: http://www.theguardian.com/society/joepublic/2009/jul/01/euthanasia-assisted-suicide-uk

• Evidence 2: Sue Roriguez, a mother in her early thirties, died slowly of Lou Gehrig's disease. She lived for several years with the knowledge that he muscles would, one by one, waste away until the day cane when. full conscious, she would choke to death. She begged the Courts to reassure her that a doctor would be allowed to assist her in choosing the moment of death. They refused. She lived on in terror, helped eventually by a doctor who, in February 1994, covertly broke the law to help her die in peace.- Real life example: http://www.euthanasia.cc/cases.html

___________________________________________________________________________________

Second Point:  Allowing people to die will free up scarce health resources

___________________________________________________________________________________

• Evidence 1: In most countries there is a shortage of health resources. As a result, some people who are ill and could be cured are not able to get speedy access to the facilities they need for treatment. At the same time, health resources are being used on people who cannot be cured, and who, for their ouwn reasons, would prefer not to continue living.- BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/infavour_1.shtml

• Evidence 2: In 2009, Americal Health Care paid $50 billion just for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients' lives- that's more than the budget of the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Education.- Article from the CBS News Website, 'The Cost of Dying': http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-5711689.html

___________________________________________________________________________________

Continue for third point, fourth point, etc.

 

Folio submission notes and link to template!

SUBMITTING YOUR ENGLISH FOLIO

Your English Folio MUST be submitted on paper, but using the SQA’s specially formatted sheet.  The format looks like the sheet you are reading now.

You can get a Word copy of the folio template from the SQA website here:    http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/47410.html

by clicking on the heading called “Submitting Coursework” ( You can also get a pdf of the template there, but you will not be able to type into it if you use the pdf format)

You can also get a copy of the template here:

http://tinyurl.com/firrhillhttp://tinyurl.com/firrhill

I can also give you a copy of it on a memory stick, if you ask me nicely!

You can type directly onto the template, or you can copy and paste in your writing from another file. You can also print the template and hand-write directly onto it. Both of your Folio pieces MUST be contained within one template. Give a clear indication of where each piece of writing starts by giving each piece a clear title and starting each piece at the top of a new page.

If you are typing directly into the template, it will give you a font, font size and layout automatically.  If you are typing in another file to paste in, please remember:

·         use 12 point print size

·         take a double return for new paragraphs

·         use 1 and half line spacing

Please make sure that your writing stays inside the margin box on the template.

Remember that discursive and persuasive pieces should have a bibliography.

Make sure you know the allowed word count for each piece and you stick to it.

Your Scottish Candidate Number, and a page number must be at the foot of every page in the template, using the boxes provided. These are for the purposes of identification.

It is recommended that the portfolio pieces are printed double-sided, but please do not use staples to attach your pages together.

'Cone Gatherers'- Homework- Chapter 9 Questions to be completed for Friday 13th (SPOOKY!)

Work in pairs to answer the following:


1.What led up to the Doctor’s appointment?


2. What happened during it?


3. What are the consequences of it?



4.How is Duror portrayed as an isolated character in this scene? (treat as a 4 mark question)



5.In what ways is the end of this chapter a second turning point (try to lay this out like the 10 mark question- refer to previous chapters in your analysis). At this stage, you can use your notes.

i.e. This chapter acts as a second turning point as… In previous chapters… but from this point on… (2 marks)


Then analyse one quote from the end of this chapter (2 marks) and 3 quotes from elsewhere to prove that it is a turning point (2 marks each).