Tag Archives: Final Project

Presenting My Final Project – Capstone #7

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WOW!!!!!!!!! This is it! The final blog post which is about the final presentation!

Okay, so in my previous blog post, I wrote about working on my final presentation. And I can’t believe that I was already presenting on Tuesday, June 19!

So on Tuesday, 5th grade wore our Moving Up Ceremony T-shirts to school. At 9:00, we had our Moving Up Ceremony, and it went pretty well.

After that, we went into our assigned room to give our presentations. I was assigned in Mrs. Edwards’ Room, and I was kind of bummed out because I really wanted to be in the computer room. I wanted to be in the computer room because (1) I would of looked and felt more professional, (2) the other rooms weren’t as good as the computer room; the library didn’t look as professional, and in the auditorium you would use microphones and those things make me nervous, (3) I would be able to see students from other classes’ presentations in the computer room (but in Mrs. Edwards’ room there was only Mrs. Edwards’ students, not other students from other classes).

So I slowly went into Mrs. Edwards’ room to present, along with Alex A., Emma, Hana, Matthew, Ben, Barbara, Ayyan, Will M., Eli, and Dani. I presented after Barbara, and by the time it was my turn I was really hot and sweaty (and did I forget to mention that I was extremely nervous?).

Okay, so I went up on my feet and I looked at the audience. As soon as this happened, I started to sweat. BAD. And I realized how hot it was and how the fans were NOT directed in my position.

Mrs. Edwards started filming, giving me the thumbs up sign, so I forced myself to start talking. And I guess the more I talked, the easier it became, but this did NOT mean that it was easy to talk to an audience.

I forgot what I was saying only about once, and this was because I added onto my script just the day before, so I didn’t really have it memorized yet. Other than that, though, the rest went in my favor.

I’ll give you a look at my presentation (please don’t judge):

(ignore the end part about visiting my blog, because that’s where you are right now!)

I think I did a good job on my presentation, and I learned a few things. I learned that hard work really pays off. I added a lot of information to my presentation and practiced a lot to memorize my script, and in the end it made my presentation pretty decent. And although practice might not make perfect, it can make something extremely good, and I learned that practice can make something the closest it can get to perfect.

Working on my Final Project – Capstone #6

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For our final project, we had a choice of doing a TED Talk or an Ignite (we could also do a movie but that was only if we REALLY REALLY REALLY didn’t want to do anything else). Let me explain what they are. A TED Talk is basically just a talk, while an Ignite is a talk that lasts for 5 mins (only professional ones are 5 mins, our Ignites were only 3 mins) and it automatically advances every 15 secs, which means there are 20 slides for a 5 min Ignite.

I chose to do a TED Talk, because of two reasons. First, the format was easier, because in an Ignite you have to make sure every slide is 15 sec long and you can only have a certain amount of slides, but with a TED Talk, you have way more freedom, and if you stumble on an Ignite then it might automatically advance without you, making you rush. Second, I had a lot of information on my topic, and Ignites are shorter, which would mean if I did an Ignite I would have to cram everything in 3 mins.

After choosing the type of talk, I started my script. I started a table and put my script in it. I basically used my essay‘s examples in my script. Then I went over and over and over again to revise and edit my script.

Finally after finishing my script, I started my slideshow. I think this step was probably one of the hardest. I had to find the right pictures to match my slides, and many of the pictures that I really liked had watermarks on them, and that made me frustrated. It took a lot of going through the slideshow again and again and again to make it good. And even then, it still could be better.

After that, I had to memorize all my lines. I thought it was unfair that index cards were not recommended, and if you do use them, then each one could only have like 2 or 3 words on it. I thought it especially unfair when I found out other classes got to have index cards and each one had like 20 words on it!!!! Anyway, because I had to memorize it, I had to practice, Practice, PRACTICE! I was half surprised that I basically knew my lines from the start, but that was because I went through my script so much when revising and editing that I knew it pretty well.

After looking at other people’s presentations and getting feedback, I had to change some more things in my slideshow (I added pictures and words, deleted some). Also, when presenting, everyone said that I talked too fast, but I thought it was really hard to talk s l o w. I wanted to tell them, I’m not a natural speaker, you know! And I don’t like speaking in front of an audience, so I speak fast to get it over with! (but I didn’t because I guess they had a point: I did go too fast and I could get better with a lot of practice)

Finally, I think I can say that my slideshow is done! Well, I really hope (fingers crossed). But as Capstone sharing days are coming nearer and nearer (and nearer), I really do hope that my slideshow is done, and that I speak loud and s l o w enough without stumbling on my lines…