Getting Students to Choose Better Informative Topics

Hey all!

One of the problems I had last semester was students giving lame informative speeches. I thought about the problems with those speeches, and narrowed it down to a few trends:

- The topic was something they didn't really care about much.
- The topic could not be researched; it relied too exclusively on their personal expertise.
- The topic was something with no relevance whatsoever to the class (and no effort made to make it relevant)
- The topic was too persuasive, and not informative.

So, I put together this quick assignment for an ELMS upload where students justify their topics. I invite you to copy+paste and steal this wholesale, or modify it however you like--but I definitely HIGHLY recommend having them turn in a topic in advance and taking the hour or so to give them good feedback. I just graded several student submissions, and can already tell they will have much better topics this time than in the past for having been through this process.

You can remove the three points dedicated to topic+purpose in the informative briefing and allocate those three points to this assignment.

Without further ado, the assignment:

Selecting an Informative Topic

This will be a short (one page or less) description of what you would like to deliver your briefing about. You will need to address in this page how your topic meets the four criteria listed below. If you want, you can provide a short explanation of the topic, then just number: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Your topic could be:
- A hobby or activity you are passionate about.
- A cool scientific discovery you want to convey to your classmates.
- An event in the life of a famous person or organization.
- A process or concept you want to break down for people.
-- Just about anything: See 430-431 in your textbook for examples.

The topic has to meet the following criteria:
1) It must be uniquely important to you. You must have a personal connection to the topic. Don't just talk about anything; I want your personal expertise to play a role in this!
2) It must be researchable. That is: You need to be able to find research out there that supplements or advances what you already know. So, no "How to make a peanut butter and jelly" speeches.
3) It must be something that you can make interesting or relevant to your classmates. It doesn't have to be intrinsically interesting to them--you need to *make* it interesting.
4) It must be informative, not persuasive. A informative briefing teaches us about something you think we should learn more about. A persuasive speech advocates for a position, and tries to convince us we should change our minds about something.

Dear Steudey

For those who actively frequent my blog, I am happy to take requests! I call it "Dear Steudey." For this week's Dear Steudey, I have a set of blog questions from a colleague...

Michael, 

1. How to deal with that one student who never "gets it" when the rest of the class does. These sort of disparities between classes can be problematic because you want to make sure the student understands, but if you slow down too much, you risk alienating the other students.  

2. That e-mail exchange we had earlier about the student who lost her mind and started swearing at the prof would work as a blog.  

3. Un-pack the cell phone policy you have a little more. Some folks have a hands off approach--I don't really care--and others crack down hard. Which is best? Why? 

4. A student asks for help but can't meet during office hours (or keeps flaking on you when there are scheduled appointments). Is there ever a tipping point when you just stop reaching out to a student?  

5. How do you handle that one group member who is slacking without telling him that his group members threw him under the bus? 

Yours,Haranguing in Hyattsville

Well, Haranguing, I'll address each of your concerns point by point. You definitely raise a lot of important issues for those of us getting the hang of managing a class of newcomers.


1) The student who doesn't get it. Ah, yes. The one who is never quite in on the joke. We have all been there--we explain it, it's brilliant, lots of students chime in with great comments that follow it up. My rule of thumb here is this: if it's going to cost you too much momentum, it's not worth it. A classroom is like a shark: If it stops swimming, it dies. So, follow up with the student right at the end of class. Say: "Hey, make a note of this and see me right at the end so we can clear this up. I want to make sure you understand it, but I've got a lot to cover here." 

2) The student who becomes violent or extremely disruptive during class. This stems from an earlier discussion we had over Facebook chat. This is the absolute worst-case scenario for an educator: the student who is so over-the-top defiant and out-of-line that we do not know how to respond. Some high school teachers deal with situations like this on a regular basis, but it's so unusual for a college classroom that when it does happen, a great many of us would absolutely freeze in uncertainty. I do think it's useful and important to think about how you'd respond in the absolute worst-case scenario, so I'll share my comments from that blog exchange here.

First, the video clip in question. Again, absolute worst-case scenario here. I have never heard of anyone experiencing anything even close to this before. That said, there it is on video, so on some level this (or at least a less extreme version of this) is certainly possible. I share this not to be alarmist, but because it cannot hurt us to deal with the uncomfortable and extremely slight possibility that something like this could happen to us at some point in our teaching careers.

