| Find a TedTalks seminar that speaks to you. Provide specifics on interesting points made within the performance. Name two rhetorical strategies the presenter uses to engage his/her audience and explain the effectiveness of each. |
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John Wooden, former basketball coach for UCLA, uses many rhetorical devices in his TED Talk called, "The Difference Between Winning and Success." He begins his speech by almost criticizing Noah Webster for his definition of success. Wooden believes that success is not material, but rather "peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you're capable." This point jumped out at me because to me this is success. As long as you are satisfied with the effort you have put forth, you are successful. Wooden's anecdotal descriptions of his childhood on a farm in Indiana were also very moving. One such anecdote explains "...Dad tried to teach me and my brothers that you should never try to be better than someone else." It is touching that one of John Wooden's most important lessons was taught to him by his father, and the way he uses this story keeps the listener involved. Later in his speech, Wooden uses alliteration that causes the point he is making to really jump out at the listener. He says "Don't whine. Don't complain. Don't make excuses." The repetition of the word "don't" really stands out. It is a very brash way to make his point, and this bold strategy resonates with the listener.
Andrew Cuomo
2/22/2015 04:18:38 am
This was a very good TED Talk to choose and I agree with everything you said. What you said about success is also what I believe success is, "As long as you are satisfied with the effort you have put forth, you are successful." Also, the points of "Don't whine. Don't complain. Don't make excuses" jumped out at me because as an athlete, I need to follow those or else the coach is going to make me run.
Jeet R.
2/22/2015 09:18:11 am
Coming from one of the legends of the game of basketball, this TED talk hits every point it makes out of the park. Wooden is very well-articulated and adds many rhetorical aspects, which you pointed out. Overall, this was a great talk and I'm glad you chose it so that everyone can learn these vital lessons.
Wade Grillo
2/22/2015 11:30:44 am
This specific TED Talk is very eye-opening. John Wooden describes the true "definition" of success very clearly in this talk. Success is all in your own mind, if you believe you have accomplished all you can, you have reached true success.
Tim M.
2/22/2015 01:06:44 pm
I really enjoyed this TED talk, it was very good. All of Wooden's points for success really stand out. Like Andrew said the points of "Don't whine. Don't complain. Don't make excuses" really stand out to an athlete, like myself, and I know that if anyone follows that they will be successful. If you give 110% percent every time, there will be success. I also agree with you that the anecdotes were good.
Manny A
2/22/2015 10:53:27 pm
John Wooden describes success very specifically in this TedTalk. The rhetorical devices he uses and body language help keep the audiences attention while he describes his definition of success. He tells his point of view as a former coach very effectively and it made me look at success in a different way
obama
2/23/2015 02:45:27 am
Biden
2/23/2015 02:57:03 am
Is that you Mr. President?? Erin McKean uses lots of rhetorical devices and makes some very good points in her TED Talk called “Go ahead, make up new words!” She talks about how people are always encouraged to create art and new music and technology, but not words. She says that people are discouraged from making up new words because of the rules of grammar. There are two types of grammar, the natural grammar that is kind of automatic to someone who is a native speaker, and the other type of rules based grammar. McKean makes use of personification when she says that “every language is just a group of people who decide to understand each other,” which adds an interesting twist to the talk. She explains the several different ways in which new words are made, and how already existing words came to be very commonplace today. Some words seem so common, it’s hard to believe that they are actually contractions made of two words squished together. “Motel” is a combination of “motor hotel.” Functional shift and back formation are two different ways of creating new words. Another rhetorical device that was used was a simile when McKean says “words are like Legos,” in the sense that they can be squished together.
Samantha Soracco
2/18/2015 09:01:16 am
I agree with why people should create new words if there is always new art and music being created. Words have been used to write books, movies and just about everything so why not make some new ones to make these things all the better? Like used with art,"What if... "there were new words? Creativity would happen just as in art.
Jacob E.
2/19/2015 02:54:59 am
While I disagree with the intent of the speech, your interpretation was solid. I mean, maybe the reason people aren't encouraged to make words is so as not to confuse others. Imagine a world where words were created so rapidly that people were unable to know their actual meaning. Also, your example of personification is exactly that, but the author's usage here is wildly confusing. Rather than intrigue me, that personification confused me and discouraged me from listening. Also, I am very confused about what a motor hotel is. I don't know about others, but every hotel we see when driving my grandparents call a "motel." I'm pretty sure its just old people slang as opposed to a contraction. Ava, however, your interpretations were godly; it's Erin McKean I have the problem with.
Sean Kaufman
2/19/2015 10:06:18 am
I do admit that creating new words is an encouraging thought. Creating one word means that you have large creative potential, even if the word is something basic, like a new word for a place to sleep at night. In fact, many company names, movie or tv show, or video game title like Verizon, Microsoft, and Tetris are words used to make a creative piece. I also enjoyed how Legos were brought up in the speech. It tells me how each word can be put together to create a larger structure, like a treehouse is a combination of a tree and a house. I applauded your insightful observations in this piece.
Kayla A
2/22/2015 11:14:25 am
I really enjoyed that TED Talk. I never knew that you could make words from anything or that such silly words even existed. I learned that anyone can make a new word and I like that. I can't wait to hear of the new words that people will come up with in the future. I think it's so creative.
Kelly M.
2/22/2015 12:15:04 pm
While I think the concept of creating new words freely is interesting, I do not agree with this speech's ideas. There are millions of words in the English language, but most of them have an origin and a specific use. I do not think it is possible to give complete freedom by creating words before it becomes all gibberish and gobbledygook. Erin McKean delivered this in a unclear way and for those reasons are why I disagree with her views.
Logan L.
2/27/2015 10:13:01 pm
I think this is a very good point on how society has limited creativity to only a few areas, but in reality it exists in almost everything. As a matter of fact, writing is one area that is recognized as a creative venture, but only uses words already known. This limits the originality in writing and consequently the level of creativity is hurt as well. 2/18/2015 08:55:14 am
"Why you should care about whale poo" by Asha de Vos.
Ava M
2/21/2015 05:41:22 am
I agree that something needs to be done to stop the killing of whales. They are indeed beautiful, and also helpful for the environment. They are useful in maintaining the precious ecosystem of the ocean that covers most of this planet, so they deserve to be protected.
Sarah S
2/22/2015 07:47:39 am
I very much agree with this TED Talk. Most people would complain and say "Don't be such a hippie," however, they're obviously not realizing how much the killing of whales is affecting the ocean ecosystem and even humans. It's crazy to think the amount of whale deaths there really are. They're magnificent creatures and are helping in our world's environment. Nature doesn't deserve to lose another amazing animal to humans.
Tom D
2/22/2015 02:05:51 pm
I believe that the Whales do need to be protected, when they were plentiful it would be fine to hunt a few, but the hunters took it too far and almost mad these majestic animals extinct. Asha De Vos does a good job of explaining the whales contribution to the Eco-system by getting away from the topic of whales and focusing on the smaller, less known animals that feed on the whales poo and dead carcasses. 2/18/2015 10:45:33 am
The speech “How to Make Stress Your Friend” by famous health psychiatrist Kelly McGonigal is a speech that turns the concept of stress on its head. She began the speech by asking the audience about how much stress is in their lives in order to explain how believing stress is healthy and can save your life. She sets up an experiment where they had subjects do these tasks with negative feedback, but they were told the stress was positive. She was rushing the audience to hurry and count backwards from 996 by seven, which actually was humorous for me and allowed me to become intrigued. The experiment was conducted in order to show that there is positive and negative stress. I especially enjoyed the part when she said, “Stop. Stop, stop, stop. That guy made a mistake. We are going to have to start all over again. You’re not very good at this, are you?” in order to invoke more stress upon the audience. I also found joy watching the part about oxytocin, also known as the cuddle hormone, being a stress hormone that encourages social contact and repairs the heart, which was an ironic shock to me, and actually made me realize that there is a positive hormone from stress. In addition, she used personification for the oxytocin to give it a bit of flair. She said that oxytocin, “…fine-tunes your brain’s social instincts,” but oxytocin cannot fine-tune any object. This rhetorical device was used effectively to tell the audience about what oxytocin does to the capillaries in your body, as well as causing a craving for social intervention. Another use of personification was when she said “And when you view stress in that way, your body believes you, and your stress response becomes healthier.” A body cannot have beliefs, these come from your mind. In addition, Ms. McGonigal said, “…you’d probably be a little stressed out,” after she finished the experiment. That was the use of an obvious and sarcastic understatement. It was used as a bridge to guide the people into what she had to say about the interesting experiment performed at Harvard University. The speech was a stunning realization to all that stress can let you live a long, happy life.
