My Favorite Speech

This semester I have to say that all of my speeches were on topics that I am very close to. But without a doubt my favorite was the persuasive. I liked the fact that we had more time to present the material and that I could have talked a lot more. My topic of circumcision is something that I feel very passionately  about and loved the fact that I could share my opinion and the facts with the class because I feel it is a topic that people do not know a lot about. Growing up it was not something that was talked about and even when I was pregnant it was not something that was talked about. People and doctors would ask me all the time what my plan was after birth since I was having a boy but no one ever told me any facts or why I should or should not circumcise my son. It was up to me to do the research and decide for myself what the best choice would be for my family. I feel that too many people do not know the dangers of it and that is why this for me was my favorite. I also really enjoyed listening to everyone else's speeches this time. I found them all to be very informative and a most of the topics were of things that I did not know much about. I liked hearing everyone's reasoning for why they believed what they believe and why we should be making the same decision.

Question #1

The concept that I learned this semester that was the most helpful was how to physically prepare for each speech. I suffer from extreme speaking anxiety and found the breathing techniques and that the more one practices the less nervous one will be when presenting a speech in front of a group of people. With each speech I practiced both of these techniques more and more and especially for my last speech, the persuasive speech, I practiced not only my speech multiple times but also just breathing and trying to get a hold of my nerves before I went up in front of the class. Even though I was still considerably nervous it helped a great deal. I feel that I was able to keep my pace well and that I did not allow small things to distract me and get me off topic or lost in my presentation. My prior speeches I felt that my nerves mad my speech shaky and that I moved around a lot more, back and forth motion. And because I practiced my speech so much before presenting I was a lot more confident in presenting the facts because I was able to remember them. The one thing that I wish I was better at would be my notecards. Even though I got better at writing what I needed on the cards I still have a hard time actually using them while presenting. I feel like I get a lot more lost in my topic when I am constantly looking down at my cards, which is why I usually try to memorize my speech as much as possible.

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


So recently I have been very intrigued with organic and all natural eating habits. I have watched many programs and documentaries, and have even read a few books on the topic. After doing some research I have found that there are obvious benefits to changing one's diet and starting an all organic diet. I have had many conversations, especially recently as my grandmother has been having health issue, trying to convince family members that while the cost may be high over all the cost of a healthier life is worth the initial price of food. I tell family members that organic food is more expensive but if people ate how they were supposed and lowered the overall quantity of food they consumed then it would balance out to how they are eating now. It only takes about seven days to change a person's habits and if you start eating less and more nutrient rich food then you wont feel hungry all the time and you will actually have more energy in the long run because you are eating better quality of food. When talking to my peers I try and tell them how harmful all the chemicals are in the foods that we consume on a daily basis and that with the amount of food we consume the amount of pesticides and other chemicals can add up quickly. Not to mention the global damages that all of these chemicals and pesticides are having on our earth. These chemicals have long term affects that will continue to be an issue as time goes on.
Usually after talking to people about the harmful side affects that come from all the chemicals that are in our foods people admit to me that if they had the means to eat better they would. And in some cases like with my mother in law she has gone out and started to buy what she can afford organic and has limited and eliminated certain foods that are particularly harmful. 

Different Types of Persuasive Speeches

Chapter 14 talks about three types of speeches Questions of Fact, Questions of Value and Questions on Policy. These types of speeches shows you how to look at issues from three different ways and then shows you the best way to go about presenting that speech. In Questions of Fact a person can use any of the organizational patterns that have been learned so far and involves the speaker taking facts about a topic and question whether those facts are true or false. If the speaker feels that the fact is false then they will show throughout their speech why that fact is actually false and why. It is important that the speaker is specific in their reasoning and that they give good examples to their audience to dis-credit the facts and gain the speaker credibility with the audience. If the speaker can convince their audience that the fact is wrong then they have successfully completed this form of a speech.
Questions of Value deal more with questioning a topic based on morals, right and wrong, and ethics. A speaker in this case will try and sway the audience to agree with them which might be difficult because people's values and morals range drastically and what might be complete im-moral to the speaker may be totally acceptable to the audience, for example pre-marital sex. Some people have no moral objection to this while others feel very strongly against it and usually for religious purposes which again can be a very controversial issue and is something that is hard to persuade.
The last type of persuasive speech is the Questions of Policy. This would be more like the legalization of marijuana or questioning whether certain laws should be in existence. While this topic is also controversial it is on that can spark some heated debate and in my opinion be something that can be beneficial and fun.

