THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ADVENTURE

During the first week of ISM, some of the topics that were taught to us were the importance of body language, warming up before a speech, writing an introductory speech, selecting a quote, writing a mission statement, and also working on presentation styles to properly execute a speech. The importance of body language is incredibly important to a speech because it shows your confidence and readiness to present the speech, as well as conveying the message of the level of passion the speaker has for the topic. Also, before presenting speech, it is beneficial to practice warming up because then the vocal cords are getting ready to be used and the use of voice fluctuations within the speech will make the presentation more powerful. While writing speech, an introductory speech especially, it is important to have a powerful introduction and a theme throughout the speech, and also make sure that the theme is repeated in the end to complete the effect the speech has upon the audience. In the first week, one of my accomplishments that I have achieved is that I have become more confident in speaking to an audience with only cues to guide me through the presentation. I have also learned that there are multiple aspects to a speech rather than just content, and those aspects include body language, eye contact, voice fluctuations, and personality. An improvement in my introductory speech can come from the use of gestures, which I still have to learn how to do. Also, I believe that I need to keep more eye contact with the audience and slow down while i'm speaking. Another thing that I learned was that rather than using words such as “um” and “uh”, take a pause. A few seconds of silence can greatly enhance the speech. One of the challenges during the first week was the fear of speaking in front of an audience about something personal and the fear of being ridiculed for opinions, but I think that this is a fear that everyone has initially, and with practice and perfect execution it will surely disappear. One way I was successful this week was being able to begin research my topic and also writing a well-thought out speech. There are many topics on my research of cardiothoracic surgery that I would like to learn, such as different types of surgeries and procedures. The three surgeries that I find the most interesting are cardiomyoplasty, bypass surgery and heart transplant. A cardiomyoplasty is parts of the skeletal muscles from the abdomen are taken from the patient’s back or abdomen and wrapped around the heart, which adds muscle and forms a pacemaker-style natural device and boosts the heart’s pumping motion. Bypass surgery is the the treatment that creates new passages for the blood to flow to the heart muscle that are blocked by unnecessary fluids. This process is done by taking grafts- arteries of veins from other parts of the body- to reroute the blood flow to the heart. Lastly, a heart transplant is the complete removal of a diseased heart with a new healthy heart (hearts come from organ donations). This week has been a good example of what is expected in the classroom, as well as what responsibilities we hold as Frisco ISD Reedy ISM students when we enter the professional world.