TED Talk Video

https://youtu.be/-X90MZE4szM

Ted Talk draft

Many people like you and I have had the opportunity of receiving a good education and live in financial stability, and the luck of having a home to live in. However there are people in the world who do not have access to these luxuries and live in poverty with no chance of escaping that reality.

What if I told you that there was an organization that has the purpose of giving the children that live in these situations a way out, and gives them a chance in the real world through music. This organization is called El Sistema and was created by Jose Antonio Abreu, a Venezuelan musician. His main ambition was to introduce the instruction and collective practice of music through symphonies and orchestras as instruments of social organization and human development.

The most important of the projects that El Sistema has created has been the Nucleos, which are free to join centers where children as early as 3 years old attend and are taught how to play an instrument, and later on, in an orchestra. Many of the instructors at the Nucleos are former students of the program. These Nucleos allow the children to take their instruments home with them so they can practice. El Sistema's approach to music education emphasizes intensive ensemble participation from the earliest stages, group learning, peer teaching and a commitment to keeping the joy and fun of musical learning and music making ever-present. The learning sequence begins when the children are still at a preschool level, picking up their first instruments at the age of 5. Later on, the children learn through performing in front of audiences as much as possible, reducing the pressure of formal performances in the future. In Venezuela there are over 200 Nucleos around the country, with about 500,000 current students enrolled, with plans to expand to 1,000,000 by next year. 

El Sistema has allowed many musicians to become successful artists in the professional world, the most famous being the composer Gustavo Dudamel, who is now the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Gustavo joined one of the Nucleos when he was a young boy and had acquired a newfound interest in music. My mother was actually one of the people who taught Dudamel when he was at the Nucleo. He had an unremarkable amount of talent, which helped him achieve his goal of becoming a composer. He later became the lead composer for the Venezuelan national orchestra. Success stories like Dudamel's are very common, with many of the teenagers able to acquire scholarships for some of the best arts schools in the world.

Jose Antonio Abreu presented a TED Talk himself about El Sistema in 2009, and was awarded a prize by the TED Organization which allowed him to bring El Sistema in the United States in cohesion with multiple music conservatories, creating programs in schools, community centers, and other venues. Just like in Venezuela, lower class children living in the U.S. can use music to create a pathway to new opportunities to become successful. 

El Sistema creates a growing community that supports the foundations of loving children first to loving music second, creating a place where children feel safe and challenged. El Sistema graduates leave with a confidence to take on the enormous challenges in their lives and how to engage these with professionalism.

El Sistema TED Talks links

My mom

https://elsistemausa.org/#ATHS

https://www.ted.com/talks/jose_abreu_on_kids_transformed_by_music?language=en

https://www.fundamusical.org.ve

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/arts/music/el-sistema-venezuelas-plan-to-help-children-through-music.html?_r=0

El Sistema TED Talk

El Sistema is a Venezuelan non-profit organization with the goals of teaching underprivileged children how to play music, in order for them to have a chance in the professional world. El Sistema was created in 1975 by musician Jose Antonio Abreu, with aims to introduce the instruction and collective practice of music through symphonies and orchestras as instruments of social organization and human development.

The basis of the organization is to get children off the streets and the crime heavy environments they would normally be drawn to, especially in the poor areas of Venezuela. The Venezuelan government has financed the orchestra since 1976.

- Is the result of  35 years of uninterrupted  constant effort of work and ethic in which Maestro José Antonio Abreu  has been  example of what constant effort and dedication can accomplish.

- Jose Antonio Abreu did a TED Talk in 2009 and with the money earned from the presentation, the El Sistema project created a U.S. based orchestra.

 •221 Núcleos operating in many cities and towns of Venezuela, thus integrating a complex and systematic network encompassing more than:

•112 initiation orchestras

•83 children’s orchestras

•156 pre-youth orchestras

•145  youth orchestras

•342 youth and children’s chorus

•302 chorus ensembles

•363 chamber music groups

•20 workshops for instrument craftamanship

•7 Latin American Academies ( violin, cello, base, flute, percussion, clarinet and piano)

•25 Programs for special needs

•Saving 270.000 individuals

•El Sistema's approach to music education emphasizes intensive ensemble participation from the earliest stages, group learning, peer teaching and a commitment to keeping the joy and fun of musical learning and music making.

•The backbone of El Sistema student training is preparation for participation in orchestral ensembles as earliest as possible.

