Sketch 11: Tracing Pages Breakdown
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Halfa Kucha Reflection
How was it different to construct an argument that you were giving to the class as a presentation than to write an essay?
Constructing an argument by writing it out in essay form is drastically different from giving it orally in a presentation form. For starters, the presentation is timed, while the essay format is given a word limit that if read out, would far outlast the presentation time limit. Also, the oral PowerPoint option uses photos as a medium of expression, not just words. Some presentations do not even have any words at all.
How did you make choices about the structure of your argument? If you chose to organize your presentation in a certain way so that your audience would follow it more clearly, is that something that you could also make use of in your written work?
Yes, I broke up my presentation into two parts, one for each comic I was analyzing. This style of organization is something I strive to do in all of my written essays.
Was your analytical thinking process any different?
Analytically, my thinking process was immensely different when constructing a PowerPoint presentation because I had to focus on making a different point every 10 seconds.
What decisions did you make about the visuals for your presentation? How did you go about creating an impact for the slides that accompany your spoken words?
I decided to use bits of the comics I was analyzing to accompany my points. In theory, they should have complimented my argument perfectly that silence in both “Sabrina” and “It’s Lonely at the Center of the Earth” accompanies the healing process and can either be detrimental to the character or give them space to express and get rid of the rage inside them.
What did you learn by giving this type of presentation, where you had no control over the timing of the slides and couldn’t put much in the way of text on your slides, as compared to other presentations you have given?
The Halfa Kucha format kept me disciplined, concise, and on task while presenting. There was no time for tangents or distractions. For someone who likes to get sidetracked and tell somewhat unrelated stories while they present, this was a challenge for me but proved useful in the long run.
What did you notice about your classmates’ presentations that you might think about incorporating into your own presentations in the future?
Some of my classmates used generic photos rather than bits of the comics they were analyzing. I do not think I would go down that road if I had to do this assignment over again. However, that perspective is useful for other PowerPoint presentations in the future.
What do you think you could have done better in your presentation?
One of my slides accidentally slipped ahead while presenting and messed up my speaker notes. I think if I used a different way of keeping my notes in front of me like a Google doc or a Word doc, then I would not have gotten messed up and could have moved through the presentation better.
Halfa Kucha Reflection
Halfa Kucha is a form of presentation that I have not experienced at all before. The challenge is to convey complex themes through a harmonious blend of visuals and speech, a task that offered unique insights and learning.
Constructing a clear and interesting argument is the first obstacle. I finally chose this topic because I considered both Spinning and Kindred describe trauma from a female perspective. The difference is that Spinning is a memoir that records Tillie’s personal experiences, while Kindred puts women’s trauma into a broader and historical background. Different from essay writing, the presentation demanded a more focused and streamlined approach, ensuring that each slide succinctly complemented the spoken word. Structuring the argument for the presentation was an exercise in clarity and brevity; it necessitated the distillation of complex ideas into digestible chunks without losing their essence. This experience highlighted the importance of structural coherence, a strategy I now see as equally beneficial in written work. It has taught me the value of clear, concise argumentation, regardless of the medium.
The choice of visuals was pivotal in this presentation. Each image was carefully selected to resonate with the themes of trauma and recovery, enhancing the narrative rather than detracting from it. The challenge lay in finding the delicate balance between visual impact and informational content. I aimed for each slide to evoke emotion or understanding, supporting the narrative arc. This process was a lesson in restraint and impact, teaching me how a well-chosen image can speak volumes, a principle that can be applied to enhance the persuasiveness of written arguments as well. In addition, I put some core sentences on the slides to let the audience better understand my ideas. Through the preparation and rereading of these books, I learned that mourning is an ongoing process, and reconnection is not just about getting back to “normal”. The whole recovery is about growth, acceptance, and forging a new path forward.
