Showing posts with label interesting random facts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interesting random facts. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Things I Learn From Teaching College


Another 12 hour day of watching and grading speeches. I'm still trying to keep record of at least one interesting random fact that catches my attention on speech days  -- you know, just  to be a better person.  So here are today's nuggets of wisdom:

1) Teachers who like what they do are the best teachers.  – Hmmmmm.

2) It’s not referred to as legalizing marijuana any more, that's so last 4/20.  It’s now called decriminalizing” marijuana.  And if marijuana was discovered now -- with none of the stigma attached it -- would be deemed “the miracle drug”. And Taco Bell stock would go through the roof.

3) Don’t Text and Drive is the new Don’t Drink and Drive. (Heard the “don’t text” speech seven times today.) Be warned: texting while driving causes you to take your eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds – so at 60 miles an hour that’s like driving the length of a football field. Blind.  Checking Facebook while driving is totally different, Mom.

4) One of my students just developed this App called OutCrowd and is about to pitch it to venture capitalists. Basically a social networking site that lets you tell particular groups of friends if you want to hang out and where. Go ahead and scoff now, but when we all can’t live without it next year, remember you saw it here first. 

So there you have it. Life as it is in college...

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Things I Learn From Teaching College


I teach Public Speaking at a local college. Public Speaking… the course everyone loves to hate.  I started as a part time instructor in 1997, and then took a “full-time” position in 2004.

Over the years, I have seen nearly every imaginable reaction to the thought of giving speeches: from utter confidence to running out of the room crying.  At the beginning of each semester I try to tell to share that bit attributed to Jerry Seinfeld:

Fear of public speaking is ranked higher than the fear of dying. That means if you’re at a funeral you’d rather be the one in the casket than giving the eulogy.

Sometimes that provides perspective. But  sometimes… not so much.  I have seen people throw up, pass out, or turn so red I was sure they were going to have a heart attack. A young man in one of my classes got nervous and ran out of the room during his speech.  I found him a while later wedged in the 8-inch space between the wall and the soda machine at the end of the hall.  I don’t think he was permanently traumatized, but I know I was.

The good news is: almost all these people ended up successfully passing the class.  They may need therapy afterwards, but they passed.

I have found myself recently becoming a wee bit jaded at watching speeches.  Not surprisingly when you consider that I’ve watched over 8000 speeches during the last 10 years.  It becomes monotonous.

But in an effort to become a better listener and instructor I’ve decided to post at least one interesting random fact I learn on speech days.  Not facts about public speaking, just interesting things I learn from the speeches I hear.

So, I present to you, interesting random facts from this semester’s speeches:
Nazca Lines... real??

1. Certain people of European decent will be resistant to HIV because of a genetic mutation that happened when their ancestors survived the Black Plague in the 1300s. Not that I'm going to try to get HIV to find out if I'm one of them...

2. The Nazca Lines exist and are not just something from a sci-fi movie. They were discovered by commercial air flights in the 1930s. Who knew these were actually real ?? And if they are, why isn’t everyone in the world trying to figure out what they really are? 

Bucket List Addition: Four-Corners Monument
3. That I want to add visiting the Four-Corners Monument to my Bucket List. A place where you can be in four different states at one time while playing Twister? Count me in. Right foot - Arizona. Left hand - Colorado...