•There are three levels of practice every week: full ensemble work, section work and private lessons. Students often encounter the same teacher in both their group and personal lessons. This allows students to progress quickly, as bad habits are quickly corrected and good habits are regularly enforced.

•Students play in front of audiences as much as possible and performing in public becomes a natural part of their musical life.

•Students frequently watch their fellow students play in concerts, allowing them to both see and be inspired by the accomplishments of their peers.

•The majority of El Sistema teachers and Núcleo leaders are former students of the program.

•They understand the social and musical mission, nurturing both the individual person and the musician at the same time.

•El Sistema takes considerable time working with the parents of students.

•As the students begin to learn and take care of their instruments, which gives them a sense of pride of their belonging and being responsible for it, the teachers instruct parents on how best to support their child's practice schedule at home, giving feedback and encouragement.

•Parents know when registering a young child that they can count on this chain of musical education throughout the school years.

•Helps create a society based in excellence, quality, acknowledgement and unity.

•The new generation brings new students and new teachers. It is a positive circle.

Ted talk critique video

https://youtu.be/m_OWoo3tydU

The reason the video took so long to upload was due to my computer being to slow, and once it was uploaded, the video on YouTube was private and the file was corrupted, I exported the video to my iPad this weekend and fixed the upload.

TED Talk Topic Ideas

- The El Sistema program, a program that focuses on giving music to underprivileged children, giving them a chance in the competitive world.

- The problems with student debt

- How schools don't prepare students for the real world (life skills)

-

What makes a good TED Talk?

A good TED Talk is a presentation where the speaker manages to engage the audience and catch their attention with a specific subject. The speaker has to know a great deal about the subject and must be comfortable with it. One of the fundamentals a TED Talk must have is a good amount of visuals, in order to explain the topic more clearly to the audience. However, there cannot be an excessive amount of visual aids due to the effect of the presentation feeling more like a movie. Every TED Talk must end with a takeaway that the speaker wants the audience to learn, which is basically the core principle of the talk.

TED Talk Blog Post

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_christian_big_history?utm_campaign=ios-share&utm_medium=social&source=email&utm_source=email

This TED Talk talks about the whole history of the universe and how it came to be, leading up to present day. The speaker, David Christian, focuses on how every step since the Big Bang has played a played a significant role in the development of makind. He talks about how life was created by exotic combinations of different chemicals, and how eventually DNA was formed. DNA serves as a computer that tests thousands of algorithms, copying itself an infinite amount of times and making errors along the way, recording information each time. This is why the brain was formed, in order to make the carrying of information be on the fly. However, his most interesting statement is on why humans are so special, using the theory of "collective learning" to explain this. Collective learning is the phenomenon that employs the unique use of language by humans in order to pass on information from one human to another, which then is passed on by generations, allowing mankind to record its own history, which other species cannot do. He ends the talk by comparing the modern world to a global brain, with 7 billion people learning at warp speed, showing the timeline from the creation of the universe to present day.

Blog #9

The two debates we had were interesting, talking about very controversial and powerful topics that we all had different views on, lowering the drinking age 18 and violence in video games. I personally found both topics to be right up my alley since I am an avid gamer and I come from a country where the drinking age is 18, but people are still allowed to drink even when they are underage. The drinking age just states the age required to be able to purchase alcohol. I have been drinking since I was 13, and growing up while drinking has helped me become a responsible drinker and taught me my limits and how to drink with moderation. 

As for the actual debates I thought they were on par and both of the groups did an equally good job on each. One thing I noticed about the other group during both debates was how they had most of their responses written down, almost like a script. This was especially noticeable when Joseph was debating while reading off the iPad. It didn't make the debate feel as authentic, which is one of the key elements in an actual debate. After both debates, I was under the impression that the team relied too much on their captain, Lauren. One of the reasons we did this activity was to be able to distinguish our individual ability and teamwork, not one person carrying the other team. My team did a good job during the debates, doing our rebuttals on the fly instead of written down, which makes it easier to reflect our personal opinions and also gives us a chance to truly respond to what the previous person said. However, I felt like we did need better organization for some of our responses, in order to make them sound clearer. As for the results, I believe that the other team won the debate on violence in video games due to them having more data and better points, while my team won the debate on the drinking age, due to us having more experience with the subject and better responses to the other teams points. I am looking forward to the 1 on 1 debates where I feel much more confident and proficient in.

