Book Talk Reflection
My book talk was on the book “The Burn Journals” by Brent Runyon and I felt it was a
well-done presentation. I had a good understanding of the main characters of the book such as
Brent and the nurses, so I was able to express them to my audience. I feel I was able to be an
engaging speaker, I started my book talk by asking a relatable question which made them think
about their past experiences, I also made a few jokes in my presentation that got them laughing
which kept the presentation interesting. I feel my mistakes shadowed the good qualities of my
presentation, I think I spoke too fast and I stuttered many times because I was nervous, I also
didn’t used the cliff-hanger in the middle of the book talk instead of at the end.
My teacher’s feedback was quite negative, her opinion was that my book talk was
mediocre, she indicated that I didn’t include enough information about my book and that my
speech wasn’t coherent due to me speaking fast. On the other hand, she said that my question
and personal story at the beginning were good but that it wasn’t even good when considering the
level of English I should be at in grade 12. My peers’ feedback was a complete opposite
compared to my teacher’s,which is expected since peer feedback is usually nicer because
classmates are often afraid to offend each other. They said I spoke with confidence, positivity,
appropriate pace and that I had a good understanding of the book. They mentioned that it was
clear I practiced well which I personally liked hearing since I put a lot of effort preparing for the
book talk. Another compliment that was written was that I made connections to real life which
made the presentation relatable to them. One piece of feedback even mentioned that they are
going to read the book because my book talk made it seem very interesting to them. I even got
complimented on my serious tone of voice as it matched my book theme, which I didn’t even
consider when preparing.
My purpose for this book talk was to be able to transfer the knowledge I gained from
reading “The Burn Journals” to my audience and I feel I have done that quite well since some of
me peers showed interest in the book and the main characters. I am quite unsure of how to
benefit from the positive feedback I received, the negative feedback was constructive so there are
multiple issues that I need to fix. The biggest issue my teacher mentioned was that I spoke too
fast, this has hindered previous presentations so I will make sure to fix it for the future. My goals
for next public speaking opportunity are to speak slower, and to add more information about the
content alongside my relatable references and jokes. Lastly ,I will make sure to match my tone of
voice to the book theme as not all books have a dark theme and those will require a light tone of
voice.