Week 10 blog post

Past experiences of public speaking – the good, the bad, and the awful

The Good

As far as good experiences go with public speaking – I haven’t had any. Hopefully this last assignment will be a good experience for me!

The Bad

My first bad experience with public speaking was in 2016, my first year of university, I had to do a group presentation regarding the dairy industry in New Zealand. For this presentation I had done my research, so I was quite confident. As we all stood up to present our work I had no worries in my mind; I was second to present my part of the assignment. When my turn came I had a sudden realization that I did not know how to change the slides on our PowerPoint file, so I decided to try pushing random buttons until I found the right one- once I found the right button I had passed my slide; out of frustration I accidentally swore in front of everyone! Once I realized that I swore, I said Sh*t and swore again *hahaha*. I had no choice but to continue my speech as if nothing happened, with all said and done, I ended up doing quite well and achieving highly, thankfully!

The Awful

I remember one time in high school, my two best friends and I were doing a speech in assembly, I can’t remember what it was about, but I do remember when it came to do my part of the speech. I looked into my friend’s eyes just as she finished and it was my turn to begin. She gave me a cheeky smile and I couldn’t keep it together, I started to giggle as if my muscles were having a seizure and I tried to speak in between laughs but I even couldn’t understand what I was saying, as if I had a frog in the back of my mouth. In the end, I burst out in a hearty island laugh and then all of us were laughing, we never finished the speech, my teacher wasn’t impressed and neither was the principal, I’m just glad we did the speech as volunteers and not as an academic criterion. 

Week 9 - Team analysis

Our Report team consists of three members.
Sam - 'The Coordinator', Evan - 'The Teamworker', and myself, Zinettie - also a 'Teamworker'.
When it comes to leadership in our team, Sam is our team leader. However, any important decisions we make as a team. Evan and I make suggestions and we are guided my our leader Sam.
As far as strengths and weaknesses go, our strengths consist of our ability to produce ideas, and communicate with each other in an effective manner. The weaknesses in our team are mostly due to us being unavailable to discuss ideas at particular times of the day due to prior engagements.

During the writing process our team started slow, we discussed our ideas with each other and made suggestions in order to come up with a plan which suited us all. As the assignment progressed, our team developed in a sense that we became more adept at effectively communicating at times which suited us all.

I believe our team was successful in achieving the tasks that were laid out to us in this group report. At times, we got confused as to exactly what was expected of us; but, in the end we completed the assignment to the best of our ability - after all, this is all we could have hoped for.

Week 8 Topic - how my team is working

This week I will talk about how my remote team is working, in correspondence to my week 6 topic which was how to work in a remote team.

My remote team consists of three of us: Sam (the team leader), Evan, and myself. Evan and I are more so supports and do things “behind the scenes” in correspondent to the leader/ editor.

We all make decisions by consulting one another and putting each other’s opinions in perspective. We seek advice in each other and never make a final decision without us all agreeing.

The only frustration of working in a remote team is that we all have different schedules and time zones, therefore we all reply at a different time. When we need a decision or an opinion on something, it may not come to a resolution straight away, but only when everyone has looked at the message or on our group to do list on Trello (our online to do list).

This however, is not all bad, as it means every single one of us can go on and alter things when we have time to dedicate towards the group report. It is at our own convenience, which makes it allot less stressful as it means we can all work together in our own time. Although, some things do take time, which is why we do our best to plan ahead and look at what we have to do for the following week.

 With all that been said, my team is very chilled and open to ideas. I believe this is so because of our forward thinking and the fact that we work well together. 

Week 6 blog post - working in remote teams.

The pros and cons of working in remote teams and how to get around obstacles that may occur.

Working in remote teams allow communication to proceed no matter the different time zones or the different schedules people have.

A disadvantage is not being able to communicate vertically and whether your teams works well together. Having the wrong team members is also a big disadvantage. 

