Andrew

Self Assessment #11 The overall speech that I made was one of the better ones that I have made so far. I felt better about this one then the others because I was not as nervous as I have previously have been in the past speeches, and I also was able to be more relaxed so I did not make as many mistakes as I previously have made in the past. Even though I was more relaxed then I first started off am a little too relaxed. In my speech I decided to use a lot of facts to persuade listeners to feel bad about the fact that there are many homeless people to persuade people to help the homeless. In my speech I used a volume of voice that was kind of hard to hear in the video, but while I was performing my speech I thought that my voice was at a very clear and audible volume at which everyone in the classroom could clearly hear me. During the presentation I tried not to stay stiff as a board, so I tried to move a little but I ended up moving a lot. The movement that I did do in my speech had nothing to do with what I was saying, the movement that I did was some small shifting. There were also a lot of pauses in my speech, which were not planned, through out my entire speech. Although I knew the topics that I was presenting pretty well I was some what struggling in the delivery aspect of the speech. The introduction and the conclusion were the parts of my speech that was lacking the most in my entire speech. My introduction lacked a better hook rather than a bad question, and it could have been a better one. The conclusion could have also been better and adapted to show that homeless people should be saved and given a second chance and that they should survive. Also, my conclusion could have summed the entire speech that I presented over a span of time so that I could have made it into the allotted time. Self Assessment #10 In this speech our class paired up with another person and performed a speech that explained the difference between the modern ages and the Elizabethan ages. My partner was Jonah, and we decided to explain the differences of the family class system. In our presentation, we decided to focus mainly on the different class of the Elizabethan era, because there were bigger differences in class. Through out the entire speech my volume was a little to soft and should have been louder than I was already speaking. During the speech I thought that I was speaking loud enough but in reality I was sometimes finding it hard to hear myself. Also some of the grammar that I was said did not make any sense at times. For example, when I was talking about the vagrants, or the homeless people, when I said, “the vagrants just scattered the streets”, I actually wanted to say that they lined the streets not scatter. I also noticed that even though the sections that were inside our presentation were supposedly divided up evenly, but Jonah took over most of the time that made up our entire presentation by elaborating on most of the sections. During the speech, my posture from the speech was not as good as it could have been. I was slouching and I did not do much to improve it. Another thing that I did not do so well was the fact that I was not doing any actions, like movements with my hands or body, while Jonah was doing motions, like at the end where he showed that when he was pretending to strangle himself. Jonah and I were also both adding comments to what each other had to say. I was also dressed not as formal as I was supposed to be. Even though I had an injured toe, I should have at least tried to wear shoes during the presentation. Something that we should have done better was planning better. We did not remember the fact that we put me another slide including the one that we did. A slide that we did not remember that we put in was the slide, “Society Today.” All in all, I thought that I did an okay job even though I did not do as well as I thought I did. I thought that we did a good job overall during our presentation.

Self Assessment #9 This speech was one of the easier speeches that we have presented in all. I found it a lot easier than the other speeches because we were able to carry a manuscript with us during the entire time that we presented and we were also able to keep a total of twenty words on our manuscript to help us remember our one minute introduction. Also, I was able to find this speech especially easy because the speech was already prepared for us, of course by Shakespeare. The only hard part that I found in the speech itself was because of the language aspect of the speech was different than I was use to. There was also a lot more leisure regarding this speech compared to all of the other speeches that we have done so far. Such as the time limit that was used in this speech, since there was not a limit to begin with. All in all I thought that this was one of the easiest speeches and the one that I think I did the best. The volume of my voice varied in some places like I planed and some times when I did not plan it at all. I tried to emphasize the feelings that I thought the character Friar Lawrence would have in the situation that he was in. Although I planned a lot more movement in my speech than I originally performed, I thought that it was ok even though the movements that I planned could have improved the speech that I made by a great deal. If I did all of the motions that I had originally planned then I would have had more of chance to improve what I already did during my performance. I noticed that I was doing a lot of fidgeting throughout the speech. Also, during the performance I thought that I was equally looking up and down at my manuscript, but as I looked at the video I was actually looking more down at the manuscript than I was actually looking up at the audience. In the speech however, my introduction completely lacked and made the rest of the speech worse than it actually was. Putting this altogether, I believe that I did a good job after I was performing my speech. This speech was also kind of a review of all of the things that I have done so far. So all in all, I think that this type of speech and this speech in particular was the best speech I have done so far.

