Please reflect on your first speech by writing one well-written and thought out paragraph. Upper class students should be writing paragraphs with compound and complex sentences that are a minimum of six sentences long. Use complete sentences and correct grammar.
Things to consider (you do not need to include all of them)
*eye contact
*nervousness
*audience feedback
*preparation (enough? not enough? What will you change for next time?)
*voice (rate, variation)
*gestures
*poise
*confidence level
*introduction and conclusion
*organization
What went well? What do you need to work on? Be as specific as possible.
Reflection: 20 points
Feedback: 10 points each
From the thought inside my head. I firmly believe my first speech went extremely well to start off this semester for the class. I practiced many times, changed a few things I wanted to say, and finally came out with my ending product that I saw many people enjoyed. I felt my eye contact and poise was great through my speech. My confidence level was at a 9-10 out of a 10 point scale. I felt my introduction and conclusion both started and ended strongly as attention grabbers and throughout was entirely organized. I tried to incorporate as many solid hand gestures as I could. One could tell I was nervous because my hands were shaking a bit so I threw in some hand gestures to not make that noticeable. At the end of the day, I look forward to grow as more speeches come along; however, this one was still a great start for the year!
ReplyDeletehey zack i thought your speech was a great start to the year. i could understand you well and the rate was good, but you could never have too many gestures.
DeleteZach, I thought that your speech was a perfect way to start the year. I also feel that you maintained good eye contact and spoke clearly.
DeleteI thought it went better than first imagined, although that doesn't say much due to my low starting expectations. I had practiced five times with gestures and timing around three minutes each time. By the time I was supposed to speak my heart was racing and the confidence I had while practicing had vanished. During the speech I spoke much faster than I should have and and it felt as though my whole body was shaking. I also have been told that people could even see my lip quivering. Maybe not the best start to Speech class but I think that if I stress practicing with an audience along with pauses to breath and more clarity in my voice, improvements shouldn't be too far behind.
ReplyDeleteZach- Not only was your speech inspirational and well planned, but it also engaged the audience. Your pace, clarity and poise were very good and gave us the chance to learn a little bit more about you. One element that could improve your speaking abilities is to show a little more emotion in your face and dialect. I can understand if you aren't the most smiley person but adding some inflection into your voice would give each speech that extra flare to set it apart. Overall a GREAT first speech!
I like how we commented at the exact same time...
DeleteYoutube Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmce-HzkMd8&feature=youtu.be
DeleteWow Gabby, I listened to your speech again on youtube, and it looks like you could be a teacher talking to 100 students! Your posture was consistent throughout the whole video, and no annoying habits. Your voice, clarity, volume, and speed all were finely tuned. Even when you were looking for words at some point, the pauses you took almost seemed natural. Noiiiiice job!
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DeleteI will leave feedback towards Ethan and Gabby's speeches.
ReplyDeleteEthan: I felt his poise and volume were really wonderful. I could tell he was a bit nervous because his voice was shaky and he looked down at his note card a few extra times. I thought it was well organized and the introduction was well said. For his great story and effort, I say overall it was extremely solid for the start of the semester.
Gabby: I thought your speech was fantastic! There was great eye contact, organization, poise, and volume. I really enjoyed the introduction, but I could tell some nervousness because her voice was a tad shaky. Overall, I felt it was a lovely speech that I enjoyed listening to throughout the entire time. Great job!
I thought you had an excellent speech. Usually I find inspirational speeches cliched and boring, but you definitely deviated from many of the tropes encountered in them. Your life story and drastic transformation was very interesting to hear, and even encouraged me to examine my own life and make the appropriate changes to my behavior and attitudes. You exhibited a lot of confidence and you had a balanced rate of speech, and you maintained good eye contact.
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ReplyDeleteI think I did okay on my speech, it is better than what I thought. It is the first English speech that I had in front of that many people, and I was so nervous, and I was shaking for half of the class period. My confidence level in a 10 point scale is 5-6. I practiced five times by myself, and it's kind of different every time, and it becomes more and more fluent. I think my voice level is okay for everyone to hear, and I am sure it is not too fast. My introduction is not bad, and my conclusion is easy for people to know it is the end. I think I need to practice with real people, and become more comfortable with have speeches in front of public.
ReplyDeleteI thought that your speech was amazing, your sentences and ideas seemed like English was your first language. Your voice level was very audible, but I think if you spoke a little louder, it would make your confidence seem higher to others. I certainly wouldn't want to give a speech in english if I was in your shoes. This was a great first speech to begin the semester.
