Education my school blog: help me get good grades + listen to me bitch

[dalpat077]

What do you guys think? On point, or bad idea?

All jokes aside I think it's a great idea.

Speaking on subjects that you have a passion for and coupled with real experience and insights and therefore confidence is the way to go.

And (this obviously has to be carefully thought about though) sharing your lived experience and with honesty adds a whole new level of authenticity and meaning.

You may very well find ten minutes is too short a time!

And come to think of it: you could be an ambassador for HR i.e. it's become very apparent to me that many people don't actually understand the concept of HR. Maybe you can set the record straight for some and score some major points in the process.

Nice to see you on this path though. Keep it up. And I am led to believe that there's apparently no shortage of open positions for (addiction) counselors over there. I didn't even know (addiction) counseling is a uni. course and a paying job over there. According to my favorite professor on the topic: business was booming in 2019 and there was a shortage of (addiction) counselors. I can only imagine that such boom has gone from strength to strength since then.

Good on you and rooting for you though!

Was going to provide you with ideas for props to be used but they probably would have you taken into custody! Or scare the living shit out of your audience (but you'd have their attention for sure)!

The caveat of all of the above: @Xorkoth has just posted some very valid points and that should at least be considered and noted.

 

[deficiT]

All that said, I think it's a very cool idea to use Bluelight, which is one of the oldest and most respected harm reduction resources out there, into your academic experience.

Yeah, I think I will follow your advice and not give out my username. I'll probably mention that I'm an admin just so I can go over the promotion trajectory. I think the main thing I wanted to speak to, was that when I dropped out of college in 2011 BL and TDS were places that I found solace in the midst of my serious problem drinking. Don't wanna go into too much stuff about my addiction, but maybe just speak to the fact that this is one of the few places I've found support.

The 'main idea' is primarily going to just be about harm reduction and how it's helping prepare for a career in human services.

All jokes aside I think it's a great idea.

Speaking on subjects that you have a passion for and coupled with real experience and insights and therefore confidence is the way to go.

And (this obviously has to be carefully thought about though) sharing your lived experience and with honesty adds a whole new level of authenticity and meaning.

You may very well find ten minutes is too short a time!

Thanks man! Yeah, I really hope so. Those were my thoughts too, that if I'm gonna make it through talking for ten whole minutes, it will definitely have to be about something I'm passionate about, otherwise I'll probably end up crashing and burning pretty hard.

 

[Xorkoth]

Sounds good, I wish you luck. I'm sure you won't need it.

 

[deficiT]

sat down and spoke with VerbalTruist today to go over my COMM101 mid term ten minute speech. I'm still stressing it tbh. Tomorrow I'm off work and going to be sitting down to do all of my notes and stuff on it. Gonna try and break it in to 5, 2 minute parts... and hopefully that will help me make sense of it.

 

[Nurse Ratched]

sat down and spoke with VerbalTruist today to go over my COMM101 mid term ten minute speech. I'm still stressing it tbh. Tomorrow I'm off work and going to be sitting down to do all of my notes and stuff on it. Gonna try and break it in to 5, 2 minute parts... and hopefully that will help me make sense of it.

This sounds corny to do but get a stopwatch and start talking in front of a mirror. Practice what you want to say in that 10 minutes and in what order you want to say them. Do this as much as you want . You can also start talking to a friend or someone in the house there with ya. so that when it comes to presenting it to the class , it doesn't sound so foreign to you. If your stopwatch says you only talked for 5 minutes well you have time to increase it. If you already are at 10 minutes go through and perfect it in front of the mirror again and when it's your turn I bet that you Ace it. Or at least Bee it. You got this.

 

[deficiT]

This sounds corny to do but get a stopwatch and start talking in front of a mirror. Practice what you want to say in that 10 minutes and in what order you want to say them. Do this as much as you want . You can also start talking to a friend or someone in the house there with ya. so that when it comes to presenting it to the class , it doesn't sound so foreign to you. If your stopwatch says you only talked for 5 minutes well you have time to increase it. If you already are at 10 minutes go through and perfect it in front of the mirror again and when it's your turn I bet that you Ace it. Or at least Bee it. You got this.