Debate/ blog #5

Video games

A common misconception nowadays is that video games are too violent, and as a result, the people who play them become more violent themselves. As an avid gamer who has played a great variety of video games I can tell you that this statement is false. The video game market of today is full of all sorts of games, but there is an obvious majority of violent games, the most popular being games like Call of Duty, Halo and Grand Theft Auto. The reason that violent games seem to always be so popular is because of the demand for them, and the companies that make them are aware, which is why most of these games have yearly installments that give these companies a tremendous profit.

Sales of video games have more than quadrupled from 1995-2008, while the arrest rate for juvenile murders fell 71.9% and the arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes declined 49.3% in this same period. 

A causal link between violent video games and violent behavior has not been proven. Many studies suffer from design flaws and use unreliable measures of violence and aggression such as noise blast tests. Thoughts about aggression have been confused with aggressive behavior, and there is a lack of studies that follow children over long periods of time.

A 2004 US Secret Service review of previous school-based attacks found that one-eighth of attackers exhibited an interest in violent video games, less than the rate of interest attackers showed in violent movies, books, and violence in their own writings. The report did not find a relationship between playing violent video games and school shootings.

Playing violent video games reduces violence in adolescent boys by serving as a substitute for rough and tumble play. Playing violent video games allows adolescent boys to express aggression and establish status in the peer group without causing physical harm. 

Video of a child with cerebral palsy playing with people in order to beat the final boss in a game

https://youtu.be/9XCuMxMz_IE

"It seems doubtful, from the point of view of the species history, that the human brain, which came of age in the Olduvai Gorge, can be turned to the jungle at such speed simply by watching flickering pixels on a nineteen-inch screen. In the scale of time, television has existed for less than a wink, and if it is indeed undoing what oral and print cultures have so laboriously built, then those traditions may be far more ephemeral than advertised." 

- Professor James Twitchell, University of Miami

Drinking age

Coming from a country where the drinking age is lowered there are many advantages to it. One of the major benefits is that it teaches people to learn how to drink responsibly at a younger age, and by the time they are older they know how much alcohol they can consume before they get drunk. The point of drinking isn't getting drunk, it is to enjoy the beverage. If the drinking age is 21, people usually go into drinking very quickly, causing addictions and accidents at a higher rate, due to the amount of time people have to wait in order to drink legally. Raising the drinking age to 21 has created problems instead of solving them. The “under-age” drinker, no longer permitted the occasional beer during a dance party, is now more likely to chug high-octane alcohol in dangerous quantities before heading off to that party. As a result, alcohol use has become more, not less, dangerous.

"Raising the drinking age to 21 hasn't reduced drinking -- it’s merely driven it underground, to the riskiest of settings."

- Gabrielle Glasier, The New York Times

18 is the age of adulthood in the United States, and adults should have the right to make their own decisions about alcohol consumption. Turning 18 entails receiving the rights and responsibilities of adulthood to vote, smoke cigarettes, serve on juries, get married, sign contracts, be prosecuted as adults, and join the military - which includes risking one's life.

Allowing 18- to 20-year-olds to drink alcohol in regulated environments with supervision would decrease unsafe drinking activity. Prohibiting this age group from drinking in bars, restaurants, and other licensed locations causes them to drink in unsupervised places such as fraternity houses or house parties where they may be more prone to binge drinking and other unsafe behavior.

There are fewer drunk driving traffic accidents and fatalities in many countries with MLDA of 18. Although the United States increased the MLDA to 21 in 1984, its rate of traffic accidents and fatalities in the 1980s decreased less than that of European countries whose legal drinking ages are lower than 21. 

Traffic accidents and fatalities are most common among newly-legal drinkers, regardless of the MLDA. In 2009, the 21- to 24-year-old age group had the highest percentage of drivers in fatal crashes with blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) levels of .08 or higher – 35 percent. Any increase in traffic accidents or fatalities in 18- to 20-year-olds would be offset by a decrease for those 21 and older.

The problem of excessive drinking by underage people has its roots dating back to the Prohibition, where people used to drink as much as they could before the police would show up. The impact this had has now made excessive drinking the norm for underage people, since they don't know when the next time they will drink may be. By lowering the drinking age, people will learn to drink more responsibly since they are able to drink whenever they want.