Zoe Olbrys
2/21/2015 10:52:51 am
I was very surprised when Kelly McGonical stated that the belief of stress, simply worrying about it, could be the 15th most leading cause of death based on a study! Though it is not, it clearly shows how many people are scared of even the idea of stress and how it could affect the lives of millions of individuals across the world. I thoroughly believed stress was a negative thing, but this Ted Talk opened my eyes to a new side of stress I had never thought about before: social stress that is beneficial to human behavior. Just as you mentioned, Sean, oxytocin release is a form of “good stress” that actually causes people to be happier through more human interaction. I enjoyed your response to this Ted Talk, thought Kelly was a captivating and educated speaker, and agree that stress is vital in living happy and healthy!
Marisa B
2/22/2015 04:00:48 am
When I first watched this TED talk, I was really surprised to hear that it is your mind that controls stress! It was interesting to me that if you believe that stress is healthy for you, then it actually is healthy for you and if you believe it is bad for you, it could potentially kill you. This is an insightful response and an interesting TED talks speech!
Kelly W.
2/22/2015 08:50:11 am
I completely agree with you and everyone's comments- I too was surprised that stress is a good thing. I am a very anxious person and worry quite often, so for me to watch this talk was very helpful to me. I agree completely that this speech was stunning, and was definitely a realization to me as well.
Chris Wolf
2/22/2015 12:01:05 pm
This Ted Talk was probably the most interesting one I have ever seen. I had always though that stress was one of the leading causes of death as it leads to heart attacks, hypertension, etc. However, McGonical stated that it is simply the belief in stress that causes death. She said that stress is simply a belief and not a physical thing. You had some great points in your response Sean. Good Job!!
Zoe Olbrys
2/21/2015 11:01:11 am
I was very surprised when Kelly McGonical stated that the belief of stress, simply worrying about it, could be the 15th most leading cause of death based on a study! Though it is not, it really shows how many people are scared of stress and how it could affect the lives of millions of individuals across the world. I thoroughly believed stress was a negative thing, but this Ted Talk opened my eyes to a new side of stress I had never thought about before: social stress that is beneficial to human behavior. Just as you mentioned, Sean, oxytocin release is a form of “good stress” that actually causes people to be happier through more human interaction. I enjoyed your response to this Ted Talk, believe Kelly is an excellent speakers, and agree that stress is actually vital in living happy and healthy! "How do you Define Yourself?" is a motivational TED talk by Lizzie Velasquez. It was about a young women who was born with an extremely rare syndrome that only two people in the world have. It causes Lizzie to not be able to gain any weight and to be visually impaired. Her life story was very inspirational because of the various obstacles that she had to overcome. When she was born, the doctor told her parents that she would not be able to walk, talk, or even think on her own. But, with the help of her supportive parents, Lizzie was able to overcome her challenges and act like a normal kid, despite the way she looked. This TED talk really inspired me because it taught me never to give up on your dreams and to use the people around you who tell you can't do things to prove to them that you can. Lizzie used various rhetorical strategies to engage the audience. She used anecdotes, personal experiences from her life, to give the audience a better understanding of what she has been through. "When I was in high school I found a video, unfortunately that somebody posted of me, labeling me as the worlds ugliest women. [...] People saying, Lizzie, please, please just do the world a favor, put a gun to your head and kill yourself." (Velasquez). She then went on to explain that instead of letting these people get to her, she used it as motivation to accomplish all of her goals. "I am going to let my goals and my success define me, not my outer appearance [...]. (Velasquez). These anecdotes engaged the audience by showing people the importance of not letting other people bring you down, but using them to motivate you to accomplish your dreams. Another rhetorical strategy used in this TED talk is rhetorical questioning. Lizzie asks the audience various rhetorical questions in order to spark their interest. One specific question she asks the audience is, "How do you define yourself?" (Velasquez). This question engages them by giving them a chance to really think about what they want to be known for. Lizzie explains that she wants to be defined as a person who overcame her challenges and used the negative people as motivation to reach her goals. By asking this rhetorical question, the audience is learning to define themselves as what they want to be, not what other people make them out to be.
Brianna Young
2/22/2015 05:32:06 am
Marisa, this TED talk you have found really touched me. As you said in your blog response, Lizzie has used anecdotes and rhetorical questions to help deliver an effect speech to the audience. She used her past experiences to show people to never give up on themselves and to embrace their dreams/goals despite the bumps in the rode. Lizzie had said something along the lines of "You are the front seat driver to your own car" and I couldn't agree more. I agree with you that Lizzie was an inspiration to accomplish anything you set your mind to.
Erin Satkowski
2/22/2015 07:25:59 am
This sounds like a very inspirational TED talk. Just from the summary you gave, it seems to have a powerful message to people all over. It demonstrates strength and courage. Also, this TED talk teaches not only victims of bullying, but really anyone who has heard this, that you can't let your flaws define who you are or stop you from achieving your dreams. Lizzie has taught people that you can do anything you set your mind to even when others are telling you otherwise. She has used their negative words and made them a positive in her life by proving her doubters wrong. 2/22/2015 04:10:26 am
I found this TED Talk speech, How to go to Space, Without Having to go to Space by Angelo Vermeulen, very interesting. It is all about testing what different things to see how they would react in space. One test was to see how six humans would react if they were put in a small living area. Would they be able to work together, or would they get sick of each other? NASA needed to find this out before they actually sent out people into space. Another thing they tested was how plants would last in the living area, since they needed food and air. Both of these tests were very interesting because they were able to conduct them on Earth. They tested in the Atacama Desert in Chile, known as the driest place on Earth, and very similar to the surface of Mars. I found this all very cool, and Vermeulen was able to keep my attention throughout the presentation. One rhetorical strategy he used was a simile. He said "It's a little bit like termites, really." What he is saying is how him and his team come up with ideas. What he does is he comes up with a basic idea, places it in his group, and then the group builds and feeds off the idea, like what a termite would do. Using this analogy helped me understand it better. Vermeulen also used anecdotes in his presentation. He gives us a description of when he was involved in the tests. This helped me visualize better what is actually happening in the experiments.
Thomas Westgate
2/22/2015 07:16:08 am
This was an interesting talk. When I originally thought of living in space I though of the great mechanical and technical challenges of it. But the social challenges of having to deal with the same people all day is a key point that would have to be figured out as well. Thanks for sharing this talk it was very fascinating talk.
Sviatoslav K.
2/22/2015 08:41:40 am
I, as well, found this very interesting and entertaining. The whole concept of having to test people's relations with one another in close contained spaces is fascinating due to how it shows what a true person is when left in the company of another. Also it shows in how Vermeulen keeps his audience engaged throughout his whole talk. He always kept his audience engaged by providing anecdotes and small talk in between his talk and kept us all up to speed with what ever point he was trying to get across. He made the work simple for anyone to learn from and I enjoyed the contents of his topic as well.
Patrick McNamara
2/22/2015 11:30:07 am
Andrew, great response. I have always been fascinated with space travel and the psychological aspects of it, and I've been following social experiments like the one Angelo Vermeulen took part in for years. Needless to say, this TED talk was certainly intriguing to me. What was especially interesting about this speech was the integration of art into space travel. Architecture never seemed much like an art form to me until I watched this TED talk. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Nolan Mazako
2/22/2015 12:25:28 pm
I believe that the ideas made in this video were very thought-provoking. Mostly how humans would react with others in isolation, and how that would affect them. Overall, this TED Talk was very interesting.