DeleteSherry, you had a very good speech! I was truly able to learn more about you, and you kept my interest though your speech. Your eye contact and confidence was a bit weak, so I high suggest practicing with a live audience. In total you did great!
Deleteyou spoke very good English for it being your second language, especially considering that English is notoriously difficult! You demonstrated good confidence although you were initially nervous, and you had good eye contact. I found your life story extremely interesting as well!
DeleteI feel that overall my first speech of the year went very well! Yes, I am a talker and I do feel comfortable speaking around others and in large groups. Giving this speech opened my eyes and made me realize that I have many different things that I have to work on in my public speaking though. I feel like sometimes I am repetitive, and I have some annoying gestures. Overall for my first speech of the year, it went well. I look forward to presenting more challenging speeches in the near future.
ReplyDeleteOh Maxy...... Yes, you appeared pretty natural up at the podium I'd say. Your pacing seemed to be at a good speed. I think your speech was pretty clear to understand, especially since you began with giving us a list of the three things that you were going to talk about. I do think that the sports subject may have been a little bit too informative, but you were able to save it at the end by going back to faith being your number 1 thing in life. You surprisingly didn't talk at a 1000mph, which was what I thought would happen! xoxo- your Humbra
DeleteMax! I thought you had a great first speech. Your pacing at the podium was at a good rate and didn't make it awkward at all. You seemed to have good eye contact, and your poise was great! Although we weren't getting graded on ummms, you definitely need to cut those out to make your speech even more crisp. Good Job!
DeleteMax I think that you gave a great first speech and that your use of gestures and pacing helped to convey your message. I also notices that you were able to speak clearly and maintain eye contact throughout your whole speech.
DeleteSherry, you surprised me! You looked so nervous when you went up there, and then you gave a great speech. Your eye contact was good, you had no annoying gestures, and I learned a lot of new interesting things I didn't know about you before! Confidence will come more as we go on in the class, but overall great job!
ReplyDeleteMichael Krupo.... You came through in the clutch...you really did. Your speech was top of the line, fabulous gestures...and great eye contact. I really like what you are doing, right idea.
I felt that my first speech of the year went alright. I have no problem with talking, it's just the execution that gets to me. I could tell that my voice was getting a little iffy at times, but I pushed through it. Also when I talked about some topics I added some new things that i originally didn't have and it kind of threw me off a bit. In the end, for it being my first speech, it went well. I'm looking forward to doing more speeches so I can not only get more practice, but, of course, improve my public speaking.
ReplyDeleteJaycee, you looked confident up there. You should work on your introduction a little bit. Overall I thought you had on of the more interesting topics for your speech. You had pretty good eye contact throughout your speech
Deletei thought you did great for your first speech and that you didn't stumble and change your rate that much. like matt said you had good eye contact and i was great learning more about you.
DeleteWell, finally got my first speech under the belt! It seems to me that no matter what, I'm always nervous before talking in front of a group. I usually try to make my outward appearance look a little more cool and collective. HONESTLY, I probably could have done a little more preparing for this speech. I think practicing in front of a person/parent would have helped me more than just practicing in front of a mirror at my house. I thought my eye contact was fine, but I think I could have slowed down my talking speed just a wee bit. When I talk, I kind of like pacing, but for some reason I kind of just stood against the podium. I think my posture could have been a little bit better on that part. I thought that my voice was at an alright volume, but I think I could have talked with a little more confidence and emotion. Oh yeah, don't be afraid to comment some constructive criticism on my speech, because I'm used to that at the Krupo household already ha.
ReplyDeleteMichael! I thought you had a wonderful first speech. Your confidence seemed pretty high. Your thoughts and points seemed to be on point, and I liked the little story about your 8th grade play. You also had some good eye contact as you did your speech. Good Job!
DeleteGreat start to the year! You seemed very relaxed and natural in front of a crowd. Your intro really pulled the assignment and speech together. I too appreciated the story about your 8th grade play and i really think you should consider trying out for musical. Over-all you're a natural at public speaking and I was very impressed with your first speech.
DeleteMichael Krupo: You executed your speech with ease. It was interesting to listen to, had great eye contact, and you smiling the whole time just made everything a bit more relaxed. You're spot on with all that you are doing, keep up the fabulous work!
ReplyDeleteMax: You have a very nice, natural flow when you talk! I like how you kept it simple with the three main points, and how you expanded on them in why they are important to you. You got a little repetitive talking about some things, but overall awesome job!