My thoughts on what to do--and not to do--in this situation (and there are certainly no answers here that are exactly right; this is based on my experience dealing with such circumstances in the secondary setting):

1. Calmly but firmly demand that the student leave the room; if they initially resist this, calmly but firmly demand that they stand outside and calm down for a later discussion.
2. If the student refuses to leave: Calmly but firmly demand the other students to leave the room. The situation exacerbates dramatically because of the presence of other students filming, reacting, etc. In a situation like this with a volatile student you want to keep the others away from them--mainly for safety purposes. You might instruct the students to go get help from a nearby instructor. Fortunately, just about all of us have lots of other instructors in adjacent classrooms as we teach who could immediately call for help.
3. At the same time, the last thing you want is for you to be alone with the volatile student. So, move to be near the door of the classroom. Stand half in the door and half outside the door and call for help--have another student and/or nearby instructor phone campus police. Again, maintain calm in the situation. Do not yell back or attempt to argue with the student.
4. Have a number on speed dial for an emergency situation--campus police preferably--and keep the cell phone nearby. If the student won't stop berating you long enough to make the call yourself, hand off the phone to another student who can make the call from the hallway. Add the off-campus phone number for the University Police here.
5. Obviously, these situations are rare in higher ed; I have never heard of anything like this happening at UMD. The advent of cell phone videos obviously helps the instructor in terms of proving the offense was unprovoked and openly hostile later. But if it does happen, and your adrenaline inevitably takes over, the two phrases that need to flash inside your head in gigantic neon letters are: KEEP EVERYONE SAFE and GET CAMPUS POLICE IMMEDIATELY. Even if you can't deal with it with total finesse, those two guiding principles should be your guide.

3) Keeping students from being cell phone dependent. This one's obviously tricky. So much of it depends on your style. There are a few things I do here that have helped me alleviate this problem (though not 100%; I am still working on this sometimes):

1. Be brave. A simple admonition to put away the cell phone can be sufficiently embarrassing to most students. 
2. Be context-dependent. Sometimes it's not a big deal; sometimes it's a huge deal. When you tell students to put the phone up, frame it in terms of the context: "It is disrespectful to text during a classmate's presentation." "This is a quiz--you cannot have an electronic device out right now." This can help take some of the awkwardness of confrontation out of the situation. It's not you who is not getting on them. It's just that they're failing to meet the requirements of this particular circumstance.
3. Be schizophrenic. You can be perfectly bubbly, cheerful, and enthusiastic one minute, briefly transmorgify yourself into a fire-breathing dragon, and then immediately turn back. Early in the semester I tell students that I generally will seem like a cuddly polar bear; but that if they get on my bad side, they will see what a "bear" I can become. This is to illustrate that I have two personalities: one that's enthusiastic about the content of the course and eager to help them; but another who expects a tremendous amount of them.

4) The student who keeps missing appointments. I'd, at a certain point, simply issue that student an ultimatum: "If you can't make it to the next appointment, I am under no obligation to help you further. All I can do is make myself available." At a certain point it is incumbent on them to be responsible; this is college. That said, 

5) Coming down on the slacker without having to come down on the group. Great question--not sure if it's possible. One solution I can think of would involve giving students a short period in class for participating in group work. That would give you an opportunity to see and call out a student who's staring into space or not participating in-the-moment. If the group has been complaining about the student, that gives you an opportunity to catch the student "in the act" of being lazy or difficult, thus absolving the group of culpability. 

Alternately, I may just let these intra-group disputes remain intra-group disputes. When the group members complain, ask if they've talked to the student and how they've approached them. If they have not done it, or have done it in a particularly ineffective way, you can redirect. Then remind them that there are six points of credit their classmate will receive based on their feedback--so there is a built-in accountability system that they can (and should) hold over that student's head if they need a "stick" to get them to work.

Well, COMMrades, that's all for this week. Let me know in the comments or via email if you have any thoughts, questions, comments, or other recommendations for what's here. And if you have any further questions related to teaching communication to undergrads, please send them my way! I am happy to cover topics as they arise.

Michael

Assigning and Grading Group Presentation Outlines

Hey all!

I'm a bit ahead of everyone on the group assignment, so today I would like to share some guidance on setting up and grading students' outlines to guarantee a stronger performance. Please enjoy the guide below as a way to help you think about the outlining process as it unfolds.

1) Assign the Outline Early

It's important to have students turn in their outlines early. Even if you will not have a lot of time to look them over, it holds them accountable to getting it done sooner, and gives you a chance to catch any major problems before they arise. I actually break out the "Outline" points in ELMS and make them due a few days early (or very early, if there's a Spring Break right in the middle):

2) Give students more guidance than the rubric.

The rubrics we have are a little vague on the details of how, exactly, we are supposed to assess them on their outlines.

What are the "requirements?" These actually are not listed in the original assignment description. This is at once a good and a bad thing. On one hand, you have the flexibility and autonomy to decide your own criteria for evaluating these. (I did not have that level of autonomy at various points in my teaching career, and that's pretty stifling.) On the other hand, matters are a bit vague, so if you do not give students examples and clear expectations during class, they will give you some pretty bare-bones outlines.

Here's an example of a not-very-strong group presentation outline from last semester. (I have altered the offending students' names.)