Self Assessment #8 The impromptu speech was a type of speech that was new to me. I had to adjust to the time span that I was given in order to make up the content for my speech and using the content that I came up with, I had to make it in the allotted time. Also, I had to use a random topic for the speech. My topic was, “What do you want to be remembered by?” Some other topics that were handed out were, “If you were an animal, what animal would you be? And why?” and, “If you had a free afternoon what would you do? And why?” Something that was hard for me to do was either remembering what I was going to say and in what order or figuring out content to say during the speech. Even though my topic was about memory, I was forgetting the content that I was planning on saying and then remembering at the wrong time. Since, I was doing so, my organization was off because I decided to go back to the topic that I was previously talking about and finished talking back, several times. For example, when I was talking about being forgetful, then I would talk about remembering and being remembered. After word, I would then go back to forgetting. Also, during my speech, I would forget the content of my speech, and then I would start to stall by going “um um um um um……” All together some of the skills that I have previously used were somewhat used. For instance the volume of my voice was at an average level compared to the times that I did before. Also, the posture of my body was not as good as it could have been. I was moving around through my entire speech about what I wanted to be remembered by even though I was trying not to move around as much as I did throughout the speech. In conclusion, the impromptu speech was something new to me and was also something that was a new speech that is fun. This type of speech was something that was fun and exciting new type of speech. An impromptu speech was a new experience and the thing that made the speech difficult was the fact that there was a time limit for what I had to make a full speech.

Self Assessment #7 I did my speech on the culture of Scandinavia and how it has impacted me. Some background information is that it consists of five different countries, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Finland; of these five I am Swedish and Norwegian. Through out the entire speech, I was showing some of the things that made me who I am today. I inserted information about the Vikings, some of the foods that my Dad and Grandma make for me and my sisters, and I included some information, like the Jazz Festivals and the royal families in the countries of Scandinavia. I started off my presentation a little rough, because my introduction to the speech was not said fluently and I messed up by not saying what I originally planned to say. My introduction was rough, because I said the wrong thing and then I decided to go back and say it once more, to make it sound right and the way that I wanted it to sound. As the speech progressed, I slowly began to get my “groove” back. I was saying what I planned to say and said things that I planned to insert in the speech, but did not have the time actually put it inside. The overall speech was okay, because some parts were better than others. For instance, there was a big difference of volume during this speech then there was than the speech before that was not done on the microphone in the church. When I quickly moved the cursor across the whole playing area, I figure out that some how I was drifting to my left, but the audience’s right. This shows that I was fidgeting more than I thought that I was, even though I tried not to move and fidget. I also was swaying a bit during the entire speech. Also, in the speech I was referring to the PowerPoint that I made a little too much. Even though I was only pointing to the pictures that I had on the PowerPoint, I thought that I did that a little too often and should have done it a little less. Lastly, my conclusion was too brief and should have been longer, but I forgot what I was going to say, because my note card was a little close to the borderline. I saw that in my presentation, that I was able to improve more than I usually do. In doing so, I was able to realize a little more about my ethnicity and the culture to it.

