I will be available for make up speeches this Friday the 20th at 12 o'clock in room PAC 134. Please arrive at 12 or before or you risk the possibility of not speaking.

Also, I will have the video up in a couple of days and I will also let you know how you can get the rest of your graded work.
 
You all have done rather well this semester. For the most part, I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of work you have produced this semester. Public speaking is a difficult class to take for a lot of people and my students, this semester, on average, have been less afraid and more ready to engage in  speaking. There are some of you that need to put in a little more effort, or at least pretend to do so. Public speaking (and being successful in college) has a lot to do with "playing the part."

This is what you should remember about public speaking: it is all about structure. Organization is key. There is structure in the outline of your speech and structure in the way one creates arguments using evidence. When you are asked to speak without any notice and have no time to prepare, it will be organization that gets you through the experience.
Here are a few tips that are specifically directed at my classes this semester:

Don't walk in a class when students are giving speeches. This is just about the worst thing you can do as an audience member in a public speaking class, yet many of you are interrupting speeches by walking in, or worse, getting up in the middle of speeches and exiting the room. Don't do that!

Pay attention to your classmate's speeches (or more generally, when other people are talking!). Give your undivided attention to your classmates, and any other speaker for that matter. It is rude to look at your phone or a newspaper or anything else. Don't read through your own speech while others are speaking. Focus on the speaker. Current technology is tempting, but act like someone taught you something about how to act in public.

Far too many of you are asking questions to the audience as attention getters. This is rarely a good idea. I'm really not sure why so many of you made this choice this semester, but stop it.

Everyone needs to work on previewing the main points and reviewing the main points. This is advice that is necessary to give to every intro to public speaking class.  A few of you did really well with previewing, but it is something on which everyone can work. I'm not going to get in the car with you  if you don't tell me where we're going.

Put more effort in on your outlines. Outlines are an important competent of a speech. I have noticed a lot of students this semester who are really talented but need to put in more effort researching and preparing outlines. Take time to do things ahead of time and not at the last minute. Writing and speaking are two things you should really try to prepare for ahead of time. You are putting yourself, your ideas and your passion for a subject out there to be judged. Act like it matters.

In future speeches talk about current events and more serious topics. I had you do an annotated bibliography from topics I selected because I feel that the speeches this semester have not had enough to do with current events and politics. You are lacking current significance. Consider the purpose of public speaking and respect the responsibility of people who choose to do it. Pay attention to the world.



Final

12/13/2013

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Here are the instructions for the final. I will also be posting a "final thought" soon. Check back before the day of the final.

COMM 301  Introduction to public speaking

Instructions for final examination

The final will take place on Tuesday December 17th from 8:00am to 10:00am for my AM class and 12:45pm to 2:45pm for my PM class. You should review your public speaking handbook to prepare and bring it to class the day of the final.

Your final is comprised two parts, a take home annotated bibliography and an in class portion for which you will receive instructions on the day of the final. Your annotated bibliography will prepare you for the in class portion of the final. Search the internet to read about annotated bibliographies and to see examples. Your final is worth 15% of your total grade and you need to complete the annotated bibliography AND  the in class portion of the final in order to get credit for either part. In other words, completing only one of the two parts will earn you zero credit for the entire final.  The annotated bibliography is worth 75% of your final and the in class portion is worth 25%. I WILL NOT ACCEPT LATE BIBLIOGRAPHIES. Extra credit points will not be counted toward the final. Incomplete finals will result in a zero for the 15% portion of your total class grade. This assignment shouldn't take more than three hours of work to complete. As always, you can contact me if you have questions.

Annotated bibliography instructions:

The sources used in the annotated bibliography must be able to assist you in the creation of both a persuasive speech and an informative speech. In addition, in the case of a persuasive speech, the sources in the bibliography must be able to assist you in the creation of a speech advocating both/all sides of an argument.  The basic requirements for this assignment are:

·        You must select a topic from the list below around which to build your bibliography.

·        You must create a bibliography including 10 sources, no more, no less.

·        Each of the 10 bibliography entries must be followed by a 2-3 sentence description that ASSESSES  the source  (for clarification go to https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/).

·        The numbers and types of sources required are 4 newspaper articles, 3 websites, 3 books  or academic journal articles. Do not use your textbook, class notes or lecture material from this course as a source.

·        Use 12 point, Times New Roman font and APA or MLA format.

Bring a paper copy of your bibliography to class on the day of the final for credit. Emailed bibliographies will not be accepted.

Topics options are a sampling of the most salient current event issues of the day. Ideally, as a responsible member of the community, you will have at least a basic familiarity with most, if not all, of the topics on this list:

Conflict in Syria (and US involvement)

Gay marriage/Gay rights: Where are we now, where are we going?

Impact of Edward Snowden/NSA surveillance program

Impact of Nelson Mandela (or specifically of his death)

Impact of Pope Francis

Impact of/ Assessment of the US Nuclear deal with Iran

Minimum Wage vs Living Wage (possibly Fast wood workers strike, rights to organize, etc)

Obamacare (The Affordable Care Act) (possibly its impact on specific groups like women, businesses, children, etc)

Police Stop and Frisk Policy

Possible Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation

Protests in Ukraine

Unemployment/ Congressional Budget Plan

US Drone strike program
 
Here are the videos we watched in class.
 
"A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking" contains a lot of important information about the next speech and the stuff I will be talking about in the next few lectures. Section "24" or pages 189-219 covers Persuasive speaking.

In the "Craft of Research," chapters 7,8, and 9 cover similar information.
Here are some important concepts to understand:

Claims - Evidence - Warrant

Reasoning - deductive/inductive, analogy, causal

Below is the Toulmin Model and this is a classic.
Above is the website and poster about logical fallacies that I showed you in class. Below is a picture of some statistics that I am sure we will discuss.
 
Hello PM class,

Make sure to bring a paper copy of your bibliography tomorrow.

Here is a link with an example of MLA format:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/12/

You can also use APA format (which I prefer but you are welcome to use either format). Here are some APA examples of how to list books as references and there are a lot of other examples on the left hand side:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/08/

 
Please remember to bring a paper copy of your outline that you will turn into me. Your outline should have a reference page at the end. You will not be able to read from your outline or a paper during your speech so you need to have note cards if you do not feel that you can give your presentation without notes. Be prepared to speaking for 7 minutes. Here are some tips from some kids:
 
The tournament taking place on our campus today runs from 12-8:30. The first round starts at 12 so you need to be early to find a round of speeches to watch. I need volunteers anytime between 11am-8:30 and you can meet me or the team near our classroom and room PAC134. If you watch three rounds of speeches and write a one paged doubled space paper I'll give you 5% extra credit. HERE is a document that describes each event.

 
 
Here is the speech we watched in class. I would like to leave a comment about your thoughts on the speech, but make sure you get your midterm done first! Remember, the midterm is due at the beginning of class.