Group Presentation Outline I.          Introduction             A.        Catchy video draws attention to our topic. B.        Names 1.         Our names are Student A, Student B, Student C and Student D. C.        Topic 1.         What are the differences between males and females. communication II.         Physical Differences A.        Differences in Brains 1.         Men have larger brains than women. This is to control larger muscle mass. There is no intelligence difference though. 2.         Males have more Grey matter, and women more White matter.             a) White matter connects processing centers. Grey matter contains the processing centers.                         i)Thus women are better at communicating interconnected ideas.        n             Men like to get to the point 2.         Males use right amygdala, and women more left. 3.         Women use both left and right in language processing, where men use only left.             a) This would hold that women are more engaged in communicating, better than men possibly? 4.         Women are better and quicker at reading emotions.             a) Women can pick up on non-verbal better and therefore adjust. They use more emotion in their communication. 5.         Men have stronger reactions to sexual images.             III.        The Sociological Aspect of Male and Female Communication             A.        “Nature vs. Nurture” Idea: Are we really wired to act a certain way or is it  how we  are raised that influences us?             1. Parents already start “gendering” their babies before they are born                         a) Blue rooms for boys and pink for girls             2. Gender roles are enforced at a very young age                         a) Boys play competitive sports while girls are encouraged to “play nice.” b) Society is sympathetic to a girl crying, while telling boys   to  “suck it up and be a man.” 3. These gender roles shape the way males and females communicate. 4.  Today, it is more accepted for a female to participate in male activities (after the feminist movement).  This allows for a shift in the stereotypical woman, who is now seen as more aggressive goal oriented, like men.   5. However, it is not accepted for men to participate in female activities, which is way gender socialization is still especially strong for boys.   IIII. Male Tendencies             A. What is the masculine gender role?                         1. Men often assume the role as a provider                         2.Men often assume the role as a protector             B. What is the structure of a man?                         1. There are four main “ways of being” men strive for IV.        How Men and Women Communicate in Different Situations            A. Men and women communicate differently when they want something.                        1. Men are usually very direct. They will ask for what they want.                        2. Women have a tendency to be indirect or assume their wants are  known.            B. Men and women communicate differently when in a group setting.                         1. In groups, men are more likely to be impersonal and down to  business.                              a) Men are have a higher tendency to take control of the conversation by force                         2. Women are more likely to be personal and inclusive of everyone.                              a) Women are less likely to speak for others or interrupt.            C. Men and women communicate differently when they are angry or upset.                         1. Men tend to be very withdrawn when they are upset.                              a) When men do start to talk it is in order to find a solution                         2. Women will want to talk about how they feel and what is upsetting them                              a) This talking is not always in an attempt to find a solution.              D. Different genders behave differently while socializing with each other.                         1. Men are more likely to approach the opposite sex and engage an interaction.                         2. Women play the waiting game. They expect men to make the first move. V. Conclusion             A. Here we will play another video that illustrates our topic.

After some initial feedback these students did make adjustments and ultimately produce a better presentation; nonetheless, it has a few problems that I endeavored to head off this semester:

Their outline has no hints of anything but information-spewing. The point of a "Group Lesson" assignment is its interactivity. I want to actually know what students are going to do during their presentation. I want them to describe what they're actually going to do, not just give me a list of topics they will discuss.

This means that student outlines must address the following questions:
Which student will speak when?
What strategies will students use to engage the audience?

The outline does not incorporate any of the evidence that will factor into the presentation. The students did have a bibliography on their PowerPoint, but I wanted actual source citations embedded into the outline.

The outline is sloppy and put together ineffectively. While it follows some formal aspects of outlining, there's no sense of logical organization pattern. There's little sense of beginning, middle, and end. And there are just some grammar issues.

The outline just isn't detailed enough to help me picture the presentation. I want to be able to imagine what the actual lesson looks like by reading over the page. I suppose I can imagine this one being a hot mess, but that's more my mental concoction than information provided by the students. I simply want something more thorough and clear about what will happen.

3) How do you set better expectations?

Obviously, telling students the expectations is important. But sometimes people go overboard on this, inundating students with a million slides. I instead tried to emphasize the main points I wanted to hit into four very strategic PowerPoint slides:

I first led a short discussion about the difference between a lecture and a lesson to help students generate (on their own) the difference in format I was seeking. I then showed them a slide that went over the important concepts I was looking for, with bolded emphasis on the most important things I noticed my students failed to do last semester. I then provided basic citation style information, with a link on where to find it. I probably only spent about fifteen minutes on this entire discussion. I also reinforced the expectations with an announcement on ELMS (where I shared this PowerPoint) and reiterated some of the expectations briefly in class the following period. Finally, I shared with them the outline above, briefly explaining to them its shortcomings and what I expected them to do differently.