Christopher Conicelli
2/22/2015 12:35:42 pm
I really enjoyed the topic this talk touched upon. I always wondered what it would be like when isolated with a crew in space for long durations of time. I found it interesting in how they are testing different scenarios and environments. I liked the idea of involving communities all over the world on this project. Overall I enjoyed the talk for its interesting topic and ideas. 2/22/2015 05:04:05 am
James A. White Sr. is an executive coach and management consultant who is the owner, as well as president, of Performance Consulting Services in Columbus, Ohio. His organization's passion is to help individuals recognize their full potential effectively by providing insight on how to overcome life's obstacles. In November 2014, White had delivered his speech "The Little Problem I had Renting a House" at the Ted Talk's convention held in Columbus. The seminar had started off engaging as the introduction of the eye-catching title could be detected as a understatement. Going forth, throughout White's speech the presents of multiple rhetorical/literally devices had been used. These devices had varied from humor, sarcasm, similes, metaphors, and rhetorical questions. Although commonly used, these devices engage the viewer in the speech and create an effective sermon. Despite that the audience had never took their eyes off of White as they laughed and focused intensely on the commentary and gave him a standing ovation at the end, it was not the devices stated above that had created an effective speech. White had used a flashback. His whole speech had focused on the key points in his life where he, being an African-American male, had struggled to find a home for his family after joining the United States Air Force. Having a personal experience can provide the viewer with some sort of connection to the presenter. The audience will know that these accusations are not just cold, hard facts scavenged from surveys or tests; they will have the insight that this is real. It was with these specific moments in White's life that had created an effective speech. It was not until White had finally said the word "racism" did people realize that this issue had never disappeared, it was only incognito. It was then that people realized the whole point of White's speech was to persuade them into not accepting this kind of behavior anymore; to persuade them into embracing equality. It was with that at the end of his speech the audience had stood up in an ovation while White had shed a few tears.
Sydney T.
2/22/2015 11:27:02 am
Brianna, your TED Talk was both emotional and motivational. After listening to your TED Talk it had opened the door for the audience to hear about different problems of the world. Not only had it allowed the audience to view the earlier life of James A. White Sr, it had also opened the topic of racism back up and how it is still a continuing problem. It had also made the problem known when he spoke on the issue. I agree with the key points you had made, Bri.
Erin Satkowski
2/22/2015 05:36:55 am
Daniele Quercia gave an interesting Ted Talk called, "Happy Maps." In his talk, he brought up the fact that many people take the shortest route when trying to get to their destination. They often are in such a hurry to get to their destination that they just want the quickest route. Daniele then told the audience about a new creation he and some of his colleagues came up with based on his own experience. While going to work, Daniele always took the shortest route. However, one day he decided that he wanted a more scenic view on his way to work. He soon discovered the beauty of traveling down side roads rather than the main road. This is when he and his colleagues created Happy Maps. Instead of choosing the shortest route to your destination you can now choose the most beautiful, calm, or quiet route while only adding on a few more minutes to travel time. One rhetorical strategy Daniele used was by using pictures that allowed the audience to interact throughout the talk. Daniele projected two pictures and asked the audience to vote for which one was the most beautiful, a city setting or a more rural setting. Everyone said the more rural setting. By involving the audience and making them think about this choice, it allowed them to think about their own commutes to work and how they would rather take a more scenic route rather than the shortest route. The second rhetorical strategy Daniele used by showing the audience that a more scenic route only adds on a few more minutes to travel time. This fact made the audience more open to the idea of taking a more scenic route. Daniele's talk about this topic goes along very well with the saying, "It's not about how fast you get there, it's about the journey." This statement summarizes Daniele's speech very nicely since it is about the same concept. Daniele is trying to get people to understand this concept and allow them to become happier by making their commute to work more beautiful.
Mary Palys
2/22/2015 09:51:00 am
First of all, thank you for sharing this because it is very interesting. My mom always shows me the side roads she takes, if we pass them, and the little landmarks she uses to recognize them. I have to agree with Quercia when he says that the side roads are beautiful.
Heather Hassler
2/22/2015 11:31:40 am
This talk was very interesting. Most people can relate to being stuck in the same routine every day for weeks, and Quercia brings up the effects that making changes can have. It is very helpful information to have and he presented it in an engaging manner. His points made sense and were clear.
Hailey H
2/23/2015 01:25:26 am
This was a very interesting TEDtalk to me. Quercia made excellent points on how changing your daily routine could really have a positive effect on your life. He mentions that we are always looking for the most efficient way to do things, which is one of the reasons why our generations have become so reliable on technology. But I loved how he came up with his own map app that lets the user choose if they want the shortest, happiest, quietist, or most beautiful trail to take. It really lets people see a different side to their environment. 2/22/2015 06:52:47 am
In Jeff Iliff's talk entitled, "One More Reason to Get a Good Night's Sleep" he explains new discoveries in the function of the brain that he discovered with a team of fellow neuroscientists. He started by explaining that in all organs of the body excluding the brain, blood vessels bring nutrients and the lymphatic system gets rid of waste. However, in the brain, this is not the case as the lymphatic system does not enter the brain. Instead, cerebrospinal fluid flows through the brain collecting waste and depositing it into the bloodstream to be disposed of. However, this process only takes place when one is asleep. That is why when one does not get a proper amount of sleep or is tired he has reduced cognitive function. Obviously neuroscience is not a subject that is easily comprehended by those outside of the field. However, Iliff very skillfully conveyed his discovery in a way that was easy to understand by relating it to things the crowd have experienced in their life. For example, after explaining that the brain cleans when one is sleeping because it is less busy he says, "So it's actually a little bit like how you or I, we put off our household chores during the work week when we don't have time to get to it, and then we play catch up on all the cleaning that we have to do when the weekend rolls around." Iliff further explains that the build up of the waste amyloid-beta in the brain is what causes Alzheimer's. He says that through testing he has found that there are lower levels of amyloid-beta in the brain after sleeping due to this cleaning of the brain. He says that although it has not been tested whether or not small amounts of sleep will increase the risk of Alzheimer's, there has been speculation and he would like to investigate this possibility. The talk is presented in a very logical manner, as how he relates his discoveries to the way they may apply to other aspects such as Alzheimer's. The talk is very scientific and factual so the Logos rhetorical strategy is heavily used throughout the piece. The Ethos rhetorical strategy is also used as Iliff is a neuroscientist himself and all results presented were found through careful testing with fellow neuroscientists. This undoubtedly makes him a credible source. Norman Spack is a pediatric endocrinologist at Boston's Children Hospital and he is the co-founder of the Gender Management Service clinic at the hospital. It's one of the few clinics in the world that treats minors with hormone replacement therapy. In his TED Talk, "How I help transgender teens become who they want to be," Spack talks about how he became one of the few doctors to help transgender teens grow into the bodies they want to be, rather than the ones they are uncomfortable in. He treats the teens and delays the effects of puberty. Throughout his speech, he uses multiple rhetorical devices. He starts off talking about the topic very literally. His diction is denotative when he speaks about sex and gender. Sex is anatomic, meaning it is determined by your organs, while gender is self-concept. He's trying to make the listeners and readers of his TED Talk understand the topic he is informing them of. He later uses allusion and tells a story about one of his patients. It really opens the eyes of those who don't quite grasp the concept of gender. This patient in particular, Jackie, Spack and his fellow doctors blocked her testosterone with a blocking hormone, and added estrogen at the age of 13. He then showed pictures of Jackie at the age of 16, and if anyone saw her they would know she was a woman. After that, he showed a picture of her as a semifinalist in the Miss England competition. Within this story, there was also humor. He stated that the judges said they were unsure if they were able to name her Miss England, however "'But she has more natural self than half the other contestants.'" All in all, Spack's career and speaking abilities are both extravagant. He helps teenagers become who they want to be, and he informs the public about how it could happen. This man definitely making something of himself, while helping those around him. 2/22/2015 07:59:54 am
Sebastian Wernicke, created a very witty and humorous TedTalk which i enjoyed very fondly. It was titled; "Sebastian Wernicke: Lies, damned lies and statistics (about TEDTalks)" and it was based off of research he performed on the makeups of popular TedTalks compared to the ones who didn't receive much attention. He goes on through his work keeping a very light, humorous tone which proves to be a very powerful usage of this rhetorical device. Because of how Wernicke is able to sustain the audiences attention through out his entire talk determines that his usage of tone and humor are very effective. One example of this was when he began talking about how he brought up the idea that he could create the most popular TedTalk as well as the worst TedTalk by using statistical analysis. Of course, the audience is well-aware that the chance of that happening is minimal but they find it humorous due to how he brings up the idea as if it was the key to the Optimal TedTalk. This talk was a parody of every other TedTalk due to how he doesn't truly provide any factual evidence for what he claims, but instead continues on with nonsense that he believes to be true about these false claims. My favorite part of this talk was when he used irony in one of his claims by first stating what is believed to be true about an optimal TedTalk and encompasses it within his own speech. What he states is; that when someone lacks intellectual capacity they should say "et cetera, et cetera" in stead of "I don't understand," then after stating his claim he goes onto a new topic and then begins to elaborate upon it until the point where he runs out of things to say and then begins to stress "et cetera, et cetera" to his audience. His work in this talk was a classic, humorous spin on what a TedTalk should be like but goes at it in a completely different direction.
