(Life improver) The wrath of the debater's nerves

Your palms feel sweaty, your heart is racing so loud you can hear it, it's not too late to turn back is it? I'm not talking about an adrenaline junkie sport, I'm talking about debating. So maybe I was being a little dramatic, but if you've debated before, you'll understand what I mean. It's this amazing, challenging thing to do, but it's also nerve wrecking. Sometimes so much, that it affects your skills. This is what I'll be talking about today, the best ways to get over those debating nerves. If you find that your nerves tend to get the better of you when you debate, you'll probably fall into one of four categories.

THE DEER:

Ever heard that expression 'like a deer caught in the headlights"? This pretty much sums you up. You find yourself surprisingly confident at first, but once you get up there...

Oh no what am I doing? What if I mess up? I can't do this! Quick, say something, ANYTHING!!

"Uhhh urmmmm, ummm"

You try to spit out your words but ummm, you, just, hmmm, can't?

MY ADVICE: 

Get a little nervous before you make your speech. I know this sounds strange, but it's important to strike a good balance between nerves and confidence. If you go over your speech a few times before hand, and make sure your palm cards are in order, then it'll be easier to have peace of mind whilst you speak.

THE FIGHTER:

If you can't run away from these nerves, you have to fight them right? This is a classic case of the fight or flight response, and you're definitely a fighter. So you get up there and practically scream your whole speech, while death staring the opposing team. Maybe you're not this scary, but even becoming overly confident, can soon turn to just mean and nasty. 

MY ADVICE:

Even though it is important to fight your nerves, what started out as you simply trying to get your point across, can end up looking as though you are trying to attack the apposing team. Try to focus your attention on the audience. Change that intensity into sincerity, this will make them believe you. 

THE EXITED PUPPY:

Have you ever had a puppy that went crazy whenever you came home? This is what you are like when you debate. You have mixed emotions of nervous and exited, and you let these go wild when you get up and on the stage. Your time was 2:20 but you wrote 15 palm cards! Suddenly it dawns on you, you just had verbal diarrhoea through that whole speech. 

MY ADVICE:

Calm down! Getting exited about your speech is a great thing, but this shouldn't affect your speaking pace. Focus on your speed, even if you have to read your palm cards more. It's still more important the adjudicator understands you! Keep this up, and soon speaking at a normal human pace will become second nature!

                                       
THE READER NOT THE SPEAKER:
The panic had already set in an hour ago. Before you even wrote your speech you were worrying about  your palm cards... those damn palm cards. Will you drop them? Will you say the wrong thing? As a result you stand up with them just centimetres away from your face, reading each word carefully.
MY ADVICE:
Unless you happen to be 98 and left your glasses at home, I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be reading. each. word. like. this. But it's okay, all you have to learn is... IMPROVISATION!!! Practice making up speeches on the spot at home. Then when you debate, and you can't read your handwriting, or a sentence doesn't make sense, you'll know how to improvise!

I hope you found these tips helpful and informative. Now go and grab your palm cards, white board markers and stopwatch, because you're ready to be the best debater you can be!

(Preacher) What it means to be a woman...

This year in English we have been studying a unit called Miss Representation. The unit is all about how women are misrepresented through the media, including social media. Studying this has really opened up my mind to all of the injustice women face all around the world. You'd think that living in a "modern' world, where our technological and medical advances are so vast, where we carry more computing power in our tiny smart phones than Apollo 11, that something so simple as equal rights between a man and a women would be recognised worldwide, right? Unfortunately this is not so. 

Within our own country, we are still able to find injustice and sexism towards women. Within liberal cabinet, their is only one female politician, Julie Bishop, and within just our country, 28% of all women will experience sexual harassment in the workplace. These are all facts from a country that many consider the most habitable in the world. So what do you think happens when we look at these problems, in third world countries? They get much worse. In Afghanistan, women face public flogging and execution for pursuing an education, they are not allowed to work or appear on television/radio. Chad is considered the third most unsafe country for women, with female Sudanese refugees forced to face rape and extreme violence everyday. This shows how hazardous the world can be for women, but how can we change this?

