You're free to choose a public speaking event that you'll be attending for this assignment. Faculty member are definitely up for grabs with this assignment--though I'd encourage you to be generous if you choose this route, as this is a public forum!
Evaluate and comment on the following:
1) Audience engagement and interest
2) The content and level of the talk/lecture
3) The speaker's tone, inflection, projection voice modulation
4) Volume and projection
5) Things you think the speaker might improve upon
Post your responses here in approximately 250 words.
Recently, my job held a work meeting for all employees. All of our head bosses got up in front of us and went over things we need to improve on and pointed out all of the things that they need to change. Our bosses talk to us in a way that I felt was demeaning. They look down at us while they are speaking to us. They talk very proper and there tone is very confident because whatever they are saying will always be right because they are in charge. My fellow employees and I were all very bored during this meeting. We could not wait for the Meeting to be over. This was because of how we were being talked to. If the speaker talked to us at the same level, then we would have been able to show more interest in the meeting. All in all, it was hard for us to relate to the speakers because they were in charge of us and we had no say.
ReplyDeleteI evaluated one of my professors during a lecture recently. As far as knowledge of the topic goes, the professor is very well learned and understands the topic he is trying to teach us. However, this is an issue that seems to shoot itself in the foot when it comes to the transferring of information. The professor speaks in a very rapidly paced voice, which makes the course content difficult to follow. The material itself is new to most of the students, and I feel the class has a hard time understanding the information being presented as a result of this. The professor has a slight monotone way of speaking, making it easy to become distracted, as it is an earlier class and I am generally tired, although the projection of his voice is adequate. The volume of his speaking is easy enough to hear. I like the professor well enough, though, despite the slightly difficult material. I feel the main thing the professor could improve upon would be simply to slow down in his presentation. I understand that his speed may be intentional, as we have a plethora of material to get through, but I also feel that it is most important that the students have a firm grasp on the material that has already been presented. If the professor slowed his speech down, the material would be much easier to understand, which would clear up practically any grievances I have with his lectures.
ReplyDeleteLast week, I evaluated one of the professor at D'youville. So far, she is one of the two best professors I had. Her tone is loud, clear, happy, and enlightened. When she speaks, it's like listening to the chorus part in a song which is really awakening. In addition, she used a lot of body language such as eye rolling and hand and feet movement. She also make lots of funny remarks with the material being taught. I think this make student feel less shy and is more open to class discussion. When I’m in a class that was taught by someone who is really serious, I find myself think twice before I speaks. The class is 3 hours long during lunch time and she would hardly let us out early. However, I don't feel sleepy at all and it always seem so fast. She often start off by telling a story before going into any topic. I find this technique very effective in capturing the audience attention. Also it's a good way for students to remember things rather than listening to straight facts from the book. The material for the class can be very long and dry but she made it so interesting. As far as I see, there is no need for any improvement in her teaching. She is fun, devoted, and very enthusiast with her class.
ReplyDelete"Evaluate a Lecture" by Catherine Nguyen
ReplyDeleteFor this homework assignment, I evaluated a D’Youville College Professor. The professor had a very good understanding of the content of Microbiology. He rarely looked at his PowerPoints while lecturing and he clearly explained every term that he thought would be important or unclear to the students. Luckily, the lecture was kept interesting because he did not speak in monotone throughout. Also, he made references to things that the students could relate to. I find this helpful for the lecture because it helps students remember the material better. The audience showed engagement and interest by asking questions and by laughing at his small jokes. The professor’s volume was moderate to loud. He kept a confident-like body structure throughout the lecture. For example, he stood up with his back straight and his chin was always pointed upwards and towards the audience. The professor could improve on asking the students questions to keep them focused on the topic. He usually waits on students to ask him questions, which negatively impacts the students who are afraid to ask questions during class. He does give quizzes before lectures to help the students see how they are doing, but I think he should ask us as many questions as possible to get us ready for the upcoming exam. Since Microbiology contains a lot of material, he seems to rush through the slides. This is a disadvantage for those who have a hard time keeping up in the course because there is never any time to ask him questions from previous lectures.
