Final Post

Hello Class!

The semester is finally over, and you can probably sigh with relief at this point. As I mentioned yesterday, to calculate your grade, add up all of your points and check the syllabus (or my blog) to see what your final grade is.

I must say, for those of you that participated in the extra credit assignment, you really helped your grades quite a bit. Good job!!!

I have had a great time with you all this semester. I hope you enjoyed the class. If you did in fact enjoy the class, tell your friends. SJSU should continue to offer this class online if there is enough interest. Since this is only the second time in SJSU history that this class has been offered online, I would say it was a success. Again, tell your friends! :)

I will be changing some things for next semester, though the basics will stay the same. I appreciate your feedback during our last meeting on campus. I have taken your comments into consideration and will be incorporating most of them. If you have additional comments or feedback, please post a reply to this blog, or email me directly. Any suggestions about the course are greatly appreciated.

Please do not delete your blogs for a few weeks. I will be changing the discussion questions based on your answers to them (if I feel the question was successful or not, etc...). I will need some time to gather the information needed and evaluate the success of certain aspects of the class.

Again, if you have suggestions or feedback for me, please comment on this blog or email me directly. The evaluations you filled out will not be returned to me until mid-next semester, so I will need to evaluate the class based on your comments and performance, etc...

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and a very relaxing break. If you need to contact me, please use the following email address: commclass@gmail.com I will delete this email address at the start of next semester. :)

Final Grades Part #1

Hello Everyone!

The final exam is almost over. There are a couple of people who have yet to take the final exam. To calculate your grade, go ahead and add up all of the points you have accumulated throughout the semester and divide that number by 1,000. This will give you your points total for the course. The points breakdown versus grade is listed below:

950-1000 points A

900-949 points A-

870-899 points B+

840-899 points B

800-839 points B-

770-799 points C+

740-769 points C

700-739 points C-

670-699 points D+

640-669 points D

600-639 points D-

less than 600 F

I will post your extra credit sores tomorrow - so keep an eye out for those.

Now is a good time to check over all of your grades to make sure there are no mistakes or discrepancies. If there are, please email me immediately, as I will be posting final grades within the next couple of days.

I will post one final time tomorrow, December 19th. Please check back tomorrow evening. Until then, have a fabulous night! :)

Final Exam Info

Hello Class!

It is time for the final exam (the review sheet is located on the "Handouts" page on Blackboard)! Here are the procedures for the final:

Please print out the Proctor Form located on the "Handouts" page. You will need a Proctor to observe you taking the exam. A proctor is someone who is OVER 21 years of age, and will attest to the fact that you have upheld the Honor Principle (additional information about the Honor Principle is located on the "Quiz" page on Blackboard).

To receive credit for the exam, print out the Proctored Exam Form available on the Handouts page, complete the test, secure required signatures (the proctor's and yours) and mail to me at the address on the form. You can also fax the form. The fax number is located on the Proctor Form as well.

Your final exam will be available on Blackboard from 12:01am December 15th to 11:59pm on December 18th.

I WILL be holding office hours during SJSU's Final Exam week on Tuesday December 16 from 9am to 11am.

The final exam CANNOT be rescheduled, so please make plans accordingly to take the final exam during the time allotted.

Let me know if you have any questions about the process for the final exam.

Posts and Office Hours

Here is a list of those folks that have posted already this week:

Briana
Fo'i Lole
iBlog
Jane Iwamura
Marisa's Blog
PennyB
Proud Mommy
Skarlo
The Blabbering Student

Stop by their blogs and leave a comment. :)

Office Hours
Since this week is a short week, my office hours will be held today at normal time (10:30am-11:30am) and on Wednesday from 9:00am-10:00am).

Additionally, office hours next week will be held on Tuesday from 9:00-11:00am.

Of course I am ALWAYS available to chat by phone if needed, and of course by appointment as always. I will still be checking email numerous times a day until the last scheduled day of the final exam.

AS A REMINDER: You should have all of your blogging and commenting completed by Wednesday at 11:59pm. There is no 'time requirement' this week, so go ahead and blog when you can. The posts DO NOT need to be 24 hours apart, nor do the comments.

Week of December 7-10

This is the last blogging week. Since the last day of instruction is officially December 10th, you can go ahead and omit the 24 hour rule this week and simply post 3 times and comment 2 times whenever you'd like with no time restriction. Please have your posts completed by 11:59pm on Dec. 10th.

Here is the discussion for this week:

· What concept or concepts from the class that you thought was the most helpful in preparing your speeches?

· Which speech was your favorite and why?

· What are you going are you going to take from this class that you think will be helpful in future endeavors?

· Remember to post at least 2 responses to your colleagues blogs.

In addition to blogging, please POST YOUR SELF-EVALUATIONS to your blogs PRIOR TO DEC. 10th at 11:59pm.

The final exam review will be available for download tonight.

Reminders for Tomorrow

Here is the email I just sent out to the class:

Hello Class,

Here are some reminders for tomorrow:

1). Arrive on time please. Class starts at 12pm, but try to arrive a few minutes early. (Bring snacks if you'd like - it's gonna be a long class).
2). Remember your visual aid if you have not emailed it to me already. All powerpoint presentations needed to be submitted by 5pm today.
3). Bring your video and have it cued to after the Informative Speech. You will need to complete one last self-evaluation and will need to watch all three videos of your speeches.
4). Print out the grading sheet and bring it to class with you (just like the last couple of speeches). :)
5). If you have revised your outline, please bring a hard copy to class (even if you emailed it to me).
6). Extra Credit is due tomorrow. Please print it out as well and bring it to class tomorrow.
7). Remember remember remember all of the things we have learned so far this semester in class. Presentation skills, citing sources, organization etc.. are all really important for this speech as well as persuasive value for this speech. You may want to review the 'tips' from the last speech that I posted on my blog (the tips for this speech are the same for this one).

