Week 13 Discussion #3

Pick one concept from the reading and discuss it. How are you going to use it in your own speech?

I found that in chapter 15, the concept about the types of appeals was the most useful and interesting besides knowing when you are using fallacies. There are four types of appeals: logos, ethos, pathos, and mythos. (You can find a chart of these on page 397. Logos refers to using logical proof such as facts or statistics, ethos refers to using credibility from refrences to your own knowledge of the subject at hand, pathos refers to an emotional proof through a quote or story, and finally, mythos refers to your cultural beliefs by using a well known myth or fable. Each of these are also broken down individually in more depth through out the chapter. I feel that in my own speech, I will be using logos and pathos to try and reach or persaude my audience.

Week 13 Discussion #2

Reflect on a recent discussion you’ve had in which you tried to persuade others to accept your point of view. What type or types of reasoning did you use? How well did your reasoning work?

There are several different times that I have tried to persuade others to accept my point of few on the subject, but I can not reflect on any one in particular. I guess there has been a time when I wanted my cousin to try something new- a new food- I think it was something that was new to me too and I liked it so I wanted her to try it too. I told her I just tried it and it tastes really good... I know what you like and this is something that you will like for sure. I reasoned with her by asking her, "how are you going to know if you like it or not if you don't just try it?" "You have to try new things, there's nothing to lose...." My reasoning worked for the most part, but if I not told her what it was in the first place, or told her it was something she was familar with, she would have tried it with out hesitation. I would have told her after she tried it and said it was good. I know, it's kind of cruel... but it would have worked and it was harmless!

Week 13 Discussion #1

Speech Buddy: Review the following Interactive Videos 15.1, “Schooling: Pro” and “Schooling: Con” on the Interactive Video Website. Respond to the ideas in the videos. What did you learn that could be helpful in your speech? What types of appeals were used? How did the speaker connect with the audience?

In the three videos they talked about the 4 parts that make up an argument. The first was having a good thesis, a probable claim, suporting evidence, and reasoning to support your claim. In doing all these things, you will more than likely have a decent persuasive speech. In the first demonstration speech about the pros of home schooling Dixie first gives only the negatives of public schooling your kids and backs those up with only the positives of home schooling your kids- no violence, flexibility, builds family relationships. This is the approach I will take in my own speech. The only thing I did not like was the way she moved from one side to the other every minute or two. I noticed it and it became annoying because it wasn't like she was showing us any presentation media... she was just talking.

Week 12 Discussion #3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

The part of the assigned reading that I found most interesting was when it explained the three types of persuasive speeches. The first is question of fact, the second if question of value, and the third is question of policy. There are specific purposes for each type of speech. The chart for this breakdown is on page 376. I think that the form of persuasive speech I am doing for my persuasive speech is the question of policy because I am trying to persaude my audience to support hunting in the United States. However, it may have a little of the question of fact part in it as well because I will be using facts to support my oppinion on the issue at home.

Week 12 Discussion #2

How are you immersed in a sea of persuasion? Give some examples of persuasive messages you’ve received in interpersonal, public speaking, and mass media contexts. What can you do to become a more critical consumer or persuasive messages?

We are all emersed in a sea of persuasion everyday everywhere. It is in commercials, television shows, movies, magazines, radio, and even at school. When we see advertismets- in any form- they are trying to persuade us to use or buy their product. Especially this year in the last few months with the presidential elections, their has been ads to persuade you what person to pick and what props to pass or not pass. What we can do to become a more critical consumer is be aware of when things are trying to trick us otherwise known as fallacies. We all learned this in philosophy to strengthen our own speeches and be aware of others.

Week 12 Discussion #1

Update the class on your speech progress. What are you researching? What are your main points? How do you plan on beginning and ending your speech? How are you going to persuade your audience towards your point of view

As far as my speech progress goes, the only thing I have really done is try to find as much research on both topics I was thinking about doing because I was not sure if I would be able to find enough information to persaude the audience with creditibility. I am researching on pro hunting in the united states. I think that we should be able to hunt as we do now during certain times of the season and in small quantities (tags/limits) so that it will keep the population steady and under control. It is also a hoppy that many enjoy and make a living on. I plan on beginning my speech with a story of me growing up with a dad who loves to hunt- my whole family grew up hunting, but with this generation is seems to be getting lost. For the ending, I plan on reviewing a shorter refrence back to my story and all my main points. I will tell everyone the pros of hunting in the united states to try and persaude the audience.