A sea of Persuassion

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? 

I feel like everyday I am surrounded by adds telling me that their product is better then their competitors, and recently with the election there have been numerous adds and debates where each electorate is trying to convince me to vote for them and why the opponent is an awful choice.  Labeling on products state that they are the number one product in the market, that 9 out of 10 dentists approve their brand of toothbrush and the list goes on. My topic that I chose to do my persuasive speech on is something that was actually brought to my attention through a friend on face book who was attending protest and posting different articles on my feed that were anti-circumcision. Although I had already had my son and had not circumcised him reading these articles and her personal opinions I felt that I made the right choice and have tried to go out of my way to educate other mother's of their options when it comes to this choice.  While I am not nearly as pushy as my friend I feel that because I agree strongly with her view that I need to do something to help find a solution to the problem. So whenever I meet someone or a family member asks me what I think I try to give them an informative reason. When it comes to consumer issues however I try to not listen to the ads, I buy what is on sale, and what I know works just from personal experience. When at all possible I try to buy organic and all natural and I guess this is also due to the fact that I was persuaded to change my eating habits from different films that I have watched and different research that I have done on the topic. It is impossible to not be persuaded to do something or buy something but at the end of the day I have to make choices that best fit my life and the life of my children and that is what most persuades me. 

Discuss Monroe's Motivated Sequence and the Problem/Solution organizational pattern in detail.  Explain which organizational pattern you would prefer to use for the final speech in this course.  (This may take a google search of the terms:  "Monroe's Motivated Sequence", and "Problem Solution Pattern" in order to better understand each organizational pattern.)



Monroe's Motivated Sequence is based on a 5 step plan that leads one's audience through a presentation in a way that persuades them to take action and agree with the speaker's point of view. These five steps are: "Ask your listeners to grasp the relevance and importance of your topic, understand the problem you describe, become satisfied that the solution you offer is a good one, imagine how the solution could be enacted and feel motivated to do their part in solving the problem" (pg. 285). 
The Problem Solution pattern the book states that this speech must state a problem clearly in the presentation with a solution to follow. If the problem isn't stated as something that is a true problem then the audience will not be persuaded to take action and follow through with the speaker's solution. 
I feel that for my persuasive speech on circumcision I will use the Monroe's Motivated Sequence. I feel that this outline will help me to show that this is a problem currently and that having two boys of my own it is something I feel strongly about. In giving the list of cons towards this topic I will then be able to describe the problems with circumcision and that there is a simple solution to the problem that every parent needs to know about. While my topic could easily be a problem solution speech I just feel that Monroe's outline will help to keep my speech organized, but also to show that circumcision isn't something that is controversial and is something that people don't like to talk about. 

Language and Culture

One of the concepts this week was in chapter 10, Language and Culture. This is how language differs from place to place and among different social groups in society. Some cultures use slang to express themselves. Slang exists with in culture where the same language is spoken but many words and sayings are given different meanings then the standard dictionary meaning. Another way that culture affects language is Jargon. This is usually used among professionals and can be quite technical. The normal person who is not familiar with the subject might find the Jargon hard to understand. There are many other ways that culture affects how people speak and for this reason it is important for people to be conscious of their audience so that they understand what is being presented to them. If a scientist is presenting a resent finding to a group of people who are not scientists and uses the technical Jargon then their audience is not learning, or understanding the speech. I find that if I struggle to understand someone, or there are a lot of words that I have never heard I am more likely to check out and stop listening. Also some forms of slang can be derogatory and make people feel uncomfortable, so it's important to know your audience and what they will be open to. A speaker will not be affective if they are insulting their audience. Also if people do not understand the double meaning of certain words then the audience could leave confused and mis-informed. For example to say that something is "bad" could mean the literal meaning of not good, or it can mean cool if being used in slang. It is important to try and speak to your audience in a way that is understandable and relate able to a group of people equally.

Informative Speech Self-Evaluation

The purpose of my speech was to inform the audience of the dangers of Fetal Alcohol

Syndrome. I feel that for the most part I pulled that off and got my main points across. I was

able to state all the dangers and side effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and hope that

having my slides with a list of bullet points helped the audience to absorb the information I

was presenting. 

Before my speech I was actually feeling more confident then the last couple of times

I’ve presented a speech. I practiced some of the breathing techniques that were explained in

the book and felt that they helped considerably. Unfortunately once I got up in front of the

class I realized that my notecards were completely out of order and started my speech

without organizing my cards. Because of this I missed lots of information and became more

nervous knowing that I was not giving transitions, and was unable to mention my citations

because they were now out of order.

