Month: October 2014

Presentation Best Practice Reminders

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While I know that my chicken scratch is tough to read, here are a few reminders to consider after the first day of presentations!  
1.  Understand the impact of your position in the room.  If you need to, alter the room to make it work for you.
2.  Eye Contact – try not to focus too much of your EC on the teacher, on your notes, or on the screen.  Better notes, not more, but better = better EC.  Also limiting the words on the slides, if you choose PPT as your method of sharing, will reduce the impulse to read to your audience.
3.  Watch your time – 10 minutes goes fast when you are sharing audio, video, reading to the class, or using other multimodal artifacts. Remember, the research you did was yours, give the audience your highlight reel!
4.  Come ready with a leadoff line – the first greeting you will give your audience.  Also bring a closer – the last line that will signal the audience to clap.
5.  Lastly, while sharing your first level understanding of the material:  plot, character, setting etc.  The best presenters so far have moved quickly beyond that to the analysis of the big questions.

Justice Letter

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Justice Store
22000 Dulles Retail Plaza
Sterling, VA 20166

Dear Justice:

A few years ago, I finally found a jumpsuit at your store that matched my style. This jumpsuit is short and has laces at the top. The style was very attractive. I was so happy that I couldn’t wait to wear it, but I saved it for a day at the beach. A day before I went to the beach, I decided to try on the jumpsuit before I packed it into my suitcase. Then, just as I gently pulled the lacing over my shoulders, one of the shoulder laces snapped!

I was devastated because I was really looking forward to wearing that jumpsuit on the beach. I hadn’t even pulled hard on the laces; I was very careful. When I looked at the wrecked lace, I realized that the problem arose due to the fault of your stitching. The laces were stitched on too loose and carelessly; by the time I put on my dress, they completely came apart! I am very disappointed in the quality of your stitching! The dress that I paid full price for didn’t even last a few seconds. It separated and now I cannot even wear it anymore before finding a way to stitch it back myself.

I do have to commend your store for its fabulous model, though. The fashionable model and the colors of the jumpsuit went together and looked adorable. I just wish I had a chance to wear these adorable clothes and show them to others before they rip apart because of the stitching issues. The quality of the clothing I received from your store is terrible; it doesn’t have any relation to the price of the jumpsuit.

I wanted to let you know that you should improve the quality of your clothing so that they can last long. I would propose taking the time to focus more of your budget on creating the clothing instead of designing it, because I feel that the designs of your clothing are already getting an abundant amount of attention. In fact, that is the best part of your clothing!

If you advertise your improved stitching quality, I am sure that many others will be interested in buying your clothes. I have a few friends who have also had similar issues about your clothing, and I believe that taking this suggestion into consideration would be really beneficial to both your store and your customers. My friends all agree that the quality of the stitching in your clothing is the only thing that keeps them from buying more clothing from your store, anymore. After all, Justice has the best designs, but just needs to have better quality to become even more successful. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and taking my improvements into consideration!

Sincerely,

Sreya Palnati

Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning’s End.

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Personal Narrative                                                                   
                                                                                                        
Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning’s End.

I was born in the capital city of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. It’s the biggest city in the country, with a population just over 2 million. The Dominican Republic is a tropical country, where the sun is always up and shining till the night (except in the rainy season). I used to be a typical Dominican girl with a busy schedule, full of social activities and very involved in my school activities. I used to be my teacher’s assistant; I helped grading exams, organizing classes, etc. I was also my class President, so I had a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders. I had to plan all the social activities and also the fund raisers. Being the Class President is not as fun as you might imagine, as I had to play many roles, needing to be democratic and participatory, but also authoritarian or bossy- but always fair.

I loved my life; I had the greatest feeling, when you know that you have all that you need: love, family and friends that become like family. I used to love going to school, every day would bring a new lesson or adventure. Sometimes it seemed hard, especially when we had to have our monthly meeting to schedule our activities as a classroom, but at the end of the day, it turned into happiness. When I got back home my grandmother was always there waiting for me to set the table. We used to have lunch together while we watched a show called “Caso Cerrado” (Case Closed) which was a part of the day we couldn’t miss. Every day always ended up with homework. Finally, though, the most expected day of the week: Friday would arrive, which were always fun and exciting. My friends and I used to do a variety of things, going to an ice cream parlor or we could end up partying till “sunrise” which was really till midnight.

I am pretty sure that I will never forget these moments that have become  memories that will last forever. I especially miss my girlfriends and hope that even though they are far we can still keep the connection between us.  

My life new life begins with a new culture, new challenges, and new goals. This is what life is based on, changes.  We all have experienced an unwanted change, in my case it was for my own benefit. It all started when I moved to Virginia; at first, I wasn’t excited, I barely talked about it, as long days were passing by, the sadder I would be. In the meantime, I was enjoying my last months with all my friends, partying, hanging out and eating brunches. The day “finally” arrived; packing, letters, tears and sadness surrounded my room.  When I first arrived, it felt like I was on summer vacation, just like another usual summer, going out and having fun. As the days passed by and the “Back to School” date got closer, I didn’t realize it was really going to happen until I bought my school supplies.

In my opinion, everything happens for a reason. Sure, everybody says that, but do they believe it? I do. Everything has a purpose, which I still need to find – it will be a journey, not always amusing one, but uplifting nonetheless. Finally, as my grandmother says, “At the end of the journey everything will take its place.” Caso Cerrado.
                                                                                          

A Rude Awakening

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A Rude Awakening


As a child, everyone grows up with this fantasized view of the world where everyone and everything is nice and perfect. Parents love their children, bad people go to jail, and anyone who misbehaves gets in trouble. Many children wake up from this sugar-coated dream at a young age, including me. When I found out that my family wasn’t as perfect as I thought, it altered my view of the world completely.

It was a pretty average day for a five year old, with my dad driving me from my mom’s house back to his house. We were driving down that winding road that has all of those lush green trees that can take your breath away with one look. With the windows cracked open, you could smell autumn making its way throught the air, with the warm colors close behind. I was struggling to regain control of my hair as gusts of wind blew it into a mess; silence filled the car. Our conversation about school that day had just ended when, in that silence, I recalled a televison show episode I had watched earlier, That’s So Raven. In the episode I wathced, Raven goes through a situation where she thinks her parents might get a divorce. I had no idea what the word divorce could possibly mean at the time, so I continued to watch the show. By curiously watching the show, I eventually guessed that divorce was when the mom and dad seperated. Something abou that term was bothering me since I left my mom’s house, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I then started to connect the dots and notice the similarities to my life. A million thoughts raced through my head all at once. Could my parents be divorced? Am I adopted? If they’re divorced, why do I have four parents? Are my parents kidnappers? I couldn’t imagine my mom and dad ever being happy together. I then realized that it must be true because I knew I looked too much like them to have been kidnapped or adopted. I then asked the dreaded question, “Are you and Mommy divorced?”

My dad showed no surprise towards the question and calmly answered, “Yes”, explaining the details about how and why they had seperated. He also confirmed that I was indeed not adopted or kidnapped at any point in life. Initially, I wasn’t as shocked as expected because everything fit like a puzzle. It explained why I traveled between houses, why I had more than two parents, and why my parents didn’t get along. This moment gave me the rude awakening that no one and no family is as perfect as it’s thought to be. I also learned that just because a family isn’t picture perfect, doesn’t mean they aren’t a family.