Just finished my first full weekend of this spring's Redmond Public Speaking Bootcamp. My new way of teaching the course, with the small assignments, just didn't work this time. I need to reconstruct the workshop and make the various assignments more appropriate. I have to say I felt pretty stupid and very tired most of the day. I like the students in the class -- it's an interesting mix but mostly older. I haven't had such a non-traditional age class for more than 8 years. Like many community colleges around the country, we are seeing more traditional age students in our classes.
I'm thinking that I need to get my behind in gear and make samples of each of the small assignments and create my own full examples of the informative and persuasive speeches.
Also, you know, it gets harder to crank out the kind of energy I need for the weekend classes.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Making Mistakes
I made some mistakes in my morning public speaking class. The biggest one was made as I was assessing an assignment early this morning. For some reason I got going too fast and forgot the total count for the paperwork assignment. After grading the speeches (all 40 points) I just had it in my head that the top grade for the paperwork was 40 as well, instead of 25. Sigh. One student called this to my attention after class. Harm done by that time so instead of taking back the papers I just decided to give everyone who turned in the work an extra 15 points. In the great scheme of the class it won't make that much difference. Still, I hate it when I make stupid mistakes like that.
I think it's because I've had a cold and been hitting the antihistamines too hard. Either that or I'm just having the usual, "hit the wall, go through the wall, rebuild the wall, paint on the wall" spring quarter.
I think it's because I've had a cold and been hitting the antihistamines too hard. Either that or I'm just having the usual, "hit the wall, go through the wall, rebuild the wall, paint on the wall" spring quarter.
Implanting Memories about Fritalians
I made my Interpersonal Communication students watch the Dunkin Donuts commercial as part of our discussion of perception. We watched the ad (on youtube) in class and then I asked them to describe two characters and make inferences about them. I also asked them, "which character was wearing a red shirt." After they wrote notes individually, they interacted in groups. As I circulated among them, I kept asking, "Who do you remember wearing the red shirt?" Different people had different memories.
There is no red shirt in the ad.
Yet, they became, with my insistance, sure that they remembered.
This is the best classroom activity I've ever performed concerning the flexibility of memory. It also afforded an excellent example of how perceptions vary. A fun activity.
There is no red shirt in the ad.
Yet, they became, with my insistance, sure that they remembered.
This is the best classroom activity I've ever performed concerning the flexibility of memory. It also afforded an excellent example of how perceptions vary. A fun activity.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Cheating Exercise
This morning my T Th class did their "main point" presentations and most of them focused on "cheating in school".
Just to clarify, the "main point" speaking activity is a partial speech assignment. I have them create a single main point and find statistics and a story to support it. They choose one of four main points from a speech about cheating. I started using this as a speaking assignment when I had to start generating data about student learning outcomes for our accreditation. So I had to get all rubricized and quantitative.
Anyway, I love this assignment because it helps them work with research AND visual aids and trains them to give the source of their research. ALSO, because of the topic they focus on, it gets them thinking about the ethics of the American people...which, statistically, are pretty questionable. Most interesting statistic came from the 2001 McCabe, Trevino, Butterfield study on Cheating in Institutions http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/plagiarism/docs/McCabe_et_al.pdf
This assignment also gives them another opportunity to speak and this morning they seemed less nervous and lots more energetic.
I like this class.
Just to clarify, the "main point" speaking activity is a partial speech assignment. I have them create a single main point and find statistics and a story to support it. They choose one of four main points from a speech about cheating. I started using this as a speaking assignment when I had to start generating data about student learning outcomes for our accreditation. So I had to get all rubricized and quantitative.
Anyway, I love this assignment because it helps them work with research AND visual aids and trains them to give the source of their research. ALSO, because of the topic they focus on, it gets them thinking about the ethics of the American people...which, statistically, are pretty questionable. Most interesting statistic came from the 2001 McCabe, Trevino, Butterfield study on Cheating in Institutions http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/plagiarism/docs/McCabe_et_al.pdf
This assignment also gives them another opportunity to speak and this morning they seemed less nervous and lots more energetic.
I like this class.
WAKE UP FRITALIANS! Part 1 Dunkin
Ok. So right now I am obsessed with two commercials -- the Dunkin Donuts Fritalian spot and the Pepsi Max head bouncer with "What Is Love?" as its driving tune. What these ads share is hooky music that shot its tendrils deep into my cerebellum and a humorous take on American diversity.
So let's take a look at each one.