If I were to give this speech again I would have numbered my notecards so that if by

accident they were mixed up I would be able to recover faster and not feel so lost once I got

up in front of the class. I feel that I wasted a great deal of time trying to figure out where I

was in my speech what I had already covered, and what I needed to talk about next. Having

practiced with my notecards and using them as roadblocks, sort of speak, should have kept

me on track and focused on my main points but once everything was out of order I felt that I

could not recover and began to mainly focus on presenting from my slides rather then from

my notes. 

For my next speech I hope that I can compose myself more and be more confident in

the fact that I know the information I am presenting. I tend to let my nerves get the best of

me and once I have messed up it is hard if not impossible for me to recover. If  I can learn to

control my fears I feel that delivering the content of my speeches will improve. My problem

isn't so much about having enough information as much as it is my nerves getting in the

way of presenting this information to the class.

My delivery for the informative speeches was the worst so far; because my cards got

mixed up there was a lot of time spent not talking and trying to think about where to go

next. My main focus was no longer presenting the information about Fetal Alcohol 

Syndrome and was more about me trying to get my speech back on track. I began to focus

more on the time and was trying to just get it over with before I started mumbling and

stuttering so badly I would be completely not understandable. I am not sure if other people

could notice how bad I felt like my voice was shaking and I was just trying to keep that

under control. Next time I will have to make sure that I have all of my materials together

and organized before my speech so that my delivery can be more understandable and

maintain transitions and stay on track with the original order of the speech.

My demonstrative speech lacked clarity and I don’t feel that I presented all of the facts

that I wanted to present because I did not fully understand the importance of notecards. This

time however my notecards were thorough and concise. I wrote down all the main points

and transitions for my speech and left a lot of information open ended to adjust for the time 

constraints. However with the informative speech I did not number my cards and when I got 

up in front of the class this proved to be a problem that I had trouble recovering from.

While presenting my speech I could feel myself moving back and forth and this

was because of the note cards once that was off I began to panic. Even though I was trying

very hard to stop myself I couldn’t I just became overcome with nerves. I shifted back and 

forth in my last speech as well but I am hoping that as long as I am completely prepared that 

I will be able to improve on this for the next presentation.

This speech I did not do as well on the eye contact although I know that I did make 

contact multiple times. But because I was so focused on my notecards I lacked on the 

eye contact this time around. So on a scale from 1-10 I would give myself a 7.

If I had to give myself a letter grade I would give myself a C to a low B because while 

I had all the information and presented all the most important information I failed to 

mention all of my sources, my transitions were off, and I had multiple moments of silence 

when I was trying to gather my thoughts.

During my speech I can only remember citing 2 of my sources. I had written all of my 

sources with quotes on my notecards for my presentation, but once my cards were out of 

order it was impossible for me to go back and mention my sources because it would have 

been out of order and not made sense.

I don't think that this speech was better then my last speech. For my last speech I was 

more nervous but was at least able to stay on track and keep a steady pace while presenting 

my speech. But with my informative I was way more prepared, and had much more 

information but was unable to shake my nerves and felt a lot more nervous this time around.

Media

Whenever a person is presenting information and ideas it is a great idea to research your topic and get information from other sites to support your ideas. One way to do this is to add visual aids and video to help support your idea and also gain creditability with the audience. Like with any information used in a project if it is not one's original thought then it needs to be cited properly to avoid plagiarism. This goes for any visual content used as well, whether it is a picture or a video it is the responsibility of the speaker to cite the source properly to give credit to the person or organization that created that information in the first place. Also allowing your audience to know that you researched your topic helps to build your credibility. If the audience is able to See that you used credible sources they are more likely to be engaged in what you are saying because they will be able to trust that what you are saying is true and accurate.

Public Speaking

Recently I have been attending a moms support group and every week we have the opportunity to listen to different speakers. Each speaker has had their own ways of delivering information and each way is effective in different ways. One of our speakers used PowerPoint slides with simple bullet points to help enhance her speech. I found this to be very helpful since I was taking notes and the simple bullet points made it easy to take notes while keeping up with the speaker. It was a great way to present the information in a way that the audience could take the information away with them. It is so easy to forget what the speaker has said but to have important points written down make it easy to remember parts of the speech. While I do not remember the entire speech simply writing down the speakers bullet points allowed to me to take notes and add any key points from her speech. Now when I look back at my notes I am able to recall various parts of her presentation and am able to use my notes to inform other people as accurately as possible.

