Taylor Blachek
CAS 100A: Effective Speech
28 February 2013
Reflective Journal #3
1. “Show understanding of the value of effective speech communication in
one’s personal, academic, and professional goals.”
 I feel that effective speech communication is a pivotal part of ones
life. Not only is it important for this course, but also very useful for
ones future. I will take these skills and practice them and make
them become a habit so I can have good communication skills
throughout my future endeavors.
“Overcome or transform and fears, anxiety or nervousness in public
speaking into a positive driving force geared towards achieving
communication and leadership skills that are vital to one’s personal,
academic, and career goals.”
 Before this course, I hated public speaking and would get extremely
nervous. I realized that being nervous/anxious only makes it harder.
I forced myself to turn my fear into a reason to do better for myself.
Instead of being nervous and stuttering or talking quiet, I need to
talk with confidence and power to make an influence on my
audience.
“Demonstrate fundamental skills in speech planning, researching, speech
preparations and speech delivery.”
 I feel that I have followed all directions and properly learned the
skills in speech planning, researching, preparations and deliveries.
My ability to perform these skills is shown in every class and all of
my presentations. I feel as though I have set an example for other
students in the classroom.
“Organize ideas clearly, logically, creatively, reflectively, and critically
towards a purposeful and effective manner of speech presentation or
delivery.”
 In all of my speech presentations, I have given reliable information
in an organized fashion. I stated my material very clear and was
creative with my PowerPoint presentation design. By having all of
these qualities, makes my speeches that much more effective.
“Use technology and other tools of communication effectively as aid in
speech presentations.”
 For the main speeches in the course, I have prepared PowerPoint
presentations. This aids as a visual for the audience to look at while
I’m presenting. Having this can also help me rely back on my facts
and details when I am discussing them with the class.
“Observe, apply or practice the ethical requirement of citing sources orally
in a speech.”
 In my informative speech I feel I cited all my sources verbally and
on each slide of my PowerPoint. To make this become a habit, I
made specific slides on my presentation so I wouldn’t forget. It is
always important to give credit to the sources you use.
“Critically assess or evaluate speech message content and effectiveness
of one’s own speech delivery or performance and that of others.”
 I have been honest and open with my evaluations for myself as well
as for the other students. In my opinion, I enjoy other people’s
feedback so I can improve on anything possible. Besides
evaluating others in class, when I practice and prepare for my
speech, I evaluate myself as well. Sometimes when I go through
the checklist I notice certain things I can improve or work on to
make my speech more effective.
“Execute communication, leadership, coaching, mentoring, team work,
and collaboration skills.”
 I think I have demonstrated all of these qualities throughout this
semester so far. I show leadership and am willing to work together
in teams for any project or presentation given. I think collaboration
is key when working with a group. I am open to any task given to
me and accomplish it to my best ability.
2. “Deliver informative, persuasive and other types of speeches with
confidence, credibility, mastery and naturalness in an ethical and
convincing matter.”
 I feel as though I did a good job on my informative speech, but
there were a few things I could improve. I need to be more
passionate about my topic and really show the audience the
importance of my topic and why I chose it. Another thing I could
improve is making eye contact with the audience. I tend to get
nervous and just look at the ground or at the presentation, which
makes the audience less interested.
“Present, at the end of the course, the students overall learning
achievements through an e-portfolio.”
 We have yet to reach this point in the course. I have been
continuously working on my weebly e-portfolio and uploading all of
my accomplishments so far. At the end of the semester I will be
able to put everything together and present my overall learning
achievements in this course.
3. I think that the skills I have learned in effective communication are crucial
to every day life. Whether it is personal such as a one on one
conversation with a friend, academic as in talking with a professor or
presenting in front of your classmates or career related such as an
interview, these skills play a big part in effectively communicating. I’m glad
this is a required course because if it wasn’t not many people would take
it. I feel as though taking this class can only benefits ones well being and
the future they have ahead of them.
4. I really enjoy having you as my speech teacher. You give countless tips on
how to keep improving, which help a lot. I love that I can get your
feedback on all of my assignments. One thing you said at the beginning of
the semester has stuck out to me, which was to drop the course if we
didn’t like you or didn’t want to take your advice or learn from you. Some
students in the class act lazy and waste time complaining, when they
should be using you as an example of how to effectively communicate and
give effective speeches.