Jason+Lu.

OI #2 Assessment  The poem I presented was //Onions// written by William Mathews. I think there were some things I did well but there were also other things that weren’t so good. The qualities I liked about my performance were my pace, speaking, and memorization. First of all, I liked how I didn’t stutter too much; the words just flowed out of my mouth. I also liked how I didn’t use filler words such as “umm,” or “uhh.” Finally, I liked how I memorized my intro and didn’t have to look down at my paper. Where as, the qualities I think needs improvement was my posture, rate, volume, voice, and eye contact. . First of all, I think I need to improve on my posture because I didn’t really stand up straight and tall to look like I belonged there. I kind of leaned on one side and swayed a lot which wasn’t very professional like. Also I thought that I was fidgeting with my script too much so it became distracting. Next, I thought my pace was a little fast and bumpy, overall I think could have slowed down. My volume, I think was ok but I think it would be better if I spoke louder. I also think I could have used my voice more effectively to emphasize phrases. Compared to my last performance, I think my eye contact was better, but I believe it could still be improved. Finally, I thought that one of the biggest things I could improve on would be to use hand gestures, I didn’t use any at all. For this assignment, I thought that my poem choice wasn’t quite the best choice. I didn’t like how it wasn’t very deep in meaning or abstract so that it would be easy to use hand motions and use my voice to emphasize phrases and words. So I don’t think it was a good selection to perform. I believe that this poem didn’t really have any impact on me or the audience. First of all, I didn’t feel any real connection to the poem because I actually don’t care for onions that much so I couldn’t relate to this poem. As for the audience, I don’t think it was a poem that would affect anyone because it was about onions and it isn’t something that would have a big impact on people. The two major areas I think I should improve on are using my voice and hand movements. I think I should use my voice to show what I am talking about, for instance raising my voice or slowing my speed down. Next, I think I should improve on incorporating natural hand gestures for my poem to get the point across, verbally and visually. In total, I don’t think I overcame any obstacles. But I think I gained knowledge on what to improve as a performer. I think I deserve a B because I think my performance was descent but not outstanding.

OI #3 Assessment In this assessment, I plan to critique my Oral Interpretation #2. I read a poem I wrote called //Inspiration at Your Door.// I didn’t like my overall performance that much, especially my intro. I felt like I didn’t memorize my intro enough because I had to look down once and I kept saying the wrong words and correcting myself. During my performance, I kept shifting my weight from one side to another, which made it distracting for the audience. I also think my rate was bad because every time I would stop because I forgot a word. I didn’t like how I would laugh right in the middle of my poem because it negates the effect my poem has on the audience. I think my volume was still very soft and not loud enough to command attention. I felt like I was mumbling a lot, instead of enunciating the words. I should have used more hand gestures, and facial expressions which I used none of. I felt that my eye contact was much better than before. I actually was able to look into the audience for a while instead of just a quick glance. I think I need to improve my enunciation, volume, hand gestures, facial expressions and not laughing when I am presenting my poem. My enunciation was quite poor, so it didn’t enthrall the audience. My volume was too soft, so it didn’t sound like I belonged up there. I barely used any hand gestures and no facial expressions which would help tremendously. Finally I think I need to improve on staying serious and in character when I present. I actually liked my selection for the oral interpretation. I think it was a good choice to use for this assignment. My selection had an impact on me because it is usually hard for me to get motivated while writing papers, so I thought it was a great topic to write about. From my experience I gained from this performance, I learned that I have to stay in character throughout the whole poem. I can’t be laughing during the poem or it just destroys the whole effect. I think I could improve on raising my volume of my performance, and using facial expressions to make the audience feel the emotion in the poem. I plan to practice speaking louder before my presentation so I will feel like it’s a natural thing. Also I plan to try to make facial expressions come naturally so I will use it while I perform. If I could grade myself, I would give me a 70% because my intro wasn’t solid and I had a lot of flaws in my performance overall.