"Evaluate a Lecture" by Catherine Nguyen
ReplyDeleteFor this homework assignment, I evaluated a D’Youville College Professor. The professor had a very good understanding of the content of Microbiology. He rarely looked at his PowerPoints while lecturing and he clearly explained every term that he thought would be important or unclear to the students. Luckily, the lecture was kept interesting because he did not speak in monotone throughout. Also, he made references to things that the students could relate to. I find this helpful for the lecture because it helps students remember the material better. The audience showed engagement and interest by asking questions and by laughing at his small jokes. The professor’s volume was moderate to loud. He kept a confident-like body structure throughout the lecture. For example, he stood up with his back straight and his chin was always pointed upwards and towards the audience. The professor could improve on asking the students questions to keep them focused on the topic. He usually waits on students to ask him questions, which negatively impacts the students who are afraid to ask questions during class. He does give quizzes before lectures to help the students see how they are doing, but I think he should ask us as many questions as possible to get us ready for the upcoming exam. Since Microbiology contains a lot of material, he seems to rush through the slides. This is a disadvantage for those who have a hard time keeping up in the course because there is never any time to ask him questions from previous lectures.
A "lecture" I evaluated was a speech done by one of my friends about sexual assault and domestic violence. Joe had chosen to be a part of the NO MORE movement about no more sexual assault or domestic violence. He chose to present on his own free will and brought personal stories into the presentations as well. Joe Colasuonno had a nice presentation about the NO MORE movement. Throughout his presentation he had everyone’s attention even though it was a hard topic to talk about. Joe’s voice could have been a bit louder, which might have been because of a microphone malfunction, but his voice was powerful and made each point. Even in the toughest of times, such as friends’ stories, his voice would only slightly waiver as he pushed through. His power point helped viewers to process the information thoroughly. With the power points, it would have been helpful if he had a clicker to go from slide to slide. Sadly, this wasn’t possible in the Madonna Lounge so he had to constantly bend down to switch to the next slide. This wasn’t very distracting but I feel like it might have thrown him off ever so slightly. Overall, the speech was one that couldn’t be easy due to the topic and friends’ stories but he did a very well job. Moving forward he should maybe look into a clicker for power points but other than that I thought he did a wonderful job! It was definitely a speech that needed to be delivered and I was happy that he was willing to openly speak about such topics!
ReplyDeleteThe lecture that I chose to evaluate is done by one of my professors that I will not name. She is a female, so I will refer to her as she. She pays very little attention to how the audience is engaging during her lectures. Her tone is very bland, monotone would be an understatement. She uses very little inflection and just talks about the same thing until each and every audience member would like to pull out their hair. She makes her audience feel as if she thinks they are completely uneducated and just plain dumb. She uses enough volume for hearing her to be easy, but not enough volume to keep her audience paying attention. She is so boring that it is easier to let yourself become distracted than keep fighting to pay attention and make it look like you are interested in what she has to say. The content is good, but the delivery is awful. She goes far too much into detail about every little thing, and often repeats every little detail, multiple times. She would do much better in the classroom setting if she were able to put away her own interests for a few minutes in order to learn about what her students hope to gain from their experience in the class and allow them an opportunity to engage with the material, rather than sit back and try to avoid falling asleep for the three hours that she uses all of… every single time. I do not mind using all of class time as long as I have something to engage in, but it is impossible to listen to a monotone, completely non-interactive lecture for three hours and get anything out of it. I apologize for picking a negative example, this speaker just remains very strongly in my mind when I think about someone to evaluate! At least I am able to learn about what does not go well so I can do better than this in the future!