I received the first student outline tonight (they're due tomorrow)--I'm pretty pleased with the differences. Again, the names are changed:

Student E Student F Student G Student H Oral Communication Problems: Texting and Relationships I.                    Student E will briefly introduce their chosen problem in communication, which is how texting affects various types of relationships, including professional relationships, peer relationships and the relationship with oneself. II.                  Group members will play a short, group-created video clip (about 1:30 in length) demonstrating the problems with texting, with scenes taking place in a classroom, at the dinner table and within a romantic relationship. III.               Group members will begin a class discussion, with each member asking students a question relevant to the topic? a.       Student F: How many of you have texted at some point during this class? b.      Student G: How many of you have seen someone else texting during this class? During any class? c.       Student H: What are the benefits of increased accessibility to communication? d.      Student E: In your own experience, how has texting impacted your relationship with others? IV.               Group members will begin the lecture portion of the presentation (with Student F introducing this section of the presentation), sharing interesting and relevant pieces of information from studies, articles, etc. a.       Student F will introduce some statistics and facts about teenagers and texting.                                                                i.      A Pew Center research poll shows that most teenagers prefer to text over calling people or talking in person (Lenhart, 2012).                                                              ii.      The average 18- to 24-year old sends about 1,600 texts a month, and that number increases with younger age groups — with the average 13- to 17-year-old sending about 3,000 texts per month (Parr, 2010). b.      Student G will talk about how texting is a distraction that negatively affects our interaction with others during in-person or face-to-face situations.                                                                i.      Students who text less during class are usually the ones who pay more attention to the teacher or professor and received better grades (“Texting in College Classrooms,” 2012).                                                              ii.      A Fresno State poll showed more than 70 percent of students use their phone to text during class (Besser, 2007). c.       Student H will talk about how digital conversations can skew our perceptions of others.                                                                i.      Texting prevents people from developing the social skills necessary for building and maintaining relationships (Kluger, 2012).                                                              ii.      People can spend hours deciphering a text or composing a new one, but they won’t necessarily ever understand the true meaning because non-verbal expressions like emotions are lost (Kluger, 2012). d.      Student E will talk about the psychological impact of texting on human development.                                                                i.      A University of Plymouth study showed that people who texted more than others tended to actually be lonelier and more anxious (Reid and Reid, 2004).                                                              ii.      That being said, texters tended to be more willing to talk about deeper, personal issues — via text — which shows there may be some benefits to texting (Reid and Reid, 2004). V.                  Student H will ask audience members to give possible solutions to the problem in communication. VI.               Student E will sum up the presentation, offering final thoughts on how people can maintain a balance between the benefits of texting and the downsides of being too connected. Works Cited and Additional References Alexander, Anson (2012, May 22). AnsonAlex.com. Retrieved from http://ansonalex.com/infographics/text-messaging-statistics-2012-infographic/ Kluger, J. (2012, September 6). Cnn. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/31/tech/mobile/problem-text-messaging-oms/index.html Lenhart, A. (2012, March 19). Pew internet. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Teens-and-smartphones/Summary-of-findings.aspx Parr, Ben (2010, October 14). Mashable. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2010/10/14/nielsen-texting-stats/ Reid, Donna and Reid, Fraser (2004, February). University of Plymouth. Retrieved from http://educ.ubc.ca/courses/etec540/May08/suz/assests/SocialEffectsOfTextMessaging.pdf “Texting in College Classrooms Common, Distracting” (2012, April 5). U.S. News and World Report Health Day. Retrieved from http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/04/05/texting-in-college-classrooms-common-distracting

This outline did literally everything I asked for.

It's not perfect, of course. I think it could go into more detail in a few places; for example, if students are creating a video, I'd like to know more of what they're doing in it. Also, I'd like them to have more discussion in mind about potential solutions to the problem in communication they have selected--they can't just rely on the audience to generate the answers. I want them to actually prepare a list of questions there.

But compared to the stuff I got last semester? Huge improvement. I can form a pretty clear picture, reading this, of what the presentation looks like. It clearly required collaboration among the students. It illustrates who will say what; it tells me what person will participate in what role; and ultimately, I am pretty positive it will be a good presentation.

4) Grading Outlines

I actually don't have much else to add at this point--because once you've done the work of setting up the assignment well, grading is a cinch. Did they do what you asked them to or not? That will dictate how you allocate their point totals. You have created a set of justifications and criteria whereby you can give a firm rationale for a grade, whether it is low or high.

In any case: if you have any further questions about setting up and grading rubrics, outlines, and other materials, please share in the comments! I'd like to know what you are doing, and how you are doing it.

The Virtues of Feedback

While working in my former school district, an informal supervisor and mentor came to visit my classroom per my request. I contacted her, desperate, after several rough days of challenges with managing a group of unruly ninth graders. She came to visit and observed my class. The tone of the room was drab; I was at once too timid to confront the students (for fear of them talking back) and too reserved to inject enthusiasm into my lesson (for fear of riling the students up beyond my ability to manage them). As certain students rather blatantly disrespected me, my mentor sat at the back of the room, jotting notes. I circulated among groups of students; some eagerly tackled their assignments, while others did not.

