Jose Aguilera-Galvan

[joseaguileragalvan]

End of the Quarter Reflection

As stated in my “Reflective Entry for Round 3,” I have accomplished the three goals I set for myself in the beginning of the quarter. I have conquered my fear of public speaking, I have learned and practiced how to successfully share an idea to an audience, and I have learned how to appear and feel confident when giving a speech. What helped me achieve my goals was practice and preparation. With practice (giving over 5 speeches) I was able to overcome my fear of public speaking as well as bettering overtime my ability to successfully share an idea and appear confident when speaking. With preparation I was able to create an effective game plan to successfully share an idea to an audience, also with preparation I was able to feel confident (as I was knowledgeable of the topic) when giving my speeches which translated to appearing confident to my audience. 

What helped me achieve my goals was the opportunity to “practice” as I had to give different speeches throughout the quarter. What also helped me was the instruction I received from my instructor from lectures and office hours as well as the instruction I received from the “Public Speaking Handbook.” Learning about the Library Website resources taught me how to find useful sources to support my speeches and papers to come for future classes. Also, the different activities we did in class to practice Public Speaking were helpful. These activities, although they forced me to speak to the whole class, were very useful in helping me practice. More of these activities should be implemented for future classes (more mini speeches). 

Overall this class, although uncomfortable at times as it forced me to push my boundaries, helped me overcome my fear of public speaking. I am very grateful of taking this class. 

[joseaguileragalvan]

Reflective Entry for Round 3

In the beginning of Round 3 I was scared. I was scared because I was set to only give one speech in this round which meant it was going to be worth a lot of points. When I created my Speech Schedule in the beginning of the quarter I purposely set my schedule up to only have one speech for round 3 because I wanted to  force myself to accomplish my goals I set for this course. Setting up round 3 to only giving one speech was like betting all the marbles to see if I have what it takes to give a good speech. 

Luckily, I did not disappoint my plan I created in the beginning of the quarter. Most of the compliments I got from my classmates included “This was your best speech so far,” and I too believe it has been my best speech this quarter. I believe I finally jumped my learning curve in regards to public speaking. 

In regards to my goals,

My first goal was to overcome my fear of public speaking and I truly believe I have done so. For my Round 3 speech I did not allow my nerves to take over, in the contrary I tried hard to not even let my nerves wander in my head before giving my speech. I made sure to ignore my fear which took away the power it had over me.

My second goal was to learn how to successfully share an idea with my audience. I believe I was able to reach this goal in Round 2 and I had a good practice run this round. Just as I realized in my Round 2, the key is to be knowledgeable of the subject you are talking about. Another key I learned in round 3 to successfully share an idea to an audience is to use descriptive efficient language and visuals if possible.

My third goal was to appear confident when giving a speech. After this round I feel I have accomplished this goal. Although I still used “and uh” as filler language, I did not use it because I was nervous, I simply unconsciously used it as I was gathering my thoughts while giving my speech. I took a big risk this round as I moved the pulpit to the side in the beginning of my speech and it paid off. I was afraid that I might freeze mid-speech since I didn’t have the pulpit to stand behind, but luckily I actually felt more comfortable without the pulpit as it was something that was kind of holding me back rather than something that was aiding me. 

[joseaguileragalvan]

Movie on 6 6 18 at 8 46 AM

Round 3: 1 Speech: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence

Feedback from Teammates and Instructor

-Conversational

-Relevant topic

-Better your “should” statement

-Populate your call to action (Give Examples of how the audience can better their sibling relationships like going out for coffee or a movie)

-Smooth out your transitions from your MMS and your qoutes

-best speech so far

-interesting topic

My Own Feedback

-I need to work on stop saying “and uh”

-My quotes were strong and useful, but I need to smooth out the transitions

-My diagram was good

-Even when I’m reading a quote I should look up more than I did

Did My Speech Maintain My Attention?

Answer: Yes my speech maintained my attention. This topic is something that I really care about which intrigued my attention when I was listening/seeing myself in the video. I personally think I did a good job in preparing what I said along with the quotes I included. The fact that I wasn’t behind the pulpit also helped to keep my attention while listening/seeing my speech as I was constantly moving around and engaging with the audience rather than giving my speech behind the pulpit.

[joseaguileragalvan]

This is the picture we took for our Round 3 team meeting! Since we met up during finals week we decided to meet outside the library and catch some sun while we caught up with each other. Although me and Jake are locals and our homes are less than an hour away, Salman shared with us how his flight trip back home was going to be over 24 hours! We said our goodbyes to Salman as well as he was leaving before Friday. It was an honor getting to know my team members. There was relationships created that will last for years to come. 