The unique format of a timed slideshow presentation forced me to adapt my speaking to a predetermined pace. This restriction made me more conscious of the timing and rhythm of my speech, a skill not usually exercised in other formats. Observing my classmates’ presentations was equally enlightening. Their diverse approaches to storytelling and visual engagement provided me with a broader perspective on presentation styles and different arguments. Reflecting on what could have been improved, I believe my pacing could have been better synchronized with the slides, and I could use more concise words to convey my ideas in limited time.
This experience has been instrumental in honing my skills in constructing arguments and delivering presentations. It has taught me the importance of structure, visual storytelling, and the rhythm of speech. As I move forward, these lessons will not only influence my future presentations but also enrich my approach to writing, allowing me to convey complex ideas with greater clarity and impact. Storytelling, whether through spoken words or written text, is a powerful tool in dissecting and communicating intricate themes such as trauma and healing, and this experience has been invaluable in appreciating and harnessing this power.
Halfa Kucha Reflection
When I first read the prompt, I was immediately stuck on what topic I wanted to choose. I decided to take a look at the quotes from Judith Herman, and that was when I was certain I wanted to use the three stages of recovery. When I think of recovery, the first characters that struck out to me were Teddy from Sabrina and Tillie from Spinning. I thought these characters had the most clear and complete process of recovering from their trauma, which is why I chose them as my focus for the presentation.
One of the biggest challenges I encountered was the time limit. Since I wanted to explain how the characters underwent the three stages, it was difficult for me to fit all of the information in 3 minutes. To solve this problem, instead of directly separating the presentation into three stages, I combined some stages and made changes to my focus. I decided to include my observation of patterns in these stages. For example, I remember from the Literacy Narrative Storyboard assignment we analyzed comics with the five types of choices authors utilize in their comics. Specifically, I found that subject-to-subject transitions were common in scenes when the characters were making a process to their healing process.
In terms of visuals, I chose pages of comics that aligned with the point I was presenting. A pattern I created was having one page for one of the stories, one page for the other story, and a page that included both of the stories. This is because my presentation was formatted in this way. I usually explained how Teddy was experiencing one of the stages and on the other page explained Tillie’s experience. However, after hearing everyone’s presentation, I thought it was interesting how many people included pictures that were not screenshots of specific pages. I found these pictures made the presentation more engaging, which is one of the changes I would make if I were to redo this assignment.
This was the first time I had done a more formal presentation in college and the first time using auto-advanced slides. It has been many months since I have presented in front of an audience, so it was at first a bit intimidating. Also, I had to spend extra time to practice my talking speed. Being unable to control my slides forced me to spend more thinking about what words I wanted to say. I had around 20 seconds to make a point, so I needed to choose what was important and how to express my ideas in this short amount of time. Though it was difficult, I thought it made my presentation much more insightful and compact.
Finally, I realized I forgot to include a title for my presentation, if I were to place a title, I would make it “The Power of Resilience: A Journey of Healing.”
“Halfa-Kucha” Reflection
resentation. How was it different to construct an argument that you were giving to the class as a presentation than to write an essay?
I felt that crafting an argument for this presentation was exactly the same process for an essay. However, the evidence needed support my claim during this project was more rough since my words didn’t need to be convey that eloquently when speaking. When finding an argument to talk about, I looked first to books I felt most comfortable with which was Stitches and Sabrina. I then read over past projects and in my close reading of Stitches and Sabrina, I discovered that much of my arguments were based on the actual drawings of the two comics. I structured my presentation in basically 4 parts; introduction, alternating evidence on each comic, some comparison, and a conclusion. When adding visuals, I included extra shapes to direct the audience’s attention so they could follow my presentation easier.
This format of this presentation was new for me and was a challenge to control my timings. Since I had no control over the timings, if I went over a slide’s time, I would have to spill over, but if I was really behind I had to skip some of my presentation. That being said, I liked the format in the way that there was a controlled amount of information you could include so that it was standardized.
Some things I noticed about my classmates’ presentations were their analysis. Since our prompt was focused on trauma and healing, many presentations mentioned the road to recovery is not a sure process. I enjoyed the many nuanced viewpoints on the same topic across the comic we read this semester.