After the class, my mentor addressed the problem through a method of inquiry. "Why didn't you respond when this student insulted you?" She's six months pregnant, I replied--she has a lot happening to her, and I find it best not to bother her. "Why didn't you write this student up after he refused to participate?" He just returned from a suspension and is on his last leg, I replied. A write-up could send him to alternative school, which would do nothing to help him. "Okay." She paused, briefly, before pointing to another student's desk: "How about her? What excuse do you have for her?"

Silenced, I ceded the moment to her. Calmly, respectfully, and tactfully, she informed me of the stakes. "I'm not your boss. I struggled when I started, and I understand that this profession takes finesse and takes time. I appreciate the time and creativity that went into this lesson. But I also want to make it clear that, if someone with more authority than me and less patience sat in on your class six, eight, or ten months from now and saw what I saw today, you would have a lot more to worry about." She continued: "I also know that, because you sought out our help, that you already know that." My attitude properly adjusted, we then shifted into a conversation about what measures I could take, beginning the next day, to get my class in line.

This collaborative give-and-take allowed me to become a better teacher more attuned to my students' actual needs and assertive in my classroom performance. I learned from her a sense of what it means to be a frank-but-compassionate aid to pedagogical wisdom.

Why High School Teachers Don't Seek Feedback...

In education, observations often have stakes. They often are explicitly punitive or based on job retention. The people employed to conduct observations generally have some say or role in determining whether the observed teacher keeps his or her job. For this reason, teachers don't usually seek to elicit people from the very people who might be best positioned and best informed to give it.

When the pressure of performance reviews is taken away, matters work much better. As a staff trainer for Teach For America for two summers, I helped teachers through more difficult circumstances than any college freshman could possibly concoct. I did so as a guide and coach; I had no authority to directly "fire" the teachers, and my relationship with them depended on this lack of direct authority.

From this position, I guided teachers through the challenges of overcoming passivity, developing activity-centered lessons, engaging students, fostering a positive culture, establishing norms of conduct, and all of the other countless considerations that implicate a teacher's lesson on a daily basis. These new educators sought out and took advantage of literally every second of my time during these training periods. Confronted, daily, by the harsh realities of the classroom, and the looming knowledge that at least two years of teaching lie before them, they needed candid, direct feedback--and quickly.

... And Why College Instructors Don't Seek Feedback

As college instructors, we do not have this level of pressure upon us. Students will endure a poorly-designed, boring, PowerPoint-based 90-minute lecture peacefully and respectfully (while privately resenting everything about it). As a result, the pressure to get better just isn't there, at least not on a desperate day-to-day basis. Compared to high school teachers, we have considerably less oversight (thank God!), which gives us the blessing of creative freedom but the curse of a lack of constructive feedback. And as we become overwhelmed--either by our large number of teaching sections, our complicated personal lives, or our own mountain of classwork to complete--the first thing we abandon are efforts at our own professional development.

My Feedback Philosophy

This semester, I availed myself of "formal" observation responsibilities in the hopes of conducting better and more candid observations. Rather than entering the classroom with the sense that something I write, say, or report could be used against you, I instead endeavor to observe classes as a peer, a fellow instructor who is in this with you, as someone who can learn as much from you as you can learn from me.

As a person who grew up with ADD, I have a keen sense of what it means to be bored and distracted from a lesson. I can sense it quite explicitly when students have become disinterested in a lesson. I also, after working with rambunctious high school students for six hours a day for two straight years, have a deep and nuanced understanding of what it means for a lesson to break down and fall apart.

I am versed in feedback processes designed to help consider the lesson from the student's perspective and evaluate it, retrospectively, from their standpoint. I aim not just to help you design your next lesson better, but to help you develop habits of mind and self-reflection that will make you a better teacher even when no one is around helping you.

I want to be in your classrooms, interacting with your students, taking notes, and breaking down your lessons via email. I want this because developing a strong Oral Communication Program at our university requires cultivating a community of people willing to seek out answers and help from one another.

And so, I implore you: Unless you are inspiring students to take charge of their voices and recognize the way communication structures their world on a daily basis; unless you are transforming our students into the best collegiate communicators on the face of the planet; unless every student comes out of your classroom with the oratorical sensibilities of Martin Luther King, Jr.--you have room to improve. That should be all of us, myself included. So reach out and let's set up a time for me to come see you.

Michael

The Group Project: Addressing a Problem

Among directors of Oral Communication programs, the group project is a subject of discussion and debate. Many programs have some version of it similar to our own: the students collaborate on some topic and create a collaborative presentation about it. Some call this useless: we do not have time to develop an effective group project, so we shouldn't try; and public speaking is a difficult enough skill to teach in one semester! Some lament the weakness of the group project as an assignment, arguing that students too often delegate chunks of the project to one another and leave it at that. 