[joseaguileragalvan]

Reflective Entry for Round 2

Round Two was a good round for me. I was able to research topics that I was highly interested about. The transition from my derived research content to my speech outline was interesting as I categorized my info into topics and I didn’t include all the information (only the info that was most relevant). A problem that I still struggled with in this round for the first speech was that I spent too much time on researching and editing my speech outline (until it was prefect) that I didn’t spend enough time practicing my speech. I still tried to sort of “memorize” my speech since I spent so much time on my speech outline until it was perfect. A good thing is that I avoided doing this mistake for Speech 2 (Group Panel). I did spend a lot of time researching, but I didn’t construct a strong Speech Outline. I only created a skeleton outline along with my sources to force myself not to “memorize” my speech. This for the most part worked well, although I do admit that there was some parts (from practicing my speech) that I forgot to include when I officially gave my speech. 

In regards to my goals, 

For my first goal, I’ve partly overcame my fear of public speaking. With the practice I’ve gotten from doing speeches alone and with a team (group panel), I feel more confident and comfortable when being up there.

For my second goal, I’ve improved a lot. With practice, it has become easier to share an idea to my audience. The key to successfully sharing an idea is to be fully knowledgeable on the subject of the speech. Also, being interested in the subject of my speech has also helped me be able to convey my idea/message to my audience more easily.

For my third goal, I believe that I have improved on appearing confident when giving my speeches even though I don’t really fell confident. Yet something that I’ve held on to, which helps me when giving a speech, is that being knowledgeable gives me a sense of confidence when giving my speech.  

[joseaguileragalvan]

part 1 group

Round 2: Speech 2: Group Panel

Feedback from Teammates and Instructor 

-clear thesis

-use more examples for certain points

-filler language 

-starting sentences with “Um”

-label slides within the presentation (Showing who’s in the pictures)

-creative topic 

-You did a good job in making your section unique from the other sections

My Own Feedback

-I repeated myself a few times (starting a sentence with the same phrase I used to end the previous sentence)

-I made a lot more eye contact this time

-I didn’t stay in one place, I walked around up to the audience 

-The way I included my references, it felt choppy

Did My Speech Maintain My Attention

Answer: For the most part my speech did maintain my attention as I was intrigued to see how I elaborated all the information I got from the many hours of research on the topic. Yet what took a little of my attention away form my speech was that I was focusing to see when I would stutter or pronounce a word wrong due to my nerves.

[joseaguileragalvan]

Movie on 5 9 18 at 8 44 AM

Round 2: Speech 1: How-To Speech

Feedback from Teammates and Instructor 

- laid out structure very well throughout 

- intro was good since you related to something the whole class can relate to 

-interest shown when talking about the certain songwriter 

-didn’t notice stuttering 

-good attention grabber (peaked curiosity)   

-nice analogy to the speech outline 

-define unfamiliar terms 

-practice more (more eye contact and reduce filler language

My Own Feedback

-Need more eye contact

-Need to make it more conversational 

-I should try to walk around more rather than just standing behind the podium

Did My Speech Maintain My Attention?

Answer: For the most part, my speech did maintain my attention as the topic I spoke about is something that I care about and it is something that I practice regularly. Yet what distracted me was that I saw myself and was unhappy that I didn’t look that confident up there and I wasn’t making enough eye-contact. 

[joseaguileragalvan]

This is a picture of my team’s group meeting for the end of the second round. We decided to meet at Red Radish this time! We were able to talk to about our ideas for the next speech in round three. Also, since all three other members were either second or third years (and I was the only First year within the group), they shared with me some tips and tricks for cooking next year as I will no longer have the Freshman Food Plan. Overall a good and productive time. 

[joseaguileragalvan]

Reflective Entry for Round 1

I liked Round 1 because I was able to get my feet wet without the risk of losing a lot of points. I have been able to make some progress on my goals I set for this course. I was able to feel more comfortable when speaking to the audience which is improvement for my first goal (1. I wish to overcome my fear of speaking to an audience). When I went up for my second speech, I already felt a lot more comfortable than when I gave my first speech. And since I felt less nervous I believe it helped me to be able to appear more confident when giving my speech which is improvement to my third goal (3. I want to learn how to appear confident and bold when giving a speech). Finally, I believe that with the class lectures and the text reading, I was able to get a good foundation on how to write a speech with a proper structure. I think learning how create a speech with a strong structure is the first step to helping me achieve my second goal ( 2. I desire to become proficient at successfully sharing ideas to an audience). 

