Noellie

October 25, 2009 O1 #4 Self-Assessment For the last oral interpretation of the quarter, we had to pick a passage from our outside reading book and perform the scene in the way we thought it would sound like. My outside reading book was //Cat’s Cradle//, written by Kurt Vonnegut, and the passage that I chose was when the protagonist visits the infamous Dr. Hoenikker’s research laboratory. This scene appealed to me because it was one of the few parts that I actually understood in the story and because it was hilarious. When I watched the video of my presentation, I noticed a few aspects that I delivered pretty well. In the second half of my oral, when Knowles came in, my expression changed from narrating to the insanity the character was said to have. I brought out the times when he yells, “Yes, yes!” and the parts where he makes statements that actually have a good point. My volume was much louder than the previous performance. During the dialogue, the turning steps I made to distinguish the character changes where smaller and not as awkward as the first oral. I noticed that there were a few laughs at the end, which I am glad to have received. However, there were many things that I saw once more that I needed to improve on. The aspect that I noticed the most in this oral were my eyes that followed the manuscript from left to right while I was reading. My eyes were still glued to the paper that I only gave short glances at the audience. During the introduction, I looked up at the ceiling several times and had many awkward pauses. My poise was much better than before (there were not any major weight shifting this time), but there were still a few places near the end where I automatically started to lean to one side. My eye contact with the audience was still too short, and I noticed a great amount of blinking throughout most of the performance. My head still nodded when the words were tricky as well. At the end, my rate started to speed up, and the enunciation of my words became a little hard to hear. I selected this passage from the novel because it was one of the few parts that were simple and easy to understand. There were not as many complicated words and sentences as the others, and I could easily picture in my head what the scene and the characters looked like. It was also one of the only amusing parts in the book. I felt that it would be easier to prepare for than the other scenes in the novel. This selection made a huge impact on my preparation. I knew that it was longer than the other orals and needed many voice changes. I attempted to practice more times in front of an audience and the mirror. I was also a little doubtful with the character Knowles. It was hard for me to find a way to present his character. I was hesitant to make a fool of myself by acting his part out, but after I did I realized that it was not as terrifying as I thought. I believe this performance has given me a little more confidence than before. One of the main things that I learned from this presentation is to get rid of your fears. This passage forced me to “step outside my comfort zone” and put on a personality that I was uncomfortable to have everyone see. However, I also learned that once you go beyond that fear, it is easier to enjoy. I realized that it was sort of fun to act out this insane man who made comments about mayonnaise and the definition of research. Another thing I learned was to pay more attention to the small details, like my eye contact and the head nodding. I really need to start focusing on those aspects as well. I think that if I practiced more with the manuscript and memorize a few parts, I would feel more confident to look up and stop blinking nervously. I would give myself a B for this presentation. Even though I overcame a fear of mine, I still did not improve the basic aspects in an oral. I have to make an effort to fix those small habits and know my manuscript better to give a solid performance.

Nov. 1, 2009 Oral presentation: Hands Only This oral was the first of its kind: the “hands only” speech where we had no manuscript or notes whatsoever to help us. Our job was to explain how to do something with motions and simple steps. I taught the class how to taste ice cream the professional way because it was fascinating and I can still remember the steps long after I read the article about it. However, my performance was really shaky and I obviously looked unprepared. The aspects that I did well on was my motions in the beginning of the process, the mouth-washing and eating the cracker were pretty obvious to see. Showing how to roll the ice cream around your mouth was a little trickier. However, I did the best I could to exaggerate a motion as obscure as that. There were many things that I did not do well on in the oral. My volume was very low and I stuttered multiple times (1:25). I kept glancing at the ceiling because I could not remember what to show next. My eyes were hardly on the audience. The articulation was very poor, and I was speeding up at certain parts, which affected my pronunciation. I said countless fillers, especially “and then…” My weight was shifting all over the place, and I leaned back many times, which made even more rocking. There were numerous awkward pauses as I tried to recall what came next, and a lot of head nodding when I said something too fast. My mind went completely blank at the part after “you have to spit it out -- all of it” (1:18-1:19). I could have exaggerated my motions a lot more, or picked something that was easier to demonstrate. At this line “And then, here’s the part that we all hate, you have to spit it out – all of it,” I pointed out at the audience, but I felt not many people caught on to the disappointment that one is supposed to feel when hearing this step. This performance made me a little frantic, bringing in a new element – speaking on the spot. I realized since there is no manuscript in front of you, you really have to know your steps well. I wanted to teach this process of tasting ice cream because I did it all the time and thought people would be interested. However, it turns out that I did not know it well enough I learned the hard way that practicing in front of a live audience is always helpful. I knew the process of my “how to” oral pretty well, but once I came in front of the class, I forgot almost everything. I need to improve on locking my gaze with the audience and not with the ceiling. I have to focus on avoiding head nodding and weight-shifting when I perform. I have to watch my rate as well. I should receive a B- for this oral because I was not very prepared and I did many mistakes that I should have known by now to improve on. In the next oral I have to concentrate really hard on the small details that keep coming up in every performance.

