A Successful Round One

Round one of informative speeches is done and for the most part I am impressed. Forget for a moment the topics used for the speeches or how well the students did, what I am most impressed about (and perhaps this is a sad statement about the times in which we live) is the fact that most students delivered the speech.

I had seven students set to speak in my Thursday morning class. All seven were there and all seven spoke. There was one student who had signed up for Thursday but than a week before the speeches were to be given, he asked if he could switch. I agreed. I agreed because he was not there the day when I asked students when they wanted to speak and when he returned he said I could put him in on any of the days so I put him in for the first day. I agreed because, with 23 students in class and three days for speeches I need eight people speaking on two of the days and seven on one of the days, so I could move him and still keep that breakdown. Still, everything Thursday morning went well.

My Thursday evening class was a little different, but still not bad. I had eight student scheduled to speak that evening. One person called me before class that he had a flat tire, it had occurred earlier in the day and he was sure it would have been fixed in time to get him to class on time, but it wasn’t. All the other students were there and spoke.

I am not sure that the student was being honest with me but he did call me before class to alert me, which does help make the situation better. He also was the only one who was not there, so most of the speeches were given.

My Friday morning class was a lot like my Thursday morning class. One student had asked to switch from one day to another day about a week earlier and I agreed. Still, everyone who was supposed to speak on Friday was in class and gave a speech.

The speeches were pretty good but the fact that out of 23 speeches that were supposed to be given during that 24 hour span, 23 actually were, was most impressive. It will actually help me get my critiques done as I won’t be bogged down by students who have to make up speeches.