Logan

 Self-Assessment: War is Kind "War Is Kind" presented an entirely different set of challenges from "How to Eat a Guava". Whereas the latter practically hit the reader over the head with symbolism, the former is largely open to interpretation. This meant that I had a lot more work to do in terms of emphasis, style, and gesturing. On the other hand, less emphasis needed to be placed on memorization and eye contact. Generally, I feel I did fairly well. However, a mild head cold and a few slightly off-kilter gestures prevent this oral presentation from surpassing its predecessor. In general (excepting my head cold), delivery was good. Aside from the lack of volume and vitality, enunciation was good and eye contact was passable. As you remarked, during the intro it was obvious that I was on NyQuil, I repeatedly stared off into space while monotonously reciting lines. However, once I got into the actual poem and had visual cues for my gestures, I started performing more and reciting less. Generally, these gestures were fairly easy to interpret, although on the occasions when I attempted to "wipe a tear from my eye" it merely looked like I was scratching. The weak point of my presentation was NyQuil. There may have been other weak points, and I would probably write about them, if not for the fact that every mistake I made could possibly be traced back to NyQuil. As a result of this, it's hard to tell what was actually an effect of being semi-drunk and what was not. Next time, I would prefer not to have a head cold when I give a speech. I was fairly happy with my selection of a poem for oral interpretation, and it did serve its purpose well. However, in the modern day the poem has lost much of its impact, due to the advent of superior technology. Modern warfare makes "a field where a thousand corpses lie" look like a barfight. As such, the poem lost some of its impact. I could also tell that some classmates had problems taking some of the language in it seriously, particularly the term "babe" in its 1800s sense. For some reason, however, this time I didn't have sever time issues. This seems fortunate. In fact, I almost exactly matched my practice time of 2:13. I should try to repeat that next time.

Generally, I feel like I deserve a high B for my performance. While normally I feel it would have rated lower, there were extenuating circumstances that I feel were understandable.

 Self-Assessment: Grime

Reading my own poem ("Grime") for an assignment was, in a lot of ways, far easier than reading someone else's. I didn't have to interpret the poem this time around, I knew full well what it meant and how I should act it out because I wrote it. On top of this, I wasn't on NyQuil. And in a lot of ways, my performance reflected this: volume was better, enunciation was good, I remembered the introduction right. My motions seemed more natural, with a couple of exceptions. I still, however, have one major problem: swaying. Delivery was much better this time around. My volume was sufficiently loud, and I'm pretty sure everyone could hear me just fine. Vocal variation worked out OK, and enunciation was good. My pauses were effective in context (it's so much easier to know what the author meant). Visual cues were fair. My "sleazy" hand motion was a tad nonsensical, but that's all right. The biggest problem was posture, and, in particular, swaying. I was actually scared for myself at some points while watching my video, because I thought that I was going to fall over sideways. At the beginning, this swaying was intentional. However, it soon became subconscious. Mistake. Also, my posture was a little awkward, particularly during the intro. And the buttons on my polo shirt distracted me when I was viewing it. I'll wear something that actually fits next time. I like my poem. I think it's a little bit over the top, and it isn't as good at conveying its message as it could be, but as my poems go, I like it. I can't wait until we start writing short fiction. Can we please start writing short fiction?

Generally, I think I earned a low A. Once I fix posture, and we get out of poems/personal narratives, it'll improve.

Self-Assessment: A Confederacy of Dunces, Opening

This was a fun one, and it was definitely way easier than the poetry assignments. Though the work was not as easy to interpret as my own poem (see "Grime"), it was still easier than "War is Kind". As the audience could probably tell, I really like that book. Occasionally too much: sometimes I could see myself almost lose it and start snickering. Mr. Reilly is just so hilarious-- even when he's angry-- that sometimes it was hard to keep a straight face. Generally, though, I feel like I managed to pull off "tongue-in-cheek" without going too over the top. I swayed less this time (although maybe I just didn't notice it in the video because I was actively supposed to be turning around. My gestures, unfortunately, were a little less subtle than last time. Additionally, voicework was a little awkward, because members of the crowd and the policemen both had the same accents. The most improved element from last time was posture. I got to alternate between big (Ignatius) and small (the policeman), and the extra focus this required made me stand up straighter for Ignatius (and excused the slouching when playing the policeman). Also, swaying this time was far less noticeable, partly because I concentrated on it and partly because I needed to turn back and forth anyways. The largest problem this time around was hand gesturing. Some gestures ("little folds of fat") were indecipherable, while others ("waves of flesh") were incredibly over-the-top and just looked weird. This would be something to work on for next time, but now that we're done with Oral Interpretations I doubt it will be as much of an issue. Voices were also problematic, because they were easily confusable. The book is a great book. I hope that everyone else found it interesting and may decide to read it. That would be nice. Overall, I think that this performance was slightly less impressive than the last one--instead of one big flaw, it had two small ones. Probably a high B on this one.

Self Assessment: How To Survive A Zombie Infestation

This fourth oral presentation was, in a lot of ways, easier than any of the rest, mostly because I am very used to improvising during speech. This is because the robotics team practiced improvising answers to judges' questions for hours on end, which in the long run was a lot more useful than any of us thought it would be. Improvising for crowds is a lot easier for me than it is for some other people, and as a result I was thankful for this assignment. I only made a couple minor mistakes--slight swaying and one backtrack. Delivery was about the same as last time, for the most part. Perhaps I was a little bit quieter than in the "Dunces" assignment, but that was probably because I wasn't playing as Ignatius. I think that a minor problem here was that I may have been slightly too casual, which probably caused my performance to seem more improvised than it should have. A positive result of this way that my hand motions did look more natural than last time (with the exception of the "swing"; however, given that the subject for the speech was killing zombies this seems acceptable.) Swaying was a minor issue this time. It was less noticeable than in other Oral Assignments, but at the same time it was definitely there. That could probably be fixed fairly quickly. Another problem was when I corrected myself on impulse. This disrupted flow and probably distracted audience members. My speech was certainly entertaining, if generally meatless. I think it could best be referred to as "harmless fluff"--nothing life-changing, but fun. Judging by the response, I thin the class was pretty entertained.

I think I have a low A on this one, again. I'll try to be more serious next time.