Riley N
2/22/2015 11:02:49 am
I found this TEDtalk very enjoyable. As well i agree being able to hold an audience especially with little to no evidence is very impressive and shows comedy can play a huge role in a serious topic.
Andy S
2/22/2015 11:38:12 am
I found this TedTalks to be very amusing as well. His humor and light tone made the presentation fantastic. This is one of the most humorous TedTalks I have watched, and because of that, was one of the most memorable. Since it is so outstanding, I can agree with Kit in saying that Sebastian effectively used rhetorical devices. While scanning through the many Ted talks available, I came across one called "Why aren't we more compassionate?" By Daniel Goleman. While usually I am not interested into topics like this, I decided to change things up and try it out. To my surprise, I was hooked immediately and still think about it from time to time. Goleman starts out his speech by detailing neuroscience and how our brains are wired when we communicate with each other. He tells how our brains are wired to help each other and if we decide to help someone, we automatically emphasize with that person. Not only did he describe the way our brain works, he also gave a very personally story that highlighted an interesting an interesting point of his speech. Goleman's brother is a horror writer who interviewed a real life serial killer who had an IQ of 160, AKA a "certified genius". The point that he made was that IQ and empathy and compassion are not connected- no matter how smart or dumb you are that doesn't control how you feel towards other people. At one point his brother asked the killer "how did you manage to do it?", and the killer's killing response was that he had to turn the part of himself that felt emotion off. He could not have possibly committed the crimes if he had felt any emotion towards the person. This scary interview is a clear way that Goleman enhanced his speech because it shows that compassion is lost in certain people. This anecdote was not just an interesting point of the speech, but it also was the perfect rhetorical strategy to use. This helped bring his speech to life and show people a real life example of the point of his speech. I for one was very intrigued by this anecdote and it really caught my attention. Another helpful strategy Goleman used was at one point when Goleman used a rhetorical question. While he was discussing his detail of neuroscience and about how we feel the urge to help someone when they are suffering, he asked “why don’t we?” This question almost makes one stop and ask themselves why they don’t always help someone they know is suffering. I was one of those people who asked myself why I don’t always help someone I know who is in need. This enhanced the speech immensely because it builds up his point more- it makes others think about how compassion in the world is degrading right before our eyes. This is definitely a speech I think we should all check out and share.
Laura W.
2/22/2015 08:59:43 am
The talk "Exploring the mind of a killer" was especially interesting to me. In it, a neuroscientist named Jim Fallon talks about what makes a sociopath a sociopath. For instance, it is an X-linked disorder, meaning that women are carriers, which would explain why there are more male sociopaths than female. The killers whose brains he had studied also had damage to their orbital cortex. This causes Fallon to come to the conclusion that genes, brain damage, and environment, or where the killer came from. It also turns out that in order to express this gene you would need to be exposed to lot of violence or a traumatic event. He brings up a few more great points that, to me at least, makes it a, interesting TEDtalk to watch.
Jeet R.
2/22/2015 09:13:42 am
I chose to watch the TED Talk "The Mathematics of Love" by Dr. Hannah Fry. This talk was very insightful into the role that mathematics plays in different aspects of a successful relation. Dr. Fry brings up many great points, including how Math can relate to dating sites, predicting divorce, and finding potential matches. She also uses many successful including Logos and Pathos. Dr. Fry uses Logos most due to the fact that her talk is based on statistics. However, since this talk is also based around love, Pathos is used quite often as well. Since Dr. Fry is quite an intelligent woman, her use of Logos is well placed and very accurate. She also uses pathos to add dynamacy to the talk. All in all she gave a very well articulated talk and conveyed her points very effectively.
Justin O.
2/23/2015 01:39:58 pm
I enjoyed this TedTalk, too. The importance of mathematics can be seen in many facets of our lives. Her points were well taken and easy to understand through the use of rhetorical devices. 2/22/2015 09:44:44 am
I was scrolling through all the different TED talks trying to find a deep one or one that taught me something new but after about 10 minutes all I could think about was food. That was when I stumbled upon "Cooking as alchemy" by Homaro Cantu and Ben Roche. This talk was about how these two men and their team found ways to repurpose ingredients. One of their examples was a plate of nachos. They showed a picture of a plate of nachos behind them but what the interesting part was when they explained that, in reality, it was a dessert. The twists and turns of their talk kept my rapt attention. As the talk went on they kept referring back to their team and how the team always hated them for giving them tough challenges. At one point they actually put up a video of one of the team members jokingly and softly running a knife over his throat. As I type about it now the action seems very dangerous but at the time I burst out laughing. Not only was the subject or their talk interesting but the way they explained it kept my interest the whole time.
Connie
2/22/2015 11:22:26 am
This TED talk also fascinated me. It was very interesting how Homaru Cantu, Ben Roche, and their team can change random foods to taste like other foods. Also, it fascinated me when they said that they had a lab in their kitchen. When they said that they had nachos as a desert and how the meat was really chocolate, I was impressed. It was very cool that the fake cheese made of mango sorbet melts like regular cheese. Furthermore, I was shocked when they explained that they turned the texture of a watermelon into the texture of a tuna. By putting seasoning on the watermelon and dipping it in liquid nitrogen with a vacuum bag over it, they showed that they could get the same texture of a tuna with both ingredients. I don't know about you, but I would love to eat everything in their shop.
Jay Vankawala
2/22/2015 04:11:57 pm
This was a very unique TedTalk. The way that Homaru Cantu and Ben Roche were able to make foods look/taste like other foods is both astounding and progressive. They base their ideas on the fact "you are what you eat." For example, they are aspiring to make burgers out of beet, corn, and barely, the primary ingredients of cow feed. Maybe this will lead to less livwstock slaughter and healthier eating! 2/22/2015 10:41:46 am
I've always been one to become very distracted, especially during school. That’s when I found “The Art of Misdirection” by Apollo Robbins. This talk was very informative based on how a person can lose their attention quickly, and how frequent it can happen. The Irony of this talk was that the person speaking about misconception was a professional in pickpocketing, but explained that the way he did it was misdirecting a person’s attention to something else. This then leads to his second rhetorical strategy that he used, which was a delayed sentence. He used this when he asked the audience to close their eyes and try to remember what clothes he was wearing. Many got it wrong, but he pointed out that they just recently were looking at him. This point made on how a person doesn't very often pay attention to things they are looking right at seemed very insightful. To finish this idea off, he asked the crowd again what he looked like, this time without closing their eyes. While distracting the audience’s attention, he took off his tie without anyone even noticing earlier during the performance. In the TED talk "How to Succeed? Get More Sleep," Arianna Huffington explained how sleep is the first step to success by using many rhetorical devices. In the beginning of this short speech, she used an anecdote by saying that "two and a half years ago, [she] fainted from exhaustion. [She] broke her cheekbone, [she] got five stitches on [her] right eye." By sharing this story, she is showing to the audience that sleep deprivation isn't a good thing. Huffington wants the audience to know that at one point she was sleep deprived and it hurt her physically. By sharing her story, the audience knows that what she is saying is the truth because she experience both sides-sleep deprivation and getting the amount of sleep that needed. Huffington used another rhetorical device when she said, "We are literally going to sleep our way to the top." In this quote, she used irony because a person really can't be at the top without hard work and determination. However, she said this to show that sleep gives the energy a person needs to live and be at the top of her game. If a person gets more sleep, she will see the big picture as well as the details in the picture. By getting the sleep needed, a person will work hard enough to get to the top without any health problems. All in all, Huffington just wants the audience to know that sleep can lead "way to a more productive, more inspired, more joyful life."
