Rick+Hardcopf's+Journal+Page

How did your group use the preparation time provided? Did/would have a good plan to make building process easier? How could this help you with writing a speech? Did your group have any misunderstandings?If so, how did that affect the process? We used the preparation time really well. We tested a few ideas and went with the best one. No one fought or argued :). A good plan definitely makes things more efficient. Our plan was really good, we had a couple people make the supports, a couple assemble and a couple make the bottom. That way everyone knew what to make and no one was overwhelmed with too many tasks. The activity made me understand the importance of organizing your thoughts and putting them in a good order. To make the tower you need design, support and work to put it together. A speech is the same way, you need to think of what your going say (design), find facts then put it into complete sentences and thoughts (support), and then piece it together so it sounds good. Our group only had a couple of minor misunderstandings. To correct the misunderstanding we took time to thoroughly explain the task, and make sure everyone was on the same page. It slowed us down a little. Every time there was a misunderstanding we had to take time to explain what to do. Thankfully there were not many miscommunications and we finished the tower in a very timely manner.

=September 17th=

Using what the book says about listening, explain specific ways to demonstrate good listening. In what ways are good listening skills different between interpersonal communication (one on one) and public speaking (one to group)? How are they the same? Use examples from your life to support your statements as well as quotes from the book.

There are many ways to be a good listen, some examples from 'Speaking with a Purpose" include: lowering the amount of external noise. This can be done with simple things like moving farther away from a door leading outside or silencing a ringing cellphone. Another way to listen attentively to a speaker is to make sure you have had a proper amount of rest. If you show up tired to a speech you are more likely to fall asleep. The most common way of showing interest to a speech is simply faking interest. Everyone has done it, I remember last year I was sitting in the car listening to my mom talk about something, I was soooo bored I started to think about other stuff. My mom never realized I wasn't paying attention because I kept looked and her every once and while and nodded or said "yup". Communicating with someone one-on-one and talking to a group are similar and different. With both forms you need to be respectful and not interrupt. If your boss was telling you how to do something important, would you interrupt him/her by talking on the phone, no, because it is rude and could cause you to loss your job. It's same thing if you were listening to a group speaker, I hope you wouldn't stand up and leave while they were talking, because that is also rude. When talking one-one one you probably have to show more interest, if you friend asked your opinion on something, you could not answer if you hadn't been paying attention. With a group speaker you less likely to have to pay attention; you might be able to fake it, because the speaker is not likely to ask you personally a question.

=October 8th=

Why does Mrs. James care so much about plagiarism? What can I do to make sure I don't show up in one of her examples in the future?

Mrs. James cares about plagiarism because it is wrong. Plagiarism is a form of stealing, and stealing is against the law. How would you like if you spent months writing an article only to have have some steal it in a couple of seconds? I bet you would be mad, so why would you steal something from someone else and make them mad. All you need to do is cite where you found your resource and give credit to the author in your speech. If you do that, you will make sure Mrs. James doesn't use you as an example.

=October 22nd=

Watch the videos in the sidebar of the website for visual aids. Write a journal entry detailing good and bad examples in each of the videos.

The videos showed me how to correctly use a visual aid. To correctly use a visual you have to make sure you know where everything is at so when you point to it you don't lose eye contact with your audience. That is exactly what the girl in the first video did, she was very good because when she said a point on the visual aid, she pointed to it without needing to look very long. She also used her finger as a pointer because the object was on the aid was smaller and a pointer would have been distracting. The girl in the second video apparently didn't practice with the visual aid. She had to pause and look and the board for before pointing to the object and continuing on with the speech. She also used too big of pointer and fidgeted with it. In conclusion I learned to practice with the board and maintain eye contact.

=November 5th=

Write a journal entry entailing at least three ways that you have improved since your first speech in class.

My first speech I was scared to death. The thought of getting up in front of the class freaked me out, I would freeze and have a hard time thinking what to say. Now I am not as scared or nervous, I realized nobody laughs if I mess up or say something dumb. They also know how hard it is to speak in front of a group so they are respectful which in turns helps me become more confident. The very first speech I stood in the front of the class right in the middle, frozen as board. Now I kinda walk around and make more movements during the speech. In the last speech I even walked from one side of the class to another! The first speech I felt like I rushed the words together and didn't enunciated very well. Now I am actually pronouncing my words and slowing down my speed when I talk.

=December 3rd=

For your final Journal Entry (this makes #6), reflect on the semester. What did you learn? Is there something that you think is still missing? Did you enjoy this class?

I learned how to listen to other peoples opinions and not get angry when they disagree with mine and how to organize a speech and support it with information. Also I have learned how to deliver a speech to a group of people. I'm still not as confident as I would like to be but that just comes with experience. Even though my outlines were good I'm still not very confident on how to do them. I wish we had spent a little more time on how to prepare an outline. Overall I really liked the class. Listening to speeches and learning what others believe and think was the best part, I got to know everyone in the class a little better thanks to their speeches. For your final Journal Entry (this makes #6), reflect on the semester. What did you learn? Is there something that you think is still missing? Did you enjoy this class?