Nah, that's actually great advice. I probably should do that. Part of me is stressed out beyond belief, and then part of me understands that as long as I prepare well enough it should be fine.

 

[Buzz Lightbeer]

Make sure not to exceed 10 minutes, unless it really has to be 10 or more.
Shorter is ALWAYS better when allowed.

 

[deficiT]

So far, these are the five two minute main parts I want to break it down to, and flesh them out from there

So here are my five parts I want to break it down into

1) introduction - define harm reduction, define human services

2) Bluelight and what it is, how I got started, where I was in my life, personal interest in psychology, mental health addiction

3) Bluelight and how it works - show and tell, how sub forums work, spam, warnings, staff positions

4) how volunteering @ Bluelight is preparing me for a human services career, talk about personal history with addiction and mental health some

5) conclusion - flesh out definition of hr and human services and how they relate

 

[MsDiz]

Sounds good dude! Best of luck tomorrow. You’ll do fine!

 

[deficiT]

Sounds good dude! Best of luck tomorrow. You’ll do fine!

Luckily I've got till next week to work on it!

 

[MsDiz]

Luckily I've got till next week to work on it!

For some reason i thought it was tomorrow.

Anyway, you seem to be organising it well. I think it’s a good idea to talk about the HR aspects of BL.

I do agree with Xorky about keeping your handle to yourself, but again like has been said, know your audience. If you can get away with it more power to you!

I think you’ll do just fine though, so try not to stress, easier said than done! Be confident and try some daily affirmations… “I am capable, I am confident.” Corny… it works though…

Best of luck, you’ll get plenty of good advice!

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

All the best man!

 

[deficiT]

Corny… it works though…

Nah, you're right. I kinda discovered this for myself when i did my week stint in solitary confinement this past year. I was miserable beyond anything I've felt before. I probably sounded crazy but I really just tried to tell myself verbally that I was gonna make it through it, it actually helped a lot

All the best man!

Thanks brotha!

 

[Buzz Lightbeer]

So far, these are the five two minute main parts I want to break it down to, and flesh them out from there

So here are my five parts I want to break it down into

1) introduction - define harm reduction, define human services

2) Bluelight and what it is, how I got started, where I was in my life, personal interest in psychology, mental health addiction

3) Bluelight and how it works - show and tell, how sub forums work, spam, warnings, staff positions

4) how volunteering @ Bluelight is preparing me for a human services career, talk about personal history with addiction and mental health some

5) conclusion - flesh out definition of hr and human services and how they relate

I'd start off by saying you "volunteer" at BL, say what it is and then draw links to harm reduction and human services. I think it'll seem unnatural if you start off with straight definitions, though I can see what you're going for. I do think this will get the listeners more engaged.

I wouldn't say BL is preparing you for anything per se, it's kind of explicit, more like you have experience with both helping and just talking to individuals from all sorts of backgrounds and problems from all over the world. By doing this you also implicitly stress that it's a hobby and you do this out of passion. This combined with your own struggles and history puts you in a great position for a career in human services.

In your conclusion I wouldn't add the definition of HR and human services, I'd work that in in possibly the previous point or something. To then keep your conclusion short and on a very positive note such that people have a smile at the end, instead of processing "new information" in the last minute/30 seconds.

This is how I'd word it, I took what you wrote very literally, it's possible that I just misinterpreted stuff, so I'm not at all banging on what you wrote here, quite the opposite.

Good luck man!!

 

[deficiT]

I'd start off by saying you "volunteer" at BL, say what it is and then draw links to harm reduction and human services. I think it'll seem unnatural if you start off with straight definitions, though I can see what you're going for. I do think this will get the listeners more engaged.

I wouldn't say BL is preparing you for anything per se, it's kind of explicit, more like you have experience with both helping and just talking to individuals from all sorts of backgrounds and problems from all over the world. By doing this you also implicitly stress that it's a hobby and you do this out of passion. This combined with your own struggles and history puts you in a great position for a career in human services.

In your conclusion I wouldn't add the definition of HR and human services, I'd work that in in possibly the previous point or something. To then keep your conclusion short and on a very positive note such that people have a smile at the end, instead of processing "new information" in the last minute/30 seconds.