Julia H.
2/22/2015 12:27:57 pm
I agree with the stance taken in this TED talk. People need to get more sleep at night or else they will not have sharpened senses and will not perform at their highest capability. I liked how through various experiences, Huffington is able to instill the significance of getting the correct hours of sleep at night. Many students our age do not think of the side effects that come from not getting sufficient hours of sleep. After watching this video, hopefully everyone will realize how sleep plays a major role in one's success. The TEDtalk "How Autism Freed me to be Myself" has performed by Rosie King who talks about excepting the fact that she's autistic and embracing it. She emphasizes the point of people being so afraid of variety and forcing everyone into a single category. This category being normal. She says, "Imagine this being the best compliment you ever got. Wow you are so normal." Of course people laugh at this because who would want to be called normal on a daily basis. A real compliment is being amazing or extraordinary. It seems that people want these words said to them but at the same time are constantly striving to be normal. King uses the idea of ethos by beginning her speech saying she is autistic. This gives the audience the chance to hear her side of the story as to what it is like to live around people who constantly stereotype her. She explains the way her brain works so she gains the trust of the listeners so they can actually listen to what she has to say. She uses pathos by giving personal experiences. She mentions that when something good happens in her imaginary world in her brain, she gets excited and starts screaming. At first her parents thought it was cute but when she got to school, her classmates didn't talk to her because they didn't want to be friends with the girl who randomly sreams or the girl who is autistic. By opening up like this, she really grabs the audience's attention and their sympathy. My favorite part of the video was the end when she asks the question why try to make everyone normal when we could be celebrating uniqueness? Overall it was a very inspirational video and made me look at things differently. In this TEDtalk Nadine Burke speaks about ACE's which traumas people go through in early childhoods. Studies conducted on 17, 500 people show that these ACEs have a direct effect on a persons health through their life. These health issues are caused by a child's fight or flight response being overactive because of these stressful situations. Health risks that are consequences of this overactive response include: lack of development in the frontal cerebral cortex, this impairs judgement and leads to destructive behavior, the decay of the fear response, cardiovascular disease increase, increase risks of depression, and a 1200% increase in suicide rates with those affected. The key factors that lead to this decay is physical abuse, emotional abuse or neglect, and other stressful situations that an be inflicted on a young child. Nadine Burke brings these ideas into relevance in multiple ways, one of these is by personifying the human fight or flight reaction. She specifically states that the brain is speaking to the adrenal gland and other parts of the lymphatic system to release adrenaline and other chemicals. She also uses the audience and the listeners as examples and uses their life stories as personal anecdotes by having them relive times in childhood they could have possibly procurred ACEs. And this she explains is why there is no medical standard for dealing with ACEs because so many people are affected by them it is emotionally painful to fix them rather than bury them
Riley N
2/22/2015 10:58:11 am
The title of the TEDtalk is How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Over a Lifetime by Nadine Burke Harris. I watched "Why you should care about whale poo" by Asha de Vos. Asha started off her TedTalk by giving statistics about whales. She said how there were many whales in the Cape Cod Bay in the 1600s. So many that you can walk across their backs to get to the other side.I found that this was a good way to start the TEDtalk because it really caught my attention. Eventually, she talks about how humans were killing whales and how that was bad for the environment. Asha de Vos stated that there were two beneficial things about whales. One being their poo and the other being their dead carcasses. As whales go down to eat food, they release poop that has nutrients and that is what phytoplankton live on. "Phytoplankton is the base of all marine food chains" states Asha de Vos. Furthermore, their dead carcasses provides food to the creatures in the deep ocean when their rotting bodies sink and to the creatures on land. Also, they minimize global warming by transporting Carbon from the air to the deep oceans. These show that without whales, human life would have to make drastic food cuts because everything in the ocean is connected and without whales, we wouldn't have seafood. Also, there would be more global warming if not for whales. This is a rhetorical device. Asha de vos makes the statement at the end that we need to save the whales not only for themselves but for us too. She is saying that we need whales in our lives.
Stephanie B.
2/22/2015 01:50:10 pm
I also agree that the comment about being able to walk across the whale's backs would have caught my attention. 2/22/2015 11:03:03 am
In the September of 2014, Jeff Iliff gave a very interesting and persuasive speech to convince his audience to get more sleep. In order for Iliff to be successful in getting his message across, several rhetorical strategies were employed throughout the duration of the TED talk. For example, this speech is rich with ethos, or credibility. The speaker himself is a neuroscientist who was on the University of Rochester Medical Center team which studied the brain's cleansing mechanisms. Also, in the footnotes of the online talk, Iliff lists citations for the sources of medical information he utilized. This gives the speaker's claim of sleep being important to the brain's cleanliness much legitimacy. Pathos, the emotional or imaginative rhetorical strategy, is used extensively in Iliff's speech as well. The speaker asks his audience to imagine the brain as a house, where careless cleaning habits can make the house "unlivable." Having this image in the audience members' minds allows them to relate to the speech, as every person listening to Iliff probably understands the speed at which his home can become messy. Immediately after this, the speaker adds that the dirtiness of the brain is far more dangerous than that of a house. As Iliff eloquently explains, "...when it comes to cleaning the brain, it is the very health and function of the mind and the body that's at stake" (Iliff). This statement is certainly emotionally charged, with the fear of a dysfunctional mind and body pushing the audience to follow Iliff's advice to avoid this fate.