Week 11 Discussion #1

Speech Buddy Videos: 10.1-2; 12.1-3 Respond to the videos. What did you learn to be helpful in your speech?

All of the speech buddy videos talk about using language and vocabulary effectively in presenting your speech. At first I had some technical difficulties where there was no sound to the videos and then it finally worked today. Chapter 10 talks about how to speak correctly when presenting. It helps to make you sound more sophisticated to your audience. In the videos for chapter 12 it shows you how to physically deliver your speech with the right vocabulary and language choices. From these videos I will use the vocabulary words suggested in my own speech for the persuasive speech so that I can use more sophisticated words. This helps add to the creditbility of my arguments.

Week 11 Discussion #2

Read the discussion on Flickr regarding sexist language. How do you respond to their comments in light of what your textbook says?
In the book, it tells you words you should use in place of other words that are too gender specific. For example, instead of using the word mankind, use the word humankind or humanity. But this could also be used in the wrong way... for example lady lawyer versus just lawyer. Sometimes it is ok to use gender nuetral words instead of singling out one gender or another, which is kind of what the discussion on Flickr was about. On Flickr, a lot of people did not mind girl or boy when refering to adult women and men because it has just been socially accepted. The english language has always has a differentiation between male and female and it has never been an issue. The discussion also said that it will take a long time to try and make the english language perfect- actually it's not even possible, but we can modify it to a reasonable extent.

Week 11 Discussion #3

Pick one concept from the reading that you found useful or interesting.

The part of the reading that I found useful is on page 298. On this page, there is a chart that gives the different methods on how to deliver your speech to make it as effective as possible. The four methods are impromptu, extemporaneous, manuscript, and memorized. In the chart there is a brief definition of each method as well as their advantages, disadvantages, and the typical situation you would use the specific method in. I learned that the method most commonly used, for us as college students in a public speaking class, is the extemporaneous method where you give a speech that has been researched and practiced. However, it is the most time consuming of all the methods.

Self- Evaluation #2 Informative Speech

For my informative speech we presented on Friday, October 26, I chose to talk about the history of Disneyland. I think that I had achieved the purpose of my speech very well by giving a very interesting and detailed history of the past to the present of what Disneyland has come to be. Since this was the second time giving a speech in front of a large audience, I think I did much better than last time. I was much more comfortable and- I don't want to say I did not care as much- but I guess it did not faze me like it did last time. I was number 5 on the list so maybe I did not have enough time to think about it and pyhic myself out.
Although I feel as though I did much better in the nervous sense of presenting my speech, if had to do it all over again, I would make sure to address my three main points clearly at the beginning and the end. I did that much better with the first speech. Also, I would make my last slide an audio of Walt Disney's opening day speech instead of me saying it aloud- it would have been catchier, but I would still keep the same organizational pattern.
For my next speech, I will improve the content of it by making sure to address the three main points VERY clearly as well as have a better introduction. As for improving the delivery of my next speech, I will have a more developed catch line to get the audience hooked. The differences between this speech and the last are that in the first speech, I did a better job catching the audience’s attention, viewing the three main points, and had a better intro and conclusion all together. This speech, I felt that I had better visuals and I was more confident in speaking in front of a large audience because in the first speech I was so nervous that I got a bad start and said "um" a little to much- not bad, but it was a little distracting. For this speech I did it again, but still not too bad and I made sure to cite all 4of my sources this time, which I had forgot to last time. Also, I did not have a great of eye contact as last time; I didn't hold my gaze as long at the audience and I was looking at the board too much. I would give myself a 6-7. Based on all of the above content, I would give myself a B. If only I had a better intro with my clear 3 main points, I would have given myself an A-. All in all, I felt that because of all the positives and negatives for both speeches, both speeches were about the same. In terms of how I felt when presenting the speech, I feel that this speech was better because I was more confident while speaking and then actually felt like I did a good job when I sat down, unlike with the first speech.