I felt that my first speech of the year went alright. I didn't feel nervous at all until the moment I started talking. Luckily the main points that I wanted to say came out pretty crisp. Like Zach said I shouldn't look down at the notecard as much so i guess my eye contact was alright. I also felt that my introduction and conclusion were pretty solid, and I was happy with how those turned out. All in all for my first speech of the year I was pretty pleased with the outcome.
ReplyDeleteEthan, I thought your speech was well done. I was never lost while you were talking and knew the main points as the speech went along. Everything was tied together nicely, sprinkled with eye contact. Overall, great speech man!
DeleteEthan, I though your first speech was fantastic. I really enjoyed hearing about a part of your life that I wouldn't have known about if I hadn't heard about it in the speech. Your volume was very good and you also looked very confident to me. Very well done!
DeleteFor the first speech of this school year I felt that over all it went pretty, I was able to truly introduce myself and I enjoyed the experience. I believe I did a good on eye contact, and was looking around the room at everyone. I was a bit nervous, I swallowed a word once or twice, and my hand was definitely shaking at one point. However, I tried to control my shaking and calm myself down. I felt pretty prepared for the speech that I did, because the night be before I practiced about four times while timing it and having my dad listen to me. For the speech I think I projected my voice so that everyone could hear what I was saying, and that I spoke at an ok pace. I don't believe that I did many gestures for this speech, I guess I forgot, but I will try to improve on that. The way that I wrote this speech I felt very organized and it flowed well together. So in total I think that this was a good first speech, and I can't wait to do the next.
ReplyDeleteChristine, you had a fantastic first speech! The eye contact was there and I could feel the confidence in the room while you were up there. Nothing you did seemed awkward or forced, so just keep up the great work!
DeleteChristine, your speech was great and your introduction was extremely interesting and caught the entire class's attention. It was definitely unique! Your volume was great. The only constructive criticism that I can think of, is possibly slowing down the pace a little bit. Otherwise, that speech was a great start to the class!
DeleteWow the very first line of your speech had me with my jaw dropped. By talking in Chinese right away you really pulled everyone in. You really had great eye contact and poise. I could tell you were a tiny bit nervous but you did a good job powering through it. It was a great first speech for the year!
DeleteChristine, you can speak some crazy fast Chinese. I thought your first speech was great! I was very impressed with your volume, pace, and speech overall. I could tell that you were a little nervous at first but then got over it to give a great first speech.
DeleteFirst speech of the year and more nervous than I thought I would be. I have never given a speech for the sake of giving a speech, so that may be why. During my speech I caught myself blanking on what I was supposed to be saying, which involuntarily made me stare at the ground for a lot of the speech. For the next speech, I feel that if I know exactly what to say and not just the main points I want to address, it will be 5x better just by changing that. In my opinion, I had a great speech but I didn't execute it as well as I could have.
ReplyDeleteDrew, I could tell that you were a little underprepared. With that being said you still looked confident and your speech flowed pretty smoothly. If you practice more you will become more confident when you go up there.
DeleteI made it through the first speech. I was nervous when I walked up there, but once I started speaking most of it went away. I felt I was speaking a little fast because I was a little nervous. I do not think I used any gestures so I have to work on that. My eye contact was not to bad, sometimes I was looking above everyone. I was well prepared and thought my speech was well organized. I have a few things that I need to work, but overall I thought I started the year out on a good foot.
ReplyDeleteI thought my speech went well. Walking up to the podium was nerve racking but in the end I felt pretty good about it. I tried to maintain eye contact towards everyone in the class, and I will probably need to work on using hand gestures throughout my whole speech, not just during the beginning. I paused a little more than I needed to; I will just need to prepare my speech better and practice a few times, but I'm sure as time goes on, I will perfect my speeches.
ReplyDeleteMax: I think your speech went well. You seemed to have a lot of confidence, and had no problem talking loud for the whole class to hear.
Ethan: The way you executed your speech was great. Your use of hand gestures, and your ability to maintain eye contact was also nicely done.
Mo, you did an amazing job of maintaining eye contact with everyone in the class. You seemed extremely confident and did not show any signs of nervousness. Also, your introduction and conclusion we very creative and fit with your speech nicely, which held the attention of the audience. It was very informational and interesting.
DeleteYour confidence and clarity while speaking made your speech memorable. I think that one improvement for your next speech would be to practice a little more and make sure your points are planned out in advance. Other than that, your speech was unique and well done!
DeleteI loved the confidence in your speech. You could just hear it in the tone of your voice and in I think everyone could feel it. Your topic was very interesting and informative.