I think that getting practice with the two speeches this round allowed me to face my fear of public speaking. Also, I’ve been more self-conscious of how I stand, walk, and run on my daily routines. This encourages me to work on my posture which helps me appear more confident when giving speeches. Finally, the time I’ve spent reading the text as well as the time I’ve spent creating, editing, and practicing my speeches has helped me work on successfully sharing an idea to an audience. 

[joseaguileragalvan]

Movie on 4 23 18 at 8 44 AM

Round 1: Speech 2: Interview Speech

Feedback from team and Instructor:

-Used many “I will now...” transitions

-Structure is obvious and strong

-Try to make your speech more conversational 

-Redundant use of language

-Less reading and shorter sentences

-Eye contact 

-Try to tie your intro with your conclusion 

My Own Feedback 

-I still stuttered

-Used “Um” a lot less

-My stance was a little better than last speech, but I still seemed more nervous than confident

Did My Speech Maintain My Attention?

Answer: This speech did certainly maintain my attention more than my first speech. I believe it was because I was more confident this time which made me more appealing to watch and listen to. Also I think its because I was able to convey my topic in an interesting manner as I was teaching the class new information about their classmate. 

[joseaguileragalvan]

Movie on 4 16 18 at 8 43 AM

Round 1: Speech 1: Family Tradition 

Feedback from Teammates and Instructor:

-Good Projection

-Attention grabber was fitting and effective

-Strong structure, maybe just a little subtler

-Need to look up more and read less

-Need more eye contact to engage with the audience 

-Outline should be more like a page of bullet points rather than a script

My Own Feedback:

-I stuttered and used “Um” a lot

-My was tensely holding my hands

-I stayed behind my computer the whole time  

Did My Speech Maintain My Attention?

Answer: This speech didn’t really maintain my attention on the subject I was talking about because I was focused on seeing how often I would stutter or say “um” as well as seeing how much I was fidgeting with my body and hands because of nerves. Yet what helped maintain my attention was that my structure was strong which helped me follow the speech. 

[joseaguileragalvan]

This is a picture of my group’s meeting together for Round 1. We decided to visit Salman’s studio! Salman showed us everything about his studio which spiked many diverse conversations as he had many interesting things around. I got to share a little more about myself to the group as well as getting to learn a little more about everyone in the group which helped me feel closer to each of my teammates. 

[joseaguileragalvan]

Game Plan to Achieve Goal #3

My third goal is to learn how to appear confident and bold when giving a speech. The key to achieving this goal is body language. The biggest tips shared by wikihow.com was to “practice good posture, move around the space, and step closer to your audience when you make a point.” Also, the best tips shared by fastcompany.com were to “Don’t Articulate a Statement as a Question,” “Slow Down,” and “Insert Smiles Into Your Speech.” Overall, I shall physically work on practicing good posture, moving around the open space, and to occasionally smile. Also, I shall vocally work on saying statements and not questions, slowing down when I begin to ramble my speech, and to speak to my audience in a slow and clear voice when stating a main idea. 

[joseaguileragalvan]

Game Plan to Achieve Goal #2

My second goal is to become proficient at successfully sharing ideas to an audience. An effective way I can share an idea to audience is to follow the TIME acronym (forbes.com). As I create my speech and practice it, I should focus on constantly asking myself if I am fulfilling the acronym of TIME (which stands for Teach, Inspire, Motivate, and Entertain). Finally, another couple of tips I should follow are to “Let your personality come through” and “Watch for [Audience’s] feedback and adapt to it” (extension.harvard.edu). What these tips imply is 1. that I should be myself when giving my speech to appear more human to my audience and 2. that I should actively be analyzing my audience while giving my speech to see if they are following my trail of thought. 

[joseaguileragalvan]

Game Plan to Achieve Goal #1

My first goal is to overcome my fear of speaking to an audience. The most important step is to properly prepare myself. I can successfully prepare myself by practicing my speech alone and then in front of a group of friends. I must know my material; I shall not memorize my speech (thebalance.com). Memorizing my speech is dangerous because I risk sounding like a robot and not sounding interested in my own topic. Finally, right before my turn to give my speech, instead of allowing my nerves to overcome me, I shall focus on maintaining a confident mindset and visualize myself giving an incredible speech. 

[joseaguileragalvan]

10 Secrets To Sounding Confident

Those people who own a room every time they speak? They have mastered these skills.

Second article to help with Goal #3

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How to Be Confident During a Presentation

Giving a presentation and speaking in front of a room full of peers can be a stressful experience, but there are ways to project confidence and authority even when you are nervous. It is normal to get tense before a presentation, but you...

First article to help with Goal #3