DEPARTMENT
OF MEDIA ARTS
USPC
140: PUBLIC SPEAKING
SPRING
2004
PROFESSOR
- DENISE WEISS
Office:
Phone: (228) 388-5769
E-Mail
Address: deniseweiss@comcast.net
Text: Michael S. Hanna & James W. Gibson, Public
Speaking for Personal Success, 6th edition. (Pearson Publishing,
2002)
Course
Description and Goals
This course will familiarize students with the different types of public speaking and elements of basic communication processes. The goals of this course are:
¨
To
develop students' abilities to listen to and evaluate messages, therefore
becoming more critical consumers of messages.
¨
To
develop each student's invention, organization and delivery skills.
Assumptions
and Expectations: Since one of the goals of this course
focuses on listening, attendance is required for learning. This course relies on your participation,
your observation, and practice of public speaking skills. You are expected to read the text, participate in
class discussions, and present yourself in class for every meeting. All class sessions are interdependent upon
the other; therefore each class leads into the next class discussion. Your attendance is required in order to
succeed in this class. Therefore, any
more than two absences will affect your course grade. Excessive absences, five or more, will cause
you to fail this course.
An excused
absence is granted on behalf of the subjective opinion of the professor. It is the student's responsibility to inform
the professor of excused absences and to document the reason. Illnesses are excused only with a physician's
statement. It is the student's
responsibility to acquire missed notes and/or assignments from classmates. I will not lend my personal class notes or
provide any outside tutoring on material you may have missed. Again, it is the student’s responsibility to
be in class each week and keep up with the course content. Make-up exams will be allowed only with an
excused absence. Make-up exams for
excused absences will be taken at the next class period; make-up assignments
for excused absences are due at the beginning of the next class period. Pop quizzes cannot be made up. Out-of-class assignments will not be accepted
after a deadline unless a legitimate provision has been made with the professor
ahead of time. Therefore, if you have an
unexcused absence on a date when an assignment is due, it is your responsibility
to turn the assignment in by the due date; otherwise you will receive a
zero. Late assignments will not be
accepted. All assignments count towards
your final grade and must be completed in order to receive credit. No exceptions.
You
are expected to be on time to class.
Tardiness is distracting to both the class and the professor. Under no circumstances should any student
delivering a speech be interrupted. If
for any reason a student is late to class, he/she will wait outside the
classroom to enter into the class only between speakers. Tardies and early-leaves will be
documented. Three tardies or
early-leaves are equivalent to one unexcused absence.
If
you need to miss a class session or leave a class session early for any reason,
please let me know in advance. If you
are a Tulane athlete and will be absent due to game schedules, you are required
to inform the professor in advance and make all necessary arrangements to get
your assignments and turn them in on time.
No exceptions will be granted and no excuses will be considered.
Finally, it is
impossible to accommodate everyone's schedule, so it may come to pass that a
student must speak on an inconvenient day.
Students will still be required to adhere to the schedule. All
speeches are required and must be presented in order to pass this class. Make-up speeches will be allowed only
with an excused absence, however being granted an excused absence is a rare
occurrence. Essentially, this means you
must have a physician's note documenting an illness which prevented you from
speaking on the assigned speech day. If
your absence is excused, you will be assigned a make-up time. This time might not be during class time if
our schedule does not allow the extra time needed for your speech. If you are absent on a day when other
speeches are given and you do not have a legitimate excuse, your grade for that
speech will be dropped one full letter grade.
How
Absences Affect Your Grade: If total scores yield a grade of B, 3
absences will bring it to a C, 4 will yield a D, 5 or more will yield an
F. To summarize, after the 3rd
absence, your final grade will drop a letter grade for each absence
thereafter. Remember that 3 tardies will equal 1
absence.
Students
with Disabilities: Any student with
a disability in need of course or examination accommodations should request
accommodations through the University’s Office of Disability Services located
in the Mechanical Engineering Building.
Please do this as soon as possible.
Please provide a copy of your approved accommodation form from ODS to
each professor in whose course you wish to receive accommodations. The course professor is committed to working
with the Office of Disability Services to ensure that all approved
accommodations are provided. If you do
not deliver the approved accommodation form to each professor, your professor
will not know you have been approved to receive accommodations and will have no
basis for providing those accommodations.
If
you believe that you require special accommodations for taking the exam and you
have not already requested or been approved for those accommodations, please
see the Office of Disability Services immediately. Also, if you have been approved to receive
exam accommodations, please consider contacting the Office of Disability
Services to confirm those accommodations.
Assignment
Requirements: All assignments must be typed, double-spaced
with a 12 pt. type. Hand written work
will not be accepted unless the professor specifies in advance that a particular
assignment will be accepted hand written.
Writing proficiency counts and will therefore be reflected in your grade
on writing assignments. Therefore,
grammar, spelling, and punctuation are to be correct on all assignments. You are expected to do your own work. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. You are encouraged to use as many sources as
possible to gather information. However,
you must present it in your own style and words and document where you obtained
the information.
