Advanced Public Speaking
COMM 3223 Fall 2009

Professor Gary Gillespie
gary.gillespie@northwestu.edu
425 889 5257
Office Fee Hall 19
Web page

READINGS and RESEARCH

Art of Public Speaking, Stephen Lucas, 9^th or 10^th edition. It is required that every student purchase a text book and text Premium Website.

COURSE OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES

Fluency in public speaking is the hallmark of success for students studying communication. It has been the life blood and backbone of communication studies for centuries.

Our course Advanced Public Speaking will focus on the complex requirements of speeches delivered for ceremonial and entertaining occasions. In the process, students will develop their understanding and skill as public speakers.

Public communication skills contribute to both personal and profes­sional success. Learning how to relate to other people in small and larger groups, to gain cooperation, to inspire and even make them laugh are not only prerequisites for effective leadership, but abilities every educated person should strive to acquire.

• Public Speaking Know How: First, this course will provide the principles that public speakers need to know to meet their goals. Public speaking in ancient Greece as well as contemporary models of effective speeches will be studied. Students will then demonstrate an understanding of course material through oral and written assignments and three cooperative exams. Students will also learn how to critically analyze a famous speech in a 4 to 6 page rhetorical analysis paper and a 6 to 10 minute oral report to the class of their analysis.
  
  Public Speaking Show How: A second course objective is to help students practically develop their public communi­cation skills by putting principles into practice. Building on what he or she already knows, students will gain more confidence and fluency in public speaking by writing and delivering four speeches (two brief class participation and two graded) and an oral report on an assigned famous speech. A focus of the learning objectives for this course is to challenge students to apply what they learn. Consequently, much of the class will be devoted to performance.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Semester Grade based on the following assignments:

A. Class participation. Much of the class will be devoted to improving skills through practice speaking activities. These activities require attendance to maximize the experience for everyone. Some learning activities will be in pairs and may require completing brief assignments the day before class. Students begin the semester with 100 percent and maintain this by completing all participation assignments.

This portion of your semester grade will be based on meeting the expectations for attendance, promptness and in class attentiveness and willingness to contribute. (In other words, if you come late, talk during lectures, read other material or surf the Internet in class, your grade will suffer.)
Class participation assignments include:

1. Attendance and showing up on time.

2. Attentiveness and willingness to contribute

3. Chapter quizzes emailed to professor as listed on calendar. See below.

4. An extemporaneous speech based on a quotation (4 -6 min.) Turn in a one half to one page outline.

5. Impromptu speeches.

6. Evaluation sheets of other student speeches.

7. The two graded speeches, the paper and oral report ready for the class hour assigned.

8. Topics for after dinner and commemorative speech turned in on day assigned.

9. Draft and video taping of commemorative speech ready on day assigned. NOTE: If you are not ready with the draft and videotaping on day assigned, your class participation grade AND the speech grade will be reduced one letter grade.

10. Discovery forums on readings.

11. Others worksheets or activities assigned as the course progresses.

B. An After-dinner Speech to Entertain, 6 to 8 minutes. Goal is to catch and keep attention. Speech should be well organized with an introduction, central idea, body and conclusion. The topic should be appropriate for a humorous speech, demonstrat­ing at least two types of comic devises. Tone should be light-hearted but not neces­sarily convulsive. Turn in an outline or – if you prefer a manuscript. Speech will be given a letter grade.

C. Rhetorical Analysis of a famous speech, four to seven pages. Purpose is learning from the masters. You will use the paper to take part in a discussion reporting on some key aspects of the following:

1. Speaker's background and the speech occasion;

2. Organization and language use;

3. Mythos -- universal cultural themes and values.

4. How the speech sought to achieve identification.

The analysis paper will apply techniques for rhetorical criticism to be explained by the instructor. Possible speeches for analysis Kennedy Inaugural, Reagan “Eulogies for the Challenger Astronauts”,  Mac Arthur “Farwell to the Cadets”, Barbara Bush Wellesley commencement address, Sarah Palin, VP Nomination Acceptance speech to national convention, Reagan “Farwell to the Nation”, Thatcher’s Reagan Eulogy.

 D. A Commemorative Speech in praise of a person, group or idea -- 8 to 10 minutes. Purpose is to inspire by reinforcing a value or belief of the audience. Careful use of figures of speech and repetition is required. The speech must be written out and delivered word for word from manuscript. The stu­dent will hand in the manuscript for a grade the class hour that they speak. Students will also turn in draft notes of the speech the day it is video taped, about one week prior to delivery for the class. Students should be prepared to make changes in their speech after the videotaping. NOTE: If the draft and videotaping are not ready on day assigned, the speech grade AND the class participation grade will be reduced one letter grade.

While delivery will be from a manuscript (read word for word), thorough rehearsal is essential to insure strong eye contact and dynamic vocal variety. To achieve the goal of 80 percent eye contact, most of the speech will be memorized. This assignment is in place of a final semester exam, and requires a great deal of planning and effort.

COURSE PROCEDURES

Attendance
We can’t do public speaking with an audience.

Also, because most of the course will stress participation, we will urge strong attendance for everyone. If you know you will be missing class often, you may want to take this course another semester.

Showing up on time is a nonverbal message that in our culture shows civility and communicates commitment to the learning process.

If you are not present you can hardly be given credit for participation. So, students who miss more than once (for any reason) will have their class participation grade will be reduced one half a letter grade for every day absent.

Missing more than six days will result in a reduced semester grade in addition to reduced class participation. Any student missing more than nine days (nearly one third of the course) should consider dropping because they will receive an F for the course.

Extra credit: Students who come on time and miss no more than once will have their lowest exam grade (other than an F) increased two letter grades.