Part of my responsibility this semester is to see to it that this project becomes a useful and valuable centerpiece to the Oral Communication Program. Along the way, since I am operating at a slightly faster schedule than other subjects, I will share some resources I am creating and discuss how they could be modified for non-experimental sections of the course. I will start with a small, mini-assignment I had students complete for class to kick off the assignment: the Problem in Communication essay.

Adopting a Problem-Based Approach to the Project

One qualm I have about the group project as it is currently set up is that it focuses on the presentation of rote information. By its very nature, students are basically dissecting an issue and teaching us about it. This does not engage them on a strong intellectual level (they're basically just finding and figuring out how to convey information) and it does not lead to particularly engaging presentations.

More importantly, it does not create a spirit of collaboration among group members. This "find research, teach research" approach, I speculate, leads to the problem of students just delegating and spitting out information. 

So, I am trying to reshape the project into something that is problem-based. I want students to think about a problem in communication that relates to their interests, personal lives, or careers. I assigned this on an individual level before students even knew they would have to do a group project. It's a low-stakes, basic essay; it is simply a goad to get students thinking about a practical application of the concepts we're learning. 

Problem in Communication Essay Problem in Communication: Essay (5 points – due 1/30) “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” – Cool Hand Luke Think about all of the problems in communication that impact us on a daily basis. They are social, political, interpersonal, cultural, and economic: Politics is in a state of gridlock as Republicans and Democrats fail to compromise. Ecologists struggle to have their messages of environmental catastrophe heard and understood. Corporations attempt to improve their public images after failed products. The rich and the poor continue to inhabit different worlds and lack shared understanding. Public figures try to generate attention for new movies and music. Due to technology, people are finding it harder to interact with one another interpersonally. Different societies continue to fail to understand one another. For this essay—which follows a traditional, five-paragraph structure, like back in high school (those were the days, eh?)—you will tackle a problem in communication. The problem you choose needs to: 1)      Be specific. The list I gave you above is not a set of example topics—they’re there to spur your thinking. Don’t talk about corporations in general—talk about how BP is coping with rebuilding its public image after the Gulf oil spill. 2)      Be current. This needs to be something going on in the world right now. You have to cite at least one news article and discuss it in detail. You can find news articles at http://www.google.com/news/ 3)      Be relevant. You need to pick a topic that you care about—something that you have some interest in or expertise about, and can argue for well. 4)      Deal with communication. That should be obvious, given the title of the assignment… but you’d be surprised. Don’t concentrate on the fact that BP is losing money; concentrate on their abysmal public reputation. The paper should be two pages in 12-pt Times New Roman font (about 800-900 words).

From the Essay to the Project

My students diagnosed some fascinating challenges:

• The challenges of being deaf or hard-of-hearing and interacting with people who are not
• Ineffective communication among players on the rugby team before and during plays
• Poor public discourse during the gun control debate following the Newtown shootings
• The difficulties within the Catholic Church in adapting their message to a new public

And so on. I found that the topics students generated on their own were stronger than anything I could have given them--in part because the topics were issues that mattered to them, personally. 

On the day they turned in their essays, I put them in groups and they each explained their essay topic and arguments to their classmates. I then gave their groups their first mission: to come to a consensus about which of the problems in communication they would all like to collectively try to tackle and solve.

Now, the group project has a different orientation: students will present a lesson that has two central purposes. The first is to explain, using research, the elements of the problem that they argued for; the second is to advocate for solutions (adapted to the problem they generated). I am excited about the topics my students have chosen and look forward to seeing how the projects unfold with these more substantive geneses.

But I'm Putting them in Groups Soon and Don't Have Time...

I know, I know, that's why I have an experimental section. This assignment could have been a trainwreck and I wanted to try it out before you did. Thankfully, it turned out to be pretty cool! 

If you agree that a problem-orientation is a better approach than just having students teach the audience about something, I encourage you to adapt accordingly (just without this individual essay assignment). 

If you (as the instructor) care about their careers, or civic engagement, or whatever else--urge student groups to choose one issue in that realm that matters to their group members and set up their topic accordingly. You can borrow from my guidelines here, and just have them come up with their group's "problem" together. Otherwise, the project doesn't have to change much at all. They should still have an interactive "lesson" (rather than a strict presentation), it should still be the same length, and so forth.

Let me know if you try something like this out! I'm curious to see how others innovate this semester. A few other instructors are piloting other variations of this assignment, and I'll be collecting information on how things go for them!

Michael

What will you do differently?