Raising the drinking age to 21 has created problems instead of solving them. The “under-age” drinker, no longer permitted the occasional beer during a dance party, is now more likely to chug high-octane alcohol in dangerous quantities before heading off to that party. As a result, alcohol use has become more, not less, dangerous.

"Raising the drinking age to 21 hasn't reduced drinking -- it’s merely driven it underground, to the riskiest of settings."

- Gabrielle Glasier, The New York Times

Pros: Lowering drinking age to 18

- Many states already allowed underage drinking to occur 

   - In 29 states in the U.S, drinking is allowed at the age of 18 as long as it, occurs on private premises and is done with parental permission 

   - 50% of the U.S allows for underage alcohol consumption if it is done for a religious purpose 

   - Another 11 states allow underage drinking if it is for educational purposes 

- Traffic accidents and fatalities due to drinking come from new drinkers of any age

   - 2009 dats, the age group with the highest percent of drivers with an illegal blood alcohol content level was the 21-24 age demographic

   - Although there would be increases in the 18-20 age group in these statistics these would be offset by reductions in older age groups

- No evidence that a 21 year old drinking age reduces accidents 

   - When the legal age of drinking was set in 1984, the rate of traffic fatalities/accidents decreased less in the U.S

- An 18 year old has the right to vote and serve in the military

   - If an 18 year old can make up their mind of who's going to be the next leader and take a bullet for their country they should be able to buy alcohol. 

- Says that 18 year olds has less tolerance compared to a 21 year old 

   - MIGHT be true- but you won't know until you find out

   - Tolerance doesn't come with age- comes with relization of responsibility 

- "Forbidden Fruit" 

   - Curiosity leads to more people under the age of 21 drinking anyways

   - 18+ "forbidden fruit" not used anymore

- People under the age of 21 tend to drink more when they get alcohol because of the uncertainty as to when they will be able to drink again

- 22% of all students under 21 compared to 18 over 21 years are healthy drinkers

   - 32% underage are compared to 24% of legal are heavy drinkers

- Young people are still drinking despite the fact that this behavior is illegal; teens and many adults are ignoring the law

- The law and fear of being caught creates convert drinking, such as secretive drinking makes it difficult for adults to know what's happening and help those with a problem

- The fear of being caught, limits on the ability to get alcohol 

   - Not able to drink at a club or party ables to have teens drinking large amounts in a short period of time in private (pre-gaming)

   - Putting kids at risk for alcohol poisening 

- If youth are allowed to make other choices (voting, going to war, getting married) they should be able to consume alcohol and they can face the consequences 

Debate topics

- the drinking age should be lowered to 18

- video games are too violent

- students should not be graded on their handwriting

- drone attacks are a necessary part of modern warfare 

- it is never appropriate for the government to restrict  freedom of speech

- performance enhancing drugs should be allowed in sports

Blog #4

This assignment was similar to the monologue one due to the whole process of memorization and such, but this spoken word project was more interesting in my opinion. The reason being that a poem can say more than a monologue and how it can tell more than one story. The liberty of choosing a poem that we could recite out loud was interesting as well, because each person could choose a poem that they connected with. 

I chose the poem “To Pimp a Butterfly” by Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick is a well known hip hop and rap artist, and the poem is about his upbringing in Compton, how he changed after his career started and how he eventually came back to his hometown to teach the people what he had learned when he was away. The reason I like the poem is because it shows his transformation in a non conventional way, by portraying himself as a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. I could also identify with it due to me being the only member of my family away from home, and how this experience has made me grow as a person. 

Working on memorizing the poem was tough, especially because it uses unique words in some of the stanzas which were hard to memorize. Combining the poem with background music was also challenging, due to the speed and rhythm of the poem. But after help from some classmates I found a good track to settle on. It consists of a buildup created by jazz drums which reach to a climax at the same time the poem reaches its own. Due to the short length of the track however, I would have to match my pacing in order to finish the poem before the music ended. 

As for the other presentations, they were excellent. Lauren’s was timed perfectly with the music, with her expressions matching the mood of the poem. Chelsea’s music had the same effect, matching the topic and theme of her poem. 

https://youtu.be/MyGFUpcebCE

Poem examples

To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar

Blog #6

In this marking period the goals I had set myself to do were to: improve my presentation skills, learn to present efficiently without any major difficulties, learn how to memorize speeches and learn different techniques that will improve my public speaking. 