Andy S
2/22/2015 11:15:48 am
Ben Saunder’s, “Why did I ski to the North Pole?” was an interesting TedTalks. His use of imagery and anecdotes from his trip made the video extremely enjoyable. Ben’s use of imagery to describe the way he wanted to reach the North Pole was particularly entertaining. “Being filmed out of the door of a helicopter, there was kind of, rock music playing in the background, and I had a ski pole with a Union Jack, you know, flying in the wind.” The imagery was successful in appealing to the audience. This rhetorical strategy, along with anecdotes, helps connect with the audience. The anecdotes used give the audience insight to Ben Saunder’s expedition across the North Pole. “At first it was pretty sensible. We flew British Airways to Moscow. The next bit in Siberia to Krasnoyarsk, on a Russian internal airline called KrasAir, spelled K-R-A-S.” His detailed description engaged the audience and proved to be highly effective. The presentation also used humor and videos/photographs to enthrall the audience. “I got to the Pole on the 11th of May. It took me 68 days to get there from Russia and there is nothing there. (Laughter) There isn’t even a pole at the pole.” This use of humor is repeated throughout the presentation and is effective at keeping the interest of the audience. Multiple video clips and photographs are shown to allow the audience to keep them engrossed. Overall, Ben was successful in delivering an interesting speech as well as keeping the audience captivated. A man by the name of Shane Koyczan from Canada had once given a TED Talk on bullying and it's aftermath and consequences. In the TED Talk, " To This Day...For the Bullied and the Beautiful," Koyczan goes in depth on how words actually affect people, especially teenagers and children. Koyczan brings up the phrase "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me," and he proves the statement wrong. He goes on to talk about how words do hurt and how words do affect people. Bullying and phrases can haunt people forever and sometimes they believe the terrible words being said. Also, how one thing said can change a person's idea of himself or herself and make them hate themselves, is a terrible thing. Koyczan tries to make people believe that it is okay to be different and to not fit in and to not believe the things being said, and that they shouldn’t be bullied and ridiculed because of it. Shane Koyczan used flashbacks from his childhood of how he had bullied and had been bullied. He related himself to the problem at hand in order to get the audience to relate. He had also used tone and voice throughout his TED Talk. Koyczan had used different tones whether they were angry or soft, it made the audience listen and be engaged in the problem at hand, bullying. Koyczan knows what it felt like to go through what so many kids are going through today and through this TED Talk, he was able to inform the audience of what it feels like. 2/22/2015 11:23:16 am
Reggie Watts performs "Reggie Watts disorients you in the most entertaining way" on TED talks. Reggie Watts does exactly what the title states. He uses complex vocabulary to confuse the viewer, such as ""Feel not as though it is a sphere we live on, rather an infinite plane which has the illusion of leading yourself back to the point of origin.", what he is saying essentially means nothing and makes no sense, he is performing for entertainment and the speech is made to almost mock anyone who dares to analyze his sporadic speech. He also uses several methods to keep hold of the viewers attention, such as speaking different languages and beatboxing. Reggie Watts is not trying to persuade anyone, he is an entertainer and is good at what he does. Reggie Watts is abstract, borderline insane, and is undoubtedly one of the most interesting, profound TED talks.
Ethan LaFrance
2/22/2015 04:29:54 pm
First Wade, I would like to applaud your unconventional choice of video. Mr. Watts does not make an effort to sway anyone in his video, yet relishes in the complexity that is language. You capture this purpose brilliantly in your response, and cite some quality examples of the rhetoric used. Just because the content is meaningless does not make the video meaningless, however. Perhaps Reggie is commenting on the futility of taking our short lives so seriously, or offering a more grave, nihilistic message. This video was more enjoyable than any of the other TED Talks I viewed in the course of this assignment, and I thank you for bringing it to attention. 2/22/2015 11:37:50 am
Matt Cutts, a technology engineer at Google, gave a motivational speech titled “Try Something New for 30 Days”. This talk describes how these 30 day challenges work: the participant makes a change to their routine for just one month. The change can be anything from taking a picture every day, to cutting sugar and caffeine from your diet. While trying 30 day challenges seems like a simple idea, Cutts explains everything he has learned while completing them. He says that small changes to daily life can stick in your routine after a challenge is complete. Making huge changes to your life can be very hard to keep up with, therefore not working in the end. However, less drastic changes can be kept in your routine, especially after being forced in for 30 consecutive days. Having completed many 30 day challenges himself, Cutts gives small stories from many of them. These anecdotes help to enhance his argument that these help to change your life in a positive way. Knowing that he has personal experience in what he is talking about gives him credibility. He says that during his challenges, “the time was much more memorable”. This powerful line makes the audience realize that they can probably be doing much more with their time than they are now. By saying things such as “if you really want something badly enough, you can do anything for 30 days”, Cutts is making the reader wonder about what changes they could make to their own life in just 30 days. These punchy sentences give a stronger meaning to what he is saying. Cutts’ diction is very important to the way he portrays his point. He does not use any overly complicated language and is very easy to understand, which allows the listener to digest the information. 2/22/2015 11:42:42 am
"The Danger of Silence" by Clint Smith was a truly intriguing Ted Talk. Although it was only 4 and a half minutes long, it had many interesting points. Clint Smith felt that people need to speak the truth and silence can not only hurt you, but others as well. Smith used a few rhetorical strategies to help convey this point. One of which was Pathos. Pathos is appeal to the emotional aspect of human nature. Smith successfully appealed to the audience's emotion to convey his point. At one point in the Ted Talk, Smith mentions how a friend of his named Christian was bullied for being gay, and he just walked by and didn't say anything. This triggers and emotional response from the audience because these are regular things people witness and walk away from. People see bullying all the time and don't say anything. This emotional response lead to the realization that Smith's idea that silence can harm you and others, thus using pathos effectively. Another effective rhetorical strategy Smith used to his advantage was a simile. Smith compared his locker bolt to the bolt on his mouth when he walked by a homeless man. "The bolt on my lock reminded me of the one i put on my lips when the homeless man on the corner looked at me with eyes up nearly searching for affirmation that he was simply worth seeing."(Smith). This simile helps the audience make the connection between a locked bolt and Smith ignoring a homeless man just wanting to be noticed. The audience then realized that Smith brushing off that homeless man hurt both Smith and the homeless man. Smith effectively used this simile to help the audience realize that silence is detrimental to both parties. Smith's Ted Talk on the dangers of silence is very interesting and he conveys his point successfully using many rhetorical strategies.
Laura W.
2/23/2015 01:31:47 am
That particular TED talk also intrigued me. To me, bullying is a subject that should be talked about more. I particularly like his use of rheotorical devices as well. The TED talk that I found to be most interesting and insightful was by Adora Svitak, "What Adults Can Learn from Kids." This speech given by a child prodigy was eye opening to me. Svitak, who is now 17 years old, was around 12 at the time that she gave this speech. If I was blindfolded and was unaware of her appearance, it could have been a thirty year old talking. She was articulate and very well-spoken. This talk in particular focused on how kids did not have a skewed perception of the world, and thus did not feel any limitations on their dreams. She was, from a young age, able to see things from a "grown-up" point of view. At age six, Svitak got her first computer, which she wrote short stories on and eventually got one of them published! I loved the way that she used humor to address the audience. This gave her speech an effortless vibe; like it was just you and her having a conversation. One of my most favorite parts of her entire TED talk was a quote included at the end. This quote was, "You must lend an ear today, because we are the leaders of tomorrow." Her entire speech was focused upon the idea that this generation needs to be able to flourish and become the best it can be. Svitak also added, "The goal is not to turn kids into your kid of adult, rather better adults than you have been." That is the way progress happens. That is the reason why we are not in the dark ages anymore. She chose this topic that was relevant to her and because of her ability to relate to this storyline, she used real life experiences to personalize her talk. This allowed Svitak to take stories from her childhood and incorporate them into explaining the importance of allowing children to be successful and not to make today's issues something that they will have to deal with when they are grown ups. This was insightful to hear and gives me great hope for the world's future generations.
Ashley L
2/22/2015 02:28:22 pm
This was a very thought provoking idea. We study history to know where we came from, what happened, and to learn from it. Similarly, future generations should be raised with previous mistakes kept in mind in order to make progress in the world. Throughout this TED talk Carol Dweck, the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, effectively conveys her message of one believing in their own improvement to her audience by using various rhetorical strategies. In this speech the speaker is trying to prove that if students have a mindset of failure, they will not strive to find a solution to the problem on their own. She explains how children should not have the thought of failure emphasized to them if they make mistakes. These errors instead are the tools to aid in the student’s understanding of the concept and are used to figure out where in the problem their error had occurred. To get the message across to the viewers, Dweck uses an anecdote of a time when she gave a group of 10 year old students problems that were thought-provoking for their age group. While some were all for the challenge given to them, others felt as though they could not work through the problem and do not have enough skill to figure it out. After hearing this feedback, she goes on to explain how in one study class she visited the students told her “they would probably cheat the next time instead of studying more if they failed a test. In another study, after a failure, they said they looked for someone who did worse than they did so they could justify this failure because there was someone whose performance was more of a disappointment. And in study after study, they have run from difficulty.” By using this relation to her own experiences, the audience is given an example to connect the point being inflicted to reactions from students. It surprises me how cheating is one resource that students turn toward when they feel as though they cannot come up with the correct response to a problem. She also is able to engage the audience in her talk by using the technique of rhetorical questioning. By asking multiple questions, the crowd thinks deeper into the topic of discussion and retains more information from the speech. For example, after stating her anecdote she explains, “How are we raising our children? Are we raising them for now instead of yet? Are we raising kids who are obsessed with getting A's? Are we raising kids who don't know how to dream big dreams?” This strategy makes the viewer really analyze what was said and really contemplate whether children are being raised to think in this particular manner. Listening to this TED talk exhibits that challenges are efficient, as long as students don’t have the mindset of being set up for failure.
