First LLN:

So I am writing this letter to help reflect on my personal experience with public speaking. This would trace back to the third grade. Now looking back, I tend to realize that having early experience of public speaking can not only shape your confidence, but it can also shape your communication skills, or in other words, make you able to connect with others. Even though I was a pretty shy person, I still tried my very best to help prepare myself and deliver my speech. However at the time I didn’t realize that standing in front of my classmates and simply speaking about something as simple like a favorite animal would eventually help me grow up to be somebody who just puts preparation on a pedestal I also value having good audience awareness and self-expression, mainly because this would help me eventually become emotionally and mentally prepared, which in turn really sparked my overall understanding of how communicating effectively plays a big role.

That third-grade ordeal was given to a bunch of diverse groups of classmates who had different backgrounds and personalities. It honestly felt like I was at a Grammy now. Because of this, I just remembered feeling very self-conscious about myself. It felt as if every pair of eyes could just read my nervousness. Now when I spoke, my words just couldn’t form; it just felt super jumbled, which in return made me not be able to even get through my slides. The entire class was silent while this was happening, so I mumbled an apology and just rushed back to my seat. So my palms were just sweaty, and my heart was pounding so hard I felt like everyone in the classroom could hear it. This experience has just solidified, or in other words increased, my fear of public speaking. I overall just viewed it as an environment of people judging you secretly. 

So as I got older, so many things began to unravel, so in the seventh grade I had this new teacher named Bob, and this person just completely changed my perspective of public speaking. Whenever we did his think-pair-and-share, he would always encourage students to participate or at least try. Now at first I thought this was made to make you uncomfortable. But then I realized this was just a safe space for my ideas and thoughts, so I just started small, giving basic short answers. Eventually, over time, I became so much more comfortable in expressing my opinions. His overall approach had just made me realize that it was never about perfection but rather connection.

So by high school I had to face these bigger challenges, like getting in debates in my debate class; a debate class alone sounded scary. I imagined myself stuttering or mixing up words; in other words, this meant I had to prepare as much as possible even if it meant talking to myself in a mirror.  When the debate arrived, my heart was racing, but once I began to speak, my preparation had made it easy to speak, and since we were so respectful of not interrupting each other, that just made it even easier for me. I responded to my opponents with confidence and an optimistic mindset. That overall moment for me was a turning point; it just proved that fear can be conquered through courage and preparation. 

Through these experiences I have learned that making my communication skills more engaging will make me a strong speaker. I even learned to use vivid imagery and sensory detail techniques. I picked these techniques up from a podcast called Mr. Creepypasta, who’s a storyteller of scary stories who uses vivid imagery through words alone. Now looking back at that journey,

Last LLN:

 

The changes I have included are making better transitions and making my literacy narrative shorter in length. I have also made grammar changes to my draft, which could make my reading for my literacy narrative more understandable and more formatted. I’ve also had to make my conclusion a little longer while staying in a word deficiency of 750. I have also switched up my words in a few paragraphs, making it shorter and simpler, which in return can make it less long.

That third-grade ordeal was given to a bunch of diverse groups of classmates who had different backgrounds and personalities. It honestly felt like I was at a Grammy now. Because of this, I just remembered feeling very self-conscious about myself. It felt as if every pair of eyes could just read my nervousness. Now when I spoke, my words just couldn’t form; it just felt super jumbled, which in return made me not be able to even get through my slides. The entire class was silent while this was happening, so I mumbled an apology and just rushed back to my seat. So my palms were just sweaty, and my heart was pounding so hard I felt like everyone in the classroom could hear it. This experience has just solidified, or in other words increased, my fear of public speaking. I overall just viewed it as an environment of people judging you secretly.

So as I got older, so many things began to unravel, so in the seventh grade I had this new teacher named Bob, and this person just completely changed my perspective of public speaking. Whenever we did his think-pair-and-share, he would always encourage students to participate or at least try. Now at first I thought this was made to make you uncomfortable. But then I realized this was just a safe space for my ideas and thoughts, so I just started small, giving basic short answers. Eventually, over time, I became so much more comfortable in expressing my opinions. His overall approach had just made me realize that it was never about perfection but rather connection.

So by high school I had to face these bigger challenges, like getting in debates in my debate class; a debate class alone sounded scary. I imagined myself stuttering or mixing up words; in other words, this meant I had to prepare as much as possible even if it meant talking to myself in a mirror.  When the debate arrived, my heart was racing, but once I began to speak, my preparation had made it easy to speak, and since we were so respectful of not interrupting each other, that just made it even easier for me. I responded to my opponents with confidence and an optimistic mindset. That overall moment for me was a turning point; it just proved that fear can be conquered through courage and preparation

Through these experiences I have learned that making my communication skills more engaging will make me a strong speaker. I even learned to use vivid imagery and sensory detail techniques. I picked these techniques up from a podcast called Mr. Creepypasta, who’s a storyteller of scary stories who uses vivid imagery through words alone. Now looking back at that journey from that shy, nervous third grader to a more confident and compassionate speaker, I can say every failure or awkward moment just helped me make it to this moment in life growth preparation, and not being so hard on yourself when you fall or stumble is key. These experiences had also made me realize that my voice has value since it could inspire others, inform, and help you connect with other people.

If it weren’t for my teacher Bob, I wouldn’t be. I might have never just realized how important public speaking is. His encouragement made me overcome my self-doubt; not every student gets a mentor early like me. I’m grateful overall for this journey, not only because of Bob’s presence. I’m just grateful I went through with Bob’s plan. I could have easily turned down Bob’s plan and just stuck to being quiet. But I’m very glad I wasn’t an ignorant prick; instead, you see, not every person gets to have a mentor at an early age. If I wasn’t encouraged by Bob, I wouldn’t be able to even think for myself and have a mind of my own. So I’m overall very grateful for this journey to happen to me.