Now that the marking period is nearly over, I am happy to say that I have completed most of these goals in my Public Speaking class. The first two goals were completed quickly when I worked on my senior speech. Practicing in class made the speech come more naturally to me, allowing me to feel more comfortable with it. Another benefit of practicing in front of my classmates was that they would give me constructive criticism on several aspects of my presentation, such as pacing, reducing the movement of my hands or body that made the presentation distracting and helping me make my speech sound more natural and personal. When I presented my speech officially in front of teachers and students, I found myself to be very comfortable with my presentation, taking into consideration what my fellow public speaking partners had told me. I also realized that during the presentation I did not feel nervous at all, which surprised me since I was the first student that had to present that day. This shows how well practicing it with my peers worked. I can now say that I feel extremely confident in my presentation skills, and that this class has certainly helped me achieve this. 

I also worked on my third goal, memorization. The monologue project that we did in class helped out a lot, and by choosing an iconic quote, I felt it was easier to do so. Memorization is something that does not come naturally to me, and I found myself screwing up many times when I practiced. One of the strategies that helped overcome this difficulty was memorizing small portions of the text one by one to make it easier for me. For example, I would memorize the first two or three sentences, repeating them many times before moving on to the next set. Eventually, I was able to memorize the entire speech after practicing for many days. This project helped me a lot, and has certainly improved my memorization.

As for my last goal, I hope that in the next marking period there may be more opportunities to learn techniques to make me better at public speaking. All in all, I feel that this has been a successful marking period, with three out of my four goals completed.

Speech

Gonzalo Rodriguez

I believe in speaking out against injustice. 

Since I was born, I have lived in the beautiful country of Venezuela, a country just at the northern tip of South America, full of beautiful landscapes and jaw dropping scenery. What was once a peaceful paradise has now turned into a warzone. When I was little I didn’t know much about the government, but I remember I was always told one thing, Hugo Chavez is a bad man. He came into power in 1998 after staging a military coup against the government. After he was elected he founded a socialist party with plans to “revolutionize” the country. Chavez manipulated the country to his benefits, violating the constitution he swore to defend to further his own agenda, promising riches to the poor in exchange for their loyalty. 

 As the years went on the situation got worse. Our country’s currency kept losing its value constantly, the insecurity kept getting higher and higher, there was scarcity for the most basic of goods and the government was completely oblivious to it, becoming more corrupt by the second. Over the years people spoke out against the government, but never succeeded. Quickly, Caracas became one of the most dangerous cities in the world, with people being robbed and kidnapped in broad daylight. As you can imagine, living in the middle of this was frightening. 

When I left Venezuela in the Fall of 2013, I was scared. Not because I was going alone to study in the U.S., but because my family would be staying behind. I feared that something might happen to them, that they would be victim to these terrible stories I heard about on the news. When I left, Hugo Chavez had just died a few months before, leaving his successor Nicolas Maduro in charge. With Maduro, the country’s situation declined more than before, showing how unprepared he was to run the country. 

In 2014, people took to the streets, organizing peaceful protests voicing out their opinions against the government. The government did not take kindly to these protests, and responded with violence. Instead of backing down however, the people fought back. I felt inspired by my fellow countrymen who were not afraid of an oppressive regime and stood for what they believed in.

When I came back to Venezuela last year over spring break, my friends were participating in the riots themselves. I decided that I wanted to join them, not because I wanted to be with them, but because I felt that it was my duty to be there. It was my duty to stand up for what I believed in, to stand up in the name of change. 

It was a Saturday morning, with the sun shining over the worn streets of Caracas. There were thousands of us marching along the avenue, walking toward the police at the opposite side of the street, their riot shields reflecting the sunlight into my eyes. Behind the column of shields were more of them holding shotguns, loaded with rubber bullets. One of them was holding a loudspeaker, ordering us to turn around. We kept going forward. That’s when the first canister flew through the air, landing in the middle of us, leaking out a white gas that hit us immediately. My eyes started watering and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Say what you will, but nothing can prepare you for the effects of tear gas. 

Eventually my friends and I made it out of there safely. It was moving to be a part of a turning point in my country’s fight for democracy. Something I will never forget was when I marched along with these masses of people, I felt ecstasy as I realized that even though I had never met the majority of these people, we were all joined by one ideal and what we believed in and that we were willing to fight for it. It was a sensation like no other. I believe in the power of people working together for a common purpose. 

