Presentation Day 5 (Sep. 29)

We are slowly coming towards the end of the student presentations. We have really come a long way and learned so much (not that it's over just yet). Starting today, students who didn't formally take Mr.Paterson's lessons started presenting. I was absolutely impressed by how high quality they all were and exceedingly amused. They may have seen profuse presentations over the course of the term, but with so little time and experience I was dazzled. They had clear pronunciations so it was very easy to pick up what they were saying, and I didn't even have to put in the effort to comprehend what they were trying to express. They had powerful tones and looked confident. However,  one thing I did realize was that many lacked precision and detail in their speech. For example, a presenter mentioned she enjoyed the book for its superior elements but never elaborated on what she liked. This had me doubting if they actually liked every part of the presentation and there was a shortfall in persuasiveness, which I personally think is the most crucial part of a book review. When we were taught about CRAP, and having repetitive presentation slides, I had a fixed image that that meant having the same background throughout the presentation. Notwithstanding the fact that this was how everyone integrated repetition in their slides, this presenter managed to maintain one unified vibe from start to end which was enthralling and something I'd like to challenge on from next time. 

I would say, students who presented today consisted of very satisfactory content and slides. However, possibly due to the difference in experience and confidence, the speakers' tone tends to drop at the end of the sentence. Although they were saying absolutely meaningful things and delivering great content, having a low tone, or dropping their volume at the end of sentences made them sound dismal and as if they lacked confidence. This was a little disappointing because I can guarantee it would've extraordinarily escalated their presentation as a whole. What my friend and I have realized is, since everyone is trying to use pictures that require no attributions, pictures would often be recurrent amongst students. Every time this happens, I think about whether or not this is a good thing. As of now, I have mixed emotions and am not quite sure how I feel about this. In some cases, I think that it is normal, understandable, and unavoidable but, there are definitely times people could've chosen better images to complement their speech. I've tried to go the extra mile and really find pictures that are closely related to my message so as a result, I did not have any of the same pictures as anyone else. 

Yet again, there were two students who introduced the Harry Potter series and after 15 years of living, I finally partially grasped what all the hype is about. For the first half of the presentations, being recommended so many books made me derecognize and clarify what genre I enjoy reading most. Notwithstanding my stubbornness and absurd passion for suspense and fiction novels, I am starting to discover/develop a new love for other genres which is exciting and revolutionary to me!