[HedgeYourBets]

Is your real name Larry and does you teacher look like Julia Roberts?

[ArraryTauTDew]

It is obvious that a lot of those students are in dire need of this course.

[Gogogo]

It's a speaking class, and Lori heard and remembered a good deal of what the majority of them said. That what they said was misguided and silly is beyond the scope of the class.

I aced my community college speech class, surprisingly, and a lot of my classmates were actually pretty good. I remember one discussed FGM, another who was a dwarf/little person discussed her condition, and one girl gave a strong presentation on why heroin will turn you into a gigantic raging dickburger.

[actifadepette]

My favorite GPA padding courses were
Fantasy in Literature. The entire course was a discussion of the Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy. An easy A
Science Fiction in Literature. I had read every book used previously. Jose Phillip Farmer was a guest speaker. An even easier A.
Russian History in the Movies. Watched classic old Russian movies once a week in a Pot filled auditorium. It was easy to outperform all the pot heads. An easy A.

[appabessy]

Intro to Human Communication
I took this course shortly after I was born.

[plogypeskelry]

@ post 11

Ricky Bobby hands

[ionitiesk]

Are you doing it extemporaneous with notes, or totally freestyle (or whatever the word is for standing there making stuff up on the spot)?

[evennyNiz]

This was my presentation. I discussed the threat posed by meteors, the terrible science in Armageddon, and the actual methods scientists have come up with to deal with meteors. This was way too much material for five minutes, however, and there were things I left out and things I forgot. Oops. Meteors - God's kill shot. Do a presentation on exactly how hard it is to hit the earth with a Meteor. With science.

[Loolasant]

That explains why you don't remember much about it.

zing

[EspnaConCam]

When I worked for the air force we had to take a week-long Human Communication type course, but because it was the government Human Communication meant Powerpoint. After a day or two most of us got bored and decided to have a Worst Best Powerpoint Contest on the project where we had to do a presentation on the fictional Bulldog Missile System. This was, hands down, the winner. (I didn't save mine - my dark green text on light green background was arguably a worse color scheme than purple on yellow, but my slide transitions weren't nearly as good.)

[UriDepkeeks]

1) The majority of instances in an ordinary person's life that call for them to speak in public will be dedicated to things that are either obvious, trite, or stupifyingly dull (frequently accompanied by PowerPoint slides)

I would suggest that the ability to speak in public is important if you consider that talking to a small group at a team or management meeting is talking in public. While the subject of conversation may be dull, it essential for career development.

[9Goarveboofe]

Lori - What was your topic? You've remained silent on that one...

[flopay]

Oops... I tend to skim...

I hope you did point out that moon rocks taste better than earth rocks because they're a little meatier...

[mikelangr]

In my public speaking class, my main topic (that I gave a few speeches on during the semester) was an argument to maintain NASA funding. This was way back when Bush was discussing a manned mission to Mars and people began to question the purpose of funding NASA.

[MwhwF6bp]

Cool, you can just appeal to authority and call it a day.

[Snweyuag]

Is it possible for everyone to fail? Or is it on a curve?

[AlexBrith]

No. It just means that if you fail, you would be on par with average people.

[Edifsdubs]

My perspective wasn't that Cs were average. Due to grade inflation/etc, you can't consider them that.

A = Mastery of Material and High performance
B = Well developed understanding of material or Strong performance
C = Basic understanding of material or Acceptable performance
D = Real attempt
F = No attempt

With good students I would expect mostly Bs or As depending on the difficulty of the course.

JM

[dmoiknlasd]

I'm giving a persuasive speech next week. I'm going to argue that Pluto shouldn't be a planet. Important stuff.

But it's easy to argue that it shouldn't be a planet, you should try and persuade them of something difficult?

[Bejemoelemymn]

Argue that Pluto the dog should have been named Hades instead