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SPEAKER: So after perhaps the
fourth draft of my script,

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the world is beginning to
look like a fractal, which

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is in a way cool, because
even the creation of a script,

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if you think about
it, is a fractal.

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I've been creating all these
drafts that are very similar,

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and it seems that the
script writing process

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has been endless and infinite.

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But hopefully it will and.

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I'm actually enjoying
it at this point,

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even though it has been
a lot of the same thing.

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But every day, I come back and
I do more research on fractals,

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and I learn many
cool things, which

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then makes the decision of
what to put in the video

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and what to take out
a lot more difficult.

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But I managed to cut it
down to about 600 words

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at this point, which clocks
at around four minutes and 10

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seconds in a fast rate, so that
does give me a bit of leeway.

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I can't really think
of other things

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I could add, though
I can certainly

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see some things I could take
out that I wouldn't want

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to take out, but that's always
been the biggest struggle,

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because there's so much cool
associated with fractals.

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And there is a reason why I
started seeing the whole world

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as a fractal, because
there are so many patterns

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and repetitions in everything.

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Right now, I'm looking at my
corkboard, and it's a fractal.

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And the walls of east
campus look pretty random,

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but I'm sure there's
some repetitions there.

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And this makes math really
cool, because essentially, it

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is the study of patterns, and
as long as you can discover

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those patterns,
you can then apply

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them to solve real-world
problems, which

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is what I wanted to
convey to the viewer

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because that's not the
side of mathematics people

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usually learn.

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And when you tell them that,
in math, we study patterns

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and we use them
to solve problems,

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that's often surprising because
we are taught so many tools

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in school, that we don't
even think about how

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to apply them usually.

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And I think that's
very sad, because it's

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the applications that make
math really cool, or otherwise

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the concepts that are not
really offered at school,

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like infinity.

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So that's about the video.

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Today's class was a lot of fun.

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I know I mentioned that I
was excited for the critique,

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but there was still
a bit of a concern

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that I wouldn't handle it very
well, that it would be somehow

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a saddening or worrisome
experience, which

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really wasn't like that at all.

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I appreciated all the
things that were said.

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I suspected more
criticism, because that

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may have been more
helpful, but in the end,

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I came back home, I looked
over all of the comments

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from constructors, and
they made a lot more sense

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after the session when people
actually said them out loud.

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And I also looked at the
suggestions by my classmates.

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And even though the structure of
the video and most of the words

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are different from what it was
at the beginning of the day,

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a lot of those suggestions
are still a part of it.

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And hopefully I was able
to incorporate them all.

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I checked, but like
I said, the script

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changed so much that it's
difficult to pinpoint

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the minor changes.

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And I guess my biggest concern
was the overall structure,

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and that's something I felt
was a bit off when I originally

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wrote the script, but I also
thought that I could improve

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that by showing a lot of
cool images and animations,

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which isn't how it works.

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So, I am happy that
I got to cut it down.

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That's something
I've always enjoyed

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with every piece of writing
I've done-- cutting out

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the unnecessary words, to me,
has always seemed like the most

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necessary thing to do.

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At least that's the
way I was taught,

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because five years ago, I
would write sentences that

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had three or four
adjectives in a row

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that I thought were absolutely
essential to the story,

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and if you introduced
a character,

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you had to describe all
of his or her clothing.

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So I learned the hard way that
that really wasn't the way

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to do things, and I thought
I learned that lesson,

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but I'm still learning
five years later

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to cut things out
and sacrifice what I

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think is absolutely essential.

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Except this time it's
not four adjectives

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but it's a ton of fun
math facts that to

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me are absolutely
amazing, but to others

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are probably
overwhelming, because they

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have five minutes to learn about
this stuff, and I had hours.

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But, hours were spent
to cut things down,

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and they have been cut.

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I'm really glad with the way
the class has made me feel

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about my writing abilities.

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I guess it was nice to see my
weaknesses and my strengths,

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because now I understand
better how to describe

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mathematical concepts.

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I always felt-- I always went
for the really abstract, shock

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value kind of math
facts, but that's not

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what I've been trying
to do with the video,

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and that is really nice.

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And I always go back
to the conversations

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that I had with the sixth
graders and just remember them

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and the things they
were interested

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and the vocabulary they knew.

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So that was an
essential learning

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experiences-- an essential
learning experience.

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That said, I don't think I have
anything to add at this point.

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Looking forward to more
comments on the script.

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Hopefully there are
fewer of them this time.

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Although, I can probably think
of ways to improve the script,

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and I can definitely do that
again tomorrow, if necessary.

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With the absence of the
final statement, I end this.

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Farewell.