November 11, 2009 Speech #1: Inspirational Speech The feeling of standing in behind a podium, high above the crowd, is not something that many of us were not yet used to. However, we quickly had to adjust to the microphone for our first speech of the year. This was an inspirational speech about how we, or someone close to us, overcame a difficult experience in our lives. We were also supposed to find a piece of test that related to our speech or might have inspired us to keep going. Using a microphone was new to me and I felt that I didn’t do as well as I wanted to.

The main thing that I noticed was my volume throughout the entire speech. It was sufficiently loud, even though in the beginning there was too much of an echo. I also tried to give as much expression as I could.

Even before I started, my microphone was to the right of my face, blocking it from the camera’s angle. It also did not catch much of my volume, which is why some of the last words in a sentence were dropped. My head nodded (0:45) when I stuttered and said “a great mixture of culture and stuff” (using the word “stuff” was a big error). It was still difficult to understand the faster parts of my speech. My eyes kept moving all over the place, and I blinked countless times too. A couple of times I think I looked over to the camera and saw half of the audience look as well. There were numerous pauses in my sentences, especially towards the ending. My rate was a little too fast, and my voice sounded monotone.

“It was heart-wrenching, for either option meant losing a huge part of me that would leave me impaired for the rest of my school life” (1:11-1:20). When I said this line, I attempted to give emphasis to “heart-wrenching” and “huge” but they did not come out as effective as I hoped. I also should have held longer eye contact but instead I looked up and blinked through the sentence.

The topic of this oral was probably the one that I could relate to the most, since it happened recently, and still goes on today. However, by sharing this tough time to an audience made me feel that it was conquerable. After I finished, I could imagine a heavy burden being lifted from my shoulders. From this performance, I learned that in order to give a moving speech one must connect to the audience, give good eye contact, and know when to build climax or slow down. I noticed that these aspects helped the successful speeches in touching the crowd. I also still need to watch out for where my eyes look and when I speed up too much. Next time, I should practice in front of a mirror to see what my face looks like, or record myself just to hear when I speed up. I also have to remember to make sure the microphone is in the right position before I start.

I believe this speech deserves a B- because there were many parts that I saw right away that I needed to improve on. I couldn’t even clearly see my face, and from what my voice sounded like it was not as inspirational as it could have been.

December 5, 2009

Speech #2: Self-Assessment This speech (the second one of the second quarter) was very important. We were to talk about our culture, the things that “make you you.” Our speech had to include a visual of some kind: a power point, object, picture, etc. What makes it more challenging is that we could only refer to a 40-word note card. For some reason, this speech did not come naturally to me as it should. When I presented, I felt that I made a lot of mistakes and was not confident in what I said.

There was not much that I did well on. My weight did not shift to one leg like it used to, and my topics flowed smoother than before. In the beginning my articulation was satisfactory, but even that did not continue through the whole speech.

The first thing I noticed right away was the volume of my speech. I could barely hear myself on the video, and could not make out what I was saying. I still looked at my note cars too many times and hardly made eye contact with the audience. I was going fast as well, for my entire speech was under four minutes. I did not have any expression throughout my presentation. I looked like I did not know myself well enough because I sounded unsure about many things. I also did not talk about my visuals at all, and made a mistake of calling them VCRs instead of VHS. I also did not talk at all about the TV shows I mentioned and the specific songs on the radio. Towards the end of my presentation, I started to pause a lot, and looked at the ceiling as I tried to summon the words to say my point. My enunciation started to deteriorate as well, and I made a huge error when I said “personality.”