To kick off the new semester, I thought I'd ask a random smattering of COMM 107 teachers: What is one thing you will change from last semester? I thought that this would be a great opportunity for us to learn from one another's mistakes. Their responses are below:

"This is a small thing, but, in light of the need to make sure that students are fully aware of our expectations and grading standards for class participation, it's on my mind right now:  I am going to go over the class participation and effort rubric during the first week of class!  Last semester, I simply posted it on ELMS and referred students to it. But, with +/- grading sensitivities, I think we need to be very clear about why students do or do not receive all 15 points for class participation and effort. 

Another change I've made: I've already sent my students the syllabus and participation/effort rubric via email, and asked them to review both before our first class. I told them I will have copies of the syllabus for them at the first class, but that I want them to review both these documents before we first meet, so that we can discuss them and I can answer any questions they have right at the start."

"Last semester I didn’t have a mechanism to “encourage” (make) my students read the chapters before class.  This semester I’m going to have at least one quiz to help that happen." 

"I plan to use more visuals during discussion of textbook material, specifically PowerPoints and graphics/cartoons." 

"This semester, I won't allow the students a 'grace period' if their speeches go over the time limit. Last semester they took advantage of the extra minute I allowed."

"I would stress from the beginning of class the importance of doing in-depth research (and give examples), using credible sources, and properly citing those sources in preparing an effective lesson and speech."

"One thing I am changing this semester is attributing an overall theme to my lessons and assignments. I am planning to focus the lectures, activities, and examples around Professional development, career-preparedness, and communication in the workplace. With the speeches and the interview, I am going to encourage the students to focus their topics around a career interest. For example, if a student is interested in Broadcast Journalism, he/she could give the info briefing on breaking into the business or how to talk like a broadcaster and the persuasive speech on why broadcast journalists should write their own news stories or have to spend x years in the field. Ta-da!!!"

I also have my own Top Five things I want to do differently:

1) Staggering the grading burden. As soon as I have the syllabuses for the classes I am taking, I am going to calendar out my assignment due dates and making sure I work ahead on any projects that coincide with big grading assignments in 107.

2) Reminding students of attendance and tardiness policies as they start to pile up. Even though I made it clear throughout the semester that absences affect grades, of course the small number of students that suffered most from those absences weren't always in class to hear the reminders. (Go figure.) This semester, I'm going to email students directly as their grades start to suffer from attendance or tardiness issues.

3) Giving students a way to anticipate my grading practices on tests. Students need to know before the exams that I have certain expectations for how they construct their written reactions.

4) Doing something involving vocal performance and delivery, every single day. There should not be a single class that goes by without me reinforcing key concepts related to presentation skills. This means being extra-assertive on my part and encouraging students to be on their feet. From day one, I need to communicate a clear message: You're going to stand in front of people and talk in here. Get used to it!

5) Integrate content and discussion more fluidly. This one's tough--it's hard to work the vocabulary of the textbook into lessons, day in and day out. But I intend to. I really need to reinforce the notion that students must have 100% of the reading completed when they get into class.

What else will people change this time around? Please share in the comments!

Michael

Teaching Public Speaking Skills, Day by Day

Last semester, the lack of analytical interaction with speeches drove me crazy. Only at the end of the course did students engage directly with actual speech texts and discuss them in terms of their content and delivery. I want to see students engaging with public address from Day I. This is not to undermine the hybrid nature of the course. Rather, I think it reinforces it: I want students to see the universality of formal and clear communication skills, even on days they are not delivering speeches on their own.

Moreover, I want to have students stand up and present something every day. The transition between my lectures and student lessons was too stark; the contrast felt too strange. If each class begins and ends with a student speech, then I can consistently teach presentation skills in small bits all semester.

To this end, I am creating two routines in my class that will move through the semester and draw from a small number of participation points: analysis speeches and impromptu speeches.

I acknowledge that this is a sacrifice of 10-15 minutes from each class period. However, it is a sacrifice that reinforces presentation skills, develops a continual culture of student-centeredness, and will (especially with the impromptu speeches) probably be a lot of fun.

Analysis Speeches

On the first day, I am assigning students to deliver brief analysis speeches at the start of each class. These brief, three-minute speeches will have students analyze a speech that directly relates somehow to the content of that day’s lesson. The grades will pull from three points of students’ participation grade (I am doing this in place of quizzes). Almost every day, 1-3 students will stand up and deliver their brief analysis. This is a small sacrifice that adds a cool bit of routine and anchors each lesson.

At the start of the semester, each student will select a speech from a list that they would like to analyze. I will then assign those speeches for outside reading for all the other students on the day of relevant content/instruction. (If the speech is short, we might watch it in class before the student analysis. If it is longer, students will watch it/read it on their own time.) The student who selected the speech will then present their analysis of the speech in class. I will deliver two examples on the first and second day of class to make my expectations for these speeches clear.

