The motivational speech and essay assignments combined all of the elements we learned about Rhetoric earlier in the semester. The “This I Believe” assignment allowed us to focus mostly on diction and style, while the Rhetorical Situation assignment allowed me to focus mostly on analytical techniques. As I was writing my motivational speech, I realized that I was slitting my focus between style and diction from the first assignment, and analytical techniques from the second assignment. Crafting the speech was a challenge, but I sought to overcome the challenge and prove how much I learned from the course.
I chose this speech to revise in order to make minor changes to the content and major changes to the delivery. I made sure to add in a discernable thesis and then focused heavily on a stronger delivery. I aimed to slow down my pace and vary my rate of speaking. Although I could not improve on eye contact in this revision process, I still practiced that as well! The revision of my motivational speech allowed me a second try at a successful overall speech and delivery, and I achieved that goal.