ReplyDeleteThe lecture that I chose to evaluate is done by one of my professors that I will not name. She is a female, so I will refer to her as she. She pays very little attention to how the audience is engaging during her lectures. Her tone is very bland, monotone would be an understatement. She uses very little inflection and just talks about the same thing until each and every audience member would like to pull out their hair. She makes her audience feel as if she thinks they are completely uneducated and just plain dumb. She uses enough volume for hearing her to be easy, but not enough volume to keep her audience paying attention. She is so boring that it is easier to let yourself become distracted than keep fighting to pay attention and make it look like you are interested in what she has to say. The content is good, but the delivery is awful. She goes far too much into detail about every little thing, and often repeats every little detail, multiple times. She would do much better in the classroom setting if she were able to put away her own interests for a few minutes in order to learn about what her students hope to gain from their experience in the class and allow them an opportunity to engage with the material, rather than sit back and try to avoid falling asleep for the three hours that she uses all of… every single time. I do not mind using all of class time as long as I have something to engage in, but it is impossible to listen to a monotone, completely non-interactive lecture for three hours and get anything out of it. I apologize for picking a negative example, this speaker just remains very strongly in my mind when I think about someone to evaluate! At least I am able to learn about what does not go well so I can do better than this in the future!
ReplyDeleteI recently attended a lecture held by an employee of D'Youville's career center regarding resume building. The audience interest was high, as it was primarily attended by graduating OT students. There was little audience involvement, though I believe this was due mainly to the content of the presentation. The content was very valuable, and was presented along side a powerpoint, so as to provided a useful visual. The presenter modulated her tone, which kept the speech from sounding too mundane, and was able to project to an entire lecture room without yelling.
ReplyDeleteThe only negative I have is that the presenter spoke very quickly, and covered a lot of material in a short period of time. This is likely due to time constraints put on her by the organizing teachers and by other presenters, but I would have liked to have recieved her speech in a less hurried manner. Otherwise, it was useful, informative, and interesting.
For this assignment, I will discuss a lecture I attended this week for my nursing class. The topic of this lecture was antibiotics and types and treatment of shock. I noticed that the majority of the class was attentive and taking notes on what the teacher was saying. However, some students in the class were distracted by their cell phones or laptops or too tired to pay attention as this class is at 8:00am. The professor does have an accent, which made it hard for students in the back to hear and understand what she was saying, but she offered time for questions and clarification. Her voice would transfer between high and low tones and she would speak louder to emphasize important points. She spoke at a good pace that allowed us to take notes and she was able to cover a lot of material in her required time frame. She used the chalkboard to write notes and draw pictures to help demonstrate certain concepts. I noticed that she knew the importance of the information she was teaching and wanted the attention of all the students in the class and would call out students who were not listening. Also, if students were loud and talking over her, she would wait for them to finish their conversations, as she was not going to battle speaking over them. I think that is one way to gain respect and attention from the audience and also to help the students learn the material. She would also use humor in the lecture to relieve some stress that the students were experiencing. She also engaged the audience by asking us questions and getting us involved in the lecture. I had no problem understanding the teacher’s speech and believe she had used an appropriate volume and made the environment in the classroom conducive to learning.
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ReplyDeleteFor this assignment, I chose to assess a Professor at D’Youville College. The professor teaches Chemistry at nine in the morning. The professor is a very intelligent person and knows the material so well. However, the professor acts like we are five years old and teaches the same thing over and over again. I really appreciate reiterating everything he teaches, but the class would go by so much faster if he asked us and if someone has a question, then he can teach it again. One of the many things I like about him is that he never looks at the slides while we are in class. In addition, he makes sure to engage his students in the class. He asks a lot of questions and does not go on until you answer the question. He is a very loud person and makes sure we are awake during every class. He is a very strict teacher when it comes to phones and food, so he makes sure we are giving him our full attention. In addition, he always relates the material to something we would understand. For example, during class he related a theory to food, which helped me remember a lot better. The only thing that I would suggest for my professor to improve on would be independence. We are in college and do not have to be treated like we are children and I understand he cares for his students and wants them to do well, but not all classes are going to be like that. Lastly, I think it would make more sense to make the questions on his quizzes similar to the questions on the exam because I was very shocked to see how different they are and there is no way to improve besides practicing.
I recently attended the No More event on campus put on by fellow classmate, Joe Colasuonno in the Madonna Lounge. This presentation was on relationship abuse and sexual abuse. Not only did this cover college campus sexual abuse but it also was a presentation on what Title Nine is. Joe did an excellent job going over these sensitive topics in front of his colleagues. He was able to engage the audience by connecting this sensitive topic with his own personal stories from friends back home.
ReplyDeleteThe speaker’s tone, inflection, projection and voice modulation were all on point. I have no comments on what he can approve on.
Overall, the entire presentation was about an hour long. After his talk, the floor was opened for discussions. We broke up into smaller groups with a faculty member to discuss what we were just listening to. I really appreciated this part because I would have not felt comfortable talking about this in front of a big crowd.
This presentation was very informative. I felt comfortable the entire time and left the lecture with things to think about and thoughts to ponder on. Because of the speaker, I left with new thoughts and ideas than before.
I attended a Guest Lecture for an OT Professional Issue class that provided me and my graduating OT peers information about the legal background of submitting claims of medical justification (in order to get durable medical equipment and adaptive equipment). The audience engagement and interest was relatively low as we have had a similar lecture before but my interest was high because I did not get any exposure to this process on my Level II Fieldwork. The content was very informational and helpful specifically to our profession. The speaker’s tone and inflection was conductive to our learning and she had fantastic projection as I sat towards the back and clearly heard her at all times. Her modulation and was also conductive to our attention. She utilized good body language and hand motions to convey important and obvious points. Overall she was a good speaker, just the topic we had to listen to was relatively redundant and the handout correlated strongly with what she spoke of. I believe that she was a good public speaker as she is a legal advocate for patients who are denied approval to necessary equipment that would improve his or her quality of life and functional engagement.
ReplyDeleteOn April 8, 2015 I attended an extra credit opportunity located in the Blue Lounge on D’Youville College campus. This forum was held to discuss the current issues with rape culture in our surrounding environment. Many of the PowerPoints that the four women showed to the audience bewildered me. How can the subject of rape be so unimportant to people in today’s society. Josephine, a student at D’Youville had an incredible presentation relaying the message that rape is not “okay” in any shape or form. She had copied posts from multiple forms of social media showing how vulgar and inappropriate people were to such a taboo issue. One woman at the table had asked the audience the question, “What can we do to prevent rape from happening?” There were four women speaking at a front table in front of an audience of about 75 people. The tone of the speaker was very stern and supportive of anti-rape organizations. All of the speakers claimed to be strong feminists and spoke with loud volume and confidence. After each speaker went through their PowerPoints, they had asked open ended questions to the audience. The audience was very engaged in the lecture and answered every single question that was posed. Even I was interested in voicing my own opinion on the subject. The audience seemed to like the question I previously mentioned, “What can we do prevent rape?” A lot of audience members shouted things out left and right with suggestions. I believe there should be more education on the matter. The talk extended to two full hours and it was a very interesting public speaking event to attend.
ReplyDeleteRecently, I evaluated a lecture from one of my professor’s here at D’Youville. Out of all of the professor’s I have had, I would have to say that she is probably the most enthusiastic regarding the material she is teaching. She is incredibly knowledgeable about the subject and is always able to answer questions students may have with ease. She was engaged with the class the entire time while she was speaking. You can tell that she really loves what she teaches and genuinely wants us to enjoy it too. The content in her lectures are always relevant to what we are tested on. The level of the lecture was right where it should have been in my opinion. It is a tough course but she makes it relatively easy to grasp. She is always open to fixing any confusion someone may have about something she has said. The speaker’s tone and inflection were both good. She was not monotone and kept the mood light by incorporating jokes. Regarding her volume, I could easily hear her the entire lecture. The only thing the speaker could have improved on, was her rate of speaking. Although she makes the material easier to understand, sometimes she teaches very fast and is hard to keep up with. I found myself focusing on what she was writing instead of what she was saying some of the time. We got through the material with five minutes to spare and I think it would have been helpful if she utilized this time by speaking slower. Overall, she was a very good presenter.
