Wow. The summer class is done. Sunday we had persuasive speeches, I graded them, and posted the grades this morning. Now it's three weeks till I'm back on contract.
Many folks improved for their persuasive speeches. They took the comments made by their evaluation partners to heart. Others obviously just wanted to get the class over and done with the quickest way possible.
My favorite speech of the day was one on why COCC should pay more attention to food allergies and food intolerance, especially in the food offered on campus. I liked this speech for many reasons. First, it was on a very local issue. Second, it was quite well researched. Third, the speaker had a personal stake in the issue.
I'm always a big fan of local and personal. I pretty much get bored with issues I've heard like a bazillion times -- global warming, nutrition, and exercise among them. I'm not bored with the people who give the speeches. Just with the topics.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Informative Speeches
Had a great collection of informative speeches yesterday. We talked about rescue dogs, the Milgram studies, music therapy, the symbolic meaning of the eagle and many other things. My favorite speech, however, was the one on Anthrax, or Bacillus Anthracis. It was well organized, had plenty of data, and was something I didn't know anything about. The student who gave the speech was able to clarify a very complicated topic.
There were a couple of speeches on very complicated topics that were probably a bit too big for the 6 minute time limit. The speech on American monetary policy wound up being interesting but confusing. A presentation on Global Warming seemed to give a few different descriptions of what caused the problem but didn't completely hang together.
One thing I've noticed is that the biggest reason people do poorly in my classes is that they don't read the directions. I think I've done a pretty good job explaining exactly what people need to do to succeed in the course but sometimes I think people don't actually pay attention to their own opportunities for success.
Today I'll be hearing the persuasive speeches. I'm missing a few students. I hope that the folks who attended yesterday attend today. I've also got a couple of people who showed up and did the work for the first weekend but who haven't shown up this weekend. I fear that unless they contact me they'll wind up getting Fs. I hate giving failing grades.
There were a couple of speeches on very complicated topics that were probably a bit too big for the 6 minute time limit. The speech on American monetary policy wound up being interesting but confusing. A presentation on Global Warming seemed to give a few different descriptions of what caused the problem but didn't completely hang together.
One thing I've noticed is that the biggest reason people do poorly in my classes is that they don't read the directions. I think I've done a pretty good job explaining exactly what people need to do to succeed in the course but sometimes I think people don't actually pay attention to their own opportunities for success.
Today I'll be hearing the persuasive speeches. I'm missing a few students. I hope that the folks who attended yesterday attend today. I've also got a couple of people who showed up and did the work for the first weekend but who haven't shown up this weekend. I fear that unless they contact me they'll wind up getting Fs. I hate giving failing grades.
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