This is how I'd word it, I took what you wrote very literally, it's possible that I just misinterpreted stuff, so I'm not at all banging on what you wrote here, quite the opposite.

Good luck man!!

Yeah, the fourth little blip I'm actually not completely sold on yet. I'm thinking of figuring out something different. The prompt is "career" though so I wanna make sure to find a way to tie harm reduction in with the career choice. Yeah, my only thing with the intro and conclusion is that my professor has made it a point to tell us that the intro and conclusion should basically be the same thing, just reworded.

 

[Buzz Lightbeer]

Yeah, the fourth little blip I'm actually not completely sold on yet. I'm thinking of figuring out something different. The prompt is "career" though so I wanna make sure to find a way to tie harm reduction in with the career choice. Yeah, my only thing with the intro and conclusion is that my professor has made it a point to tell us that the intro and conclusion should basically be the same thing, just reworded.

Ah yeah, I can see how that's tough, don't know either.

Introduction and conclusion should indeed be similar, but your conclusion should additionally contain some of the info you told everyone.
I would really not include any definitions in both, both sections are vital to a presentation, and are what people remember most. For these kinds of short presentations, the "story" you tell is of greater importance than the actual content, nobody really cares that much about how HR and human services relate, it's not the take away from your story, IMO. If you work that all in earlier you have a more captivating story to tell and can end with a positive note of how your multi faceted experiences have fueled your passion for "human services". Or something like that.

I don't know, I'm just talking, I figure it can't hurt
It's a communications class, put the story before everything else. There is no super clear connection to a career or something, but you have a unique story here that you are passionate about, and you want to help people by........ A communications class ties into this story as well.

I like the subject choice, it's a little risky but I think it'll pay off.

 

[deficiT]

Wrote up several pages worth of notes and fleshed out all of my 5 main points. Tomorrow I think I'm gonna work on my "final draft" of flash cards and start practicing it live. I think I have enough stuff to at least do a serviceable job, I'm pretty pleased with my progress so far.

 

[Xorkoth]

Nice man. I always get more nervous before speeches than I am during them. Just try to relax and pretend you're just speaking to friends, sounding at ease and expressive is a big part of it.

 

[VerbalTruist]

Wrote up several pages worth of notes and fleshed out all of my 5 main points. Tomorrow I think I'm gonna work on my "final draft" of flash cards and start practicing it live. I think I have enough stuff to at least do a serviceable job, I'm pretty pleased with my progress so far.

When you’re working on your final draft. Do it like you are giving the speech. Talk through it so that you know it sounds good verbally. Don’t forget to have signposting. That means clear transitions from point to point. This should be done with words and movement.

You could say “I could go on all day about Bluelight as a community and you should definitely check it out. In the interest of time and keeping your attention I am going to wrap this speech up by telling you how volunteering on a forum filled with casual drug users ti hardcore addicts and people with a decade or more of recovery has helped show me what I want to
do in my future professional life.” Take a step back or to the side around “wrap this speech up”.

Give your credibility early for ethos. You could just say Im a very active staff member. I made a dummy account because you didn’t want then to look at your pos history. Be honest if you want to stay somewhat anonymous.

anyway you’ve got this shutting up. Just thoughts and suggestions. Yep

 

[deficiT]

When you’re working on your final draft. Do it like you are giving the speech. Talk through it so that you know it sounds good verbally. Don’t forget to have signposting. That means clear transitions from point to point. This should be done with words and movement.

You could say “I could go on all day about Bluelight as a community and you should definitely check it out. In the interest of time and keeping your attention I am going to wrap this speech up by telling you how volunteering on a forum filled with casual drug users ti hardcore addicts and people with a decade or more of recovery has helped show me what I want to
do in my future professional life.” Take a step back or to the side around “wrap this speech up”.

Give your credibility early for ethos. You could just say Im a very active staff member. I made a dummy account because you didn’t want then to look at your pos history. Be honest if you want to stay somewhat anonymous.

anyway you’ve got this shutting up. Just thoughts and suggestions. Yep

Thanks for all of your suggestions man it's really helped!