Reflective Journal 3

It has been already half a term, and CDE has proved enlightening. The whole lesson revolves about student presenters and the debate their speeches have promoted. Each presenter has shown his unique form of presentation, be it from brimming with confidence to a display of nervousness, or the usage of unique methods such as a timeline.

I have found it much of a difficulty to perform in the front of an audience, and I applaud those who have left a lasting impression on their peers and their teachers. To Alcander, who braved the odds of being first and setting the benchmark with his outstanding organization and succinct background information. However, I feel that he was not natural in his presentation.

I would also like to commend Chen Shenghui, who pioneered the usage of a prop and visual aid. With the help of his prop, he has helped to clarify his main point of argument, which is a great help to those who difficulty analyzing the speech.

What I found so interesting about the speech is the fact that it has encouraged participation, but people are speaking just for the sake of the marks, resulting in less insightful comments. Some people, no offence meant, are continuously reusing the same feeble attempts to gain credit, such as the continuous questioning of the statistics and constant introduction of irrelevant points without a link to the question. As a result, most of the class is sidetracked and lost with no end in mind.

Furthermore, the teachers do not seem to be directing the discussion towards a particular point, allowing the discussion to wander with people objecting and approving of each other's comments. As such, there have been times when I have left the class with not much gained as compared to when doing the self-research.

I particularly found it intriguing that some people are not participating during the class forum. Is it due to the lack of comprehension of the presenter's speech, or perhaps they are lost in the myriad of comments posted by their peers. For me, I feel that whenever I have a point to make, the topic is veered away to another point, and I have to brainstorm on another point to make. In my opinion, the discussion is too fast and too little time is being spent on the discussion.

In conclusion, I do admire the way students have presented their topics to the class, especially in terms of creativity of their way of presentation, and the unique viewpoints on the question itself, however the debate after the presentation can be improved on.