How can we focus on being successful both at school and in the future? Angela Lee Duckworth, psychologist at University of Pennsylvania, states that grit, the passion and perseverance for long-term goals, is what makes students outstanding compared to other students without grit. This is also what I think an excellent choice on our class’s Top 5 TED Talks list. To start off with, Angela used amazing presentation skills while doing her TED Talk. She spoke in a loud, clear voice, at a slow, constant pace, and used a variety of appropriate hand gestures throughout her talk. She is the best TED Talk speaker that I have watched for this category. Secondly, she explains the idea of grit very clearly using her experiences as a Grade 7 math teacher and as a psychologist. After Angela calculated the grades of each of her students, she noticed something peculiar, explaining that IQ wasn’t the only difference between her best and worst students. After several years of teaching, she went to become a psychologist. She studied students from a variety of places, and she realised that the most successful students had a lot of grit, or what she called “gritty”. Finally, she sent a very motivational message through her words that is relatable to both students and parents. She explains that parents should start building grit in kids in order to prepare them for the long run. According to studies at the Stanford University, grit can be built through “growth mindset”, where the ability to learn can change by effort from time to time. However, Angela strongly persuades us at the end that we need much more ideas, other than growth mindset, to build grit into our future children. We, Grade 9s, can benefit a lot from Angela Duckworth’s TED Talk right now and in the future. Using grit, by making long-term goals and pushing harder to achieve them, a rewarding future awaits us.
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Is it possible for someone in prison to take college courses and be successful in the future? Well, according to Anindya Kundu, sociologist and professor at NYU, any student can achieve success if provided enough support. I think that his TED Talk should be one of the top picks in our class. First of all, he used a variety of excellent presentation skills. He spoke at a slow, constant pace, his voice was clear and expressive, and he used an appropriate amount of hand gestures. He engaged the audience using many interesting facts and some light jokes. Furthermore, he explained his topic really clearly using the experience from other people. He told many stories about students that he has met and how they overcame tough obstacles. For instance, Anindya told a story about a person named Tyrique, who was raised by a single mother and got arrested for armed robbery after high school. While in prison, he took college credit courses; when he got out, he got his master’s degree, got a job at Fortune Society and lectured at Columbia University about prison reform. Last but not least, the message that was sent through Anindya’s words was inspirational and should be beneficial to everyone. Using his personal experience and the stories from the students he met, his TED Talk provokes that anyone can be successful in the future. Anindya studies students who have overcome huge obstacles related to their background, students with low income, students who are homeless and students who have suffered from abuse. He also explained that through mentorship and opportunities, those struggling students could reflect on their circumstances and resist negative influences. Any person of any age, not just us Grade 9's, can benefit from Anindya’s impressive TED Talk. His words are powerful indeed; no matter who you are, what background you come from, what you have struggled with, success always waits for you.
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