DeleteThroughout my speech I struggled to make eye contact because I was nervous. Also, my knees where shaking which was hard to keep stable in order to maintain good poise. I felt that my volume was sufficient, but then again, I cannot really hear what I sound like. As for preparation, I had thoroughly prepared with practice speeches. I feel that it was well put together, but just hindered by nervousness. Lastly, despite the good organization of my notes on my notecard, I still lacked some confidence which caused me to skip over a few minor details of the speech.
ReplyDeleteStephen, I loved your message in your speech about doing something you enjoy and not just doing what your good at. However, I could tell you were nervous and was not fully confident when giving the speech. I do not know if you did this when practicing, but try to practice in front of a live audience it will greatly help with nervousness and confidence. Anyways you had good eye contact and volume, and just try to add some gestures next time.
DeleteI really enjoyed your speech and thought it had a very nice message. I knew you were really nervous about presenting your speech, yet you still pulled it off with a lot of confidence. I also remember you were concerned about your rate in which you were going to speaking and you had no problems whatsoever with speed. I believe your speech was very well thought out and very well prepared for.
DeleteI think that for my first speech of the year, it went pretty well. I was very nervous standing in front of everyone at first but as i started talking it got a lot better. I'm really glad i had some giggles from the audience when i told my big headed baby story. Seeing that everyone else was relaxed made me feel relaxed. Next time i will definitely organize my ideas more on my notecards so that everything flows better. I also think i need to practice more seriously for the next speech. My voice seemed to be alright, I don't remember feeling like there was a lump in my throat or anything like that. My hands may have been shaking a little but i made some gestures anyways to shake it off. Over-all i think the thing that needs the most improvement is my organization, once that comes together i think i can be confident in my speaking skills.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa, you had a good first speech! You keep the audience's attention with some funny stories and jokes. You had good eye contact, and a good volume. However, I could tell you were a bit nervous, but other than that good job.
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ReplyDeleteMax
ReplyDeleteMichael
My speech is not what as good as what I've planted! I thought that I would not even need the paper or the note, but I guess that I am not ready by then. I hpoe you guys can hear it at least a little bit! :)))
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it is kinda fun to tell "someone" about myself! I know some of you will probably hate me, but that is tollaly ok! I know how you will feel and i hope that you guys could except me somehow.
Bao, I think u did good on your first speech, you are just telling everyone about yourself, I don't think anyone will hate you. You have good eye contact, but you seemed nervous, and also I think if u practice more before your speech, you will be more comfortable about your speech.
DeleteThanks a lot Sherry! U just made my night :)))
DeleteI think your speech was very interesting, however, I do feel as though it needed a little bit more practice. Also, you didn't have to apologize about talking about yourself, that was the whole point. I do greatly respect your courage and your confidence while presenting. I also believe you had a very good level of volume.
DeleteJordan Chang: your speech is great! It is unbelievable to know that you used to be could-blooded. :) great speech!
ReplyDeleteChris: your speech is AMAZING! I love the way your story "MAKE" everyone to listen to it without missing a word! Love it so much!!! :)))
Chris, I really liked your speech, it is so different. At the beginning of the speech I don't even know what is going on, and after your speech, I really like the story that you tell. Your are really confident, and I can't tell if you were nervous. ^o^
ReplyDeleteWell, I am a person who hates to "re-invent the wheel". I have always liked to try new things and manipulate projects like speeches or presentations in a way that is different from the standard model. However, an introduction speech would definitely be a tough one to manipulate. Moreover, I did not quite know what I should even talk about (besides the obvious). Well, then i thought about how I love to read, and who doesn't like a good storyteller? So I decided to talk about my life like a story and I also added a lot of symbolism because I really enjoy poetry. After compiling my thoughts to a few "Bell Ambulance" sticky notes, I needed to figure out a way to get myself mentally ready for what I was about to do. Honestly, I was scared for my life that this would just be a bust and perhaps more embarrassing, especially since it was so strange and i thought that it would be difficult to understand, and i was just a nervous wreck, two minutes before my speech. When I got up there I told myself "Well, at least I can try". Afterwards, I felt a lot more confident in the way I presented the speech and perhaps it was a good idea to this chance.
ReplyDeleteChris, your speech was awesome!!!! I didn't understand what your topic was at first, but then I remembered that you told me the story about when you had to evacuate your house because of Hurricane Katrina when you lived down in Louisiana. You sounded like you practiced quite a bit. It was a very good speech. You kept eye contact and everything else on the list. Great job.
DeleteI thought your speech was great. It was very interesting and different. It felt like you were reading a story out of a book and it got my attention.