These disadvantages can be overcome by setting up certain tools like Trello or google documents, allowing everyone to access documents and plan for a task. It shows when they should be done and who they should be done by. This makes a good process to get the team working as a team and having the ability to prioritize time and tasks. Good processes make it easy to get work done in the absence of all else. It provides structure and direction for getting things done (Foster, W).

It is important to have structure for team meetings. A helpful way of doing this is by using certain tools, like iDoneThis app. This helps to stay on top of what everyone is getting done on a day-to-day basis, helps eliminate blocks as they come up and keeps everyone up-to-date on what everyone else is up to. 

Ground rules for communication are also essential in a successful remote team. An example of a great ground rule is to keep up to date, not only on personal tasks but the tasks of members of your team. This can be achieved by gaining a habit of daily feedback to improve and/or develop efficient cooperation within the team.

In the little time, I’ve been working in a remote team, I have learnt the importance of feedback and support. A random check-in with someone in the group who may have some input or greater knowledge than I on a certain subject is one way to gain feedback and support.

Appointing a team leader has been the most important key. By keeping the team motivated to complete tasks, our team leader has provided great structure within the team and has been one with the most experience and one with the greatest devotion to the team.

The rest of the team is a support to the leader. As the leader needs helpers to get things done. The importance of proper support and trust within the leader will lead to a functioning remote team.

Reference:

Foster, W. How to work in a remote team. Retrieved from http://www.zapier.com

Naming Plants! What I’ve learn from The Flora of New Zealand.

The current system of binomial nomenclature (meaning ‘two name’) was devised by the Swedish botanist, zoologist, and physician, Carl Linnaeus in 1753. This system uses a two-part name for the naming of plants, the first part is the genus, this is ALWAYS either underlined, or in italics and MUST be capitalised. The second part is the species, this is also always either underlined, or in italics however, it is not capitalised. For example, the scientific name for the Nikau palm is Rhopalostylis sapida. Rhopalostylis is the genus, and sapida is the species. The formal binomial also includes the authority, the person who first described the plant and published the name. This is often abbreviated, for example, Bellis perennis L. indicates that Linnaeus (abbreviated as L.) first described this plant and published the name.

If you discover a new species and wish to give it a formal name, there are a set of certain rules you must follow for your plant name to be accepted. These strict rules are outlined in the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. Among the many rules are a few of the very basics including:

-        The name must be validly and effectively published. This means that the name and description of the plant must be published in a scientific journal which is accessible to the botanical community.

-        A type specimen must be lodged in a valid herbarium. A type specimen represents the original plant used to write the description for the new species, this must be dried and pressed and stored in a valid herbarium (kind of like a library for preserved plant bits).

Once these, and a few other, conditions are met then your chosen name will become valid for the newly discovered plant and you may go down in the history books as the authority for that discovery!

I hope you guys enjoyed learning about the naming of plants as much as I did! 

Debate

“So let me begin by asking, what sort of nation do we want to build?

Is it to be a modern democratic society, embodying the essential notion of one rule for all in a single nation state?

Or is it the racially divided nation, with two sets of laws, and two standards of citizenship, that the present Labour Government is moving us steadily towards?”

“In both education and healthcare, government funding is now influenced not just by need – as it should be – but also by the ethnicity of the recipient.” Don Brash (leader of the National Party) said, during his Orewa speech in 2004.

This week’s topic for my blog post is based on the debate question: should there be measures to extend preventive health care for Maori, and should this be a top priority in the New Zealand government.

In an article named: Effects of self-reported racial discrimination and deprivation on Māori health and inequalities in New Zealand: cross-sectional study by R Harris, that based on their studies, Māori were more likely to report experiences of self-reported racial discrimination in all instances assessed and was almost ten times more likely to experience discrimination in three or more settings than were Europeans. And in another article published by the AJPH, said that there was a need to improve Maori health. They gave two potential approaches to improving access to and quality of health care for Maoris are (1) development of a system of Maori health care provider services and (2) initiation of cultural safety education.

Improving access to care is crucial to addressing health disparities, and increasing evidence suggests that Maoris and non-Maoris differ in terms of access to primary and secondary health care services.

