Time Traveler Exercise

I did pretty well in the time travelers public speaking exercise. I take a concept that the audience knows (the cell) and very simply explain how it makes energy, which was not known during their time period. I speak clearly and do not use any fillers.
During the presentation, I did not voluntarily stay inside of the invisible box, I was inescapably trapped inside the very real invisible box. I make adequate eye contact and had a mix of confidence and nervousness.
I did not rely heavily on notes. On my notes, I had talking points that I could reference in case I lost my train of thought. Unfortunately, I did not have enough talking points to take up the two minutes so I had to talk about cellular respiration unaided for the latter end of the presentation. My subject matter may have been boring, but I believe I was effective in getting the gist of it across to the audience. If I were to go back and change this presentation I would add movement, hand gestures, unnecessary pyrotechnics and remove my notes.

The novel Crime and Punishment introduces the main character Raskalnikov, and throughout the first six chapters more characters are introduced and the plot comes to life. 

Raskalnikov is debating on whether or not to do his "deed." The audience learns that this deed is killing a pawn broker who he and many others owe money. He was the most sure that he should commit the murder when he overheard someone talking about how the pawn broker should be killed for the good of the people. 

Raskalnikov goes through with the murder, using a fake pledge as a distraction while he kills the pawn broker with the blunt end of an axe. While he was trying to find valuables to steal in the brokers apartment after the murder, the brokers sister walked in, and she too was murdered with the axe. While trying to escape from the scene of the crime, Raskalnikov had to avoid being seen by unexpected people, return the axe, and make it back to his house.

At the end of chapter six in part one, Raskalnikov is sitting on the couch obliviously. The next several parts of the novel expand upon the punishment of Raskalnikov's crime.

Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" is a short story about Gregor, a traveling salesman who wakes up as an insect one day. The story is told from a 3rd person point of view from the time he wakes up as an insect until his death.

We learn in the beginning of the story that Gregor is the breadwinner of the family before he turns into an insect. He makes money to pay for the apartment, put food on the table, and pay off his parents debt. He parents are "unable" to work; however, after Gregor becomes an insect, his father finds a job quickly, so he may have been lazily mooching off of his son the whole time. The family is also very unappreciative of what Gregor does for them; they never thank him.

Even after all he's done for the family, he is viewed as a burden shortly after turning into an insect. The family feeds him scraps from their dinner and keep him in his room. When Gregor comes out, the people renting a room family the family see him and they leave immediately. Gregor is aware that he is causing problems for the family, so he sacrifices himself for their well being and dies.

After Gregor's death, the family doesn't take time to mourn, they simply move to another apartment and forget about him. Gregor has cared about and provided for the family, and the family just takes Gregor for granted.

Bartleby the Scrivener

Bartleby the scrivener is a dedicated worker for a lawyer on Wall Street. He copies contracts and legal documents word for word. He works long hours and copies documents efficiently; however, he is passive aggressive about not wanting to do work. When asked to copy a document that he didn't want to, Bartleby replied "I would prefer not to." This stifled his boss, but he did not have to copy the document.

This short story about Bartleby can be related to everyday life. Hard, dedicated workers sometimes get breaks, or more lenience, than a peer who slacks off. If a slacker were to give the boss Bartleby's answer, he probably would've been fired. Those who work hard will be recognized and rewarded.

Shakespeare

Shakespeare had a wide variety of experiences during his life. In his childhood, he experienced what it was like growing up in different classes of society. His father was involved in politics, illegal wool dealing, and money laundering; therefore, they were wealthy at one point of Shakespeare's childhood. However, his father was caught and their assets were seized. Shakespeare was also a part of the working class, he worked with leather making gloves.

Shakespeare was also born in a time of religious conflict. Different political leaders had different national religions in place. It would go back and forth from catholic and Protestant.

These life experiences shaped Shakespeare and had a huge impact on his writing. His viewpoints on the people of different social classes differed from that of society. Society believed that social class reflected intelligence; Shakespeare believed that even people of lower classes of society could be intelligent. This is illustrated in his play "Hamlet" when a gravedigger outwitted Prince Hamlet.

Hamlet

Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is a play about Prince Hamlet's life after his father's death and mother's remarriage. This is a life changing event for Hamlet and immensely affects his personality.

Before his father's death, Hamlet was a very charismatic and loved prince. He went into a deep depression after his father died and his mother remarried to his uncle. Soon after the marriage, about two months after, he spoke with the ghost of his father. The ghost of King Hamlet told Prince Hamlet the story of how he was murdered by the prince's uncle that remarried his mom. He told the prince to avenge his death by killing his uncle and leaving his mother alone.

Hamlet decides to trust the ghost but not completely. He devises a plan to put on a play that depicts the murder of King Hamlet and monitor his uncle's reaction to see if he has any guilty expressions. After the play, Hamlet realizes that the ghost was telling the truth, so he decides to go ahead and kill his uncle. However, he has trouble working up the courage to do it.

Hamlet finally gets around to murdering the king by stabbing and poisoning him at a duel between himself and Laertes. At this same duel, the uncle and Laertes had a plan to kill Hamlet with a poisoned sword, they succeed. In this scene, Laertes is stabbed with the poisoned sword along with Hamlet, and the uncle is murdered after accidentally poisoning his wife, the queen and Hamlets mother.

Writing formats

High school students are expected to write in many different formats. A student who excels at writing in one format may struggle writing in another format. 

There are different writing formats for different exams like the HSPAs, AP exams, and the SAT writing section. The format of writing on the HSPA is the typical five paragraph essay that students are taught since fourth or fifth grade. The writing format on AP exams is more lenient but tends to be around 4 paragraphs with a short, effective introduction. I honestly have not gotten a grasp on the formula of the SAT writing.

Students are expected to master these writing formats if they wish to be a successful writer. Exceptional writers master all three styles; however, most students only have a grasp on one or two writing styles.