Running Head: PORTRAYING CULTURE SPEECH

Reflective essay Portraying Culture Speech

Cassidy Brinley
CIS 110

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The purpose of the portraying culture speech was to present what I learned from our
research of the exploring culture essay. Along with the information I presented, I was required to
have an artifact that represented the homosexual culture. Since Im an education major,
presentations are something that will be a part of my daily life as a teacher. Therefore that was
something I really wanted to improve upon. To prepare myself for the portraying culture speech,
practice and content were key components.
While deciding on how I should go about presenting the content of my speech, I thought
it would be a good idea to practice my speech in front of others. Therefore, myself and a few
classmates presented in our speeches in the classroom, where we would later present them to the
entire class. This not only helped me face my speech anxiety, but also allowed me to get
constructive criticism from my classmates. This permitted me to get a different view points on
how I should present.
When preparing for the portraying culture speech, I made sure I didnt go over the five
minute mark by timing myself while practicing my speech. Reflecting back to this time, I found
it really difficult to present in under five minutes. But my minimizing my presentation, I was
able to efficiently get my point across. To do this, I made index cards and only added things the
audience needed to know to understand what I learned from the homosexual culture.
Before this reflection, I believed that since I received one hundred percent on the
portraying culture speech, that I had the best speech and essay ever created. I began to watch the
video of my speech to see how exactly I did, I realized that there were a tremendous number of
errors and things that I could have done better on. For example, vocalized pauses and voice
shakiness. These are things that really tear the communication of a speech a part. It makes the

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audience second guess on if the presenter really knows what he or she is talking about. This is
the most important part of a speech and I will be working on it throughout the future.
Presentation is key in anyones life, your presentation is everything regardless of your
career. Since Im an education major, being able to construct an essay that is efficient in
communicating and in structure is very important. These will be things I will be teaching one day
so the time spent on this essay was very valuable. Overall, the speech has prepared my content
and speech delivery for future higher level classes in my academic career.