Dunkin Donuts "Must be Fritalian"
This ad takes aim at Starbucks and those businesses that try to match the global corporation's pseudo-European linguistic universe. In the commercial we, the viewers (intended audience) are represented by a cluster of singing heads that show their confusion about the words on the wall menu of a coffee shop.
Their faces are twisted in confusion as they say in a deadpan monotone, "Ocho half-caf latte chino mocha due avec moi." We begin with the back of a short haired white head and then look, syllable by syllable, at a collection of faces. After seeing them individually, we see them as a line of eight people who stare over the head of the barista at strange word formations as they sing (in a melody line that could have been ripped from a 90s Seattle grunge band, another slap at the Starbucks fantasy of its beginnings), "My mouth can't form these words. My mind can't find these words. Is it French, or is it Italian. Perhaps Fritalian."
At this point I want to share my ideas about who these people are supposed to be and why we are supposed to "identify" with them. (I always suppose that makers of commercials are trying to "establish consubstantiality," as my hero Kenneth Burke would have said.) (For more about Burke, see http://bradley.bradley.edu/~ell/burke.html ) I believe that this commercial is about not just Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks but a particular vision of what it means to be American.
So, who is trapped in Starbucks and would, in the vision of the commercial, be better served by Dunkin Donuts where they speak English? First I should note that all the singers and the Barista are wearing gray, white, black and gray-green to stand out from the yellowish background of the coffee shop wall but also to blend together and give us the impression that they inhabit a bland world of sameness. The ten characters in the shop are the following:
#1 Normal Young-Guy. In his thirties, wearing a muddy green t-shirt over a gray undershirt. He's nice looking but not spectacular (his features are even, hair clean, face oval, eyes hazel). He's our jogger, bicyclist, grad student type. The sort who isn't yet at work in the morning of a workday. Maybe he e-commutes. Average guy, though.
#2 Biz man. In his early forties. He too is not bad looking. A bit plain but still even featured; has all his hair (and its full if not styled). His brown eyes are a bit small but the lines on his face are friendly. He has a tie and bluish shirt. He's on his way to work. He stands in for those normal working people who once-upon-a-time had coffee perking on the kitchen counter but now have coffee outside of home on their way in to the office.
#3 Grunge dude (skate boarder?). Blond hair shaggy flip over cut stacked under thick as though teased or dirty. Empty stoner gold stoner eyes. Very dry lips. He's been smoking pot somewhere and wandered in for his morning treat and now stands confused before the sign. He is us in our youth, before we started earning money. Or, he represents the actual stoner watching the commercial.
#4 African-American woman. Representing American diversity. She wears her natural tied back and up on top of her head. She is going to work. Has tiny hoops in her ears, suggesting, along with her skirt and shirt, that she works in a conservative office environment. So she represents not only American diversity but also cubical workers. Because her hair is natural but controlled, we understand her as seeking authenticity in a bureaucratized world. (If she had bleached or ironed hair she would represent giving in to dominant authority.)
#5 Thin Blond. Her long blond bangs reach down to her pale blue eyes. She has long straight hair. Her chin, in this ad, is a bit too pointy so her beauty isn't perfect. In my youth she would have been a hippie. Now she may be a housewife, soccer mom, or rich woman on her way to the spa. Her face is pretty and she has a full lower lip. But she is not played up as beautiful. She is an ordinary but especially nice looking woman. The typical too-thin American blond. (She wants a skinny double latte.)
#6 Curly red hair guy. Plaid shirt over undershirt, receding hairline. Could be another guy who works at home or a contractor. He has a receding hairline and pale eyes. Nice enough looking but certainly not handsome. He can represent those who still work with their hands for a living OR someone from a family with that background.
#7 Asian (Korean?) business guy. Wearing a gray tie and suit with an over the shoulder bag. He's another representative of American diversity, also stands in for those bound to conservative offices. Has plenty of hair but well back on his head. Possibly thirties, forties. There's something odd about his hairline when you look at it closely in a freezeframe -- almost as though he's wearing a wig. I'm not sure if this is intentional.
#8 (after a pause while the group sings) Red headed woman with twisted mouth. Now, she's been trashed on You Tube for being ugly. She's not. She has an evenly balanced face that she's purposefully wrenching for this commercial by curling her upper lip and acting like she's going to spit. She has large hoop earing than African-American woman and a gold chain. I don't think she's going to work. She may be going shopping. She has gray eyes and her hair is poorly or barely styled. Because she and plaid shirt guy have similar hair, and are standing next to each other, it may be that we are intended to link them, so they represent a married or dating couple.