Oral Interpretation #6 For my inspirational speech, I choose two quotes from Henry Ford and Vincent Van Gogh. Henry Ford’s quote “One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.” and Van Gogh’s quote, “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” I did my speech on the culture of Scandinavia and how it has impacted me. Some background information is that it consists of five different countries, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Finland; of these five I am Swedish and Norwegian. Through out the entire speech, I was showing some of the things that made me who I am today. I inserted information about the Vikings, some of the foods that my Dad and Grandma make for me and my sisters, and I included some information, like the Jazz Festivals and the royal families in the countries of Scandinavia. I started off my presentation a little rough, because my introduction to the speech was not said fluently and I messed up by not saying what I originally planned to say. My introduction was rough, because I said the wrong thing and then I decided to go back and say it once more, to make it sound right and the way that I wanted it to sound. As the speech progressed, I slowly began to get my “groove” back. I was saying what I planned to say and said things that I planned to insert in the speech, but did not have the time actually put it inside. The overall speech was okay, because some parts were better than others. For instance, there was a big difference of volume during this speech then there was than the speech before that was not done on the microphone in the church. When I quickly moved the cursor across the whole playing area, I figure out that some how I was drifting to my left, but the audience’s right. This shows that I was fidgeting more than I thought that I was, even though I tried not to move and fidget. I also was swaying a bit during the entire speech. Also, in the speech I was referring to the PowerPoint that I made a little too much. Even though I was only pointing to the pictures that I had on the PowerPoint, I thought that I did that a little too often and should have done it a little less. Lastly, my conclusion was too brief and should have been longer, but I forgot what I was going to say, because my note card was a little close to the borderline. I saw that in my presentation, that I was able to improve more than I usually do. In doing so, I was able to realize a little more about my ethnicity and the culture to it.

Oral Interpretation #6 For my inspirational speech, I choose two quotes from Henry Ford and Vincent Van Gogh. Henry Ford’s quote “One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.” and Van Gogh’s quote, “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” During the speech I related the two quotes to the experience of transferring to a new school. I related Henry Ford’s quote pretty well, but I did not relate Van Gogh’s quote as much as I wanted to. In the speech, I did well by looking up at everyone more often then I usually do. I looked up a lot more than I did during the beginning of my speech than I did during the last thirty seconds of my speech. I began to look down because I was forgetting some of the topics that I wanted to discuss and relate it to the two quotes. Since I forgot the topics that I wanted to discuss the time of my speech was shorter than I really practiced it. During the practice that we did before we performed the speeches I made it in time with much more time to spare than I did, but since I forgot I was around a minute less than I originally performed it during the practice. Also since I forgot my topics there were random pauses in my speech. Since there were many pauses in my speech, it made my speech sound unrehearsed and unprepared. There were tons of pauses not only because I was forgetting my topics that were supposed to be discussed, but also I was nervous because of my frequent glances at the audience I was realizing that everyone was staring at me. The volume of my voice could have been louder and I should not have worried as much as I did about over speaking and blasting my voice over the microphone. I should have just spoke normally and not worry what other people thought of my speech. The clarity of my speech should have been better than it was In conclusion, I did not do so well during the speech. I was fiddling with the rope on the podium, even though I tell people not to fidgeting. I need to work on the volume and clarity of my voice. Also, I need to work on knowing my topics better so my speech is not bad because I forgot my topic.

Oral Interpretation #5 There was a significant amount of change during my presentation. I believe that my presentation grew better during the time between oral interpretation number four and this past presentation. However, I did do a little worse in some aspects of my presentation. Some of the aspects that I was able to do well were using my hand motions, the volume of my voice, and the posture of my body. Some things that I was doing wrong were that I paused during unnecessary times during my performance and I did not make the presentation seem like something that came naturally and like I rehearsed the speech. Some of the good things happened compared to what has happened during some of the other presentations I have done. The volume of my voice was way better then it was during the last presentation. It was easier to comprehend then the previous presentation that I did, even though my volume could have been a little louder, I think that it could be better. Also, the hand motions that I did during the presentation were pretty good and were simple and good enough to be recognized as using a microwave. I did enough movements to let everyone know what I am doing in the presentation, if I did not have the opportunity to talk. Also, the posture of my body was one of the better ones out of all of my presentations. I was not fidgeting with my hands and my pants or shifting my weight to either sides of my body. I was for the most part standing still and I was keeping my hands from moving unnecessarily. These are some of the things that I did well during the performance involving my hands on speech. Some of the things that I did wrong in this presentation that I need to work on are my flow during the presentation. The flow of my presentation was bad because I was constantly pausing during my presentation. These pauses also made my presentation sound rehearsed instead of making it sound to be coming to me during that time.

