SPC 2608-8263 (Group 3)

 Irene Benedetti  I was so excited to start this project. I was born in Venezuela, and after moving to the United States, my favorite holiday quickly became the Fourth of July. At first, I thought it was a little strange how people in the United States celebrate the Fourth of July even more than New Year’s. Where I grew up, New Year’s was always one of the biggest celebrations of the year, so it surprised me that another holiday could be even more important here. But the more I experienced it, the more I started to understand why. I love seeing everyone gather together, watching fireworks, having barbecues, and celebrating the same event as a community. My favorite part of this holiday is that no matter your religion, your beliefs, your ethnicity, or your background, everyone celebrates it. It feels like a holiday that belongs to everyone. Unlike Christmas, which is often connected to religion or specific traditions, the Fourth of July feels more universal. It celebrates freed...

 Ginan Reda - Group 3      The different groups in our class presentations discussed various historical changemakers who created social change through their work. The presentations were enjoyable to me because the groups presented different people who made major contributions to civil rights and political development and scientific research and business and cultural fields. The presentation introduced me to new information about these historical figures whom I already knew about and their achievements as changemakers. The presentations showed me that people can bring about social transformation through their individual actions.      Group 1 talked about changemakers from the twentieth century. Their presentation included information about changemakers such as Rosa Parks and Susan B. Anthony and Paul McCartney and Martin Luther King Jr. and Rachel Carson and Duke Ellington and Frank Church. Their presentation proved that changemakers come from all wa...

The presentations my classmates presented demonstrated, teamwork, and understanding of communication concepts. Overall, the presentation was informative, well-structured, and clearly rooted in textbook principles. However, like most academic presentations, there are several areas where it could be refined to become even more engaging, and impactful. One of the strongest aspects of this presentation was its clear organization and logical flow. Each group member was assigned a specific chapter or concept, which made the content easy to follow and prevented overlap or confusion. Topics progressed naturally from preparing a speech (beginning and ending), to crafting language, to using media, and finally to delivering the speech itself. This sequencing mirrored how a speaker would realistically approach speech preparation.  The presentation also showed  communication concepts, such as the primacy and recency effects, attention getters, thesis statements, credibility, emotional lang...

 Ginan Reda - Group 3  Watching all of the group presentations during this lesson was a more beneficial learning experience than I had first thought. At first, I thought watching the presentations would be a little monotonous because everyone was using the same book and discussing essentially different public speaking concepts. But after seeing several groups, it became clear that each person had an own interpretation of the content.      Group One  concentrated on the foundational chapters, which covered listening, confidence, adapting to the audience, and the shifting art of public speaking. I thought their approach to the chapter on confidence was excellent. Instead of being presented as something you either own or lack, confidence is presented as something you may acquire over time. This, in my opinion, significantly reduces the fear associated with public speaking. Listening was another chapter that truly drew my attention. I thought it was great how t...

  During our first day of working together as a group, we were all very shy and barely spoke. The only reason we even knew each other’s names was because of our Zoom usernames. It felt strange being placed into a group with people I had never spoken to before and being expected to immediately start collaborating. Everyone seemed unsure of who should talk first. It was very intimidating being the one to break the ice. I did not know if, after speaking, I would even get a reply, or if my comment would be met with awkward silence. But I did it anyway because someone had to start the conversation. Thankfully, after I spoke, I did receive a reply. It was from Ginan, and then soon after, everyone else began to join in. Once that first barrier was broken, the tension in the group slowly faded. We were finally able to communicate and start working toward our project instead of sitting quietly and staring at our screens. We began coordinating who would complete each chapter and how we would...