CRITERIA FOR GRADING SPEECHES
"C"
denotes a good speech. Assuming that the
average college student should be a good communicator, the "C" speech
should be a genuinely good speech and should at least meet the following
standards:
1.
Conform
to the assignment, fulfilling any special requirements requested by the
instructor.
2. Conform reasonably to the time limit.
3. Exhibit sound organization--a clear purpose
adequately supported by main ideas that are readily identifiable within a clear
and appropriate structure.
4. Contain an interesting introduction that
relates the topics to the audience.
5. Not be marred by excessive faults in
delivery.
____________________________________________________________________
"B"
denotes a significantly better than average speech--an excellent speech. It should meet all the foregoing criteria, as
well as the following:
1.
Demonstrate
enthusiasm for the topic through use of vocal emphasis.
2.
Be
more than average stimulative quality in challenging the audience to think or
in arousing depth of response.
3.
Demonstrate
skill in winning understanding of unusually difficult concepts or processes; or
in winning and agreement from listeners initially inclined to disagree with the
speaker's purpose.
4.
Establish
rapport of a high order through style and delivery, which achieve a genuinely
communicative circular response.
5.
Demonstrate
a genuine competence with the topic through an extemporaneous delivery and
minimal reliance on notes.
____________________________________________________________________
"A"
denotes a superior speech. For a speech
to be considered outstanding, it must meet all of the foregoing standards and
additionally:
1.
Constitute
a genuinely individual contribution by the speaker to the thinking of his
audience.
2.
Demonstrate
the ability to integrate the principles in the two preceding levels, C and B,
respectively, by exhibiting flexibility of mood and tone and an orderly
progression toward the final resolution of the chosen topic. This would necessitate creativity toward the
topic and the ability to implement the rhetorical devices, which lend coherence
to an argument or presentation of facts.
3.
Achieve
a demonstrable progression from the initial uncertainty of knowledge or belief
held by the audience toward the subject, by orderly process toward the final
resolution of the uncertainty in the conclusion that evolves naturally from the
materials employed by the speaker.
4.
Illustrate
skillful mastery of internal transitions and of emphasis in presentations of
the speaker's ideas.
5.
Achieve
full internalization of topic so as to discuss it in-depth with minimal
reliance on notes.
6.
Demonstrate
that it is vivid and interesting to listen to as a result of the speaker's
dynamism and demonstration of personality.
____________________________________________________________________
Remember that the
"B" and "A" speeches incorporate all the elements of the
"C" speech as well as the criteria for their own category. Therefore, a "B" or "A"
speech must contain an interesting introduction, purpose statement, and the
like. "D" and "F"
speeches are below average and significantly below average, respectively. They are deficient in some or many of the
factors required for the "C" speech.
On the first day of class, you will be
provided with a packet which outlines the specifications for all required
speeches for the entire semester. I will
not assign speech topics because I believe it is important for you to select a
topic of interest to you. Therefore, you will select your own speech topics.
GRADING
CRITERIA Points
Ice Breaker Speech 0
Oral Exercise I 25
Oral Exercise II 25
Info./Entertainment 50
Informative Speech 100
Informative Outline 25
Persuasive Speech 100
Persuasive Outline 25
Mid-term
100
Final
100
Assignments/Participation
50
TOTAL 600
Points
The following scale will determine your
final grade:
600-540 = A
539-480 = B
479-420 = C
419-360 = D
359-000 = F
Schedule
of Classes/Change in Course Requirements:
Listed
on the following pages are all assignments along with their corresponding due dates
for this semester. However, consider it
tentative. Since all classes do not
progress at the same rate, the professor may choose to modify the course
requirements stated or their timing as circumstances dictate. Therefore, the professor reserves the right
to change the syllabus if needed. For
example, the professor may choose to change the number and frequency of exams,
or the number and sequence of assignments.
However, the students will be given adequate notification. If a student is absent, they should verify
the schedule with either the professor or classmate. It is
the student's responsibility to keep up with all class work and changes. All
students will be required to adhere to any changes. I do not have an office on campus; therefore
if you should need to reach me leave a message at (228) 388-5769 and I will return your call. A mutually agreed upon time can be arranged
should you need to meet with me. You can
also reach me by e-mail at deniseweiss@comcast.net
Dates
Jan. 20 Introduction
to the course, review of syllabus, explanation of assignments,
tests and grading system.
Jan. 27 Ice
Breaker Speeches
Feb. 3
(three
tentative informative topics are due)
Feb. 10
Oral
Exercise I
Review
Feb. 17 EXAM 1
Feb. 24 No
Class – Mardi Gras Break
Mar. 2
Oral
Exercise II
Mar. 9
Mar. 16 Ch. 11 How to use Language Effectively
Speech
Evaluation Activity
Mar. 23 Informative/Entertainment
Speeches
Mar. 30
Delivery
Activity
Apr. 6
Speech
Evaluation Activity
Apr. 13 Informative
Speeches
Apr. 20 Ch. 15 How
to Give a Persuasive Speech (two
persuasive topics due)
Speech Evaluation Activity
Apr. 27 Persuasive
Speeches