OI #4 Assessment

For my oral interpretation #4, the book I interpreted was //The Da Vinci Code,// written by Dan Brown. In this assessment I plan to comment and give feedback to my presentation. I think my performance was neither bad nor good. I completely forgot my intro, which was not good because it didn’t make sense after awhile since I cut out lines to save some time. When I was presenting, I didn’t rock back and forth like I did in my other presentation, but it would have looked better if I stood up straight because I think I looked a little slouched. My rate was not very steady, it didn’t flow nicely together. When I said a piece of dialogue, I didn’t say it like how it would be said in the real world. My volume was kind of soft; it would help if I spoke louder. I don’t think I used enough nonverbal expressions in my interpretation, I mainly stood there most of the time reading my dialogue. I think I need to improve on memorizing my intro and my enunciation. My intro ended up not making sense because I didn’t say all my lines that I wrote down in my manuscript. Also half of the time I stood there trying to remember what line I was supposed to say next, I think it affected my overall performance. My enunciation was not very good either. It sounded like I was mumbling and not very into any of the characters. So it doesn’t seem appealing to the audience. What I thought I did well was my poise. I didn’t sway this time so it wasn’t distracting to watch me perform. I don’t think my selection was a good choice for me. I chose it because I thought it was a good passage that would captivate my audiences. But I don’t think I performed it well enough to give that effect. My performance didn’t really have any impact on me. But on the other hand, I learned that I should make sure my intro is solid and that I memorize it like the back of my hand. I think the two biggest things I should work on are my enunciation and changing my voice to show that I changed to a different character. If I could grade myself for this interpretation, I would grade my self a 71% because I forgot my intro, and I didn't sound very into it.

Hands Only Assessment In this assignment, we are supposed to teach the class how to do something that, preferably we know quite well. Also, we aren’t supposed to use props, a manuscript or anything else, just ourselves and our brains up there. What I chose to teach the class was how to catch a lizard. I actually liked my presentation overall. What I feel I did well were hand motions, standing still, eye contact, and knowing what to say next. I used a lot of hand motions in this assignment to help emphasize my ideas, such as when I explained the three objects you need to have at hand. I believe I stood fairly still and didn’t rock back and forth too much. I think my eye contact was great, but that is to be expected because we have no manuscript in our hands to follow along. Finally my pace was much better than what it was in my last oral interpretation. I barely said um. While on the other hand, what I thought I did not so well were my posture, too much fidgeting, and not enough facial expressions. I was kind of slouched so it doesn’t make me look very professional and all. When I was up there performing, while I was explaining my points I played with my hands, it was also pretty high so it got annoying. Finally, I don’t think I used enough facial expression to be taken seriously. I kind of had this smile the whole time. “Ahhhhh!!” When I said this during my performance, I used non-verbal expressions by pointing to the lizard, also I acted and spoken like I was surprised. The impact the selection and performance had on me was that I learned that I like more improve and thinking on the spot speeches rather than a manuscript type one. I like the feel of thinking on the spot even though it is very hard. A specific area I could improve on is trying to only use my hands for emphases and not fidget with them. I think I overcame my restrictiveness. I felt more comfortable this time because I think I practiced more and my topic was something that I knew how to do well. To prepare for my next presentation, I will record myself and then watch to see how I did after so I can fix my problems. If I could grade myself, I would give myself a 92% because I felt like I did pretty well. There weren’t any major things that I need to improve on, only minor.