Video link: https://youtu.be/wvCJi2ADmik

Monologue

Ferris Buellers Day Off

The key to faking out the parents is the clammy hands. It's a good non-specific symptom. A lot of people will tell you that a phony fever is a deadlock, but if you get a nervous mother, you could land in the doctor's office. That's worse than school. What you do is, you fake a stomach cramp, and when you're bent over, moaning and wailing, (confidentially) you lick your palms. It's a little childish and stupid, but then, so is high school.

I did have a test today. That wasn't bulls**t. It's on European socialism. I mean, really, what's the point? I'm not European, I don't plan on being European, so who gives a crap if they're socialist? They could be fascist anarchists - that still wouldn't change the fact that I don't own a car. Not that I condone fascism, or any ism for that matter. Isms in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an ism - he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon: "I don't believe in Beatles - I just believe in me." A good point there. Of course, he was the Walrus. I could be the Walrus - I'd still have to bum rides off of people.

http://youtu.be/nDK_BplKRcY video link 

I chose this monologue because it is an iconic quote from a good movie. The quote itself is funny, which makes it easier to memorize, like a good joke. What I found interesting is how the theme changes many times, starting with how to avoid coming to school to a more philosophical standpoint on ideals. The fact that the quite is spoken in such a colloquial manner makes it feel more natural, making it easy to memorize.

Blog Post #1

Hi! My name is Gonzalo Rodriguez and I come from Venezuela, a country in South America. I am currently studying at Cheshire Academy, where I enrolled before my junior year of high school. As of today, I am a senior at the school and recently got accepted to the college of my choice, Marist College in Poughkipsie, New York. This was my top choice and I managed to get in because I applied Early Decision during the Fall. 

I lived in Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, for about 15 years and my family still lives there today. I am the eldest son and have two other siblings, my brother Lorenzo (also my best friend) and my sister Daniela. Lorenzo is 13 years old and started 8th grade this year, which is the first year of high school in Venezuela. My sister Daniela is 9 years old and recently moved up from 4th to 5th grade because she was at the top of her class! My parents, Gonzalo and Daniela work in Venezuela, but travel a lot to the United States and other places around the world. My dad is a corporate attorney for an international law firm and he can practice law in three different countries, Venezuela, the U.S. and France! My mother's job is a bit harder to explain because it is a bit unorthodox. She works for a community service program that teaches music to underprivileged children around the world. The program takes children that live in poor areas of the country, and teaches them to play music, especially orchestral and classical, and this allows them to have an education and experiences  that they could normally not afford, there have even been kids who have gained scholarships to major arts colleges thanks to the program! My mother helps organize the concerts where they play, and she is also part of the board of directors in a few conservatories around the United States, the most prominent being the New England Conservatory, the oldest conservatory in America! She is definitely the most interesting person I know, and she is also fluent in four different languages, English, Spanish, French and Italian.

As for myself, I am 17 years old and am fluent in Spanish and English. My hobbies include, reading, listening to music, playing video games (arguably my favorite) and recently, playing football. This year at CA I joined the football team, even though I had never played it before in my life, and enjoyed it greatly and found out I was actually pretty good at it and managed to play a few Varsity games this season! It was a great experience and I wish I had joined my junior year so I could have played more. As for the rest of my hobbies, I have been reading since I was very young and actually was the first person in my grade that learned how to read. I find reading to be a great pastime, usually finding myself immersed in the world that the book provides. My favorite hobby though, is playing video games, especially when I'm playing with my brother Lorenzo. He and I have such a great chemistry when we work together that it makes the experience all the better. I feel like video games are like a way to escape from reality, much like a book but it is more interactive. My favorite types of games are FPS (first person shooters), games where you see through the eyes of the character you control, usually fighting against enemies with your weapons. My favorite game of this genre is the Halo series, a sci-fi game where you control a genetically augmented super soldier who fights against aliens to safe humanity. I also like RPGs (Role Playing Games), where you create a character and progress through a storyline that can be altered according the decisions you make while playing. These are also classified as open world or sandbox games because you can basically do whatever you want while you are playing the game. My favorite world from this genre is The Elder Scrolls, a game series where you control a character in a fictional medieval world. But my favorite game of all time is a recent release named Destiny, an online sci-fi shooter mixed with the aspects of an RPG. It was also created by the developers of Halo, which makes me a bit biased torward it. 

I chose to take this class so I could improve my presentation skills, especially for senior speeches later in the year. By the end of the year I would like to be able to present efficiently without any major difficulties.