Self-Evaluation

I don't know about you guys, but I felt a lot better once that speech was over. And I totally practiced. My voice actually got a little hoarse from practicing all day at work, and I even made a coworker or two listen to me. By the time I left for class, man I tell you I had that speech DOWN. I was barely looking at my cards, and not one "um" would escape my lips as I confidently spoke to the four walls of my office. Oh yeah baby.

And then right before we started the class as a whole reminded the teacher that the speech was supposed to be 3-4 minutes long. And I had prepared for an 8 minute speech. Suddenly my oh-so-perfect speech was twice as long as it need to be, and I had signed up to go first. I did some mental juggling and rearranging, took a deep breath, and went for it. And then I lost my place after I skipped a section I figured I could live without, so I glanced at my cards to figure out where I was, and they were TOTALLY WRITTEN IN NORWEGIAN! I don't even speak Norwegian! I flipped through my cards, desperately looking for one word that I recognized, one word in a familiar language...all for not. But I powered through. And then it was done. Thank goodness.

My cards somehow transformed back into English once I sat back down. Imagine my surprise. And my frustration.

All in all, I think I did an okay job at delivering my speech. It wasn't amazing, but it wasn't God awful. I most definitely felt more comfortable in front of the class this time than for our culture speech. I don't know if it had to do with getting to know everyone better online, or if it was due to the class size, but it was a good thing.

If I had to do it over again, I would check, double check, and then triple check the time requirement. And then just read over the assignment every day to make sure I was doing the right one. Also, since I have a tendency of going over on my time, I think I would prepare for a three minute speech and then count on me taking longer to do it in front of the class. And then practice the shi* out of it.

As far as goals for improving content...well, I'd like to pick something I am interested in for this next speech, so that I can speak with ease and share my enthusiasm for the topic. Enthusiasm always makes mundane stuff seem more interesting, which will improve the content. My goal for my delivery this upcoming speech is to not mutter one single solitary "um" throughout the entire thing.

I thought my eye contact was okay. Maybe about a 6. Some of the feed back from the class said I had great eye contact, and some said I needed more. I think I fixate an particular people and perhaps ignore others. I will try to be more inclusive next time. I can't discriminate with my eye contact.

I think I mentioned at least three source citations. I had six actually (backup in case others failed!) But I think that one of my primary sources was cut out when I was trying to shave time off of my speech.

Overall, I would have given myself a B. Maybe a low B. If I was super cranky, probably a C. I know I looked at the cards to much once I got lost, I admitted to BEING lost, my voice was probably shaky, and I know I said "um" a few times. But I also think I had a good attitude about the whole thing, and I did try my best. I really wanted to do well! So yeah, I'd say a B.

I'd like to thank you all for all of your kind responses to my speech. It's nice to be part of such a positive environment. And it certainly makes it easier to get up in front of you guys and talk about stuff like domestic violence. See you all in a month!