Taliban attack of Pakistani student left her with acid burns

Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head at age fourteen

I believe we can through the feminist heroes of the world! Young women all around the world are standing up and saying no to the unfair treatment of women. Some of them are only girls, but they still understand that they deserve the same rights as everybody else. They defy the social stereotypes, rules and even governments, that are put in place to stop them from blossoming into independent, intelligent women. I think that one of the best examples of this is the story of Malala Yousafzai. She is a Pakistani teenage who was shot in the head at point black by the Taliban, simply because she fought for the 31 million girls all around the world who couldn't get and education. She miraculously survived, and has continued campaigning for women's rights, despite what has happened in her past. Malala is a perfect example of how as women, we can overcome anything, if we just have a goal, and a dream to make an equal and fair world, together. I believe this determination and strength is what it means to be a woman. 

(Beauty hunter) The inanimate objects

Lately I have been really interested in photography. Well, actually I have been for a long time now, but at the moment it's really taken hold of me. I have been putting the time and effort into (trying to) produce photographs that I'm really happy with. My brother has been obsessed with photography for the last four years, especially seeing as he's become a respected photography down at Bondi Skate park. He spends a lot of time down there taking photos and videos, and turning them into little movies. So I guess that my interests in the area has grown from his, as most of my interests do.

My main focus has been on inanimate objects, and I really like to play with natural effects, like reflection and light. I find it easier to shoot inanimate objects because they don't change, they don't feel, and they don't talk. They just sit there, patiently waiting for you to turn them into beautiful photographs. This, is what I strive to do.

That last photograph is one that I love. Theres something so perfect about the subtleties of the blues that come through the reflection. I quickly shot these three photographs in about twenty minutes, and they were just meant to be fillers for a series of photographs I had sent off to an online magazine. All I wanted them for was to bulk up the load. But the more and more I looked at them, whilst editing other photos, or transferred them from memory card to memory card, the more I really started to like them. They seemed so lonely.

Who wore those sunglasses?

Who used that skate board?

Would any one ever find out?

These questions intrigued me when I look at those photographs. I try to ignore the nagging thoughts in my head, "the composition isn't right", "you didn't even have the lens in focus!" Instead I try to look at my own photos, and all photographs as a construction, and a piece of artwork. I'd give this advice to anyone who was in the same boat as me, just starting to discover the big wide world of photography. 

Y.E.A.R.E.I.G.H.T

Here's a poem to start off the new school year

Year eight is meant to be an easy year!
Eventually though the work piles on...
At least I have awesome people in my class
Really, though, I'm feeling good about this year

Eight is the number of the year I am in
It is also the number of assessments I have
Greatness is what I will achieve this year!
How long until I finish this poem?
This poem is now done.

379 days have passed since I started high school.

I have 1742 days left. 

I know this sounds grim, but it isn't so bad. Starting year eight has given me a new outlook on high school. In year seven I went from being the big cool kid in primary school, to the baby of high school. It came with so many new responsibilities, new friends, new teachers, more homework. I wondered if I'd ever truly fit in, know my place and understand this new, strange place. But here I am over a year later and I feel pretty good. I know all of the girls in my year, all of my teachers and I really know my way around school. Seeing all the scared little faces of the new year sevens made me think back to when I started...

I searched anxiously for the few people I knew in the playground. Moving 12 hours away from my old home, to a new school was very daunting. This day would just be the icing on the cake. I could hear people saying that all the year sevens needed to move to some hall. I said goodbye to my mum, I didn't want to, but I also didn't want to look like a little kid on my first day at "big" school...

Those are some of the first memories I have of year seven. Although they aren't very positive or happy I am really exited that for the past few weeks I have been making the first memories of year eight. It's a new year and I'm feeling good! Now excuse me, but I have to go off and make a few more memories.