DeleteOverall I thought my first speech was a bit rough. I felt as though my voice was kind of shaking the entire time and I skipped over a few main points that I wanted to share. Also, I couldn't seem to be able to get my hand to stop tapping the podium. However, I thought that I maintained good eye contact with the audience and kept a pretty decent pace throughout the speech. For my next speech, I will make sure that I practice a lot more to make sure that I don't skip any major points that I would like to share.
ReplyDeleteI believe that my speech was relatively decent for my first try. Perhaps I talked excessively fast, something that frequently annoys people, but I'll be sure to reform that. Additionally, I could have improved my eye contact: instead of looking the audience in eyes, I frequently looked upward and downward, which is obviously a sign of nervousness and a lack of confidence, two things I desperately need to improve. I also think my speech could have used more interesting content. The ghost story was fascinating, but I felt as though I could have included more information. I also frequently stuttered, which may have jeopardized the clarity and cohesiveness of the speech.
ReplyDeleteAnton, your speech was great overall, but there is one thing I think you could work on and that is your confidence in yourself. I believe and the rest of the class believes that there are many interesting traits and things about you. Let us know what they are. We would like to learn more about you.
DeleteOverall, I think my speech went very well. I thought I kept eye contact with everybody and looked around the room. I think I shook and swayed a little bit, but that's probably because it is my first speech. I admit I was a little nervous going up to the stand and speaking to the class, but I did my best to not show my nervousness to the audience. I did skip some parts of my speech. I am a little upset at myself for doing that. I skipped saying about my whole transition from Wilson Park baseball to Martin Luther baseball. But in the end, I know that there are definitely things I can work on. I can't wait until the next speech
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest i was very nervous about this speech. i stumbled a lot and my rate was off. i do believe that i spoke loud enough that everybody could hear me. i feel like i should have practice more and maybe put some more points on my note cards. i know that i need work with gestures i believe i did like one maybe two. i did some eye contact but not a whole lot of it. I think my intro was ok but my conclusion needed more work.
ReplyDeleteMy speech, in my opinion, was not very good. The weakest point was the lack of planning on my part. It was hard for me to keep good eye contact. My nervousness was mostly due to the fact that I didn't have my speech planned out. I had the general idea for my speech planned but didn't really know where to go with it. It was hard to come up with a conclusion on the spot, so it was was a very awkward end to my speech. I feel I have much to improve on and hope that my future speeches will go better.
ReplyDeleteI feel like my speech went relatively well considering that I thought giving this speech would kill me. I was very nervous and had almost no confidence. I feel that I maintained eye contact for most of the speech and spoke clearly for most of it as well. I think that my intro was weak and my conclusion was abrupt. though this was still probably the best speech I’ve ever given.
ReplyDeleteIndependent Study Youtube Videos:
ReplyDeleteAndrew Stein
Tyler Fox
My reflection on my speech:
ReplyDeleteTo begin, I believe that I did not make enough eye contact with the audience. I only had key points written down on my notes so it should have been only necessary to glance at them. Additionally, my eye contact could have been held for a longer duration. In terms of preparation, I could have added a few more discussion points to my notes. I didn't quite make the time goal and I could have elaborated on some topics. My voice projection was lacking and I wasn't very confident, mostly due to the fact that it was my first speech. Finally, my introduction wasn't very interesting and my conclusion was a bit underwhelming.
Reflection on Andrew's speech:
In terms of eye contact, it seemed to improve more and more as the speech went on. Later in the speech he seemed more comfortable and began to stray from his notes more often. His introduction was fairly confident and led with an interesting point about boy scouts. His voice projection was slightly muted at some points and could be improved. Andrew's confidence level seemed to also increase as the speech went on and he used a small amount of gestures as he spoke, which is good.
Reflection on my speech:
ReplyDeleteI feel my speech went well over all. A bit of prior planning and practice would be beneficial for future speeches. I might not have been as confident as I should have been. My tone of voice might have seemed flat, lacking energy, but also my speech rate was very high. My notes were hard to read and difficult to follow; next time I will write neater, more concise and with better organized. I might not have been great at eye contact and hand gestures, but I feel it was great as a first speech of the year.
Reflection on Tyler's speech:
Tyler took a totally different approach to the introduction speech than I had taken. It worked though. Tyler seemed to lack eye contact and focus almost entirely on his notes. He also lacked a strong intro and/or conclusion. Tyler also failed to meet the time requirement, which could have been avoided with prior practice and planning. Overall though, it was a good first speech, but there is definitely room for improvement.