“A lot of the lyrics were about love, about make-ups, and break-ups, and finding that one true person” (1:52-1:57). In this passage, I attempted to change my voice to make it more dramatic. At the word “love” I sighed like they do on a late-night radio station. During the part where I said “make-ups, and break-ups” I swung my hand side to side. I originally imagined it to be said in a sort of singsong voice, but that did not come across that well in the performance.

This selection was difficult because it was not the straight forward cultural research that everyone else in the class was doing. I was not sure what to research and what specifically to present in my speech. It also brought me to analyze my relationship with my dad. I actually had to think and put into categories the activities with my dad that influenced me. This speech has also made me realize that the presentations are not similar to acting in which you can put on a façade; this topic had to be natural for you in order to get the message across.

Through this speech, I learned that I have to view future speech more as a one-on-one response, rather than the view of the speech as one-to-all. The next time we have a speech or oral on a topic that I supposedly should know well, I shod feel as if I am presenting it to a friend, not a large crowd. I also need to work on my rate, the volume, and the articulation, especially at the end. I need to learn to keep my nervous system under control. If I practice until I have fewer mistakes and pronunciation errors. I also have to remember to ask about things I’m not sure about (like VHS).

For this speech I would give myself a C because there were a great deal of mistakes, and the overall performance was bland. I did not seem very excited to talk about myself. I felt I could have done so much better.

December 17, 2009 Speech #3 Self-Assessment Impromptu speeches can be one of the scariest orals ever. For some people who like to be prepared beforehand, it is like their worst nightmare. We were given a topic about two minutes before our turn, one minute to prepare, and around a second to take a breath before we began. I felt that I performed terribly on my speech, and when I watched myself later on, I quickly noticed all of the errors I had. This self-assessment will reflect my thoughts on my performance.

I started off sufficiently by trying to excite the audience. However, I am not sure if that worked or not. I also had somewhat of expressions throughout my speech here and there, though not very obvious.

It was very easy for me to spot all the faults I had when I watched myself on video. Right off the bat, I was so nervous that I rushed myself through the introduction way too fast. I stuttered on the next few sentences when I realized my fast rate and waved my hands around to help me slow down and understand what I was saying. I often paused in the middle of the sentence and looked around before saying my next word. My head twitched a lot to get the hair out of my face (which I should have took care of before) and nodded to keep the rhythm of my words steady. My weight shifted on to one leg for half of the speech, and I bounced when I rushed my speaking too. The volume was barely audible in the beginning and my articulation was poor. I had way too many hand gestures, in where I kept waving my hands around and probably distracting the audience.

The topic I happened to receive said “How to combat the hiccups.” If I had gotten this topic in a normal, non-stressful conversation I would have plenty of things to say. However, I believe it was because of the anxiety I had that made my mind go blank. I could not think of all the different strategies my friends used to try as kids, even though I knew that I learned them before. However, it was not something I knew enough about and encountered everyday, so I felt that there was not enough details for me to talk about for two minutes.

I have never done an impromptu speech before, so performing one and watching others have given me some good examples of how it is supposed to go. I have learned what kinds of things make a good speech, what catches the audience’s attention, and how people can last for two minutes on a topic. Since I was second, I did not know how to make an effective speech on the spot because I was not able to see examples of my peers before me.

This assignment has exposed the trait that I truly need work on in order to be a confident speaker. Mainly, my mistakes are on articulation, posture, and rate. When I haven’t had practice to fix those mistakes, they are seen by to the audience. I now know to focus on those aspects for my next speech even more, because I know that if I haven’t practiced enough, my anxiety will cause those things to show again.

I believe this speech deserves a B- because I went under time and made countless mistakes that I should have known to fix by now. I hope in the next impromptu I have a better idea of how it goes.

Noellie Nemoto English 9 1/14/10 Speech #4: Book Talk Our goal in this speech was to persuade an audience to read our book. In my case, I was convincing English teachers to add Steinbeck’s novel __Of Mice and Men__ to their curriculum. I felt that my performance was compromised this time around. This self-assessment will explain why I thought so.

There were a few things that I tried to focus on when I went through my speech. I tried to keep a steady pace and not rush when I was nervous. I made the time limit, unlike the previous speech. My articulation was clearer and I did not stutter as many times as I did before.

Although I seemed to improve a little in certain aspects, others were worse that before. Throughout the entire speech, my volume was too soft. It lessened at the end of each sentence. I had a lot of pauses after each phrase. I looked down too often at the manuscript and my note card as well. There was rocking back and forth, and still looked up at the ceiling a couple of times. My emotion was not very strong because my voice stayed monotone for most of the speech. When I was answering questions, I lost my posture and started doing old habits again, such as not articulating.