Now, Don Brash is clearly against the measure to extend preventive health care for Maori, based upon his Orewa speech in 2004. And considering he was once the leader of the National Party, he believed it shouldn’t be a top priority in New Zealand government. On the other hand, the two articles I spoke about above, were based on surveys and studies and as their studies showed that there should be something put in place for Maori’ health care.

References:

NATIONHOOD - Don Brash Speech Orewa Rotary Club                                                         Tuesday, 27 January 2004, 8:29 pm                                                                                               Speech: New Zealand National Party

Harris, R. (2006). Effects of self-reported racial discrimination and deprivation on Maori health and inequalities in New Zealand: a cross-sectional study. The Lancet, 367(9527), 2005-2009.

Ellison-Loschmann. L., & Pearce, N. (2011).  Improving access to health care among New Zealand Maori population. The American Journal of Public health (AJPH).

Week 2 - Assignment writing! Back again with the good stuff (;

Hey Guys! Back Again =)



If you've ever had trouble in the past finding good sources for your assignments, this is for you!

So, bear with me as I try enlighten you =)



First off, if you've ever wanted to write an assignment and actually do well in it, make sure your resources are legitimate! Trust me, them lecturers know!

In the past, or shall I say last semester, I missed out big time on getting a pass on one of my most important assignments, due to my poor choice of resources. Boom! Yes, shattering, I know but, I deserved it. It taught me an important lesson and now I know haha.



Secondly, Wikipedia is a no-no, if you have ever wanted to search for an article with legitimate references, try google scholar. Many research papers get are available there. So, that’s the first stop for me when finding references. I wish I knew that in my first year ;).



Thirdly, do some physical searching through a university library or public library if the university is not nearby. It’s incredible what you can find, if you actually go looking ;).



Lastly, seek knowledge from someone who has experience with the topic you wish to write about. This is something I wish I had done in my past papers and assignments. (The only thing that was stopping me was my shyness and pure laziness to be honest haha). But in all seriousness, asking an expert is a very good way to go in terms of knowledge of resources, as well as getting help with any assignments. And you could even ask if they can proofread your work! SO don't be like me and get too lazy, get off your behind and get socializing hehe ;)



There you go, short and sweet, and hopefully worth the read =)

If you don't know, now you know bloggers ;)

And now.. Innntroooducinggg... ZInettie!

Hi there reader! My name is Zinettie Clark, 

The following is a brief introduction about myself and this blog.

I am currently a Student at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand. I am studying towards a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Ecology. I chose Ecology as my major because I have a strong interest in learning more about the conservation of New Zealand’s native flora and fauna, as well as what is required to keep New Zealand’s environment pristine for future generations to enjoy it as I have enjoyed it.

Originally, I was enrolled at Massey studying an Agricultural Science degree. Whilst attempting to complete this degree I took a course called Molecules to Ecology – this turned out to be the most interesting course I had done yet, and it sparked an interest in Ecology for me. After struggling to take interest in my other papers, I decided to change degrees. This turned out to be the best decision I had made during my time at University.

A major in Ecology will hopefully help me to achieve a couple of my ambitions. I one-day hope to be able to use my experiences to help people, and I would also like to fulfill my dream of working in an outdoors environment surrounded by plants and animals.

I expect that this course in communication in the sciences will provide me with the skills and knowledge to be able to effectively communicate my ideas with others within the scientific community, and towards a more general audience.

I believe communication is an indispensable quality to possess to be able to communicate my ideas in a manner which is accessible, clear and concise. This will be valuable for my future career in Ecology as it is important to be able to effectively present ideas in a way which is able to be easily understood by everyone, whether they are government employees, scientific professionals, or members of the public.

I believe my strengths as a communicator lie in my ability to empathize with others and understand other’s perspectives. My weaknesses however, include my difficulties with some concepts within the English language and being able to verbalize some of my ideas.

Every week I will be posting about a new topic, sharing my ideas and perspective so stay tuned... and keep on swimming (: