Question 3

I do not think there was one thing that I will take from the class. There was no key piece of information that really benefited me. The experience that I gained overall though was very important. Writing the outlines was a great lesson in patience. The way that I use to do speeches was just go up with a few talking points and go. This worked well, but I would tend to ramble on and on because I can usually talk for days about topics I am well versed in. Also the experience of dealing with a lot of culturally different people. Placer County is pretty much the same, however there was a good mix of different back grounds in this class and presenting to them and seeing their reactions will help me down the road when I am addressing more diverse crowds. Minus the outlines I really enjoyed the class and the interaction we were forced to do on the blogs. It allowed me to see into the minds of my classmates and better understand the class and my peers.

Question 1

I liked the different forms of reasoning. I am pretty cut and dry when it comes to my forms of reasoning, but seeing other points of view and other options I think will benefit me in the long run. I do not know if I will change my ways and branch out to the other forms of reasoning that I didn't really use in the class, but at least I know that they are there. I like to keep it simple. I like to show a problem and solve it. I like to give tons of examples and show cause and effect. This allows me to pretty much get rid of any possible arguments before any could even arise. I like this position because then the opposition has to start off immediately defensive, which makes it easier for me. I think reasoning is the back bone to any speech or just any opinion really, if a person has sound reasoning they tend to have a decent view point. 

Question 2

I think my favorite speech was the last one about renewable energy. I actually got to talk about something important, not just to me, but important to everyone. I was really disappointed when the teacher shortened the time limit because I was only able to scratch the service of what I wanted to say. I went way over the time limit for the speech and my grade suffered tremendously, however to me sharing the knowledge about the dangers of our ways and the rewards of renewable energy far out way the consequences. If I was able to change one persons mind, to get one person off the couch, it was well worth the punishment. Anyways I really liked all the speeches in this class. We had a wide variety of topics that's that we had to work around. At the time I didn't like it because I had an agenda, but looking back it made me do some pretty interesting speeches that I would not have been able to do otherwise. 

Question 3

I was interested in the deductive reasoning. I plan to use a lot of causal and example based reasoning, but I want to attempt to use deductive as well. It is almost robotic the way it attempts to persuade people. I think a huge flaw though is that it just assumes that it is correct. Obviously it is based off of a fair amount of information before it assumes such a thing, but it feels like it is not as agile as other forms of reasons. Like if you threw a variable in there it would just mess everything up. If I can work out the flaws I think it would make for a very snippy few lines of reasoning. I would need to make it broad and narrow it down quickly to a very simple answer. I see it almost being a joke really, but I am not sure how or when I am going to use it. Then again I might wuss out and just stick to some standard reasoning's when I get up there and start babbling.

Question 2

I really enjoy debating people. Formal debates are fun, but I like when it is just back and forth (polite of course), but no opening statements or conclusion statements, just good old fashion arguing. I have a debate next week so I tested out some tactics on one of my ignorant friends. The topic was animal testing and of course I want to end it immediately, and my “friend” doesn't see the problem with it. So I used a lot of example based reasoning and causal reasoning, and some just plain old common sense. Needless to say he really didn't have a chance, it was a hollow victory though because he will never change his ways unless there is a gun pointed to his head or it is changed for him. I tried to use deductive reasoning, but it just confused him. I want to try to use some in my speech, but I want to make sure I make it short and simple so I people don't get lost in the tangled thoughts that are my speeches.

Question 1

I thought the videos were pretty decent. All of them gave pretty good examples for me and my persuasive speech. I liked the guy who was talking about hikers straying off the trail. I think his approach fits my style very well. The causal type argument shows there is an issue and shows how it is affecting us. The obvious conclusion that we shouldn't hike off the trail. The pro and con speeches were pretty interesting as well. I like public schools all though are horribly failing, so I guess I should say I like the idea of public schools. It is the great equalizer. The pro for public schools didn't do as good of a job as I think he could of. I just didn't feel like there was enough information in his speech and I wasn't really feeling what he was saying even though I agreed with is view point. The con lady however did very well. I liked her speech and I liked the sarcasm that she threw in about learning how to deal drugs and duck behind desks. I think if used properly those types of lines can easily persuade a lot of people.  

Question 3

I liked the part about ethics of persuasive speaking. I think this was a very important part of our reading for this week. Unfortunately many people will just believe what they are told. This is becoming a huge issue with so called "news agencies" pumping people full of false or tainted information. A lot of people responsible for this lack any for of ethics or morality. It is very important for us as speakers or really just us a people to make sure we comment to acting ethically when we are tyring to inform or persuade people. Obviously you are trying to persuade someone so you are going to try to make your side seem better, but be sure to include all sides of the argument at hand. Not only that, but explain why that can be an option too. You will have a much stronger argument if the listener decides on their own rather than you coercing them into your beliefs.