Does this school do background checks on their teachers?
Where: Lotso's class
When: Today
Who: His students, but OTA
What: Lotso teaches children what his class will be like and also how to persuade people.
Warnings: None, Lotso is just a sweet, cuddly old man who won't say or do anything hurtful. You silly children.<3
[Lotso's class is a little bit different than most at the Academy. It looks more like a kindergarten or a daycare, with pastel-painted walls and an over-all feeling of child like simplicity. There are no desks, and the plastic chairs are arranged in a circle rather than in rows. It's all very welcoming and bright, but at the same time it feels strained. To a trained, cynical eye; the cheery motivational posters around the room seem to give it the sense of trying too hard to be "safe".
Lotso only has to wait for his two students before he begins his lesson.]
[He stands in the middle of the circle of chairs, clearing his throat before he talks.] Now, I'm sure this class ain't gonna be the normal set-up for you two, but this ain't exactly a normal subject. Leadership isn't something you can exactly learn in a book, it's something you gotta figure out in the real world. And really, I can only teach you so much. But what you learn in here is going to be most important when you're out there. There will be no tests on paper, the real tests'll happen when you least expect 'em, when things get tough and people need someone to look up to n' help 'em through it.
Since this class is about real things n' real experiences, there's only so much we can just do in a classroom. This'll be a place where I can help explain to you what bein' a leader means and how it works. After that, you gotta take what you understand and employ it to yerself. There will be no lessons I haven't learned myself and won't be givin' from my own experience. Hopefully, you'll walk away from this feelin' more confident 'bout your abilities, and you'll know what to do when things get bad.
Well then, I s'pose I'll cut to the chase n' get to our first lesson. It's probably somethin' you two have already used plenty of times before without even realizin' it, and it's one of your most important skills if you wanna be a leader. Persuasion's the name of the game when it comes to gettin' people's attention, and it's a great tool for gettin' what you need. First off, when it comes to persuasion you gotta be someone that people can trust. At first glance, you gotta have the air of a leader. You gotta be kind, confident, charismatic; you have to be someone that they KNOW they can place their trust in- and they want to.
Persuasion's a way to guide people toward an idea. You lead people toward goals with words and make 'em want to follow through with what you're sayin'. It's basically just a way to convince people to do what you want, and like I said before, you've prolly already done it! Any time you ask someone for something, they're tryin' to figure out why they would want to give it to you. Will they get somethin' in return? Do they trust you're telling the truth bout what you want? Most of the time it's an easy thing that people don't even notice happening, but there's plenty of other times where you gotta actively convince people of things in order to get anything done.
Now, aside from makin' a good first impression to your audience, your two best tools in makin' an argument are logic and emotion. Now, logic-wise is pretty easy to figure out, and is the safest bet in gaining trust toward what you're saying. While you're givin' your persuasive argument, you explain the hard facts of things. This is somethin' that they'll be able to understand quickly and will help build up yer image as a leader, 'cause it means that you're telling them the truth and they should believe you. Simple as that. But sometimes giving a logical argument doesn't always mean you're givin' a truthful one. Now, I'm not condoning lyin' or anything, but if it SOUNDS like truth, and is described in a logical way, well; chances are that people will believe it. It works as logical persuasion as long as it sounds correct and people are agreein' with the ideas. Actually, havin' people lie is a good way to counter a persuasive argument. If you hear someone spreadin' lies and sayin' it's truth, when you call them out on it it shows to other people that you're a more trustworthy leader than they are. Lying's a double-edged sword, it'll only work until someone figures you out.
As for the emotion side of things, that one's a bit less set-in-stone than facts n truth. Persuadin' people by their emotions means that what you're saying has some sort of emotional importance to them- what you're sayin' might make them excited, upset; and in it's most dangerous form- angry. This kinda persuasion might take advantage of feelings someone already has- if they don't like somethin' and you're providing more reasons for them to not like it; they're going to agree and want to follow you in changin' that. If you're tellin' em something that makes them sad, something they pity, they'll want to know how to fix that too. Emotions are a lock-n-key to persuadin' people, as soon as folks get their emotions ridin' on an idea, they're not gonna let go- even if logic says otherwise. This one can snap back at ya if used in the wrong way too, 'specially since emotions are a powerful thing. It can get people on yer side easily, but if the things you're persuadin' over fall apart-they'll feel betrayed, and you're the one who made 'em invest their feelings in it.
There's more to it than that, of course, but that's just a quick look at how it works. Persuasion's somethin' you gotta be careful with, but it's a skill you need. We'll go over it a bit more in the future for in-class debates and such, and hopefully you'll have it figured out well enough that as time goes on that you can use it on your own time.
