I assisted to the
student conference offered by the Department of English on Tuesday March 25,
2014. The general activity was called Student Interventions in General Studies:
Interdisciplinary Project and Creative Initiatives. The first discussion panel
I attended was “Interrogating the Journey: Literature and Personal Experience” supervised
by Dr. Cynthia Pittmann. In this discussion panel I had the opportunity to
participate as student panelist with four classmates: Sylvette, Carla, Sahara
and Lorna.
In the discussion panel
we exposed the meaning of an internal and an external journey. Also, we defined
the identity concept. We related our journey experiences with these fundamental
concepts to exposes what define the identity of any human being. In the
overall, we related the class’ essays about Petter Roberts, Jim Cooper and
Jamaica Kincaid with the identity concept. In my personal speech I talked about
the Puerto Rican identity. I exposed different reasons and arguments to support
that Puerto Ricans have a complete and separate identity. I also related my
personal journey experiences with the Puerto Rican identity. This opportunity
is very significant in my academic career, because it help me to develop the
oral and writing English skills. Specifically, this opportunity allowed me to
improve the oral English skill, because it allowed me to experiment the
experience of talk in front of a lot of people and to practice the words’
pronunciation. At the beginning of the conference I was very nervous but then
when I continued reading I gain confidence and I could perfectly develop the
identity topic. I did not know how to explain what I was feeling when I was
presented my essay. It was a combination of feelings and emotions. I just know
that I felt something amazing inside of my body that gave the strongest to
continue reading with passion and proud.
Finally, I consider the
experience of being panelist an excellent opportunity to gain confidence and
demonstrated that you are able to speak in front of a lot of people in another
language that is not your first language. The experience was amazing. I had the
opportunity to expose a point of view and I tried to convince the audience of
it. I also interact different ideas about the identity concept. In conclusion
the activity was very educational and it allow the student to share knowledge
to learn new things.
Having the opportunity to see you guys presenting in the panel was such an amazing experience that I know it would help me in a future. You guys looked really calm and prepared. I admire your courage and preparation. Nice job
ReplyDeleteI can't assist to the presentation you make but when you talk in class i see was an excellent opportunity to you. I see this give you more strength and confidence in your self,keep going girl.
ReplyDeleteYou exposed yourself great when you presented the group and when you read your essay. I am so glad that this experience helped you gain confidence. I admire your courage because I wouldn't be able to do it. Great job Laura and to all that presented in the panel.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't assist to this conference, but some of our classmates told me that all participants did an excellent presentation. I am glad that this experience helped you overcome many obstacles about yourself.
ReplyDelete