Public Speaking Synopsis

At the beginning of this class course, I made goals for myself to aim to accomplish after the class ended.  As the end of this class is coming near, I am looking back on my goals and accomplishments over this past semester for public speaking.  My two biggest goals that I made for myself at the start of this public speaking class, at the beginning of the school year, was to become a less nervous public speaker, and to help learn more memorization strategies before giving a speech. 

One of the goals I made at the beginning of the course was to get more comfortable with public speaking.  Although I am still a nervous public speaker, I feel like I have definitely improved compared to how scared I used to be when talking in front of a crowd.  Yet, there is still room for improvement as I feel that I can still be nervous when talking in front of my peers.  

In addition, before going into this course I would rarely make eye contact with my audience because I was too focused on reading information on a screen or on prepared notecards.  However, in different parts of this course I was forced to memorize speeches.  Memorizing what I would say in a speech allowed me to better connect with my audience since I would be able to make more eye contact.  Furthermore, in this class, I learned and used many strategies to help me to memorize text.  Therefore, without taking this class, I would have less of an understanding on how to be able to memorize and become more familiar with parts of my speeches.       

Ultimately, what I am most proud of in this class is that I was able to complete all of my memorization speeches.  Coming into this class, I was never able to memorize any sort of text, except song lyrics that I would listen and sing to during car rides. After successfully memorizing a few of my assignments, I am very pleased with myself for learning strategies to help me to do so.  However, there are still some things that I need to work on.  For instance, like stated before, I think I still have a lot of room for improvement to become a less nervous public speaker.  Although as a result of this class I sway a little less, sometimes, I still can get a little nervous and don't articulate my words clearly.  But, I think to help accomplish this goal I need to keep on practicing my public speaking.  Then, hopefully, each time I give a speech or talk in front of a crowd, I will establish more confidence for talking in front of such a large audience.  Finally, one of the most valuable things that I believe I will take away from this class is all of my knowledge on the topic of public speaking.  Not only did I learn tips for memorization, but I also learned important things to remember when publicly speaking (like eye contact, project your voice, clearly speaking, don't be fidgety, emphasize emotional words, etc.), what should be included into a debate to make a specific side of the argument stronger, and how to gather credible information for any given research assignment.