When: Today
Who: His students, but OTA
What: Lotso teaches children what his class will be like and also how to persuade people.
Warnings: None, Lotso is just a sweet, cuddly old man who won't say or do anything hurtful. You silly children.<3
[Lotso's class is a little bit different than most at the Academy. It looks more like a kindergarten or a daycare, with pastel-painted walls and an over-all feeling of child like simplicity. There are no desks, and the plastic chairs are arranged in a circle rather than in rows. It's all very welcoming and bright, but at the same time it feels strained. To a trained, cynical eye; the cheery motivational posters around the room seem to give it the sense of trying too hard to be "safe".
Lotso only has to wait for his two students before he begins his lesson.]
[He stands in the middle of the circle of chairs, clearing his throat before he talks.] Now, I'm sure this class ain't gonna be the normal set-up for you two, but this ain't exactly a normal subject. Leadership isn't something you can exactly learn in a book, it's something you gotta figure out in the real world. And really, I can only teach you so much. But what you learn in here is going to be most important when you're out there. There will be no tests on paper, the real tests'll happen when you least expect 'em, when things get tough and people need someone to look up to n' help 'em through it.
Since this class is about real things n' real experiences, there's only so much we can just do in a classroom. This'll be a place where I can help explain to you what bein' a leader means and how it works. After that, you gotta take what you understand and employ it to yerself. There will be no lessons I haven't learned myself and won't be givin' from my own experience. Hopefully, you'll walk away from this feelin' more confident 'bout your abilities, and you'll know what to do when things get bad.
Well then, I s'pose I'll cut to the chase n' get to our first lesson. It's probably somethin' you two have already used plenty of times before without even realizin' it, and it's one of your most important skills if you wanna be a leader. Persuasion's the name of the game when it comes to gettin' people's attention, and it's a great tool for gettin' what you need. First off, when it comes to persuasion you gotta be someone that people can trust. At first glance, you gotta have the air of a leader. You gotta be kind, confident, charismatic; you have to be someone that they KNOW they can place their trust in- and they want to.
Persuasion's a way to guide people toward an idea. You lead people toward goals with words and make 'em want to follow through with what you're sayin'. It's basically just a way to convince people to do what you want, and like I said before, you've prolly already done it! Any time you ask someone for something, they're tryin' to figure out why they would want to give it to you. Will they get somethin' in return? Do they trust you're telling the truth bout what you want? Most of the time it's an easy thing that people don't even notice happening, but there's plenty of other times where you gotta actively convince people of things in order to get anything done.
Now, aside from makin' a good first impression to your audience, your two best tools in makin' an argument are logic and emotion. Now, logic-wise is pretty easy to figure out, and is the safest bet in gaining trust toward what you're saying. While you're givin' your persuasive argument, you explain the hard facts of things. This is somethin' that they'll be able to understand quickly and will help build up yer image as a leader, 'cause it means that you're telling them the truth and they should believe you. Simple as that. But sometimes giving a logical argument doesn't always mean you're givin' a truthful one. Now, I'm not condoning lyin' or anything, but if it SOUNDS like truth, and is described in a logical way, well; chances are that people will believe it. It works as logical persuasion as long as it sounds correct and people are agreein' with the ideas. Actually, havin' people lie is a good way to counter a persuasive argument. If you hear someone spreadin' lies and sayin' it's truth, when you call them out on it it shows to other people that you're a more trustworthy leader than they are. Lying's a double-edged sword, it'll only work until someone figures you out.
As for the emotion side of things, that one's a bit less set-in-stone than facts n truth. Persuadin' people by their emotions means that what you're saying has some sort of emotional importance to them- what you're sayin' might make them excited, upset; and in it's most dangerous form- angry. This kinda persuasion might take advantage of feelings someone already has- if they don't like somethin' and you're providing more reasons for them to not like it; they're going to agree and want to follow you in changin' that. If you're tellin' em something that makes them sad, something they pity, they'll want to know how to fix that too. Emotions are a lock-n-key to persuadin' people, as soon as folks get their emotions ridin' on an idea, they're not gonna let go- even if logic says otherwise. This one can snap back at ya if used in the wrong way too, 'specially since emotions are a powerful thing. It can get people on yer side easily, but if the things you're persuadin' over fall apart-they'll feel betrayed, and you're the one who made 'em invest their feelings in it.
There's more to it than that, of course, but that's just a quick look at how it works. Persuasion's somethin' you gotta be careful with, but it's a skill you need. We'll go over it a bit more in the future for in-class debates and such, and hopefully you'll have it figured out well enough that as time goes on that you can use it on your own time.