"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
These influential words of Nelson Mandela are something that I have always turned to when I am feeling at a loss or at a crossroad, especially in regards to my education. There are times that I feel that I could give up and take the easy way out when things are tough or my course load feels unbearable. At times like that, I remember these words and suddenly hope and determination begin to pulse through me again.
I am an aspiring Paterno Fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. Currently, I am double-majoring in Political Science, with a concentration on International Relations, and Mandarin Chinese. Both of these majors require extremely vigorous classes and throughout this year there have been multiple occasions that I have stopped and asked myself "Why?". When these doubts seep into my thoughts, I come back to the Nelson Mandela quote and remind myself to not give up or think I am taking on too much to handle. I remind myself to not be afraid to push myself to the limit and find out what I am truly capable of becoming.
After graduation, I aspire to become a law student and then work as a lawyer in the field of international law. These are big goals and they are not something that can be achieved with ease. I sternly believe, however, that I have obtained the tools and qualities necessary to achieve such greatness.
The uses of rhetoric and civic life will stay with me for the rest of my years as a student and into my career as a lawyer. During the course of my freshman year, I have learned many things-- some useful, some not-- but the way that I have learned to use language, rhetoric, and confidence in my writing and speaking methods is a big part of what will make my work shine for the rest of my life.
Link to Kirk Shields' e-Portfolio
Monday, April 30, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Communication in Teamwork
Over the course of this group project that we have had to be continuously working on for the past couple of weeks, the importance of rhetoric and proper communication skills has become transparent. In our day and age, technology is obviously one of our main sources of communication, maybe even more so sometimes than talking in person.
My group established a Facebook page to communicate to each other throughout our time working together. Although it was helpful, sometimes it was hard to contact someone in a speedy manner or sometimes things got a little bit confusing and we had a couple miscommunications that resulted in delays in our project. Overall, I think it was pretty effective though, but not as effective as the time we spent actually together working face to face.
Working together, actually in person all together, was always the most effective way for my group to be working. We got the most accomplished then and we could actually hash out our differing opinions on what worked, what didn't work, what we liked, what we disliked, etc. I am happy for the time we were allotted to get together and work in our recording room because I think face to face communication allows for the best possible discussion and work ethic between the group. Although over time the computer has become an effective means of communication for our generation to work through, I do not think that it has the same benefits as working in person and I do not think it ever will be able to amount to that of live conversation.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Color your World!
I never really stopped and thought about how important colors were when a store or brand or anything basically is advertising their product. It honestly really can be the deciding factor of whether you want to give a place a shot, go in, and see what they have in store.
For me, I know one place whose colors are actually unforgettable for me in McDonald's (please don't "ew" me!). The Golden Arches. Their inignorable red and yellow slogan is extremely hard to miss, even from a distance and it really makes their company stand out on top of others in my opinion.
It really is vital when planning for the future of just about anything to pick the perfect colors and advertising strategy. It can keep the company afloat or bring it down.
What colors would you pick to be the signature colors of a business you were running? It's pretty hard to choose and make such a decision. It has to be something bright and memorable, but not too obnoxious I think. I cannot decide exactly which I would do!
For me, I know one place whose colors are actually unforgettable for me in McDonald's (please don't "ew" me!). The Golden Arches. Their inignorable red and yellow slogan is extremely hard to miss, even from a distance and it really makes their company stand out on top of others in my opinion.
It really is vital when planning for the future of just about anything to pick the perfect colors and advertising strategy. It can keep the company afloat or bring it down.
What colors would you pick to be the signature colors of a business you were running? It's pretty hard to choose and make such a decision. It has to be something bright and memorable, but not too obnoxious I think. I cannot decide exactly which I would do!
Friday, March 23, 2012
What I Got
Some of you may see this title and think I'm referring to the famous Sublime song, but actually I am referring to my own life as a student here at Penn State and what I have because of this.
Yes, I am being given the opportunity to receive a great education. But something that goes right in hand with that is something that many people might forget or not know that Penn State is giving to us as well-- great resources!
I personally had had no idea about the knowledge commons in the library before our class tutorial just weeks ago. If not for that class, there is a big chance that I never would have known too. That area of the library presents students, faculty, and more with all the resources and staff help that they could need to create just about any multi-media, audio, visual, or anything else creative project you could imagine. It is a must have for all of you not so tech-savvy students like myself.
Just yesterday, my group for our upcoming multi-media project went to record for our project. Not only were we giving our own little private working booth, but we had everything we could ever need to make our project the best possible project it could be right at our fingertips.
When we were done the recording, which we did with ease, most likely because some of my group had recorded there before I think, the man came in to help us save our work and teach us how to get it up on other computers. Although he did scare us a little by telling us all these DON'T's instead of DO's, we ended up with a great deal more knowledge on computers and working with multimedias than we had gone into that room with (must be why it is called the "Knowledge Commons" duh!).
Anyways, I think all classes freshman year really need to take students in there. Everyone should know about the resources we have at our fingertips. It would be a shame to let things like that go to waste because it honestly was the most helpful thing ever! I can just picture my group trying to work without the help we had... and it is a little bit scary! (sorry group! but I think we all might have tried to double click the files from the flash-drive if our handy-dandy helper wouldn't of stressed to us that that would result in the deletion of our work! Phew!)