Inspirational Speech Assessment The point of this speech was to present an inspirational passage of a time in your life while also including an inspirational passage, text, or quote. In this assessment I plan to critique my performance and then grade myself. I think my delivery of my speech was ok, not good, but not bad. My poise was not very good, I wasn’t standing up straight, I had a slight slouch. My rate changed a lot, so sometimes I slowed down but mostly I sped up, which is not how I practiced it so my time ended up shorter. My eye contact was not very good because I kept looking down at my paper when I shouldn’t have, since it only had points to guide me. My enunciation was horrible; sometimes I didn’t even understand what I was saying what I watched my performance over. Finally I didn’t use many nonverbal gestures to get across my point to the audience when I should have. On the other hand, I think my volume was good but most of it probably came with the help of the microphone. Also I think my context was pretty concrete and was not that confusing. I think my selection was good, because it made sense. Also it was quite inspirational. I actually didn’t really like my selection because I felt like there wasn’t enough of a story to make it into a speech so I ended up adding a lot of other things. My performance didn’t fell that moving. I think part of it was because I didn’t really get into it, so I didn’t get emotional. Through this performance I learned that I like to fidget with my hands a lot while I’m up there speaking and I should probably stop doing that because it gets distracting. I think I need to practice my enunciation because sometimes it gets hard to understand what I am saying. Also I think I should focus on my hands, if I don’t use them the least I can do is make them not so distracting by fidgeting with them where everyone can see them. If I could grade myself I would give me an 83% because my performance was not impressive but it wasn’t very good at the same time.

What Makes Me Me Assessment I plan to assess my performance on my presentation in this assessment. This assessment was called What Makes Me Me and was suppose to be about what part of us makes a great deal of us today. We also were supposed to use a visual in this presentation. I think my delivery of this performance was average. I don’t think my poise was very good, I was slouching a little. I think my rate was descent, sometimes I paused in between sentences but it wasn’t that bad. I think my volume was pretty good because it was easy to hear myself and I didn’t have to crank my computer volume up a lot. I think I could have used nonverbal expressions because I didn’t use any at all. I think my eye contact was bad in the beginning but got better as my performance progressed on. What I noticed about my eye contact was that I mostly looked at the side with the camera and hardly at the other side where there were no cameras. What I thought I did well was my eye contact overall. I mostly looked up at the audience, all around with only glimpses at my note card. Also I thought my enunciation was not bad either. I could understand everything I said easily. What I thought I didn’t do so well was my hands. I didn’t use any gestures at all to express my point which I should have done. Also I didn’t like how my other hand that wasn’t holding the note card was sometimes gripping to my pants. I once gripped that hand into a fist too which could be annoying to the audience so I think I should figure out what to do with it. I think my selection was good; it was well explained and had good points to it. I think it was a good choice for me because I take great pride in my Chinese heritage so it matched me perfectly. My performance didn’t impact me that much because it was not a real emotional subject. I did not gain any insights from this performance. I think I should improve on using my hands effectively so they will help get across my point and won’t be very distracting. I plan to look in a mirror and make sure I at least make them stay still to improve my performance. I didn’t overcome any obstacles or gain any insight. I think I deserve an 85% for my performance because it was an average performance overall.

Impromptu Speech Assessment In this introduction I plan to assess myself in my performance. For this performance we were suppose to do an impromptu and were given about 2 minutes right before to prepare. We were also supposed to have at least two points in our topic. I did not like the delivery of my performance because it sounded like I wasn’t prepared and didn’t know what to say next. My poise was ok; I stood up and didn’t move a lot but I think I stood there like a statue and could have maybe walked around. My rate was not so good, I stuttered a lot with no real pacing. My nonverbal expressions weren’t that good either because if I did anything at all it was very subtle. I didn’t really like my articulation because it sounded like I was mumbling. Finally I think my eye contact was fairly good because I looked around the room. What I liked about my performance was my eye contact because I didn’t look down too much. I also liked my poise because I was not slouching. I didn’t like what I did with my hands. I had it rested on my thigh for almost the whole time. Also when I wasn’t sure what to say I drew a circle in the air to help me think which was a little distracting. Finally I didn’t like how I didn’t incorporate it into my speech that much and the moves were subtle. I didn’t really like my selection that much because it didn’t seem very strong. I could not think up of good points for “How to remember a Birthday.” My points seemed a little forced which I did not like. The impact this selection had on me as a performer was that it helped me to think on my feet. Thinking about how to remember people’s birthdays is not a really huge topic that one would think of. An insight I gained on me was that I’m not very good at speaking on the spot light. I learned that creative plays a big role in impromptu speeches and you need to think outside the box if you want you speech to be good. A specific area for improvement would be with my hands. I need to learn to use them and for them not to be distracting to my speech. What I gained as a performer in this speech was to think quickly and be creative and make up another point if you are under the time limit. If I were to grade myself on this performance I would give myself a 78% because it wasn’t very focused and sounded like I just woke up and didn’t know what was happening.

