Author: Kyueun Kim

LAST CLASS

Kyueun Kim

Hi all,

Here is the guideline for the written + oral final reflection, which will be 5% of your final grade. Even though it’s (only) 5 % of your final grade, treat it like your final exam—it can have a significant impact on your final grades. This assignment is a MUST, not an option. You MUST complete the written and the oral reflection to get your final grades.

As it’s a “party,” it should and will be “fun.” Our party-theme is “pedagogy of failure” and we will assess the quality of failure. I will bring some sweets (or more) and you are also welcome to bring whatever you want for yourself or to share with classmates. But this doesn’t mean that attendance is optional. This will be the most important / meaningful day of the semester. So I expect to see you all on time!

Below is the step-by-step guide.

1. Write a (at least) 500-word reflection/review before class on May 14.

2. You have options to 1) POST it to the CUNY Academic Commons; 2) bring the hardcopy to class and submit it in class. For those of you who choose the option 2, I prefer your reflection to be typed, as it is easier for me to read, but if you think your handwriting is “good & clear enough,” it can be your option too.

3. In class, we will have a final reflection party— 1) group conversation & 2) class conversation based on your written reflections and much more. I want it to be less stressful; I’m not going to evaluate your vocal fillers, credibility, eye contact, etc. It’s more about how much effort/time you spent to reflect on your own learning experience. If you think your written reflections are somewhat too personal to share with other classmates, you don’t have to share them. But I encourage you to share some personal stories with your classmates, if not, at least with me. So, my suggestion for the last day of class is, have at least 500-word reflection written down—but in addition to that, have a lot of stories—-experiences, frustration, excitement, etc.— to share.

CONTEXT: “In Support of Failure”

Here are some questions you can reflect upon, based on your “public speaking” experiences over the course of this semester. In class, we’ve talked a lot about giving and receiving feedback, for “improvement.” But, how about “failure”? Did we ever have time to acknoweldge, address, realize, and evaluate our own “failure”? Of course, “failure” in this context does not mean if you are going to fail this course or not.

We know that (thanks to Jeremy Berman’s speech) US- Americans fear of public speaking (of course, I’m sure not only Americans.) Why do you think so? Why were you nervous when you delivered your speech in this class? What kinds of “failures” have you imagined, expected, or experienced? More importantly, what did you learn from that?

TOPIC: ASSESS THE QUALITY OF FAILURE

Here is a section from Allison Carr‘s article “In Support of Failure” (Composition Forum 27, Spring 2013) which inspired me to design our last day of class (yes, my pedagogical justification). This is time that you can all “show off” your small or big mistakes in order to talk about what you’ve learned from them.

Assessing “Quality of Failure.” This idea actually comes from Edward Burger, whose “Teaching to Fail” came across my desk as I was making final revisions on this essay. More of an ethos than an exercise, “Quality of Failure” refers to a policy Burger has instituted stating that if students want to receive an A for their final grade, they must demonstrate considerable failure, framed here as a willingness to take on and pursue ideas that might not seem entirely “safe” with the idea that risk-taking and failure foster imagination and lead to innovation. What’s more, Burger encourages students to share their failures with the rest of the class. During these times, the class “comes to life,” as “everyone wants to show off their mistakes as they now know they are offering valuable learning moments.” Here, the feltness of failure meets the brass tacks of assessment, as 5% of the students’ final grade is based on “Quality of Failure.”

ALTERNATIVE TOPIC:

If you think “failure” is such a big topic to talk about or if you don’t have anything to talk about, here is other ways of writing your reflection, focusing more on improvement in the context of speech communication.

TOPIC: critical reflection on speech communication course at Baruch based on your experience as a speaker and a listener.

POSSIBLE questions to explore (but not limited to) Do you think speech communication class has helped you or will help you prepare and deliver future speeches? Why? Why do you think this course is mandatory for all Baruch students?

Additional Speech on May 14 Monday

Kyueun Kim

Guideline for preparing an additional speech to be delivered on May 14

  1. speech date: May 14 Monday
  2. topic: critical reflection on speech communication course at Baruch based on your experience as a speaker and a listener.
  3. possible questions to explore: Do you think speech communication class has helped you or will help you prepare and deliver future speeches? Why? Why do you think this course is mandatory for all Baruch students? Do you like the idea? Why or why not? How can this course (my class in specific, or speech communication class in general) be improved in order to better communicate with the students of your generation or to better fulfill the needs of the students? Please try to contextualize your reflection as much as possible. We live in the digital world: how can this course be modified in that context? Do you find VOCAT (an open-source digital tool developed at Baruch) beneficial in anyways? What kind of digital tools might be useful for speech communication class?
  4. You are welcome to be super-critical, meaning you can provide some critical, supportive feedback specifically to my course design.
  5. As for the delivery: you must read your VOCAT comments again and think about my comments too. What is one thing that you want to improve the most? For example, voice, eye contact, etc. Your speech should show us some improvement (at least best-try) on that aspect.

Commemorative Speech

Kyueun Kim

Finally, it’s time for commemorative speech!

May 7 Day 1: Robert, Fathiat, Andrew, Jeremy B, Jacob, Hannah, Aqib, Amrit, Exequiel,

May 9 Day 2: Mark, Wilson, Olga, Dung, Estelle, Jeremy R, Imani, Anabel, Givenchy, Junjie, Isabelle, Matthew, Jordan

 

Link to Lecture PPT: Chapter 18 Speaking on Special Occasions

Commemorative/Performative Speech (10%): 3-5 minutes, delivered from a written manuscript 

This speech calls for a less didactic speech than informative and persuasive speeches. You can pay tribute to a person close to you, a celebrity, a group of people, an institution, an event, or an idea, etc. It focuses particularly on the use of language and performance and it gives you experience in speaking from a manuscript. Commemorative Speech should be written out and delivered from a manuscript. But this does not mean that you can just read out loud; you have to make as much as eye contacts to the audience.

Manuscript

  • You do not need an outline, but you do need to submit your manuscript either before or after speech (upload an electronic copy on the Commons or submit a hard copy after your speech).
  • Even though you plan to memorize all your speech and speak without a manuscript (which is fine), you still need to submit your written manuscript.
  • Students have mostly written about 1 – 2 pages for a 3 -5 minute speech. It doesn’t matter how many pages your write–but you should practice your speech in advance to plan how fast/slow you want to read your manuscript.
  • In your manuscript, please clearly write down; [1] type of your speech [2] speech occasion [3] audience. It does not have to be long and descriptive, although it would be fun to read some of your imaginative thoughts.
    • i.e. [1] wedding toast [2] my best friend’s wedding [3] wedding guests (50 people) –you can also add more descriptions such as location (e.g. an island in Greece), who are the guest, what are you wearing, etc.
    • i.e. Situation: Elon Musk will be coming to Baruch College to deliver a special lecture on the importance of speech communication. As a student who has won the Baruch speech contest, I have a chance to introduce him to Baruch students (about 200 people) before his lecture.

Performance and Creativity will be highly evalued. 

Some examples:

70th Annual Tony Awards ‘Hamilton’ (President Obama & Michelle Obama’s introduction ~ 2:22)
Ellen DeGeneres Medal of Freedom Award 2016 (3:23)
Tribute to a Person : Madonna’s tribute to Michael Jackson (2009) (6:39)
Steve Jobs: 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech
Michelle Obama: 2016 City College Commencement Speech
Emma Watson’ full speech at UN on Sept 20,2016 (3:35) (university..) “Together for the 2030 Agenda: Partnering for Women, Children and Adolescents, to Thrive and Transform the World” event at UN headquarters in New York
Speeches You Analyzed (list to be updated)