I really enjoyed my book; however I do not think it was a good choice for this assignment. For a while, it was hard to recognize the hidden themes behind the story. __Of Mice and Men__ was not my first choice for an outside reading book. I only chose it because my other choices were checked out already. This novel is not usually the type that would appeal to teenagers. I hoped that I would choose a book that would be easy to convince others to read because it was one I was excited about. However, it is not the worst choice either; there are a lot of elements that I liked.

After reading the ending of the novel, I definitely cried. It was very heartbreaking but yet satisfying. Performing this speech changed my perspective about reading books. I had to see the novel through a teacher’s eyes, and look for things that they would enjoy. Once I saw those aspects, I appreciated them. My preference in literature has matured a little from reading the book and performing this speech. From the previous speech, I realized that I had to practice more to become comfortable about performing. I have learned that it helps a lot to do so. I spent a lot more time running through this speech, and when I performed, I did not feel as nervous. However, I now know that I need to constantly keep a good stance, have longer eye contact, and maintaining pace. In order to focus on those things, I have to know my speech pretty well. I think I improved in keeping pace for this speech, however, I know I still have to practice it every single time.

For this speech I would give myself a B+ because I felt that I have improved, through practice, a few things. However, there is still a lot more I need to work on.

March 15, 2010 Speech #5: Now and Then Self-Assessment This “Now and Then” speech we were assigned to do was with a partner. Our group’s task was to pick a social issue that is brought up in Romeo and Juliet and compare it with the modern world. My partner and I chose to give our presentation on parent/teen communication. We talked about the relationships in the Elizabethan Age and now, along with the ways of communication. Overall, I felt that this was not the best speech I’ve given but the hardest because it was with a partner. I was surprised at the things that went well in this speech. First of all, I could be heard most the time and looked up at the audience a lot more than I have before. My articulation was a little better than the previous speech. The flow between partners was not as bad as I thought it was. I also thought our introduction turned out okay. However, I saw many things that I didn’t fix. My posture was kind of slouching, and my weight shifted a number of times. I looked back at the power point too often and said the word “and” way too many times. My voice got post when I turned around as well, which I did not consider when practicing. My parts of the speech weren’t that smooth as they should have been. I think this selection was a good choice for my group because it was an issue that we can all relate to today. Parent/teen relationships are a big factor in every family and it is also something that is easier to talk about then suicide or depression. Although it is prominent in the modern world, it was a little more difficult to find research on the issue in the Elizabethan era. This speech had a pretty big impact on me. It reminded me once again on how important practicing is. When I deliver a speech without much practice, I tend to stutter more and shift my weight. The assignment also gave me a new aspect to the speech: working with a partner. It is more difficult because it requires more communication and makes it harder to practice. It also means that the grade depends on cooperation, while our previous speech grades were determined by just how you presented you speech. In general, I thought it helped us to learn to work with others. From this assignment, I’ve learned that partner speeches are more difficult than I thought. It could also be beneficial if the workload is equally shared. I have realized the importance of practice and the habits that I need to watch out for every time. In the future, I know I need to practice more standing in front of an audience or else I won’t overcome my habits.  For this speech I think I would give myself a B+ because I have accomplished a new aspect but still have many things to improve on.

