Conor

10/23/09

Self Evaluation OI#4 Overall, I am happier with this oral interpretation that the previous ones. I gave a large effort into this interpretation, but when I went up, I got nervous and forgot most of my memorized introduction and I stumbled over the rest of it. Also, when watching the video of it, I was under the impression that my voice sounded a lot different than it had in previous videos. I am unsure as to whether it is a good thing or not. In my presentation, the things that I thought I did well on was gestures, because I had actually started to use some this time, and I think that I have worked a little bit more on the alternation of my voice tone. I think that the rate that I went at was a little fast. I was happy with the amount of effort I put into this. The things that I think that I could have worked on were my eye contact, I don’t think I had enough, my memorization of my introduction, and maybe more voice inflection. I think I could work more on posture, and although I did use some, a little more gesturing. I also think that my poise could have been improved, and I could have stood straighter The impact of this selection is how it shows how the world of the main character is quickly turned upside down and everything is changed for him as he becomes a fugitive for killing his captain and for hiding books. What I learned from this interpretation was that I am able to try new things while performing, and it would improve my overall performance and increase my ability to perform.

10/17/09

Self Assessment for Oral Interpretation #3 For my third oral interpretation, I had written a poem, and read it aloud. I think that I had the most trouble with this interpretation out of all of them that I had done before. The topic that I had picked to make a poem about was suicide. I had trouble writing the poem because of the fact that I was not exactly sure as to what I should write about, and that I would be presenting it to the whole class. Some of the good things about this oral interpretation were that I was slightly less nervous and slightly more comfortable with presenting something in front of a group, especially because it was a poem that I had written. I also thought that I had done a better job at not reading directly from the manuscript, and only glancing at it. The things that I thought that I could have improved on in this presentation were numerous. I think that the weakest part in my interpretation was my presenting of it. My speech was halting, and did not sound smooth at all to me. I did not hear much emotion in my voice, and my eye contact was poor. I saw that my posture was sloppy, I was standing slouched, my arms were swinging around, but not as a gesture to go with the poem. I think that although I had memorized my introduction, I had memorized it poorly, and the intro was weak. My intro was not very long, and the content of it was subpar. I believe that some of the introduction was fine but there was no support and therefore it was weak. My overall reaction to this interpretation was that I was largely unsatisfied with this attempt to read poetry with emotion. While I was presenting, I felt that I was doing a much better job than before, that I had emotion in my voice when I read, and that I held myself with confidence, but while watching the video of my performance I had realized that I was wrong. I am unsure as to why the presentation came out to be the way it was, when I had felt so good while presenting. I take note as to when I am doing my next oral interpretation, I will try very hard to put as much effort and emotion into my making of and reading of my manuscript.

Conor Gilson English 9 11/1/09 Self Assessment for Hands Only Speech For my hands only speech, I had done a demonstration on how to paint a wall, and I think I had done a good job on it. To me, it felt much more natural. When I watched the video, I was surprised at how much more smoothly that this presentation had gone. I think that as of now, this presentation is the one that I am most proud of doing. The good things that I have done in this speech were mostly looking lively, smiling, having voice inflection, and using motions. I think that I was more comfortable with this presentation because I didn’t have a manuscript to read from, therefore there was no mistakes to be made, because I was pretty much making up the bulk of my speech on the spot. In the video, I sounded much more at ease, and my eye contact was better, or I was looking around more. I think that the things that could use a little working on were the fact that I kept fiddling with my shirt and I was shifting around more than I needed to. I thought that I could have improved the effect on my performance if I had looked directly at the audience instead of just looking at the area above and around the audience. If I were to redo this speech, the things that I think that I would try to improve on would be standing at attention and not looking slouched when I am talking, and I think that I would try to make a conscious effort not to fiddle with things or adjust my clothing, which seems to be a nervous trait of mine.

Conor Gilson 11/7/09 English 9 Period 8 Assessment for Inspirational Speech For my inspirational speech, I had picked a hardship of changing schools to Iolani and the challenges of my adaptation to my school. I thought that overall this speech did not go very well for me. I was not able to find something of great hardship to me, so therefore I chose something of mediocre hardship. I struggled because I didn’t have much to talk about because and I wasn’t able to put much feeling into it. For my actual speech, I thought that I did not do to well because I didn’t have eye contact with the audience, I did not speak loud enough to be heard, and I didn’t make any hand motions. I didn’t feel comfortable at all, being up on the podium, especially with having to use a microphone. I did not have a good memorization of my piece, and I don’t think that I had a good setup for my speech. The introduction, body, and conclusion were not made clear. I also think that I may have overused the quotes, because I had three of them. I think that for next time that I am to do a speech like this, I would prepare more carefully, and that I would pick a topic that I would be able to write and speak about with more feeling. I would also work on my eye contact with the audience, my voice inflection and volume, and also movement.