Rachael Tong
2/22/2015 10:12:24 pm
This speech is very interesting because it's true that sometimes failure can discourage people from trying. I loved how passionate she was about her topic. "Just the words 'yet' or 'not yet', we're finding, give kids greater confidence, give them a path into the future that creates greater persistence." is my favorite piece of the speech because her delivery makes me feel just as enthusiastic about the topic as her.
Logan L.
2/22/2015 12:44:46 pm
In the TedTalk "How to go to space, without actually going to space" by Angelo Vermeulen, the future of mankind in space is discussed. The speaker starts off by saying he is a scientist and was a leader of a team that was put in would be mars conditions on earth for four months. This is an example of ethos because he is giving credibility to whatever he says next due to his expertise in the scientific field. Moreover, Angelo uses the rhetorical strategy of pathos extensively throughout his talk, constantly referring to the art he and others have made about space exploration, which amazes and captivates the audience. Also, by talking about man's colonization of outer space in the future, he is touching on an emotional chord for many in the audience who are interested in the topic. 2/22/2015 01:25:12 pm
I found this TED talk called, Why did I ski to the North Pole?, by Ben Saunders. I found this specific one very interesting because it can relate to me. It's about Ben Saunders journeys to the North Pole. On the first one he had run out of time and had to be picked up by a helicopter because the ice was melting. When he turned home, he thought of himself as a failure because he did not complete it in the short time he had. A couple years later he tried it again, but solo. No one else has done this. He was very determined for a second chance, and began to train. He eventually went on the expedition and successfully completed it. I really enjoyed the way he used humor to engage the listener. It kept you interested in the talk. It was truly funny at points. I really believe he choose to talk about his expedition because he wanted to influence people. He wanted to show that if you train, prepare correctly, and are determined you can accomplish anything you want to.
TomD
2/22/2015 02:01:25 pm
Kelly McGonigal uses many rhetorical devices in her TED Talk, which is called “How to Make Stress Your Friend.” She starts off by asking everyone in the audience if they have either mild, moderate, or major stress in their life. By doing this she is peaking their curiosity, because they want to see where she is going to go with her speech after that. She then followed up by admitting that what she had been teaching for the last ten years was wrong. By outright stating that she was wrong, she grabbed the audiences attention by making them interested in how a Health Psychologist could have been teaching the wrong thing for years, not months or weeks, years. She then goes on to explain how by telling people that stress is bad for them and how it "increases the risk of everything from the common cold to cardiovascular disease." but then she tells the audience where she was making her mistake, she said she saw a study where researchers tracked 30,000 adults in the US and that people who experienced a lot of stress had a 43 percen risk of dying, however, that was only true for people who believed stress was bad for them. By showing the audience these statistics she is backing her logic about how its not stress that will kill you, but the IDEA that stress will kill you. This is the main point of her Ted Talk, that stress is actually good for you, if you believe it is. By taking the old idea that stress is bad for you and twisting it to say that thinking stress is bad for you is what is actually bad for you, she is shocking the audience, she took a idea that was believed to be fact and doing a 180 with it. shes not going in the complete opposite direction, but shes slightly twisting the idea that stress is bad for you. At one point she gives the audience a "Social Stress Test" where she tries to demoralize and stress the audience out. She makes the audience count backwards from 996 in increments of 7, and the whole time there doing it she is shouting things such as "go faster, faster please, you're going too slow," and "stop, stop stop stop, that guy made a mistake." she does this to make the audience feel the effects of stress. It stands out to me because it is a very harsh way to treat the audience, just to get her point across, however, it is effective at getting the audience thoroughly stressed out. I wanted to find a TED talk that really impacted me in some way. By filtering the unbelievably large selection of talks to "jaw-dropping", I was definitely not disappointed. Although the ones I watched were all impressive, I would like to bring attention to "I am the son of a terrorist. Here's how I chose peace." By Zak Ebrahim. The title immediately grabbed my attention. How could this man overcome everything he was subjected to and then share it for millions to hear? Zak begins his speech with an anecdote of his father and the acts he committed. He explains that when someone holds onto his beliefs that firmly, he will do anything to enforce them and change the opinions of others. His story continues with more details of his life, including his awareness of the destruction his father has caused and the fear of being capable of the same. By including Arabic words, he shows how he was still influenced by his culture, but has seen beyond it. Being a victim of bullying, Zak developed empathy for others who are also ridiculed for things they cannot change. This insight helps him look at the world with a broader perspective; he begins to disagree with the stereotypes he has become accustomed to. One of the most powerful quotes I took from his delivery was "...I realized how much negative energy it takes to keep that much hatred inside of you." These powerful messages and his overall honest yet gloomy tone appeal to the emotions of the audience and keep it engaged. A father can be one of the most influential people in your life. Zak is proof that violence is not inherited. His goal is to inspire others and prove that you have the ability of changing who you are and who you want to be. His last line, "I am not my father." left him with a standing ovation. 2/22/2015 02:40:31 pm
I chose the TEDTalk called "I Listen to Color." by Neil Harbisson. This talk is a about how Mr. Harbisson came to hear color. He was born with an illness that caused him to be completely color blind. For his whole life he had seen the world in grey. When he was 21 he had a chip implanted into his head. It is connected to an electronic eye. It allows Mr. Harbisson to hear color frequencies. He used pathos, or an emotional strategy, by telling the audience how he lived in world without color. And once he found out about this technology it completely changed his life for the better. He also used ethos, or the ethical strategy. He made sure to tell the audience that the person who created this device was not some kid in his basement. But that it was a verified scientist. 2/22/2015 03:07:21 pm
“It’s better to be the shooter, than the person who gets shot” was how Shaka Senghor captivated both his audience at his TED Talk and viewers, like me, sitting behind our computer screens. His TED talk, Why Your Worst Deeds Don’t Define You, was inspirational and explained why not all people behind bars should be labeled as bad individuals. After shooting and killing a man, Senghor landed himself in jail for 20 years, selling smuggled drugs and behaving horribly, which lead to seven and a half years in solitary confinement. What made him change his criminal ways was a letter from his son, who wanted him to get his act together, and it ultimately changed his life for the better. This speech spoke to me because it showed the transformation of a once criminal to a well-functioning citizen, who is currently a college professor and a married man. Senghor turned his life around despite being told that he would never be successful in the real world, beating the odds and teaching others never to give up. He uses effective rhetorical devices to enhance his speech and make the listener interested. First, he described the jail system as “designed as a warehouse versus a place of rehabilitation” which is a comparison in the form of a metaphor, comparing a jail to a warehouse. Jail is supposed to be a place to get back on your feet, not a warehouse, where items are stored away and locked until they are needed. Second, he used alliteration when he was speaking about the things he learned in his time in jail: acknowledgement, apology, and atonement. Third, he uses anecdotes to enhance his speech by relating to the audience, saying that this labeling could happen to anyone. His entire speech was a story about his life, but a few key phrases stuck out. They include “I was an honor roll student[…]with dreams of becoming a doctor”, showing that before his murder ordeal, he was a typical teenager like you and I, “No one hugged me, no one counseled me, no one told me that it would be okay” displaying a lack of affection he received from his friends and family after he got shot on a corner in Detroit three times, and “2010, I walked out of prison for the first time after two decades[…]for the first time I was exposed to the internet, social media[…]” displaying how many improvements in technology he had missed from his incarceration in 1991 to his release. Both the literary devices and the strong tone Shaka Senghor used in his speech contributed to his purpose of teaching the public that even after one commits a sinful act, he or she can redeem his or herself by leading a life of purpose and thinking positively. 2/22/2015 03:50:12 pm
In the TedTalk by Tom Wujec, "Got a wicked problem? First, tell me how you make toast" Wujec explains a new method when trying to solve a problem. Wujec's idea is to get people to come together in a new method that helps people to clearly see their goal or objective by finding the necessary steps needed to complete the task. Tom Wujec's speech is very effective because of the many rhetorical strategies he uses throughout his speech. In the beginning of his speech he talks about how he had asked many people to simply draw the directions to make toast. Wujec then shows (on the monitor) the different drawings he has collected over the years. He uses humor when he explains that some people's drawings make the simple directions very easy to understand while others are poorly drawn and difficult to understand. By using humor he is able to get the attention of the audience because he is entertaining them as well as informing them. Tom Wujec uses the drawings of the directions to make toast as an analogy for the method he has created to solve problems. He compares the way the drawings of the directions consists of many simple steps and how his method contains very similar simple steps. I really enjoyed Tom Wujec's talk. It was both entertaining and informative and I would like to hear more of his talks in the future.