#9 Short guy. He has a nice face but we never see him in close-up. He stands between blonde woman and Asian biz guy, making both look taller.
#10 Barista. Oh, my. His black hair has this nineties style flock-of-seagulls haircut. When he turns toward the camera in a midshot we see he is wearing expensive glasses. He himself sings along with "perhaps Fritalian" with a sarcastic turn to his lips. He reads a bit gay, a bit goofy nerd.
So, this is an image of the folks Dunkin Donuts hopes will visit their shop -- harried workers, drive by exercisers, wannabe wealthy, and the stoned.
And who already goes to Dunkin? The eleventh character: chunky, white, next-door neighbor workaholic with a big-gulp size latte. We see him first in his reflection and then in his actual physical form. He also is harried -- we see that he has TWO bag straps over his shoulder. His sleeves are rolled up (he's working) and yet he has no tie (he has some freedom in his job).
The announcer proclaims, "Delicious Lattes from Dunkin Donuts. You order them in English, not Fritalian." Our average guy is smiling as he looks into the Coffee A shop and the customers stare back at him in jealousy and aw (check out grunge dude's open mouth).
"America runs on Dunkin" the graphics say at the end, emphasizing the commercial's link to national identity and the Calvin Coolidge's claim that "the business of America is business."
Well, looks like I've got to shower and get to school. No time to deconstruct the Pepsi commercial right now. But stay tuned to these, our stations.
So let's take a look at each one.
Dunkin Donuts "Must be Fritalian"
This ad takes aim at Starbucks and those businesses that try to match the global corporation's pseudo-European linguistic universe. In the commercial we, the viewers (intended audience) are represented by a cluster of singing heads that show their confusion about the words on the wall menu of a coffee shop.
Their faces are twisted in confusion as they say in a deadpan monotone, "Ocho half-caf latte chino mocha due avec moi." We begin with the back of a short haired white head and then look, syllable by syllable, at a collection of faces. After seeing them individually, we see them as a line of eight people who stare over the head of the barista at strange word formations as they sing (in a melody line that could have been ripped from a 90s Seattle grunge band, another slap at the Starbucks fantasy of its beginnings), "My mouth can't form these words. My mind can't find these words. Is it French, or is it Italian. Perhaps Fritalian."
At this point I want to share my ideas about who these people are supposed to be and why we are supposed to "identify" with them. (I always suppose that makers of commercials are trying to "establish consubstantiality," as my hero Kenneth Burke would have said.) (For more about Burke, see http://bradley.bradley.edu/~ell/burke.html ) I believe that this commercial is about not just Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks but a particular vision of what it means to be American.
So, who is trapped in Starbucks and would, in the vision of the commercial, be better served by Dunkin Donuts where they speak English? First I should note that all the singers and the Barista are wearing gray, white, black and gray-green to stand out from the yellowish background of the coffee shop wall but also to blend together and give us the impression that they inhabit a bland world of sameness. The ten characters in the shop are the following:
#1 Normal Young-Guy. In his thirties, wearing a muddy green t-shirt over a gray undershirt. He's nice looking but not spectacular (his features are even, hair clean, face oval, eyes hazel). He's our jogger, bicyclist, grad student type. The sort who isn't yet at work in the morning of a workday. Maybe he e-commutes. Average guy, though.
#2 Biz man. In his early forties. He too is not bad looking. A bit plain but still even featured; has all his hair (and its full if not styled). His brown eyes are a bit small but the lines on his face are friendly. He has a tie and bluish shirt. He's on his way to work. He stands in for those normal working people who once-upon-a-time had coffee perking on the kitchen counter but now have coffee outside of home on their way in to the office.
#3 Grunge dude (skate boarder?). Blond hair shaggy flip over cut stacked under thick as though teased or dirty. Empty stoner gold stoner eyes. Very dry lips. He's been smoking pot somewhere and wandered in for his morning treat and now stands confused before the sign. He is us in our youth, before we started earning money. Or, he represents the actual stoner watching the commercial.
#4 African-American woman. Representing American diversity. She wears her natural tied back and up on top of her head. She is going to work. Has tiny hoops in her ears, suggesting, along with her skirt and shirt, that she works in a conservative office environment. So she represents not only American diversity but also cubical workers. Because her hair is natural but controlled, we understand her as seeking authenticity in a bureaucratized world. (If she had bleached or ironed hair she would represent giving in to dominant authority.)
