calpolycollections-blog

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End of Quarter Reflection:

Overall, after taking this course, I can confidently say that I can speak in front of a class without letting my nerves get the best of me. I feel that throughout this course, with every speech, I became less and less nervous to get up to the front of the class. The thought of looking at my classmates didn't terrify me, the thought of stumbling over my words didn't petrify me and the thought of sounding ridiculous didn’t run through my mind every single second. I was able to obtain a sense of comfort with my class and I felt supported no matter how badly I butchered my speech :)

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Round 3 Reflection:

In my opinion, everything besides the topic, round 3 was very similar to round 2. I was able to prepare similarly and perform similarly. If anything it was like a redo round where I got to fix anything I miss during round 2!

In terms of my goals, I feel like I was able to comfortably talk with the class despite my topic of tampons haha. But being able to go up to the class and talk about menstruation without being embarrassed took a lot and I feel like I delivered.

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Round 2 Reflection:

The 7 minute speech I gave during round 2 was hands down the longest speech and presentation I’ve every given in my entire life. The long 7 minutes were intimidating and I was so nervous. The though of talking for that long with only 1 page of notes terrified me.

Honestly, after giving that speech, public speaking doesn’t seem so scary anymore. I had my visual aid to assist me through it and since I was talking about a subject I know lots about, I was able to comfortably converse with the room. 

In terms of my goals, I feel like my shaky voice as improved tremendously. I feel like I was able to just talk without letting my nerves get the best of me. Also, despite having to look down to cite my citations properly, I feel like I was able to sustain a good amount of eye contact without relying on my speakers notes too much. 

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Round 1 Reflection:

The speeches in round one were truly just a toe dip into the pond of public speaking. They were short and straight to the point. Thankfully they were also a bit more personal so it was easy to just talk with the audience. 

Since these were my first speeches I’ve given in the last few years, they were pretty rough. The anxiety rushed through my body and the stress took over my brain as soon as I got to the front of the class.

In terms of my goals, my voice hasn’t quite stopped shaking yet and I’m still very dependent on my note cards. I tend to second guess myself when it comes to how much I know my speech so I tend to look down to double check even if I already know what I’m about to say next :/ I feel like my eye contact was decent but I can do better !

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My Speech from Round 3 (Policy)

I was scared to give this speech at first because of the taboo around this subject but I'm glad I did. I felt like during this speech I had a bit of confidence because of how daring the subject of tampons and periods actually is.

Feedback from my Teammates:

Structure - Obvious shifts in topics, good transitions

Delivery - Confidence in saying tampons, periods, menstrual was impressive. 

Content - All citations were relevant, touching on incarcerated women was a good choice because they didn’t think of that

Feedback from Professor Truch:

Certainly a bold topic

What about the homeless women? (I would’ve touched on that if I had more time..)

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Third Team Meeting:

On Tuesday, May 22th, my team and I went and got food to eat together after class. Round two of speeches were still going on. Because some of us had already presented, we gave those getting ready for their first 7-minute speech some pointers and pep talks to get them ready. 

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My Speech from Round 2 (Long Informative)

Overall, I thought this speech went okay. I’m glad I picked a topic I knew so much about because I was able to speak more conversationally in my opinion.

Feedback from my Teammates:

Structure - Obvious changes in structure, enforced through the visual aid

Delivery - Engaging, you can tell how passionate I am about dragon boating from my tone of voice and confidence.

Content - Very informative, the talking through how to paddle section was good and interesting

Feedback from Professor Truch:

Good visual aid, Can see all the effort in the animations and such

Good job with using blank slides when speaking

Try for smoother transitions

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Second Team Meeting:

After class on Tuesday, May 8th, my team and I went and grocery shopped around campus market. We gathered snacks amongst ourselves while discussing our potential speech topics for round two. Although we forgot to snag a group picture after sitting together, I did manage to snap a picture of Ethan eating his burrito waiting for us to finish checking out haha

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My Second Speech from Round 1 (Current Event)

I wish I had prepared for this speech a bit more. I was too dependent on my notecards and need to look up more. Because my speech was so fact heavy, I found myself forgetting or misspeaking.

Feedback from my Teammates:

Structure - Good and easy to follow, made body points clear

Delivery - Speaking voice is engaging, remember to slow down and breathe

Content - Very informative without being boring

Feedback from Professor Truch:

Took an interesting take on all the space news. Picked a topic that wasn’t getting as much attention, good choice.

Make the transitions pop a bit more, to develop a flow

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First Team Meeting:

My team and I decided to meet up at Yogurt Creations this last Friday. It was great because they had Nutella Cream, which is hands down the best flavor. Here, we were actually discussing our library assignment when Thursday class got cancelled. We sat for about an hour and a half, chatting, laughing and bouncing ideas off of each other.

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My First Speech from Round 1 (Family Tradition):

Overall I thought this speech went pretty well. Good thing because I practice it an irrational amount of times. However, I still feel as if I was too dependent on my notecards. Need to work on that...

Feedback from my Teammates: 

Structure - Chronological, easy to follow, transitions were smooth.

Delivery - Good speaking voice, engaging, easy to comprehend, good vocal variation between points, remember to slow down during reflective moments.

Content - Good details (relative ages and specific supplies) but not too much.

Feedback from Professor Truch:

Make sure I'm making my hand gestures intentional, don’t speed up as I’m getting towards the time limit. 

My included detail was essential to the speech and really helped without being too much and boring which was good, my transitions were smooth, pretty good eye contact.

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Goals for this class:

My main goal this quarter is to be able to speak confidently and clearly in front of large groups of people. My voice tends to get shaky and my mind goes blank as I get more and more nervous.

I want to learn how to properly prepare myself for speeches and presentations, without relying on notecards or prints. I want to learn how to speak with a more paved plan in my mind before going up the the front of the room.

I would also like to engage more with the audience, maintaining more eye contact without getting scared. I want to also include more intentional gestures with my hands.