Book Talk Assessment In this assessment, I plan to assess my book talk performance, talking about the pros and cons, and what I could improve on next time. I think the delivery of my performance was a little below average this time. My poise was ok, my volume was bad, my rate was somewhat shaky, my nonverbal expressions were really bad, articulation wasn’t too good either, and eye contact was descent. What I believe I did well in this performance was looking up for a long period of time instead giving just a glimpse. I liked that I actually looked around the room for a good amount of time. What I believe I could improve on in this performance was my volume, and rate. My volume was very soft and in some parts it was hard to hear what I was saying. Also, my rate wasn’t smooth; I had many gaps and wholes. I stuttered many times too during my speech. Finally, I had many long pauses after each sentence. I think my selection was an excellent choice for this speech. It was a good topic to discuss with great ideas weaved into it. It was also a good choice for me because I was hooked on the book and I liked how it actually seemed like a prophetic book. The impact that this book and performance had on me were making me realize the world we live in today and how science may be our doom. Also it makes me want to try to sound more enthusiastic next time because my performance seemed very boring to me. I think that this performance was pretty significant to me because I felt that it was a great book that other should read and put into consideration. From this performance, I learned that I need to practice more to make sure that I know all my lines by heart and can present them even when I am nervous. Two specific areas that I could improve on would probably be my rate and my enthusiasm. I plan to practice more so I can memorize my lines so my rate will not be as choppy and I will be able to talk smoothly instead of stuttering. What I plan do to improve my enthusiasm would be to try get into my speech and actually feel that I want others to read my book I am recommending.  If I could grade myself, I would give myself an 80% because I didn’t think this was one of my better performances and it also needed a lot of work.

 A Call to Arms Speech Assessment   For this speech, we were supposed to give a persuasive speech about a current issue that affects people. In this assessment, I plan to assess my performance.  I think the delivery of my speech was descent accept for some flaws. I thought my poise was good; I didn’t move around a lot and didn’t slouch too much either. I also liked how I looked around the room during my speech to engage everyone.  I think my articulation, volume, rate, nonverbal expression, and eye contact needs a lot of improvement. My articulation was not very good; there were times when I couldn’t hear clearly what I was saying. My volume also could use some work. I need to speak louder with enthusiasm and project my voice. My rate was unsteady; there were times where I would have an odd pause during my speech where it didn’t fit. I think it could use a lot of work. I also didn’t use that many nonverbal expressions though I think I used a little bit more in this speech than I normally do. Finally, the most part of my speech that needs improvement is my eye contact. Throughout the speech I constantly looked down at my note card after every sentence even when I didn’t need to.  I think my selection was a very good choice for me. First of all, it was a topic I could relate to because I don’t get that much sleep normally. So it was very interesting to research how sleep deprivation was an issue in the world. It was also something that I care about so I didn’t have to force myself to sound like I cared.  I think the impact this performance had on me was great. I learned the effects of not getting enough sleep and what it can lead up to if someone doesn’t get enough of it. This performance was significant to me because now I believe getting enough sleep daily is very important.  Two specific places where I can improve on is my rate and eye contact. To improve my rate, I plan to practice more so I will know my speech by heart and won’t forget what comes after a part. Therefore I won’t unintentionally have pauses. To improve my eye contact, I plan to recite my speech in front of a mirror and look at myself to make sure I don’t look down to often. I think I was overcame the feeling of stage fright, I wasn’t very nervous this time during the speech. As a performer I have gained the knowledge of how to improve my speeches for the next time.  If I could grade myself on this performance, I would give myself a B because it was neither a good performance nor bad.   