The speeches will follow a basic structure:

•           An introduction including a brief discussion of the speech
•           A brief analysis of the speaker’s content
•           A brief analysis of the speaker’s delivery
•           A discussion of how the speech relates to the concepts in the textbook for that day
•           A conclusion

Below, I have listed some of the speeches I have selected for the various topics so far. Sometimes, the speeches relate thematically: that is, they address a topic that is also in the textbook. For example, the “Whisper of AIDS” speech concerns the subject of the importance of listening and speaking up on topics, which corresponds with the theme of the Listening chapter. Sometimes, the speeches relate in their delivery: when students are about to practice their vocal delivery, a student will discuss the ridiculous Stark County Treasurer speech for its vocal issues. And sometimes, the speeches literally address the content under discussion that day: the Robin Dunbar speech, for example, discusses the implications of electronically-mediated communication.

After the student speeches are finished, we’ll then discuss two points:

•           The student’s analysis—points of agreement/disagreement, as well as the student’s delivery
•           The relationship of the speech to that day’s reading: This will allow us to kick off each class period by jumping straight into an application of content, and sets the expectation that students arrive having read the material each day.

On the first day of class, a sign-up sheet will circulate the room. Students will simply sign up for which speech they’d like to analyze. It will look something like this (I have linked to each speech):

01/28	Foundations of Verbal Language & Nonverbal Communication Berko et al. Chapter 2 & 3	Melissa Marshall - Talk Nerdy To Me Roger Ebert Loses his Voice
01/30	Listening & The Interview Berko et al. Chapter 4	Mary Fisher - A Whisper of Aids Steve Jobs – Commencement Speech
02/04	The Interview & Interpersonal and Electronically Mediated Communication Berko et al. Chapter 8 & 6	Turkle – Connected But Alone Robin Dunbar – Can the Internet Buy You More Friends
02/06	Interpersonal Skills and Conflict Management Berko et al. Chapter 7	Susan Cain - The Power of Introverts Phillip Zimbardo – The Psychology of Evil
02/11	The Concepts of Groups Berko et al. Chapter 9	Tom Wujec - Build a Tower, Build a Team
02/13	Participating in Groups Berko et al. Chapter 10	Deborah Gordon – Ant Colonies
02/18	Group Presentation – Delivery Rehearsal	Phil Davidson – Stark County Treasurer Speech
03/06	The Self and Perception & Planning the Message Berko et al. Chapter 5 and 11	David Foster Wallace – This is Water Robert Kennedy  - Speech on the Assassination of MLK Jr. Ronald Reagan – Challenger Disaster Address
03/11	Informative Briefing Berko et al. Chapters 12 and 14	Nathan Wolfe - Viral Forecasting [Student Speech] Quantum Physics [Student Speech] Menu Psychology
03/13	Structuring the Message & Using Language Berko et al. Chapter 13	Martin Luther King, Jr. – Mountaintop Speech Franklin Delano Roosevelt – Pearl Harbor Address John F. Kennedy – First Inaugural Address
04/10	The Persuasive Speech Berko et al. – Chapter 15	Arnold Schwarzenegger – Address to 2004 RNC Barack Obama – Address to 2004 DNC
04/15	The Persuasive Speech	Richard Nixon – Checkers Speech Dwight Eisenhower – Farewell Address
04/17	Logic and Argumentation	Malcolm X – Message to Grassroots Clay Shirky – On SOPA and PIPA
04/22	Persuasive Speech Delivery Berko et al. Chapter 16	[Student Speech] Stem Cell Research Persuasive Speech – The Homeless
04/24	Persuasive Speech Delivery	JD Schramm – Conversation about Suicide

Impromptu Speeches

I also want to incorporate more impromptu speeches into class. Impromptu speeches are awkward, however, so it’s important that students get some basic training in this skill early on so these are actually a productive way of reinforcing extemporaneous speaking skills (which is the main point of doing this).

In addition to the analysis speeches, I also will have a few students deliver brief impromptu speeches at the end of each class (student performances will serve as bookends). I will give out a prompt each day and put one minute on the clock. I will then call on a random student (or a few students) to stand up and deliver a 1-2 minute speech on the topic at the front of the room. I will give two participation points, mainly for having the guts to get up and do it (every student will perform at least once, maybe twice, over the semester).

The structure of these will be simple:

•           Attention getter
•           Thesis
•           Reason I
•           Reason II
•           Reason III
•           Conclusion

For prompts, I recommend simple persuasive prompts that require students to develop a simple argument with a few reasons to back it up. These prompts could be:

•           The most evil person in the world is…
•           The University of Maryland is awesome because…
•           The best major you can pursue at UMD is…
•           If I could transform into any animal, I would pick a ____ because…

The point of these prompts is that they’re easy. They take the pressure off of students to develop some awesome, world-changing thesis and position. Instead, they place the emphasis on the students’ ability to conversationally talk off the top of their head and spontaneously structure ideas.

Again, I will put myself on the spot with these speeches and deliver an impromptu speech of my own with a student-selected topic—both as an illustration of what I’m looking for, and so they feel less nervous about the whole arrangement.