In the, "Mock Trial" project, we are assigned to help decide the fate of someone who has been charged of a certain crime. We are assigned to be either a defendant, or prosecutor, and are tasked to play those roles as best as possible to win our case. We are either assigned as a lawyer, or witness. Lawyers deal with direct, and cross examining witnesses, and also work on opening and closing statements. Witnesses are assigned a character, and have to play that role to the best of their ability In this project, and try their best to help the side there on to hopefully win the case.
In the project, I was assigned to be a lawyer and defendant of a kid named Casey Campbell who was charged with aggravated murder for placing a bomb in a trash can at the school. Since I was a lawyer, my job was to defend this person by making the prosecution look incorrect, and I was also in charge of making a closing statement. My defense side made our main point in making it look like one of the prosecutions witnesses framed Casey for this crime. When it came time for the actual debate, it was my turn to cross examine. The witness that was on stand was one of the key roles in our victory. I started with basic questions. "Why were you here during this time... When did you see this crime take place...". I kept questioning and questioning, waiting for a moment that the witness might say something wrong. I turned back to the jury every once in a while, explaining the situation, and what the witness was saying. Each question made the witness more nervous, and I'd make sure to stay on the subjects that the witness found hard to answer. Eventually, the witness panicked, and lied on a question I gave her. I showed the jury what the witness had said on the testimony as apposed to just then, and ended the questioning. My questioning had led to our witness lying, a key part in our trial, and one of the most important parts in the trial. Throughout the debate I then took note of everything that the prosecution had said, this was very important for the end for when I was going to make my closing statement. After the prosecutions closing statement ended, I was confident and ready to give my final word on the case. I heard many points that were brought up by them that I felt I could easily rebuttal. I had a paper with my closing statement on it, but set that aside for the beginning. I made sure to prove all of the major points they brought up to be wrong, and said so as I faced the jury. I made sure they were going to take in everything I said. After finishing the closing statement strong, I was done. The jury had made their vote, and our side won. One of the biggest takeaways I got from this project was thinking on my feet. As someone who is now working on things like improv, this was important. I couldn't just read off my script the entire time, I had to make sure to always think and take notes to come up with creative questions and rebuttals. That skill helped me probably the greatest out of them during the trial itself. It's one of the skills I believe led us to winning the case. Another great skill I learned was confidence. I watched another group do their trial before me, and some of the students lacked that skill. The students I liked the most during that trial were the ones that had confidence, and weren't afraid to speak. And ultimately, I sided with those people. When you come up and look confident, you seem much more persuasive. People are more interested in what you have to say. When I came up during the trial, my goal was to stay confident while shattering the other teams confidence (not in a rude way though). I came up on there, and wasn't afraid to speak. I used our best evidence to question the other side, and prove them wrong. Not looking fearful was important to me, because as soon as I looked fearful to the other side, I would look less credible. This project helped me greatly overall. The skills I learned like thinking on my feet and staying confident not only helped me win the trial, but will help greatly as a life skill. I learned how to convince people to your side, using evidence and logic. I even learned what to believe and not to believe based on evidence, and how to choose who you believe. It's very important in my opinion to know these skills, and I'm glad I learned those skills while doing this project.
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Hi, My name is Canon Stringer. I am currently 14 years old as I am posting this, and attending High Tech High North County. I have previously been at the middle school, and before that I was with the Classical Academy branch.
I have two siblings, an older sister and younger brother. I also have one dog, and two cats (One of them is three legged). I currently play tennis, and used to play baseball for a long time. I still enjoy baseball and like to watch it frequently. I love music, play the piano, and have been taking jazz lessons. Some of my favorite bands include Coldplay, Fleetwood Mac, and The Smashing Pumpkins. I have a love for reading, and also enjoy math. I can't exactly pick one favorite movie, but some of my favorites are The Dark Knight, Forrest Gump, and The Empire Strikes Back. My favorite TV show of all time has to be the office. I currently don't really know where I want to go in the future, or what I want to do as a career, but I'm hoping my interests will take me somewhere that I'll love. Though I'd really like to be in a band, and hope I can make happen. On this blog I expect to post some writing I do in class, and maybe other school related things. |
AuthorHi, I'm Canon Stringer. Archives
October 2018
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