Monday Wednesday Finish Up

A few final comments about my Monday Wednesday class.

I forgot to mention that Jenna's speech on why we should get rid of the penny was an excellent presentation that made great use of source material. She also did a great job with her powerpoint visuals.

Today was the final and I had one student who chose to get an F in the course by not giving the make-up of his persuasive presentation. I feel sad about that. Of those who did do their make-up speeches, I was most impressed by Melissa's energy in her speech on recycling as a way of fighting global warming. She had great eye contact and dynamic gestures. She also wore a green shirt to go with her green emphasis.

Another student asked if I would mind if he'd take another class I was teaching.

"I know I'm a terrible student," he said.

I really don't like that concept. There is no such thing as a "good student" or a "bad student." There are students who make choices that aid them in getting good grades or in learning and there are students who make choices that don't aid them. I told this student, "You make choices that I wouldn't make."

The only students that I would think of as "bad students" are those who hurt other people intentionally. I don't mind when people choose against their own academic success. I respect those choices.

Persuasive Speeches

We've come to the end of the persuasive speeches for the quarter. Oh, yeah. Except for the make-up speeches by people who for reasons of illness or slacking didn't get their act together and need to give their speech in the final exam period.

So, what I'm going to do in this entry is talk about the most memorable speeches rather than going over all permitted performances.

Monday/Wednesday Class

Laura's presentation about why we should start saving for retirement now took a dry subject and made it real to the young audience. She proved that social security is collapsing and showed us through her visual aids how much money we could have if we put something away every week. (The audience in the M/W class is largely very young.)

In that same class Tylor showed up in a suit and tie. I love seeing students dressing up in a speech class. When I took speech way back in 1971 we were required to dress up. But the culture has become much more casual. Tylor also spoke with great energy and sincerity. He has a lovely natural style and I think he could become an excellent presenter.

Brian did a good job walking the line between the pro-choice and pro-life believers in a speech in which he tried to convince us that the wording of the abortion laws could lead to confusion in other laws. It was a new argument to me and I thought I would never hear any new arguments in the overwrought abortion debate.

Tuesday/Thursday Class

Andrew's speech about animal cruelty was well adapted to his audience and well structured. He did a good job referring to his source material. He spoke with energy as he told us how we could support PETA.

(An aside: Whenever I think about PETA, though, I gotta tell you that I think about what they would members would say or do about my fur coats. I received a "look" from a young woman on campus last week who asked me, eyebrows down, "Is that a real fur?!?" Yup.)

I was deeply impressed by Ryan's arguments against gun control. He spoke with passion, offered plenty of supporting evidence, and made some excellent points about the necessity of citizens owning and understanding guns. I say this not because I too believe in the importance of an armed citizenry but because he did the work required by the assignment. The speech re-convinced me that all liberals and gays (my people) should definitely be armed and train their children to be capable of handling guns. I'm a big believer The price of freedom is eternal vigilance as Tom Jefferson said. And yes, I have a Deschutes County permit to carry a concealed weapon, just in case you're wondering.

Acacia's speech on homelessness in Central Oregon made excellent use of local statistics. I really love when students choose topics that aren't national and stick to our area. She quoted from governmental sources and gave us the names of organizations we could support, like The Shepherd's House.

What else?

Almost everyone in both classes has improved their delivery over the quarter, which is as it should be. I have been a bit surprised at times when people have chosen not to follow directions and turned in poor outlines. A few folks have turned in essays rather than outlines which, as the directions state, is an automatic zero. But I figure that these folks made their choice to get a zero or made their choice to avoid reading the directions. (I mean, like, there are gigantic arrows pointing to that particular rule!)

Monday/Wednesday First Week November

It's Monday and I haven't yet written about the two days of informative speeches in my Monday/Wednesday class last week. A number of people in the class didn't sign in the first day to give me permission to use their names. So comments on them are left out.

In defense of my procrastination, I'll say that I spent too much time looking for an old picture of myself bird-hunting that I could display along with my discussion of one student's speech. Unfortunately, the graphics file from 2002 was hopelessly corrupted. Sigh. So you won't get to see a picture of me with a shotgun in one hand and a big, phat pheasant-boy in the other.

Monday, November 3

I was impressed with our speakers who shared their personal lives today, including Brian and Ashley. Brian made great eye contact and looked very calm as he talked about diabetes and Ashley engaged with the audience in a very profession, interactive manner during her explanation of TMJ. Lance shared his personal experience with cancer as he spoke to us about different types of the disease.

Others shared their personal interest in sporting events. Becca also spoke energetically about gymnastics and another student spoke about swimming. Scott showed a concern for the earth with his presentation and Andrea showed a concern for the audience with her overview of the pros and cons of energy drinks.