Evaluation

My demonstration speech I feel was well thought out and when I practiced it in my home and in my car went perfectly, however in class I feel completely different. The purpose of my speech was to show the class an easy alternative to cooking a healthy meal while saving time and not eating T.V diners. I stated that purpose but did not execute my demonstration well at all. I found it frustrating because I practiced my speech and went over all the components of giving my main points and fully demonstrating the process in making a meal. While presenting the speech however I became overwhelmingly nervous and was more concerned with giving all of the information I could while staying within the time restraints. 

Because the time restrains made me so nervous I feel that next time I will try to practice my speech while using an actual stop watch and maybe focus on timing each point so that I am not rushing through my conclusion and in this case my demonstration. When I practiced my speech I did time myself and I timed myself going over my demonstration but did not actually execute my demonstration while practicing. Practicing my speech with all components will improve how comfortable I am in presenting my speech and in turn I hope that I will be able to present more content as well. Even though we have only given two speeches so far in the class I feel that the one thing that is getting better for me is my note cards. With my first speech I barely wrote anything on the note cards and with this speech I had more content and quotes, but delivering this information is something I have to work on. I had so much information on my note cards that I didn't mention because I didn't want to be reading them the whole time so I over compensated by not really looking at them. Because I was looking at my note cards I missed a great deal of information that I had prepared for the class. Being more prepared and using my note cards more effectively will only help to improve my delivery. Instead of saying "ummm" while I try to remember what I have written down I can just look down in the same second and get the information I need to continue with my speech and the point I am trying to make. 

The most distracting thing that I do is saying "ummm" when I am trying to think about what it is that I had planned to say. I know that is distracts me while I am giving my speech so I can only imagine what people think when I do it multiple times. While I may say "umm" or "like" a lot I feel that the one thing I am confident in is my eye contact. Eye contact actually makes me feel a little more comfortable when I am giving a speech because I can kind of judge how people are responding to my presentations. Although it can be a little distracting when I notice that someone is not paying attention to me at all, but in that case I just look around for others that are engaging in what I am saying and showing interest in what I am saying. 

One of the reason's people may not be listening to me is because I did not cite more then one source. I froze and forgot what my sources were and was over confident in myself and did not write that anywhere on my note cards. It is the one thing I should have wrote down and highlighted, because like the book said to be a successful speaker one needs to be credible and to be credible one needs to cite their sources. After all is said and done and with all the things I can say that I did wrong, I know that I am my biggest enemy and my biggest critic. I was shocked at the grade I received and now that there is so much room for improvement and would have given myself a C to a low B. I put a lot of effort into this speech but just came up short on my presentation and hope to fix these errors for the next assignment.

Outlines

I chose to write this blog about outlines because I feel it is something that I need to work on and that if I can get better at writing outlines my speeches will only get better. The book goes into great detail about transitions which is something that will help my speech flow better and with strong transitions I will be able to keep my speech more organized and not loose track of what I am talking about. The outlines are great at getting all thoughts on paper and help in seeing where to go as far as what to edit out and what needs more support. A well organized outline can also help to show when visuals are needed and what points need to be emphasized. Organization is key to giving a good speech because it makes the speech giver more credible, when a person is talking and they are all over the place they start to look like they do not know what they are talking about. Speeches are meant to be informative and if the speech presenter is confused then the audience is sure to be confused as well. The book does a great job at breaking down all the parts of the outline and what the main focus of each part should be. The break down is a great beginning to preparing for a speech and the way the book breaks down each section makes me feel like it should be a little easier to remember my speech and keep my thoughts focused. Now that I feel I have a good understanding of the breakdown of the outline, the book then goes into detail about how to keep the outline balanced, relevant and various forms of how to organize the outline, (chronologically, spatial...). I feel that all of the sub points are great and after reading the chapter I feel that if I can stick with this format and keep all these key points in mind it will not only improve my topic but also how I give and remember my speech.

