"Stop, Start, Continue" Reflections for Speech #3

I just sent this email, below, to everybody. Just in case some of you check our blog more often, I thought I'd post it here too. 

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Comm 131rs,

Yo!  Happy Thursday and almost Spring Break!  Woooo!

Alright, so I saw some major improvements in your radical speeches this week, and that made me really happy.  Nice job, folks.  Almost all of you are really loosening up when your "on stage" and being yourself more (always a great idea), and the organization/structure of your speeches seems to be "tighter" and more coherent.  Awesome, awesome.

Good news: we have some well-deserving winners for the contest, and I'll announce them in class on Monday, April 4th.  Before then, though, I'd like you to post your Start/Stop/Continue reflections to your blogs and, if possible, upload your videos.  (Don't know how to do that?  Me neither.  Google it!  YouTube it!  Seriously!)  I have a few special requests that can help make this third reflection even stronger -- and thus, more valuable -- than the last two:

• Tell me about three classmates' moves that you found really effective and HOW/WHY they were effective.  
• Along that front -- and also, with respect to analyzing your own speeches -- get SPECIFIC.  Like, REALLY SPECIFIC.  Help me SEE, exactly, what you're referring to.  The more you can break down what you think/thought, see/saw, or heard into a detailed description, the more you'll be able to do that yourself.  And that's the whole point -- I want you to gain a heightened awareness of all the minutiae that goes into (effective) communication.
  
• I'd also like you to read three classmates' reflections, and then leave a 100-word response about what you like, what you agree with, some questions you have for them, or some advice you might have.  How do you do that?  Well, first, you need to wait for someone to post their reflection (remember: you can access your classmates' blogs through my/our class blog, comm131spring16.blospot.com).  Then, once they have, all you need to do is type in the "Comment" box at the bottom of their blog post.  (Attached is a screen shot of Perez's blog.  Right there in that "type-able" box is where you can leave your feedback.
  
• Please know that you need to be signed in to Gmail to leave feedback.  Also, I'd type up your responses in a separate MS Word/Google Doc document and then copy/paste it over (instead of just typing directly on the blog).  Why?  Sometimes Blogger craps out the first time.  If you have it saved, then you don't need to worry about it craping out -- you can just copy/paste it again.  
  
• One last note: try to spread out your responses.  For instance, if LaQuay has 6 responses but Daisy only has 1...  leave Daisy some love!

I don't want any whining from any of you.  This isn't THAT much more work, and I definitely think it'll be worth it.

The last month of our class should be a lot of fun.  I'm legitimately juiced up about it.  I briefly mentioned it in class, but in case you missed it, I will again: we're gonna be creating group "Sharktank"-style pitches to local Santa Barbara companies.  Woooooo!  

Okey dokey, artichokeys.  I'm outta here for now.  Enjoy your Spring Breaks, and I'll catch you soon.

Z

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Zack De Piero, M.Ed., MA

Ph.D candidate, Education: Language, Literacy, and Composition Studies
Teaching Associate, Writing Department
University of California - Santa Barbara
Zdepiero@education.ucsb.edu