Things I could have done better during my presentation is to stay on my timings better. I realized that my own computer slides wasn’t exactly synced up to the slides on the board which made me late on the timings and it only got worse as the slides progressed. I also didn’t follow instructions and made a full pecha kucha which was twice the work. 
Halfa Kutcha Reflection
Link to The Winding Path to Healing:
The process of making this presentation looked like first brainstorming different connections I could make between texts and for some reason I felt that Stitches and Kindred could relate in some way. This hunch ended up being the basis of my argument when I read over the prompt and found the excerpts from Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence — From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror where Judith Herman makes several claims regarding the trauma and recovery process. I found that two quotes from the excerpt closely align with the ways this healing process went in the two novels that I chose so that’s when I decided to use the excerpt as my argument’s foundation.
The way I went about organizing this presentation is by creating a notes page where I wrote out everything that I wanted to capture for each slide. This allowed me to see my ideas clearly and expand in areas where deeper explanation would buttress my argument. This type of organization would be helpful when applied to written work because it can assist with getting over that first obstacle in writing where you don’t know where to start. Simply spitting out whatever ideas are floating in your brain without putting them under critique allows one to get their ideas flowing. I also feel that my addition of certain arrows and symbols allows for a more streamlined viewer experience where my audience can easily follow from one idea/point being made to another. Considering both of these organizational strategies could be used in written work, I can see myself using them in my next piece. I am also proud of the intentionality that went into choosing my visulas. I made sure that each image had some relevance to the title of each slide and that they would flow from one visual to the next in a manner that creates a cohesive argument. For example, when looking at the “Establishment of Safety” slide, I wanted to implicitly show a difference between present-day and the antebellum era so I used a not-equal-to sign accompanied by images that correlate to images on either side.
When it came to the presentation of my slides, the whole concept of auto-advancing slides was sort of disorienting. Even though I had practiced, talking in front of an audience made me speed up involuntarily. In order to combat this I tried to slow it down a bit that proved to be disorienting as well because I was a little late in making my point on certain slides. However, when efficient and intentional practice is implemented to prepare for a Halfa or Petcha Kutcha, this form of presenting could be very effective and fluid in making an argument. Something that I could have done that I saw in other presentations was using captions on the images I used. This gave that much more clarity to what the audience should be focusing on for each slide. All in all, this was an interesting medium to try out and I’ve learned so much about how to be a better presenter in the long run.
Sketch 11: Assemblies
The banana stands for taking a closer look at the text and images, similar to how you have to peel a banana before you eat it. It demonstrates examining what details the author adds in each panel, and what this does for character and story development. The assignment that taught me most of this material was the Tracing Pages assignment which we analyzed specific pages of Spinning and Stitches.
The strawberry stands for attempting to write an essay with putting my thesis statement as the end of the essay, because I was taught to build my essay off my thesis statement, by putting it in my into my introductory paragraph in high school, similar to how a strawberry is the only fruit with seeds on the outside. This was a very important topic because it helps me take a more holistic approach to my writing and stay in the box of my thesis.
The pineapple stands for the visual note taking that we learned, because I believe that the pineapple is the most interesting looking fruit.I actually use the visual note taking technique in a few of my classes, because it help me understand topics that I am struggling with and topics that play a fundamental role in the class.
The blueberry stands for the literacy narrative that we did, analyzing our story for how we read and write. I chose the blueberry represents this because it has been my favorite fruit since my childhood. I thought this was an interesting assignment because it taught me why I read and write the way I do, and what role reading and writing has played on my life so far.
Apples represent how much I overlooked comics in general and the stories and messages they represent. Similar to how I thought apples where very overrated when I was in elementary school, but now I really like them. I always thought that comic where a elementary for of communication or one that was used for superhero stories, but these genre can provide really power messages, create very engaging stories, and provide a lot of deeper meanings.