Facts And Statistics

I feel that facts and statistics can be very useful in speech that is meant to be informative or persuasive. If one can find the right statistics to support their point of view then those facts may be able to persuade others to feel the same way. A lot of times statistics can be useful when wanting to use fear to persuade people to change their point of view. Like when people talk about teenage sex and use statistics of pregnancy and STD's to convince teens of all the horrible things that can happen when engaging in sexual activity. However statistics and facts may not be a useful when giving a speech that is meant to be more personal or a speech that is being presented in a story fashion. I feel like statistics are great but take the personal attributes of a event out of the equation. Statistics and facts can sound cold and harsh at times and unless these facts are things that people really are concerned with they can sound boring and dry. If the presenter isn't sure about statistics and is spouting out facts that are not properly researched then the speaker looses all credibility, and therefore the audience is not going to value anything the presenter has to say. In addition if a speech is nothing but facts and statistics then the audience could become bored or overwhelmed by all of the information and therefore will stop listening. Facts and statistics are a great way to add validity to a speech and demonstrate to an audience that one knows what they are talking about and took the time to research a topic, but not presented correctly I feel that facts can hurt just as much as they can help a speech.

Audience Diversity

I feel like the toughest part about this whole adapting to your audience section is going to be adapting to the diversity of the class or any situation. We live in a country where there is not one situation where everyone is from the same place, has the same life experiences, and may understand the same jokes and phrases. After reading the chapter I feel like making sure that no one person is offended or left not understanding is going to be difficult. Sometimes I feel like the more I read the book that more nervous I am getting about future speeches because the book is pointing out scenarios that I have never even thought of. Making sure that my speech relates to all people in the class in a way that keeps them interested definitely adds some pressure. For the most part when I get up in front of a class I am more concerned with just saying what I need to say so that I can sit down as soon as possible. Obviously this is not going to help my speeches get any better and if I can find a way to use the tips that are mentioned throughout the book in a way that doesn't make me more nervous then I should do well. Right now however I am feeling just slightly overwhelmed with all of this information. But I feel like noticing and adapting to the diversity in everyday situations is a helpful tip and something that I am going to try and work on throughout the duration of this class.

Analyzing and Adapting

Analyzing an audience is an important aspect of giving a speech. Knowing the needs and interests of one's attended audience can help to attract an active listening audience that will engage in thoughtful questions and interest in one's speech. It is important to know how an audience may feel about certain topics so that no one listening is offended by what is said in the speech. Once a person is offended it can cause confrontation which will only make giving a speech that much more nerve racking. When giving a speech it can be incredibly helpful to find out what the audience has in common with the topic of the speech and relate the topic more specifically to the audience which in turn will grasp their attention making the speech giving process a little easier. Adapting to an audience goes hand in hand with analyzing an audience. After one has analyzed the audience it is then up to the speech giver to adapt their speech to fit their audience and tailor their delivery in a way that will relate to the people listening without offending anyone. I hope to use this information in my next speech in the hopes that it will make me a little more comfortable. By knowing how my audience feels about a topic or knowing that we all have a commonality then maybe I can be less nervous about what everyone is thinking and just worry about my delivery and make sure I am making all the points that I had planned on making.

Speech Buddies #6

The speech buddy videos this week were very informative and restated once again the reading from chapter 6. The videos showed the different processes in which to conduct the research part of a speech, phase 1 is preparation, phase two is gathering information and phase three is evaluating information. All of this information however was in the first part of chapter 6 so I didn't feel like I learned that much from that video.
I took a class last semester in critical thinking and we spent most of our time researching and presenting argumentative essay's. I have to say that these were my favorite kind of papers to write and so I hope that in this speech class I enjoy presenting this type of discussion in front of a class. The video on the slugs was a great representation of a persuasive speech and by the end of the video I really felt bad for all the slugs I had abused over the years for pure enjoyment.
The video about the girls family I felt was a very touching story of how our youth shouldn't take our older family members for granted and that when the time comes I am sure that I too will take care of my father.

Chapter 6

After reading chapter six I felt that I got the most out of the research tips. The three steps mentioned in the chapter help to explain a little about how to break up the process of researching a topic. For me researching a topic is the hardest part. I finish up major research projects hoping that the required amount of sources are correct and that they are valid sources. The Internet can be a very complicated place to search for information and there is always more then one answer available and determining which answer is correct is a scary thing sometimes. The first of the three steps is "preparing for the search," knowing what you are looking for and making a list of questions you want answered can help in the process. The second tip was "gathering information," for me I think this is the part that is so exhausting because there can sometimes be too much information and then  I am left wondering where to start, what to use and what to loose. The third step is "evaluation the information found", I think this is key and a helpful way to weed out too much information. If I can prove that the information is incorrect then I would know not to use that particular source. Starting a research paper or project can be an exhausting task but with the proper organization and thought out questions I feel the process is more manageable.

