Week of Nov 16-22

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?

The elements of argument from the book and also stated in the videos are: thesis, claim, evidence (examples or statistics), and reasoning (various types of reasoning). In the video of the girl giving the speech about "How we should not feed the wildlife" she used causal type reasoning. She gave an example of what happened when the wildlife animals were fed and then told the cause of that. I noticed that many of the speeches in the videos began with quotes, statements of fact, and/or statictics; and from there they went onto their thesis statements. The speakers connected with the audience by relating the topics to them and also making general statements that the audience can relate to.

Nov 16-22

A recent discussion where I tried to persuade others into accepting my point of view was about global warming and how it not only affects climate change, but how it affects atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to increase, which leads to higher global temperatures and change in humans normal activities. I was explaining to them that global warming is a FACT and is changing our lives gradually. My friends disagreed with me saying that it is just something that is irregular that has happened to be happening for some years now. The types of reasoning I used were cause-and-effect and conditional reasoning with this discussion. My reasoning actually worked and I gave my friends a better understanding of my points of view after the discussion.

Week of Nov 9-15

My research progress has been pretty steady. I haven't gotten too yet because of other things that have been going on. My topic is on the media and how it affects young girls and their perceptions of how to be, to look, and act in society. I am going to persuade my audience towards my point of view by the question of value method and then go into my main points from there. I plan on beginning my speech by presenting the audience with general facts about society and go from there. And I will end my speech by having some type of call to action towards my point of view (not sure which one to use yet).

Week of Nov 9-15

I think we are immersed in a sea of persuasion each time we wake up in the morning. We are surrounded by messages of persuasion all over the place tv ads, magazines, books, billboards, and also on campus with speakers on various topics. On an average day we receive thousands of messages not knowingly. Random things like people passing out fliers to you, discussions with friends, lectures from professors and public speakers, and also radio and tv. To become a more critical comsumer of persuasive messages is to become more informed and educate yourself on issues that you may feel passionate about and also just be aware of your surroundings.

Week of Nov 9-15

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

A concept that I found in the reading that is useful is the point of questions of value. Questions of value asks for a subjective evaluation of something's worth, significance, quality, or condition. From the book, questions of value are qualititative judgements about something's significance. My speech will go somewhat along the same lines of this, asking people what they think true beauty is in their eyes. Since we live in such an individualistic society, with questions like such I will hopefully get opinions and beliefs from everyone. Since everyone has such a unique background, the way people react to the question is going to be very interesting.

Week of Nov 2-8...#2

How do you respond to their comments in light of what your textbook says?

I would have to agree with what "my little eye I spy with" had to say. I do think it is a bit offensive and sexist of referring to grown women as "girls", and also the same for referring to men as "boys". Of course people do tend to play around and use these words loosely, but on a site such as flickr, they should address that and make the appropriate changes. The problem is that there are so many words in the English language that can be used in many different ways, some ways are appropriate and some are offensive and often sexist. There is no real way to regulate this, but I think it's just that fact that people should be more informed about the use of certain words and the ways they are used.

Week of Nov 2-8...#1 Speech Buddy Video's

A couple good points that I found useful in the Speech Buddy video's were the use of vocal delivery and how it should vary. Also, the use of words to engage your audience to make them feel apart of your speech. I think vocal delivery in speeches and presentations because the audience can tell if you are exicted about the topic, or if you are not feeling comfortable, and also being nervous. I tend to notice that when I am nervous during my speeches that my voice goes monotone, which is boring to listen to and not interesting for the audience. I think some ways to help vary your vocal delivery are to practice in front of people so they can critique you and also try to record yourself as you deliver.

Week of October 26-Nov 1...#3

I like the idea of the use of handouts during a presentation or a speech. Chapter 11 covers this briefly. During a couple of the speeches that we had a few people used handouts and I thought that it was very useful for the speech and also added credibility. The handouts contain good and useful information that we can always reference back to in case we have any future projects or assignments on that specified topic. I think passing handouts out before or after your speech is best, if it is done during the speech it tends to be a bit of a distraction and also takes time away from the speech.