Jay V.
2/22/2015 04:01:27 pm
A short yet intense TedTalk by Jamila Lyiscott “3 Ways to Speak English” summarizes how one way of expressing oneself can not be seen as being more proper or “better” than another. Lyiscott explains how, though she only speaks English, she identifies herself as trilingual because the way she speaks at university is different than how she speaks with her friends, which is different from how she talks at home. She says that all three dialects are “articulate” because, as she put it, even our American English would be considered inarticulate to the British English speakers. “The English language is a multifaceted oration subject to indefinite transformation.” She uses this topic to segway into a more serious subject matter: racism. She is tired of the negative light that always shines on people that live in “da hood” and wants people to embrace our collective diversity and differences, not mock each other because of them. One way she reels in the audience is by using snippets of humor. The accents she uses in her other two dialects are amusing, as well as some of the remarks she makes, such as “that’s why I pit trilingual on my last job application.” The audience remains captivated by her empowering, engaging personality, which helps them grasp the message she is trying to preach. Her overt gesticulation, movement and tone changing serve to supplement this enchanting experience. Another method Lyiscott uses to her advantage is what she has learned from her own life, almost as anecdotal examples. She varies on how she speaks: when she talks about her friends, she “speak like dis, bro.” When she talks about her home, she “tok like a Jamaicon mon.” When she pretends to be speaking to her professor, she “expresses herself like this.” This constant whirlwind of varying lifestyles successfully intrigued the audience as well as myself. 2/22/2015 04:20:14 pm
Bassam Tariq is an average everyday guy. He likes to blog, and make movies. His cause, however, is anything but average. It seems that most media attention about Islam in the news as of late is negative. With the Charlie Hebdo attacks and similar extremist offensives happening, people tend to forget that radicals make up a very small percent of Muslims. In fact, many believe that it is a religion founded on hate. What they don't know, however, is that it almost parallels Christianity and Judaism in some ways. The religion teaches love and tolerance, and is against the very violence and hate it is known for. Bassam speaks on many things, including a movement he started to get people to know their local Muslims better, a movie he made about struggling children in the Middle East, and a halal butcher's shop he opened up to produce a humane meat suitable for his fellow Muslims. One of the most interesting points of the video was the reception of his movie. Although his friends wanted him to include more modern struggles like drone attacks, Bassam stuck with the timeless struggle of children in poverty, refusing to change his idea just to please viewers. He did not want to make the film focused on Islam, but on life and all the struggles it brings. Bassam was sick of seeing the story of modern Muslims being told by racist, wealthy Western television shows and movies. In such works they are all portrayed as extremist terrorists. In reality, they struggle just like the rest of us, and are a peaceful, devout group. The anecdotes Mr. Tariq uses about the reception of his movie, and the perspective visiting mosques around the country gave him, enhance the story and bring him down to earth. You can feel for the struggles of these people in an era where they are portrayed as killers. Bassam also uses allusions to modern TV shows like "Homeland" when talking about the incorrect portrayal of Muslims. He also takes pictures of real signs from butchers he used to frequent, displaying the small selection of halal, or fit to eat, meats they offer. Because of this dilemma, he opened his own butcher shop, whose main gimmick was that all of their meats were halal. I found it fascinating that most of his customers were drawn in by the concept of halal, not because they were Muslim. It lets them relate to why a Muslim might prefer halal meats, and brings people together who might have previously only believed the negative media attention to Islam.
Rachael Tong
2/22/2015 10:02:54 pm
Angela Lee Duckworth looks at success with a whole new perspective in the speech “The Key to Success? Grit.” Being a seventh grade math teacher, she had gotten very familiar with students and their learning styles. But she noticed that I.Q. was not the only difference between her best and worst students. She says that “in education, the one thing we know how to measure best is I.Q., but what if doing well in school and in life depends on much more than your ability to learn quickly and easily?” Duckworth went on to study psychology to answer her own question, who is successful, and why? She recalls, “My research team and I went to West Point Military Academy. We tried to predict which cadets would stay in military training and which would drop out. We went to the National Spelling Bee and tried to predict which children would advance farthest in competition. We studied rookie teachers working in really tough neighborhoods, asking which teachers are still going to be here in teaching by the end of the school year, and of those, who will be the most effective at improving learning outcomes for their students?” This anecdote shows that she was dedicated to her studies and was determined to find an answer. After many years and several studies, she came to the conclusion that what all successful people have in common is not just intelligence, like most people believe; it’s grit. She feels that ,”Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.” Repetition shows that Duckworth is really passionate about her beliefs and wants the listener to understand and feel the same way as she does. This speech caught my attention because it shows that hard work really does pay off in the end, and a high I.Q. doesn’t necessarily guarantee a successful career. Pranav Mistry uses a number of rhetorical devices in his TedTalk titled “The Thrilling Potential of SixthSense Technology.” This talk was about how Mistry created a way to bring digital electronics to the real world. He did this by taking a series of sensors and computers and connected them to parts of the human body. With certain types of motions, the device could be able to cast of figure of a computer on a wall or a piece of paper. Also, the user would be able to control the computer with his/her body and mind. He says how someone could easily take pictures by just making the picture symbol with your hands and then snapping it. Also, you can play games and copy information from the text and paste in onto a regular piece of loose leaf. Mistry demonstrates a new way humans interact to the environment. Now people would not need to use their phones to look things up, all they would need is their hands and mind. Mistry uses some humor in his speech effectively. He grabs the audiences attention so that he can go in great detail about his product. He also uses a bit of repetition in decribing his product, making sure to point out all the good things the SixthSense can do. It was quite amazing how someone could come up with a system like this, being as young as he is. This role model may set the right path for future students to invent things of their own.
Justin O.
2/23/2015 01:28:37 pm
The TEDTalk that spoke to me was, “My simple invention, designed to keep my grandfather safe” by Kenneth Shinozuka. Kenneth was a bright, motivated child with a heart. At the age of 4, his grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. The diagnosis came after Kenneth and his grandfather could not find there way back from the park. This was an extremely scary incident for Kenneth. Shortly after, Kenneth’s grandfather began to wander at night. This caused a lot of anxiety and sleepless nights for Kenneth’s aunt. This prompted to create mechanism that was attached to the bottom of his grandfather’s sock. The mechanism would trigger an audible alert to his aunt’s phone to wake her up as soon as the grandfather stepped on the pressure mat next to his bed. The two rhetorical strategies Kenneth used to engage his audience were anecdotes and perspective. The anecdotes helped captured the attention of the audience because he shared personal experiences. It was easy to relate to Kenneth because he also shared his perspective which is the other rhetorical strategy he used. By using perspective, the audience saw the diagnosis and follow-on incidents through Kenneth’s eyes. Both strategies deepened the audience’s understanding of Kenneth’s motivations which made his inventions more interesting. Comments are closed.
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English 10 HonorsPlease respond to the question in at least 10 Archives
May 2015
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