April 14, 2010 Speech #6: Social Issue Self-Assessment The object of this speech was to inform the audience about a particular social issue that is currently taking place. We were also supposed to persuade them to our view of the issue. I chose to do my speech on teenage apathy because I wanted to do something different and because it is prevalent in almost every single school. In this assessment I will describe things that I thought were good and bad, and how this speech affected me and what I have gained from it. There were several things I noticed when I watched myself present. I saw myself shifting weight again, bouncing a little when I came across points I seemed not too sure about. I was sort of slouching a little, and throughout my entire speech I kept my focus mostly on the right side of the audience. My eyes kept fluttering back and forth, and did not hold a steady gaze as it should have. My volume was pretty soft and did not seem to command the audience’s attention. I was rushing through my speech, probably a result of my nervousness, and sometimes I went so fast I stuttered. It was hard to understand a few parts because of my poor articulation, and I said “and” way too many times. I also saw that looking back at the screen was a little distracting; I realized that was no need to look back to keep my speech going. When I turned back towards the screen, I also lost more volume and eye contact with the audience. I did feel, however, that my intro was a little better than it was before, and I felt pretty confident about most of the facts in my speech. I tried to add a few hand gestures in my speech, and they did not seem as awkward. However, I still felt anxious when I reached the end of the speech. If we had another chance at this topic, I should have picked a different issue. Although I was very interested by it, and it is very relatable to students at this school, it was very difficult to find research about this topic. Teenage apathy isn’t a defined concrete social issue; it is more abstract, which makes it harder to research. It took me a while before I found the right approach to my topic, and even when I did, it was hard to fund statistics and numbers on such an intangible concept. This speech once again was a reminder of the importance of practice, when I first started practicing, I realized how much of an improvement to practice, even just a little. I didn’t have the chance to practice as much as I would have liked to, which is why I still felt nervous when I preformed my speech. I also realized that it you know your topic well enough, you don’t’ need to memorize words. It is easier to talk about something you are knowledgeable in than something you forced yourself to memorize. What I have learned by doing this performance is the difference it makes when you know your topic well. The speech can be similar to having a conversation with the audience, without the “likes” and the “ands” that I normally have. I also have to learn to slow down when I get anxious while giving my speech, or else I will start rushing and stop articulating. Like always, I also need to find time to put more practice in, especially in front of an audience. It helps you get used to the eyes staring at you while you present. I did overcome the obstacle of forgetting what to say, and making the speech more personable, which I felt I did better than in the previous one. For this performance, I would give myself between ad B and a B+. I am proud that I found all that research and put it together in a speech. However, it was far from perfect, with many things I need to continue to improve on.

Noellie Nemoto English 9 May 14, 2010 Impromptu Self-Assessment This next speech we had to do was an impromptu speech. Each student drew three quotes from //Ender’s Game// out of the hat that our teacher passed around. We had about two minutes to prepare and choose the quote we were to talk about. Then we had to speak in front of our class for at least 2 and a half minutes explaining the quote we chose. I think I did a satisfactory job, which is better than what I expected for an impromptu speech. The main thing that I thought I did well on was not pausing in the middle of my speech. I made sure I didn’t completely stop. If I did, it would look like I made a mistake, so I kept going no matter what. I tried to avoid using the words “Um” or “like” too often. My speech was also, in a way, organized into an introduction, body, and conclusion. There were several things that I saw in this speech that appeared in past speeches as well. Most of the time, I was looking up to the right because I was thinking of how to get my points across. I notice that I always look to the same place when I am thinking of what to say. There was also a lot of repetition. I said “had” three times in one sentence! Due to the pressure of thinking your next words on the spot, my head started to nod after every other word. I think it’s another habit that I forgot about when I went up there. My feet also shifted a lot, leaning from one leg to the other. I chose the quote “I didn’t fight with honor. I fought to win” because I felt that out of the three it was the one I could thoroughly explain. Since one of our tasks were to either agree or disagree with the quote, this quote was also the most like a statement. The other two confused me because I didn’t know how to agree or disagree with it; it wasn’t as straightforward as this one. I could also give examples that related to this quote, examples that displayed how people with fought with honor or didn’t. This speech has caused me to rethink my understanding of //Ender’s Game//. When we were going through the book, I would notice many quotes that I knew were important. I assumed that I understood them pretty well, as long as I knew what the quote meant. When sitting outside, trying to pick a quote to talk about for three minutes, I realized that I didn’t know any of them at all. I only knew who said the quote, what scene it was from, and the surface meaning. I never considered how it was a theme in the book, what kinds of examples would prove the statement true, and how I could relate it to anything outside of //Ender’s Game//. I didn’t really know those quotes inside out. From giving this speech, I am reminded of the many habits that I need to break when I perform. I have to consciously pay attention each time to make sure I do not start doing those habits while I’m speaking. However, if I don’t let the anxiety affect my speaking, if I speak slower, clearer, and make it as natural as I can, my speeches turn out better. If I know my information and what I am going to say, than it is easier than trying to repeat memorized or fixed sentences that I’ve prepared beforehand. I also overcame the obstacle of blanking out in the middle and having no words to say. As a performer, I now know that the worst thing you can do is let everyone know that you made a mistake. For this impromptu speech, I would give myself a B+. I know I am terrible at improvising and thinking on the spot, but I was surprised that at least I made it through without any pauses. However, I saw many of those habits that I should have known by now to fix.