ReplyDeleteI decided to evaluate a lecture from one of the classes I am taking this semester. When paying close attention to the professor and the students I learned some interesting things. I could tell that the students were really interested in what we were learning. When the professor asked questions the class was willing to answer them without the professor having to call on someone. The professor has a nice tone when speaking in front of the class. The professor always seems confident when speaking in front of the class. I have seen this professor speak in front of large groups and they always seem to have amazing stage presence. The volume of their voice is not too powerful, but when they open their mouth to speak everyone seems to stop what they’re doing to pay attention. They seem to be aware of where they are teaching because they adjust their voice to where they are and how many people are in the room. One thing I must say is that when giving speeches or teaching they don’t ask if the audience has questions. It seems as if they only give enough time for the message they want to give to their audience. They also don’t explain pictures that they use in their presentation very well leaving their audience, who don’t know the topic that well, very confused. If they can improve their timing so they can allow questions at the end they would be approachable. Also if they explained their pictures better it will help the audience who only has a little knowledge on the subject.
ReplyDeleteFor this assignment I am choosing to write about a speech my boss gave me to my coworkers and me when he was announcing he was leaving our company. It came to complete shock to all us when our store manager, Jeff, announced he was leaving Dick’s to pursue other options. The audience, being my coworkers of course, could not take their eyes off him. No one knew what to think or how to react, we all just stared in disbelief. He told us all how he was proud of us and how far we have come since the first day we started working there, some of us are now managers, leads, and up and coming stored managers, all of which he expressed how happy he was we made it that far. The best part about the content of the speech was he never made it about himself, it was about us. His volume went between various tones because he was getting chocked up at certain spots in his speech, but he stayed strong. Truthfully, I do not know how I could tell him to improve his speech, he gave me everything he wanted. He didn't make it about himself, he looked at us all in the eye, and you could feel the emotion in his voice as he spoke to us. He will for sure be missed around our store.
ReplyDeleteLast semester, in one of my HSM classes our professor invited a guest speaker to come and talk to the class. I was really interested in what this guest speaker was presenting because I enjoyed the class so much. As the guest speaker entered the room I thought she was very presentable and prestige as she began her introduction. Her visual presentation was very organized and she also had pamphlets for us to read after class. While the speaker started her presentation I instantly became bored. I looked around the room and saw that my fellow classmates where also disengaged. The interest factor had went straight out the window. Although she was well organized her power point presentation was basic, lengthy and involved a lot of words. The speakers voice was low and became very monotone. There was no life or variation to this speakers tone of voice. It was extremely agonizing to sit there as I became restless and was praying for the speech to end. Unfortunately this was not the last that I seen of this speaker, I have had the pleasure to have her as a professor this semester. Nothing has changed from the very first time I met her. But the tips that I suggest might help improve the speakers audience engagement and maintain their attention would be trying to build a power point that is easy on the eyes. The speaker could try using videos or maybe games that will allow the students to connect with the material the speaker is presenting.