Lastly, an orange represents the Halfa Kucha project what we did. The orange was one f the last fruits I learned to eat because when it wasn’t until late in high school when I finally learned to peel an orange by myself. The Halfa Kucha was a completely new experience because I never made a presentation in which each slide only lasted 20 seconds. In addition, it was good learning experience to present to the class audience, and it was interesting to see how my peers decided to go about their presentations.
Halfa Kucha Reflection
This assignment was harder than writing an essay because I had a limited amount of time to say everything that I wanted to say. Speaking in front of an audience is also a lot more challenging and nerve-racking than writing a paper (in my opinion). When I knew what two books I wanted to compare, I didn’t know if I should go back and forth between the books with each slide, or I should go through each book in its entirety and then compare the two at the end. I ended up going with the first option because it allowed for more synthesis and comparison throughout the presentation, even though it may have been harder to follow. When choosing my visuals, I tried to think of the most powerful and impactful images throughout each story. When presenting I didn’t really talk about the images specifically and let the images speak for themselves. I felt as though I didn’t have enough time to make the key arguments I wanted to and explain the images. This presentation helped me learn to practice going over presentations. Normally, I wouldn’t practice a presentation as much, but because I knew that the slides were advancing automatically, I put in more time to practice. I liked how some of my classmate’s included images that weren’t from the books, which I felt made it more engaging because it was new material. If I were to do it again, I would probably include some images that were not from the books.
Sunday Sketches~Sketch 11: Assemblies
For this final Sunday Sketch assignment, I really wanted to come up with a diagram that would showcase all I have accomplished in ENGRD 101 this semester. I decided to make my image that of a stuffed teddy bear, expanding a little bit on my Triptych from Sketch 5.
The process I use to create and complete a piece of work has drastically changed since the beginning of the semester. Similar to the “skeleton” of the bear (the flat, floppy husk of a bear you get at Build-A-Bear), my work at first was a LOT of words with no real substance to them. Throughout the semester, I added stuffing to my bear, providing context about the comics I analyzed and summaries relevant to my literacy narrative. This made my work fuller (like the stuffing inside the bear), and gave it a clearer structure.
Moving on to the more specific parts of the bear–these elements exemplify the specific elements of my learning and writing techniques that have allowed me to flourish as a writer this semester. As seen in the above annotations, the eyes and ears of the bear represent the seeing and hearing aspects of learning. Listening to advice from Professor Morgen was very helpful when writing my reflections and projects, especially the analysis of Stitches and Spinning. The eyes are also important to note specific places that need revisions. For example, while looking over my literacy narrative, Professor Morgen pointed out a few specific places that could be improved. I listened to his advice (going back to the ears), and ultimately ended up with a much stronger piece of work that I was excited to share with others.
Another one of the elements that was key in creating my final work(s) was my attention to detail, represented by the paws and fur of the bear. This was especially the case for my Literacy Narrative Comic. I wanted it to be understandable to the reader, so I made sure to make my drawings as detailed as possible (note that I am not an artistically inclined person!). However, the paws do not take up much space on the bear; it is just at the feet. This relates to my experience that too many details can be a bad thing, just as was the case with my first draft of my literacy narrative. Professor Morgen noted how I was talking about too many ideas and it was better to focus on a single one, which ultimately ended up working out in my favor (back to the ears once again!).
Lastly, I want to draw attention to the facial expression of the bear. The bear’s eyes are wide open and it is smiling; both of these characteristics are representative of my learning style as a student. I always do my best to come to class excited and ready to learn, along with any clarifying questions I may have. Asking questions has been one of, if not the most, useful tools as a student. Knowing what my mentors and peers expect of me challenges and pushes me to make the best final product I can make; going back to my diagram, this ‘final product’ is the bear as a whole.
This assignment definitely forced me to think critically about myself as a student and be able to represent it and explain it through a medium other than words (relating to the “Visual Thinking” Learning Outcome). It makes me incredibly happy and proud to see how far I’ve grown as a writer since the beginning of the semester, and I can’t wait to see further growth in the near future!