#5 Thin Blond. Her long blond bangs reach down to her pale blue eyes. She has long straight hair. Her chin, in this ad, is a bit too pointy so her beauty isn't perfect. In my youth she would have been a hippie. Now she may be a housewife, soccer mom, or rich woman on her way to the spa. Her face is pretty and she has a full lower lip. But she is not played up as beautiful. She is an ordinary but especially nice looking woman. The typical too-thin American blond. (She wants a skinny double latte.)
#6 Curly red hair guy. Plaid shirt over undershirt, receding hairline. Could be another guy who works at home or a contractor. He has a receding hairline and pale eyes. Nice enough looking but certainly not handsome. He can represent those who still work with their hands for a living OR someone from a family with that background.
#7 Asian (Korean?) business guy. Wearing a gray tie and suit with an over the shoulder bag. He's another representative of American diversity, also stands in for those bound to conservative offices. Has plenty of hair but well back on his head. Possibly thirties, forties. There's something odd about his hairline when you look at it closely in a freezeframe -- almost as though he's wearing a wig. I'm not sure if this is intentional.
#8 (after a pause while the group sings) Red headed woman with twisted mouth. Now, she's been trashed on You Tube for being ugly. She's not. She has an evenly balanced face that she's purposefully wrenching for this commercial by curling her upper lip and acting like she's going to spit. She has large hoop earing than African-American woman and a gold chain. I don't think she's going to work. She may be going shopping. She has gray eyes and her hair is poorly or barely styled. Because she and plaid shirt guy have similar hair, and are standing next to each other, it may be that we are intended to link them, so they represent a married or dating couple.
#9 Short guy. He has a nice face but we never see him in close-up. He stands between blonde woman and Asian biz guy, making both look taller.
#10 Barista. Oh, my. His black hair has this nineties style flock-of-seagulls haircut. When he turns toward the camera in a midshot we see he is wearing expensive glasses. He himself sings along with "perhaps Fritalian" with a sarcastic turn to his lips. He reads a bit gay, a bit goofy nerd.
So, this is an image of the folks Dunkin Donuts hopes will visit their shop -- harried workers, drive by exercisers, wannabe wealthy, and the stoned.
And who already goes to Dunkin? The eleventh character: chunky, white, next-door neighbor workaholic with a big-gulp size latte. We see him first in his reflection and then in his actual physical form. He also is harried -- we see that he has TWO bag straps over his shoulder. His sleeves are rolled up (he's working) and yet he has no tie (he has some freedom in his job).
The announcer proclaims, "Delicious Lattes from Dunkin Donuts. You order them in English, not Fritalian." Our average guy is smiling as he looks into the Coffee A shop and the customers stare back at him in jealousy and aw (check out grunge dude's open mouth).
"America runs on Dunkin" the graphics say at the end, emphasizing the commercial's link to national identity and the Calvin Coolidge's claim that "the business of America is business."
Well, looks like I've got to shower and get to school. No time to deconstruct the Pepsi commercial right now. But stay tuned to these, our stations.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
First Speeches
(from Myspace)
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
 | First Speeches I had my first speeches today in my morning speech class -- 28 speeches of introduction. They had to introduce one of their classmates to the class. They’re an interesting bunch -- the majority seem committed to school and to their own learning. No one seemed overly nervous and most followed directions well. They were very good at being able to clarify their thesis statements. I look forward to a high quality quarter. |
working Old Lady
Old Lady from April 10, 2008, Myspace
Current mood: 
busy
Great moment in class on Tuesday. One of my students asked about the blue streak in my hair. He asked what it meant because he saw "another old lady" downtown who had the same hairstyle.
"Old Lady!" I said. "Mature? Queenly?" I was thinking, "Hey, I'm middle aged" but really, since I don't expect to live to be 100, I am past middle age. Nevertheless, the term "old lady" isn't one we particularly find positive in our culture and it was interesting that he felt comfortable enough with me the third day of class to use an uncomplimentary (albiet honest) term.
Also, considering that I MAY live for 30 years after my retirement (if I can trust my Dad's DNA) or I may die tomorrow (I always try to remember that "No one knows the day or the hour" for either the end of the world or their own demise I could be seen as old or still having a bit of life left in me.
Moving from My Space
I started a blog on myspace but came to hate the myspace environment very quickly. So the first two entries here will be cut and pasted from my myspace site.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)