Spread the word about these resources! I didn't know about them before and I am sure there are many who are in the same boat that I was just weeks ago.
Yes, I am being given the opportunity to receive a great education. But something that goes right in hand with that is something that many people might forget or not know that Penn State is giving to us as well-- great resources!
I personally had had no idea about the knowledge commons in the library before our class tutorial just weeks ago. If not for that class, there is a big chance that I never would have known too. That area of the library presents students, faculty, and more with all the resources and staff help that they could need to create just about any multi-media, audio, visual, or anything else creative project you could imagine. It is a must have for all of you not so tech-savvy students like myself.
Just yesterday, my group for our upcoming multi-media project went to record for our project. Not only were we giving our own little private working booth, but we had everything we could ever need to make our project the best possible project it could be right at our fingertips.
When we were done the recording, which we did with ease, most likely because some of my group had recorded there before I think, the man came in to help us save our work and teach us how to get it up on other computers. Although he did scare us a little by telling us all these DON'T's instead of DO's, we ended up with a great deal more knowledge on computers and working with multimedias than we had gone into that room with (must be why it is called the "Knowledge Commons" duh!).
Anyways, I think all classes freshman year really need to take students in there. Everyone should know about the resources we have at our fingertips. It would be a shame to let things like that go to waste because it honestly was the most helpful thing ever! I can just picture my group trying to work without the help we had... and it is a little bit scary! (sorry group! but I think we all might have tried to double click the files from the flash-drive if our handy-dandy helper wouldn't of stressed to us that that would result in the deletion of our work! Phew!)
Spread the word about these resources! I didn't know about them before and I am sure there are many who are in the same boat that I was just weeks ago.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
What Really Gets on my Nerves
Nerves. Nothing gets on my nerves quite like nerves. For me, it does not matter how much I have practiced, how confident I am in what I am saying, how small of a group I am talking in front of-- my nerves will still always get the best of me and it drives me crazy!
This week, for example, we gave speeches in our LA101H class. I had practiced. I was well-versed. I knew what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. But that wasn't enough. Despite the numerous times I had practiced and the hours I had put into the assignment, when I got up to speak finally in front of the class I knew what was going to happen and you bet your bottom dollar that it did. Shaking hands. This isn't something that I am unfamiliar with. It happens almost every time I do some type of public speaking and it drives me insane! I can be so confident in my work and feel that I have it down perfect but no matter what the hands will still start to shake. Then I feel it, I look down once. Oh no. The shaking hands is visible. Suddenly my mind starts running while I talk. It is all I can concentrate on. My thoughts run through a few things... Is it all the audience can concentrate on? Do I look nervous? Pull it together Kirk! Stop thinking about it.
It takes me a few minutes, but eventually the nerves calm down and with that, my hands stop looking like the hands of someone with Parkinson's, shaking uncontrollably, and I become confident in what I have to say once again. But that takes a huge toll on my speech. Those two minutes of my minor anxiety attack really throw off the entire speech.
So how do I fix this? In my recent years, I have tried to memorize all my outlines and be well practiced enough in the speech that I do not need to hold any notecards with an outline on them at all. This way, if my hands start to get the shakes and the trembling begins, it is at least a little less visible than when my hands are holding pieces of paper. Sometimes that is hard to do though, especially if you only have one or two nights to get to practice the speech.
I can't come up with any other ideas... do you guys have any neat tricks to help calm the nerves before public speaking? If not, I guess I will just have to survive through life as the shaky hand girl when I get in front of an audience. Oh well.
-Kirk
This week, for example, we gave speeches in our LA101H class. I had practiced. I was well-versed. I knew what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. But that wasn't enough. Despite the numerous times I had practiced and the hours I had put into the assignment, when I got up to speak finally in front of the class I knew what was going to happen and you bet your bottom dollar that it did. Shaking hands. This isn't something that I am unfamiliar with. It happens almost every time I do some type of public speaking and it drives me insane! I can be so confident in my work and feel that I have it down perfect but no matter what the hands will still start to shake. Then I feel it, I look down once. Oh no. The shaking hands is visible. Suddenly my mind starts running while I talk. It is all I can concentrate on. My thoughts run through a few things... Is it all the audience can concentrate on? Do I look nervous? Pull it together Kirk! Stop thinking about it.
It takes me a few minutes, but eventually the nerves calm down and with that, my hands stop looking like the hands of someone with Parkinson's, shaking uncontrollably, and I become confident in what I have to say once again. But that takes a huge toll on my speech. Those two minutes of my minor anxiety attack really throw off the entire speech.
So how do I fix this? In my recent years, I have tried to memorize all my outlines and be well practiced enough in the speech that I do not need to hold any notecards with an outline on them at all. This way, if my hands start to get the shakes and the trembling begins, it is at least a little less visible than when my hands are holding pieces of paper. Sometimes that is hard to do though, especially if you only have one or two nights to get to practice the speech.
I can't come up with any other ideas... do you guys have any neat tricks to help calm the nerves before public speaking? If not, I guess I will just have to survive through life as the shaky hand girl when I get in front of an audience. Oh well.
-Kirk
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