But the Best-Speech-of-the-Day Award goes to Seth and his presentation on the Spartans. It was a well researched presentation about a historical subject that focused on stuff we'd find interesting, like their child hood and training experiences. Seth had plenty of information and showed his interest by speaking with energy. Good job, Seth.

(Spartan cup image is borrowed from http://mkatz.web.wesleyan.edu/Images2/cciv243.CIHAGPanels.html )

Wednesday November 3

Best-Speeches-of-the-Day Award for Wednesday is shared by Rheanna and Melissa for their speeches on SCFE and cannibalism, respectively. Rheanna researched the personal topic of Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis, a hip problem of adolescents. She went beyond telling us of her experience by offering appropriate research about the disease as well as very interesting visual aids. She also spoke with energetic and calm assurance. Melissa shared fascinating information about the pathological, emergency, and social reasons for cannibalism. Because of the great taboos around the activity, it's a fascinating topic. She was clear about her sources of information and her speech was very well organized and easy to follow.

Among the other speakers of the day, Laura's speech on Tourette's Syndrome also stood out because she made an effort to link the topic to what we "knew" from film and television and she sounded well informed. I enjoyed another student's speech on bird hunting because the speaker wore camouflage and made great eye contact. (He hasn't given me permission to use his name.) Sarah's speech on The Beatles had a solid, chronological structure.

I'm definitely looking forward to the persuasive speeches from this class.

T/Th Class 10/30 and 11/4

Like many of my students, I procrastinate all too often. (Especially on volunteer or un-assessed tasks.) Thus my notes about last week's class are late.

Informative Speeches - 10/30/2008

I can't name a Best Speech of the Day for this day because everyone did something well and no speech was perfect. I think the speech I personally enjoyed the most was Steve's presentation on the impact of microbrewery beer on Central Oregon. It was well organized and researched and had lots of local information. Steve also spoke with the energy and natural style that is common to speakers who pick topics on which they have a lot of interest.

Ryan offered good research in his speech on Cocaine and also spoke with energy. Megan also presented her information with a friendly style. Alma managed to get beyond her personal biases and present an object speech about the benefits and dangers of gambling. She also shared personal information with us that touched our hearts. Andrew faced the same challenge of possible bias in his speech about hybrid cars but managed to present pros and cons as well. Speaker 6 (who hasn't given permission to use a name) spoke with passion about a fun travel experience her family enjoyed. Jessica chose the fascinating topic of the Black Death and began and ended her speech with a nursery rhyme as her hook and clincher. This was a very artistic device. In his speech on the Chinese dragon, Rufio also had an artistic structure, motivating us in his introduction and conclusion by showing that China was the most populous nation (and the coming world leader) and suggesting that it would be helpful for us to know something about it's customs.

Informative Speeches - 11/4/2008

An historic election day that was totally ignored in our classroom!

Best Speech of the Day Honors are shared by Abby, MacKenzie, and Scott. All three gave speeches about subjects of interest to students in Central Oregon: piercing, caffeine and snowboarding, respectively. Abby's speech on piercing was well organized, interesting, and delivered with energy and a conversational style. Mackenzie wowed us with the number of sources she used and with her smile. Scott made the effort to dress up, bring his snowboard, and use his visual aids appropriate. Scott also taught us how to get rid of the automatic slide rotation on the latest version of PowerPoint. THANK YOU. I always appreciate students who teach me new aspects of technology.

Each of the other speeches also showed some particularyly appropriate quality. Rachael chose a topic that fascinates everyone - sex - and had lots of data to share. Alex had easy-to-see visuals of the army weaponry he discussed. Jason wore a shirt made out of hemp, the topic of his speech.

Best Work in Speech on 10/28/2008

I got permission from some members of my Tuesday/Thursday class to use their real names when I talk about what people did especially well.

First of all, Best-Speech-Of-The-Day Award goes to Acacia for her speech about two Japanese Festivals. She chose to focus on festivals that would interest a young college audience, she refered clearly to her sources and also had references for her borrowed PowerPoint visuals, and her speech was appropriately organized. She also smiled, made eye contact, and sounded interested and enthusiastic about her topic. Very nice work.

I also appreciated Leandra's ability to link dance and sports in a way that could give non-dancers a better understanding of the art. Melany's interesting story of the Winchester Mystery House and its ghosts was well adapted to the Halloween season and Calvin's costume, with his Nosler hat and Cabela's shirt, was very appropriate for a speech on re-loading.

The impromptus also went well with props going to Ryan for his archaic oratory and perfect comic timing and to Megan for her calm ability to adapt to being unexpectedly called on as well as an excellent conclusion.