Speaking and Listening Content Portfolio


  1. Andrew Jackson Political Cartoon Presentation (9th Grade) 
    My first major presentation that I had to do was freshman year in front of both my English and History classes for a joint grade. I was able to get away with small presentations earlier in my school career but this was the biggest (so far). I was terrified and stuttered through my whole presentation, but made it to the end and actually learned something about presenting and that I’m not as terrible as I thought. This was a turning point in terms of becoming more confident in front of a crowd and conquering my fear of public speaking because of the kind and encouraging words of my teachers who offered advice on how to improve my skills. 
    2.  WCTSMA Presentation
    My Andrew Jackson presentation led me to being able to get on a stage in front of 300+ people and present a research-based PowerPoint on Spondylolthesis. It was a group project, but I had the biggest number of slides and speaking points. I struggled a little bit, giant medical words do that to someone who has a hard time talking half the time, but we ended up getting 2nd place out of 16 teams. I was really proud of us as a group, but more of myself because I made it through a huge presentation without fainting or vomiting. I realized that if I could talk big crazy words in front of over 300 people, I could handle a classroom. 

    3.  Being able to listen to what my sisters have to say in relation to what my mom is trying to tell them and then being the “translator”. I tend to relieve tension between my mom and younger sisters by making sure they understand each side— my mom doesn’t tend to understand how the girls feel and why they start yelling, while the girls don’t tend to understand why our mom is getting onto them in the first place. It’s a tentative balance, and I definitely didn’t start figuring it out until after I left for Eastern. But conflict resolution and being able to actually listen to what people are saying is something I’ve worked on a lot the past few years. 

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