Oral Interpretation #4 I presented a section of //Lord of the Flies// written by William Golding. In this section I explain where Simon, a boy trapped on an island with all of the boys, travels off to, which is a secret place in the forest that only he knows about. In my presentation, the flow of my presentation really did not flow well. In the middle of a sentence I would randomly pause and either completely mess up or I would look long and hard at my manuscript to find my place again. The problem with this was that I should have read over my section so I was more familiar with my section. Since I was not as familiar with my passage, these random pauses were very frequent. In all of my past presentations, I did not have these problems, but I guess that this happened because this presentation in particular was longer then the rest of the presentations that we have done in class so far and I was not as prepared for this presentation as I previously have done because there was not as much time to get prepared and I was not sure of when the presentations were until a day before the day of the presentations. Also, during my presentation I noticed that many aspects of my speech were down graded from my past presentations. First of all, my volume was surprisingly low compared to what I thought I was doing. I thought that my volume was the same as my previous presentation, but it showed on the video recording of my speech that my volume was incredibly low. I had a hard time finding out what I was saying during some parts of the speech. Secondly, I noticed that most of the actions in my presentation were meaningless and not necessary. All of my actions did not really mean much and I should not have really done most of those actions any way. I thought that I should try to incorporate actions in my presentation, but they ended up unnecessary. In the end, I realize that it was much easier to present a work of my own to the class instead of some other person's work. In the most resent presentation before the one that we just presented was the easiest and was by far the best presentation that we have done so far in English 9.

Oral Interpretation #3 I can see great improvement through my performance and the other past performances. In this performance I was able to improve my speech in all aspects of my performance. My visual aspect of the presentation was way better than both of my other two performances. I was also better at acting out parts of my poem as well as my posture and my tone of voice. The visual part of my presentation was better than the rest of my presentations because during the past presentations I was either staring at my paper or I was messing up while attempting to read my script. Even with these problems that I had in the past, I was able to conquer this fact. In the speech I only messed up once or twice, which is a big improvement compared to my past performance. In my past performance I messed up attempting not to look down at my paper, but this performance I was able to not look down at my paper, for the most part. The actions and tone of voice I used in my presentation were above what I have previously done with the other presentation. The actions that I made in this presentation showed the pain and sorrow of the narrator of the poem. The actions that I made in my presentation made did not look they were forced like some actions look that really are not necessary. In my first performance, I forced these actions and I did not improve my performance with these actions. My second performance had actions, but I did not emphasize the actions enough to make them noticeable to the audience for the actions to mean anything for the audience. In the performance that I previously made was full of action and they actually worked for the poem. The tone of voice that I used in my poem made it meaningful for the audience to watch. In the performance I used a tone that sounded distressed and that showed that I was in pain. Even though the tone of voice that I used was great, the volume of my voice was lacking. The volume of my voice made it kind of hard to pick up in the video. The presentation of my own poem made it easier to work on because I knew what the poem was supposed to sound like and what the poem meant. All in all, I think that this presentation compared to my previous ones was the best one out of the three we have done.

Oral Interpretation #2 Poetry Out Loud During the time that was spent for my second Oral Interpretation of the poem “After Apple Picking” by the famous poet Robert Frost, I learned what I need to work on and what I did well. In this performance, I think that I did worst than before. During the performance I was trying to hard to look up because during the last performance I looked at my paper far too much and barely looked up at the audience throughout the performance. Since I was trying to hard look up more times than my previous presentation of “Angels on the Ceiling” because I did not do very well when I made eye contact with the audience, I was forgetting were I was, I kept saying the wrong words at the wrong time, and the pauses were misplaced. The eye contact part of the presentation was pretty good considering the problems that I had with every thing else, because of the eye contact I did worse on the other sections of my presentation. In the performance, I was able to keep some what of a pace, but when I had to restart and go back to the spot that I left off on. My posture during the poem was alright, but throughout the whole poem I looked stiff because I was standing straight up and I did not move much through the whole entire oral interpretation. The volume of my voice during the oral interpretation of “After Apple Picking” by Robert Frost was very poor and it could have been a little louder like the time for my interpretation for the memoir //When I was Puerto Rican// by Esmeralda Santiago. In the presentation of my poem, I did badly when I was trying to say my introduction to the poem. I did badly because I did not do anything through out the poem to make the poem or poet speak through the poem it self. I did not do any thing to show that the poem meant any thing to me and I should have done a lot more to enhance the poem and make it better for everyone to listen to.