=Conor Gilson = =12/3/09 = =English 9 Per 8 = =Assessment for What Makes Me Me Speech = =I think that for this speech that I made, I had improved in some areas but not others. Overall, I think that I did a satisfactory job at this speech, not an outstanding job, but yet not a terrible job. I think that most of the areas in my speech were done well enough, but could have been improved, especially in the content and fluidity of my speech. In some areas, I think that I had improved, although it is a significantly lesser number than that of what I need to work upon. = =In my speech, I think that some of the positive things that I had done were that I had improved greatly in my eye contact. I found that having a note card had minimized the reasons that I had needed to look down, forcing me to face the audience. I also think that it helped having practiced more, because I had a basis of what I was going to say, and was not completely relying on my manuscript or note card. Also, I felt a lot more confident standing on front of all my classmates, and therefore I believe that I had an easier time with my speech. = =I think that the things that I need improvement upon, or the things that I did not do so well in were mostly to do with voice tone and emotion. I think that I could have put more changes into the tone of my voice; giving it inflection and having it show and put out a message of great emotion. Also, while watching the video, I had noticed that my speech was slightly, yet noticeably halting, my words not seeming to be exactly fluid. = =As a whole, I think that this speech was a large improvement from that of my previous speech. I feel that one of the greatest contributing factors to this is the fact that I had practiced s numerous amount of times, and had actively responded to the feedback which I had received. I think that because of this reason, I had made the greatest improvement in my speaking skills. ¤ =

Conor Gilson 12/16/09 English 9 Per 8 Impromptu Speech Self Assessment I think that this speech went very much in my favor, and was overall a good performance. Although it may not have been perfect, I am satisfied with it. I felt very comfortable when I was speaking, and I was also comfortable with the topic, so I did not have much to worry about. The positive things about my speech are; the fact that I was not nervous, the fact that I had good volume, I had good eye contact, and that I got the audience’s attention. I was not nervous about my speech because of the fact that since I didn’t have to prepare for this speech, I had nothing to worry about leaving out, since it was made up mostly on the spot. Also, I am quite sure that I was able to get the audience to pay attention to me. The negative things about my speech were; my posture was terrible, and I kept looking at my note card when there was truly no reason as to why I was, because there was not much written on there, and that I repeated myself a lot. For my posture, I was kind of rocking back and forth and was also slouched. In conclusion, I think that this was one of the better speeches that I have done, and in future speeches, I will try to be as comfortable as I was in this speech, and I will work on my posture.

Conor GilsonEnglish 9 Period 82/18/10Monologue Self Assessment For my monologue speech, I did the speech by the Friar. The monologue was the Friar speaking to Romeo, telling him not to kill himself. In my Introduction, I tied it to my essay topic of revenge by telling how Romeo killed Tybalt through revenge. I felt that it was an improvement from my previous speeches, and that I was able to speak with more emotion. This monologue speech was an improvement from my previous speeches because of the way that I had presented it. I spoke louder and with more conviction than I usually do during speeches, and was more confident. I found that this speech was easier to prepare for because the monologues were preselected, and all you had to do was choose one. The introduction presented a difficulty, because I felt that it was too weak, and that the ties to the essay topic were not good enough. I revised my introduction and felt that it was a little better. I had tried to make as much eye contact as possible during my reading of the monologue, and I think that i did a decent job at that. at one point, when I took my eyes off the paper at around two thirds f the way through it, I lost my spot and it took me a little while to regain my spot. Other than that small incident, I felt that my speech went quit smoothly. Overall, I am quite satisfied with my performance.

=Conor Gilson= =English 9= =Period 8= =2/13/10= =Assessment for Partner Speech= = =

=I think that this speech went well, and it was a different and new experience for me. I had to learn to cooperate with my partner for the speech which was kind of challenging because I am not used to doing that kind of thing. It is also different because your speech partner depends on you, and you can't just wing it and hope the speech is good, you have to prepare.= =Overall, I think that this speech went very good, and I improved on many aspects of my speaking abilities. My eye contact was improved, I was able to look at the audience. I found that this speech was easier because I didn't have to do all of the talking. I felt more confident and comfortable with speaking in front of the class, and I felt as if I had improved a lot.= =On the downside, I think that my posture was not as good as it should have been. I was swaying around during the speech, while I was speaking and also when I was not speaking. I didn't really know what to do with my hands, do they were either in my pockets or at my sides. At the end, during the conclusion, there was some confusion because it got messed up.= =In conclusion, this speech was a good experience, and I was quite satisfied with it.=

Conor Gilson English 9 Period 8 4/14/10 Speech Assesment For my call to arms speech, i picked the topic of animal experimentation. It was a relatively easy topic to research, because there was a large amount of information on it. There was a little difficulty in finding unbiased sites, but there were a number of them. Overall, I think i did a decent job on my speech. Some of the good things about my speech were my volume, eye contact, and composure. I think I did a pretty good job on my speech, and I had a better hook then usual, with aid of some pictures. I am for the most part more comfortable with speaking in front of the class. Some of the negative things in the speech were the fact that my speech was a minute over time, i had too much information and i did not realize how much over time i was until i finished. Also, I thought i could have used a lot more motions in my speech.