Let me know if you have any questions about what I have written here or about tomorrow. I will check my email at about 5am tomorrow morning in case you do have questions.

I am excited to see your speeches. There was a VAST improvement on your outlines and if that is any indication of how the speech day will go tomorrow, I am really looking forward to seeing what you have all prepared.

See you all tomorrow!
:)
Carol

Outlines Returned

I will be emailed your graded outlines back this afternoon. Please look over the notes and make appropriate changes to your speech. The feedback I will be giving is to improve both the outline and the speech, but primarily the speech.

Also, look for a blog later today giving tips for this coming speech on Friday. Remember, we are meeting in the same room we have met in twice already. We are meeting at 12:00pm, get there a bit early if possible. Since we will be there for a number of hours, bring snack if you'd like.

If you want to use POWERPOINT as your visual aid, I need your email by Thursday night at 5pm. If I don't hear from you by then, I will assume you will be bringing your visual aid with you (and yes, as mentioned at the start of the semester, visual aids are required for all speeches in this class).

The EXTRA CREDIT ESSAY is due by the time you walk into class on Friday (remember, we meet at 12pm, please arrive a bit early). Please print it out and turn it in at the start of the class. Some folks in class should really use this opportunity to raise their grades, so please remember your extra credit paper, as there will be no extensions for the extra credit.

Let me know if y'all have any questions!

Week of November 30-December 6

1). Outlines are due on Monday, December 1st by 10am.
2). Practice your speech AT LEAST 7 times with your VISUAL AID!
3). Please submit any Powerpoint presentations you would like to use by Thursday at 5pm at the latest.

4). Extra Credit: I have emailed out an extra credit assignment. If you would like extra credit (25 points), please complete the paper, print it out and BRING IT TO CLASS ON FRIDAY WITH YOU in hard copy format. Let me know if you have questions about this.

More outline tips

This should go without saying, but PLEASE review the assignment sheet for the Persuasive Speech I have posted on Blackboard. This assignment sheet (along with your book) will surely help you plan your speech.

It is IMPERATIVE that you follow one of the three organizational patterns listed on the assignment sheet (also see a post below about organizational patterns). Your speech MUST follow one of these organizational patterns.

I will be available all day tomorrow for questions.

A few days left....and another tip

You have a few days before your outlines are due. The due date is Monday, December 1st. You need to have your outlines emailed to me by 10am at the latest. Anything emailed after this time will be considered late, so PLEASE PLAN AHEAD.

Since the deadline for the final speech is a mere few days away, here is another tip. This is going to sound self-explanatory, but it needs to be said anyway:

Please read over the assignment sheet before turning in your outline to make sure you have met ALL REQUIREMENTS. The assignment sheet should be your ultimate guide for this assignment, so check with it often. In fact, once you are done with your outline, go over the assignment sheet one more time to make sure that you have completed everything on the assignment sheet. I grade directly from the assignment sheet.

Be sure you have everything needed in BOLD and in (PARENTHESIS) in the body of the outline, as I would be looking for these things specifically in your speeches.

I would like to see everyone earn 100% credit on the outline, so make sure to ask me questions if you have them. Check the past tips I have posted.

I will post another tip tomorrow. Until then.....

TUrkey Day

For those of you that celebrate today's occasion,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!


Posts will resume tomorrow! :)

It is a good idea....

It would be a good idea if you reviewed a couple of the videos under Chapter 15 (Schooling Pro and Schooling Con). There are some REALLY good examples of what TO DO and of course, what NOT to do in a Persuasive Speech.

In the first video you will see Dixie present a speech. She uses some emotional appeals, but could have easily backed up here points with FACTS and STATISTICS. Watch it to see what I am referring to.

In the second video, Schooling Con, Robert also has some really good points and some weaknesses as well.

A couple of the MAJOR things to pay attention to is the way they both STATE THEIR PURPOSE IN THEIR INTRODUCTION OF THE SPEECH. You should be CLEARLY stating the purpose of your speech in your introduction (and OF COURSE, follow a clear ORGANIZATIONAL PATTERN, as noted in my previous post).

Watching these two videos will give you clear examples of what your final product (or final speech on December 5th) should look like. Please review those videos at least once, if not 2 or 3 times each. The videos will take approximately 10 minutes, and they will help you out tremendously!!!

More tips to come.....

Reasoning

Since you must include reasoning in your speech, and your book only includes a few types of reasoning, I thought I would add some types of reasoning that you can use. Some of these are quite easy to apply to your speeches, whereas a couple in the book may be hard to understand.

In addition to the ones listed in your book, you can certainly use any of these listed below. If you need more of an explanation of these types of reasoning, google the type of reasoning and a detailed explanation will come up. If it does not, message me and I can clarify things for you. Here they are:

Reasoning by Example
Uses examples to reach a conclusion about a group.
Many specific examples to make a generalization.
What is known about A, B, C and D will be true about all other members of the group.

Reasoning by Analogy
Uses similarities between two similar cases to draw a conclusion about a case.
A is like B, so what is true of A is also true, or will be true of B.

Causal Reasoning
Draws conclusions about the unknown effects of known causes OR about the unknown cause of known effect.

Sign Reasoning
Uses signs or clues to reach a conclusion about the existence (present, past, or future) of something.
Reasoning from known signs to unknown existence.

Reasoning by Criteria
Uses pre-established criteria to draw a conclusion about something.
Criteria can include principles, definitions, laws, rules, expectations, prior decisions, etc...