ReplyDeleteMiles George: Earlier in this semester I came upon a question that relates to this one, how does my ethics professor grip me into his lectures? I found myself listening and completely interested in the material. which was weird to me because I rarely find school that interesting. I studied his speaking patterns for a couple classes and I noticed how he keeps the audience involved and engaged is he always sets up points in the lecture for open discussion or question and answer. That relieves from the constant speaking by him and allows others to clarify concepts and discuss the material. He uses very direct words and exact definitions, making everything straight to the point and easy to follow/understand. To add to the content of his speaking he raises his voice to emphasize the serious points and speaks more softly to emphasize more complicated points. The softening of his voice at the end of a complex point almost creates a euphony feel to the ending statement, which creates this feeling that you just realized what all the material boils down to in simple context. Also at times he will do goofy examples to explain to things to lighten the mood and keep the lecture less dry and boring. His body language throughout the whole class is very positive and not serious, which allows for people to relax. Always smiling and making eye contact with everyone in the audience constantly. The only criticism I have for his speaking methods is that at times he is to fast paced. Needs to slow down so proper notes can be taken.
ReplyDeleteI will talk about one of my teacher at DYC, I will not mention names though. This professor is very monotone. She does not interact or engage her audience. She will stand at the front of the class and read word for work off her PowerPoint slides. This will go on for the entire class which is three hours long. With the lack of interaction with the audience they all tend to doze off. Many people on their computer and cell phones doing other things. Her volume tends to stay at one level, and remains at one tone. When it comes to main points she doesn't increase her voice level or anything. She does not ask if there are any questions as well. Reading word from word off the PowerPoint seems as if she doesn't care either, and or passionate about the topic. It is difficult for the audience to remain interested and focused if she doesn't seem to be interested herself. She goes at a very slow pace as well. Suggestions I would make for this speaker would be too engage more with the audience. Making the slides with bullet points, its more appealing to the eye,and then she can elaborate more without reading off a slide. This will help show she is interested in the topic. Having confidence will help the audience remain focus as well. Ask questions to ensure the audience is paying attention. Smile and make eye contact with the audience as well it will insure people are paying attention. Talk at a better pace were its not so slow people get distracted.
ReplyDeleteI evaluated one of the chemistry teachers here at D'youville college. This professor is not monotone at all, and the projection of his voice is at a good level. His voice was not too quiet, or talking too fast where it sounded like he was mumbling. The audience engagement and interest levels were very high. Everyone in the classroom were very attentive, and paying very close attention. No one in class was on their cell phones, or talking to one another, everyone is completely silent most of the time. The content of the class is actually very important to everyone in the class. The class is usually a major or minor requirement for most students so everyone take the class quite seriously. The material of the class is usually very difficult and sometimes hard to understand so everyone usually looks very confused. Something that I would say that the professor could improve on might be writing more on the board than talking. Sometimes it is too hard for students to write everything down the teacher is saying before he moves onto the next part of the lecture. It is hard for students to write everything the teacher is saying and listen at the same time. Another thing he could improve on is not talking while he is writing on the board, it makes the professor a little harder to hear, and understand.
ReplyDeleteLast weekend I attended a wedding and evaluated the speech from the best man. The audience seemed very engaged as the majority of them knew him
ReplyDelete(and obviously the topic of the speech) on a personal level. It wasn't exactly a speech to an audience of strangers. And considering the mood was light and everyone was celebrating a positive event it made the audience more engaged and passionate about the topic at hand. The speaker followed the traditional "best man speech guidelines" by telling a funny story, sharing a heartwarming moment about he and the groom, complimenting the bride, and then congratulating them both. This is a pretty safe way to go about performing this speech in my opinion and it's what I would've done. It was pretty basic as it should be for such an event. The last thing anyone wants is a long, boring, and awkward speech at a wedding. The speakers tone was light and his volume was a bit low but with a microphone it could be heard all over. His tone was positive and warm as if he was talking to a bunch of friends. He did have some experience speaking so he didn't appear overly nervous or anything of that sort. I don't really have any recommendations for him to improve his speech. He didn't have any awkward moments and the length of the speech was probably about 5 minutes. Again, he stuck to safe topics and threw in a little light humor with nothing inappropriate and without anything the audience wouldn't get. I suppose he could've gone a little less traditional and brought up something outside of the box. (ie. putting the childhood (toy?) under the seat during your commemorative speech Brad.) But his delivery was good and no one had anything negative to say about his performance.