SPCH 101: Public Speaking

Short description of the course: I'm purposefully putting the GCC course description of the course I teach most often, but I may refer to other courses I teach each semester as well, such as intercultural or interpersonal comm. This SPCH 101 description is informative, but there's no personality here. I wish I could rewrite it in the catalog to make it sound as fun as my students and I have made it. Few people describe a public speaking class as "fun" but I promise you, it can be!

SPCH 101 is an introductory course focusing on public speaking - the process of learning to speak in front of a group of people in a structured, deliberate, organized manner in a variety of public speaking environments. Through their reading of research-based theories and principles of human communication, along with critical analysis of public discourse, students learn to research, compose, present, and evaluate various types of speeches including informative and persuasive presentations. The course focuses on developing skills in the areas of language, listening, ethics and diversity, audience analysis, evidence evaluation, presentation skills, and oral communication effectiveness. Through class discussions, written assignments, verbal and nonverbal communication exercises, and oral presentations, students learn the essential elements of public speaking and how extemporaneous speeches are used in personal and professional contexts. This course satisfies speech requirements for those students who expect to transfer to colleges and universities.

Reflection on Instructional Change:

Hopefully, I'll be incorporating many of the new practices I've learned. I just added the "systemic racism" video to my intercultural course and was able to share it with students this semester. Previously, I've incorporated a number of changes already from other sources such as Reading Apprenticeship training, DEIA workshops, and the like. But this time around, I was particularly struck by one of the videos I saw, based on some past student feedback from a few recent student evaluations that I came across. I need to rework my Canvas set-up, particularly as it relates to (1) the accessibility/ease of finding course content & resources; and (2) the visual presentation of my modules with the articles, websites & videos within.

My goal is to have "Pretty/Accessible Courses" (or possibly "Pretty AND Smart" courses) as part of "implementing caring FOR students" from Equity 101: Part C of our Faculty Learning Community. Geneva Gay’s book, Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice, gives four basic attributes of caring. The following is cut-and-pasted from our earlier course:

4 Attributes of Caring

Geneva Gay’s book Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice proposes that we focus on “…caring for instead of caring about the personal well-being and academic success of ethnically diverse students… caring for is active engagement in doing something to positively affect [success]“ (Gay, 58). According to Gay, caring is:

Attending to person and performance. Teachers model personal values such as patience, persistence, and responsibility while incorporating skills such as self-determination throughout their curriculum. “In other words, culturally responsive caring teachers cultivate efficacy and agency in ethnically diverse students”.
Action-provoking. It is not dumbing down rigor. To the contrary, caring teachers demonstrate respect to students, provide choices and “…are tenacious in their efforts to make information taught more understandable to them.
Prompts Effort and Achievement. Supportive instructional styles incorporate reciprocal experiences, such as providing students feedback reflecting our stories, can improve cognitive understanding between the students and the instructor. (Let them know they are not alone in their learning process.)
Multidimensional responsiveness. Caring is a process. “Caring is anchored in respect, honor, integrity, resource-sharing, and a deep belief in the possibility of transcendence, that is, an unequivocal belief that marginalized students not only can but will improve their school achievement under the tutelage of competent and committed teachers who act to ensure that this happens” (69).

As Fabi points out "Applying care to our learning environment requires passion, empathy, and effort, and a collective commitment to provide all students with the individual support they need to succeed. Through the use of Canvas and course design, we can let our students know we care for them. We can ensure their learning experience will be safe, fun, informative, and successful by intentionally making the design inviting and beautiful. Just like caring for elementary school teachers and their classrooms, we can take extra time to make our Canvas pages beautiful too." I realized that I have functional, but not beautiful, Canvas courses.

Although many students have commented that they appreciate my organizational skills in general, I have had more than a few students complain about having to "scroll through the modules" to find things. This year, while teaching a range of different courses with varied topics, I found myself getting lost too. In MY own courses that I set up! My brain and eyes just got too tired and checked out.

"How does that relate to what we've learned?" you may be asking yourself.

