Friday, October 15, 2010
Awesome Student Speech
As I've said before, I teach Public Speaking. We are in the middle of their informational speeches, specifically their process speeches. One student spoke today, and his topic was, "How to be a successful student." Overall the content was very good, and then I just wanted to hug him when he got to the last main point. What was it? "You should not blame your professors, or anyone but yourself, for your bad grades or failures." He went on to talk about how college students should act like adults, use the resources available to them (like office hours) and take responsibility for their actions. Seriously, I almost ran up and hugged him, right in the middle of the speech. When do you EVER hear a student actually say this?????
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....and the other students called him/her "kissass", "Poindexter", "brown-noser", "shithead", etc.
ReplyDeleteWhen they were "nontraditional."
ReplyDeleteDid this happen to get videotaped? Because I would pay both you and that student for a copy.
ReplyDeleteWhen that student wanted a good grade, more than the approval of his peers?
ReplyDeleteOK, cynicism aside, maybe this really -was- meant sincerely. I wish I'd been there: if this was for real, there's a good chance that student delivered this speech in a breathless tone, indicating he thinks he discovered these principles for the first time in history---much like how every 3rd grader genuinely seems to think they were the very first person ever to realize that the name of the 7th planet from the Sun can be pronounced "Your-ANUS" or "urine-US." (Actually, it's "you-RAN-us.")
Amazingly, he is a traditional student. And I think he really meant it, his grades have been good so far and he seemed genuine. I guess time will tell, I'll keep you updated.
ReplyDelete@BlackDog: I wish I had been videotaping. I could loop it on the particularly shitty days as motivation to keep going.