Courtney

OI#2 9/24/09 The assignment was to select a poem of individual preference and perform it in front of the class. I chose the poem //Insomnia// by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. I felt that my overall performance was better than the first speech, but still has points of improvement. I felt that my introduction was memorized and given pretty well. I maintained eye contact with each person in the audience. I also liked the rate at which I delivered my speech; it was a comfortable speed. Throughout my poem, I kept the same tone of voice and speed at which I spoke. If I had spoke n faster at certain points and slower at certain points, my poem would have been more interesting. And although my introduction was pretty thoroughly memorized, my poem was not. I think more practice was needed. “My soul this hour has drawn your soul, a little nearer yet. ” Between the two parts of this sentence, I paused for a moment. This resulted in putting more emphasis on the last part. Performing this poem made me reminisce on how, when I was younger, I couldn’t sleep sometimes. And I remembered how much I dreaded just lying in my bed at night, awake. By performing this poem, I realized how powerful repetition can be. By repeating a certain line, you can create a rhythm for the audience while they listen to you. Before our next speech, I plan to put more time into practicing before the final performance. I think I deserve an A- for this speech because my introduction was memorized and my speech was overall, well delivered. But, I still have areas of improvement.

OI#4 10.25.09 The assignment was to select a passage from our outside reading book and perform it, giving the audience a visual understanding of the scene. I read a passage about Catherine Velis and her acceptance to The Game from __The Eigh__t by Katherine Neville. During my performance, I thought I was good at maintaining eye contact with the people in the audience and I thought the volume at which I spoke was good. I also thought I used more hand motions in this speech than in the previous ones. I felt that I should have cut out more things from my passage before I actually presented. My presentation was about thirty seconds too long, meaning that I either spoke too slow or chose too long of a passage. "No wonder he'd grabbed that note out of my hand when I'd first noticed the rhyming pattern." By emphasizing the word "wonder" and using hand motions to act out the "grabbing" action, I think the sentence was better understood. From performing this passage, I learned a useful life lesson. I learned that figuring the answer out by yourself, is always more fulfilling than having it given to you. I was given this insight because in the passage, Catherine's friend Nim had known the message of the riddle way before she had. But, he had waited until she figured it out for herelf instead of telling her right away. I think I overcame my obstacle of not using enough hand motions. But, I think I still need to improve on my volume and memorization. I think I deserve an A - because although I went over the time limit, I improved from my previous performances.

OI#5 11.6.09 The assignment was to prepare a speech explaining a hardship that hit us either personally or affected someone close to us. I chose to write about my grandmother and her batle with diabetes. I think I did well on this assignment because it was presented smoothly. I think that the speed at which I spoke throughout the performance was good, it wasn't too fast or too slow. It was just the right speed for the audience to clearly understand every word and not get bored. While standing at the podium, I also thought that I maintained good posture (no slouching). I think I still have to work on articulation. I've had problems with articulation in the past performances also. I should do more speaking practices and tongue twisters. "What I didn't know was that the first person to ever make me laugh had suffered from this disease for over five decades." During this line of my performance, I used appropriate pauses and eye contact. I tried to look at every person in the audience. It was inspiring to convey onto my classmates the experiences my grandmother overcame. It also made me realize to a higher extent how strong she must have been to overcome her newfound disease. Even though I was the one speaking, performing this speech made me realize the real power that can come as a result of putting your faith in God. Because I have trouble with articulation, I plan on trying to practice tongue twisters. Hoepfully these will help me enunciate better. I think I deserve an A for this performance because it was yet another improvement from the last speech. I also had good volume, eye contact, and rate.

Speech #2 12.7.09  The purpose of speech #2 was to be able to thoroughly describe an element of our cultural background. We were to do research, obtain a cultural artifact, and perform an interview. I chose to do a speech about my Okinawan heritage. I felt that my main points were well defined, but I could have practiced with my power point more.  I thought the first part of my speech, my introduction, was the strongest point of my performance. I remember practicing it the most, and I remember it was the easiest part to deliver. I thought I used good facial expressions and enthusiasm. I also thought that throughout the majority of my performance, I had good eye contact and posture.  During the performance, I felt that my transitions could have been cleaner. The transition that I felt needed the most work was the transition from when I finished talking about my great grandparents and started talking about karate. I also think that the rate at which I spoke was a tad on the slow side. I realized it was because I was worried my speech would be too short, under the time limit.  “I felt like a total liar,” was a line I used in my introduction. I like how I emphasized the phrase “total liar” because it helped get the point I was trying to make across to the audience. I also think I used appropriate spacing throughout this line.  I’m glad I was assigned to do this speech because it gave me the chance to learn more about my ancestors, my favorite sport, and myself. It made me appreciate the hardships my great grandparents had to face back in their life time. It also made me realize how lucky I am to be living the life I am today.  I learned a whole lot more about my great grandparents by doing this speech. And if I have a future opportunity to do another power point presentation, I know I’ll practice more with the aid of the power point.