Fabi's cousin, Marisa Torres & her "pretty classroom" made me want to create a prettier, more welcoming environment for my own students on Canvas. When we're in a physical classroom, we are at tables with encourage conversation. I often put questions on the whiteboard wall (yes, it is an entire wall) for students so that they share their weekend activities, opinions on course topics, and other things. It's one way I try to make it feel like home. But I can't put up posters of the like, so sometimes I play music. I had a colleague who had students create a class playlist on Spotify. I love that idea - if we can't make it visually pretty, we can make it aurally pretty! However, my Canvas courses, visually, are more like, uh, a file cabinet... boring, but not hard to figure out.

At the start of the spring semester, I actually tried to do some Canvas module changes to improve accessibility but got stymied. I learned how to make a Homepage with clickable links, but they didn't work for anyone but me. When I got outside assistance/help, no one I spoke with at GCC nor at the Canvas helpline could identify what the issue was, so I went back to the straightforward modules that I had before (like what we see here when we use the navigation above right). It was too much to change up the modules at the start of the semester since students were already freaking out about just figuring out Canvas when it DID work. I'm in the predicament of needing students to test it for me - but then not being able to experiment in my own classes unless we are well into the semester and they trust me to mess around with things while still protecting their educational interests. I have an appointment with our new instructional designer, Sydnee, so that I can get individual attention and do some problem-solving with an expert. I've heard contradicting info at meetings and/or workshops, so I want to make sure that whatever I end up doing, it's accessible for my DSPS students. I also know from experience that solving accessibility issues benefits ALL students. And helps me, the ADD adult, too!

These changes are also tangentially tied to the RA practices of metacognition and "uncovering the process." Over the past years of using Canvas, I've realized the way I think, set up Canvas for use, and interact with Canvas isn't always in the same manner as my students. Perhaps I can do what I imagine for my homepage: using "cards" or pics with simple, clear titles that can be easily seen on one screen or page, so as to be able to SEE where you need to go. I think Piper had something like that for one of her courses. Somewhat like our dashboard, which I find easy to use once I've inserted photos, changed the colors, and re-organized the order. So, you know, changed it all up.

As I mentioned before, my goal is to create "Pretty/Accessible Courses" but the module exercise wasn't exactly asking for that. So although I've provided the screenshot for my assignment, better descriptions of my goals for student care are explained above.

Screenshot 2022-06-01 6.06.33 PM.png

This spring, I'm finally back in the classroom for nearly all of my courses and want to make it feel more like "home" for us. When I saw Fabi's cousin's beautiful classroom, I was enthralled. I used to work K-12 and loved how each teacher's classroom reflected their personalities, the course or grade-level content, and that year's students. I want to create an environment like that for my own students, even if I can mostly only do it on Canvas.

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Faculty Biography

Karen L. Swett, Associate Professor

Speech Communication Dept/Language Arts Division

Karen Swett

My background? I’m a SoCal gal all the way: born in San Diego, raised in Santa Barbara, ended up in L.A. My education? Public schools for K-12, then SBCC for my transfer units (but wish I’d gotten my A.A. degree!), and on to CSUN for B.A and M.A., both in Communication Studies. I feel very fortunate to have ended up teaching at GCC!

I like to get to know my students, but for now, here’s a bit about me…the most important thing to me is to make time for my family and friends. In addition, I love nature. I walk, run, bike, and hike. I want to travel more in the future than I’m able to now, so I try to enjoy my life as it is. I stop to smell the roses (literally), feed peanuts to the blue jays on my balcony, read whatever I can get my hands on, and try to be a good citizen of the planet.

I have always been curious about communication and how people perceive each other as well as how they relate to one another. Growing up in various areas of California has helped me gain knowledge of a wide range of international cultures and U.S. co-cultures. I love teaching and look forward to coming to my classes - I get excited when students connect with the material, with each other, and with me. Applying, analyzing, and teaching others about communication theory is my life’s work. Although not all of my students will be as excited as I am, I hope you enjoy the journey!

~ Prof Swett

This work was supported by the Title V Hispanic-Serving Institutions Grant, Adelante GCC, and the Innovation Grant.