Research Interviews

Research Interviews are something that I am not all that familiar with. So far in the classes that I have taken both at Sierra and in High School have not really required that I do my own interviews. Two semesters ago however I did take a critical thinking English class where we were put into groups of four and were required to ask our peers three questions. We were allowed to do this on any forum we chose. For me I thought well Face Book is the easiest and best way to reach out to as many people as possible. After having my questions up on my page for five days I received very few responses. I think only six of my contacts actually gave me any usable responses. When our group came together to discuss our findings I realized we all had the same kind of problem with our contacts just ignoring our posts. The process was frustrating to say the least and we ended up having to use statistics and interviews that we found on the Internet. Towards the end of the project my entire group felt the same about the research we had and wished that our peers had taken it more seriously so that we could know how people we know and live around us felt about the issue. I think that the next time I do any kind of interview research I will be more diligent about asking people in person the questions I have as well as posting on my Face Book. I feel that social media is a great way to get opinions from people and it is the best way to reach out to many people in a very short about of time, just next time I will have to actually ask people to comment and maybe post specifically on people's pages.

Video Blog

After watching the videos and doing the reading I feel like have a good grasp on what I can do to make my future speeches better. In the videos there are the three techniques, that are also discussed in the book, to help with speech delivery. Visualizing one's speech is a great way to get prepared for a speech and until now I never realized it was a technical term. I remember in dance and cheer leading I frequently would run over my routine's before a performance so that mentally I was prepared for the steps I needed to execute. When it came to speeches however I would visualize all the negative things that could happen. This is obviously not a good way to psych yourself up. Relabeling I think would be quit useful for me since I always stress my most negative feelings. Relabeling stress and using different wording can really take the edge off giving an oral presentation, going in for a job interview, or just communicating with peers. Relabeling makes me think of a saying my dad said often, "there is a lot of power of positive thinking". And then there is just relaxing which uses various breathing techniques. For me personally breathing has never really worked because once my brain gets going I can not turn it off. I have tried yoga and the concept I feel just goes over my head.

Blog #3

After reading the chapters it did not take me long to decide what I wanted to focus this last blog on. Speech anxiety is something that affects a lot of people and for many different reasons, for me I could really relate to the Spotlighting theory. I never knew that what I suffer from is so common that there is a term for it. When I get up in front of a crowd a million things are going through my mind, how is my hair, am I mumbling, do the people care about what I am saying and the list goes on. If I happen to stumble on a word or make a mistake in my presentation I can feel my face turning red and it as if the temperature in the room has gone up 100 degrees. Over the years I have managed to control this and I feel like with age I am getting better. Right now seems like the perfect time for me to be taking this class because I am currently looking for a job, and I know that being more comfortable speaking will only give me that more of an edge on the competition. With the economy the way it is I know that any help I can get is for the better. I hope that all the things I learn in this class will only help me to progress in becoming a better more confident speaker.

Public Speaking

Public speaking for me is a sort of love hate relationship. I am not anxious about speaking in front of groups of people, but there are times when if I am not prepared or completely comfortable with a class that I do get nervous. After reading through chapter 2 however  feel a little more normal knowing that I am not alone. I can definitely relate to many of the terms that the book uses as common issues with anxiety. The "Spotlight effect" is something that almost always trips me up when giving a presentation or speaking in front of a group. If I even mess up a little I become way too focused on the mistake and allow that to send the rest of my presentation into a downward spiral.
I can also relate to the "Uncertainty reduction theory". When I am in a new environment or around new people I tend to be more nervous then normal. I take those nerves and shut down and become introverted. Hopefully in taking this class however I can learn to work on some of these issues and become more comfortable speaking in front of class. I plan on practicing some of the techniques mentioned in the chapter to deal with some of my anxieties such as using positive wording instead of focusing on the negative (Relabeling). I know practicing my speech will help significantly with my anxiety.

Hello,
 I am taking public speaking because I hope to one day become an elementary school teacher. It has always been a passion of mine. This is my 6 semester at sierra, I was enrolled for about 3 semesters seven years ago and am now returning hoping to complete all my necessary General Education so I can continue to move forward toward my teaching credential.

I have two small children and they keep me very busy. My oldest boy just started kindergarten and soccer and that is enough to fill my days. My youngest is one and he is a walking terror. Right now he loves to get into everything and just keep my on my toes, plus he is a huge momma's boy!

I look forward to this class and seeing how much my speaking improves throughout the semester!