If you do have to miss a presentation, exam or in case of an emergency or problem, call my extension (5257) and let me know as soon as possible—bear in mind that what you consider an emergency and what I consider an emergency may differ. I prefer email for most messages, although a personal private talk may help me understand.

Lateness Please make every effort to show up on time. If you are un­avoid­ably late on perfor­mance days, please wait outside the door until you hear a break in the speeches. Entering late may distract the speaker. Coming late more than twice equals an absence.

Keep in mind that what individual students do during class affects the learning environment for everyone. Be a supportive team member in the class to help everyone get the most out of the course.

You may bring food to class, but please not food that has an odor such as French fries.

Professionalism commitment statement:

“I promise to be in class about two minutes before 12:40 PM (12:38) each class.
I will not come late or leave early. If I do need to miss a class, I understand that my class participation grade (20 percent of total) will be reduced and that if I miss more than six days I will receive a reduced semester grade. I will be attentive to lectures and activities and will not work on other material, surf the internet or read cell phone chat during class.”

_______________________________________
Name Date

Participation in Discussions. Reading assignments should be read prior to class meetings. Verbal display of reading content is one form of involvement. Your insights, reflections, and applications of the readings are another form of involvement. Your participa­tion in small groups and initiat­ing ideas are important meth­ods by which you demon­strate your ability to apply course mate­rials. Physical presence does not constitute partici­pation.

Unless there is some urgent or special need that you have communicated to me in advance, speeches must be given on the date assigned.

However, you may change speaking slots with someone else, arrange this on your own. Should an emergency arise contact me in advance or as soon after the fact as possible.

Individual help. Do not hesitate to sign up on my door for a conference to ask questions or get assistance on any assignment. You may want to email me to arrange a conference.

Cooperative Exams

You will take the three exams in groups of five or six members. You will be given study sheets for all exams at least one week in advance. The procedure for taking the exams is as follows:

Cooperative exam 1 -- this exam will cover Chapters 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, and Appendix “Speeches for Analysis”.   Rhetorical Figures of Speech in Sound and lectures to date. See study sheet posted on the Discovery and take the Quizzes on the text web page. The format is short answer, multiple choice and true/false. Multiple choice questions will have four possible answers, any or all of which may be correct. All group members will receive a copy of the group exam. One copy will be chosen as the answer sheet. All group members will sign their names on the answer sheet. The group will then proceed to discuss and choose answers to the questions.

The grade earned on the group exam will be the grade each member receives unless members score below an 80% on the accountability test that follows immediately after the group exam has been completed. The individual accountability test is a much shorter exam on the same material and uses the same format (but not the same questions) as the group test. Failure to earn 80% or higher on the individual test will result in a deduction of an individual’s test score as follows:

70-79=deduct 7 points from group score

60-69=deduct 13 points

50-59=deduct 18 points

Below 50=deduct 25 points

Consequently, if the group earns 85 on the group exam but a member earns a 66 on the individual exam, that member’s final score is 72 (85 minus the 13 point deduction of group score).

Letter Grade Scale:

96 – 100 = A = 4.0

90 – 95 = A- = 3.7

87 – 89 = B+ = 3.5

84 – 86 = B = 3.0

80 – 83 = B- = 2.7

77 – 79 = C+ = 2.5

73 – 76 = C = 2.0

69 – 72 = C- = 1.7

65 – 68 = D+ = 1.5

60 – 64 = D = 1.0

56 – 59 = D- = 0.7

0 – 55 = F = 0

Cooperative exam 2 -- material in chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 17 and  Rhetorical Figures of Speech in Sound  and lectures to date. The procedure used for exam 1 will be used for this exam.

Plan ahead to take the exams on the assigned dates – that way you can take advantage of the group working together. If you miss the exam, you must complete the entire exam on your own. Students late for an exam for more than a few minutes also must complete the whole exam. A detailed study sheet will be handed out at least one week in advance of the exams. Keeping up with readings and studying your notes will also help you on exams.

SEMESTER GRADE BREAKDOWN

Class Participation      20%

First cooperative exam     15%

Second cooperative exam    15%

Speech to Entertain    15%

Rhetorical Analysis Paper and oral report    20%

Commemorative Speech draft, and final presentation with manuscript       15%

Total    100%

Academic Honesty

Students who present another person's work as their own have committed an act of academic dishonesty commonly known as plagiarism. Examples of plagiarism are copying another student's answers, failing to properly cite research sources, and using as one's own a paper or speech written by someone else. It is dishonest to copy any part of a magazine article, book or Internet web page without giving credit to the gleaned source. Knowing that the vast majority of students can be trusted to do their own work, we realize that anyone can be tempted to do wrong.

Copying and pasting from an Internet source – as if you wrote the material – is a serious ethical violation and could get you removed from Northwest University.

NU students recently have been denied diplomas because of repeated pluralism and cheating. If I catch a student plagiarizing, the paper will receive an F and I am also required to report the violation to the Provost. To avoid such un-pleasantries, you will turn in a form with your paper stating that your work is original.

Read this for more: http://maine.maine.edu/~zubrick/acainteg.html

I am Clear? Test your understanding.

1. List the assignments due on the date assigned or your participation grade is reduced.

2. For two of the speech assignments you will turn in an outline. Which speech requires a word for word manuscript?

3. How many classes can you miss before your grade is affected?

4. Is three and a half page paper equal to a four page paper?

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Associate Professor Gary Gillespie has 29 years teaching experience in communication and speech. As a student he gave 300 speeches in competition. Since 1980 as an instructor and speech coach, he has critiqued more than 5,000 student speakers. He has taught the advanced speech class 25 times. Gillespie coaches the Northwest University debate team. For more on Gary Gillespie search Goggle.

                                                            Fall SEMESTER 2009 Fall SEMESTER 2009

 Back To Gary Gillespie