speeches last night

I apparently have too much time on my hands, :] and I was reading MSN news and saw this article which is a perfect example of Jerome's speech last night. Check it out:

http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=350017&GT1=28103

Good job everyone! You did great! Especially Richard, that was hilarious :]

Very IMPORTANT Deadline coming up!

Now I hope none of you will decide to drop the class. But I want to warn you that tomorrow, Friday January 30th, is the last day you can drop classes and still get a full refund! It is also the last day to add a class and/or to pay your tuition and fees without paying the $100 fine.

See you in class tonight~

Comment on Alexandra's comment on Kelley's post

Alexandra and everyone else, you are doing exactly the right thing if you pick something you know and care about for your diagnostic presentation. When you've thought back on your speech and listened to feedback, you may decide that it was indeed "too much" or "too bland."

The purpose of doing a 2nd speech on the same topic is to help you refine the presentation so that it is NOT too much or too bland. This is gonna be fun tonight. And you are going to be very impressed by the improvement you make over the next month!

speeches tonight!

Anyone care to share the topics for their speeches tonight? I have several things written up, but I'm feeling a little unsure about my topics chosen so I thought I would get an idea from you! :] I can talk for days but speeches are NOT my thing. This should be interesting!

Jean's Philosophical Viewpoint

Communication is central to all human learning processes. I encourage class participation and open discussion in my courses. My philosophical viewpoint incorporates but is not limited to understandings from the Theory of Social Construction of Reality (Berger & Luckmann, 1967). According to this theoretical perspective all human knowledge is intersubjectively constructed. Any sense of objective truth and/or absolute truth is outside the framework in which humans operate to construct reality. Another way of saying this is that in a human world people create, maintain, and transform their understanding of reality through communication (their culture, relationships, and personal experiences and responses).

A notion of a reality beyond our earthbound and human existence is a matter of faith and personal belief (understandings which have been socially constructed over time ever since people began organizing). Regardless of the way in which one may construct his or her reality, the mechanisms of human knowledge construction are essentially the same -- we each are born into a family, an existing social framework and culture(s); we learn a language (or more than one) to communicate; we learn social rules and roles (socialized prescriptions/choices regarding expressions of appropriate and/or inappropriate behavior); we each build, maintain, and let go of relationships throughout our lives.

And it is in this social matrix that we become who we are over time. We construct our own realities based on secondhand human knowledge at best. We add to this historical mix our own unique experiences and perceptions. Some of us add a spiritual understanding of reality too, but no matter how we each believe these ideas and understandings may have originated, they have nonetheless been socially constructed and transformed over time in a human world. The most empowering thing we can do for ourselves in this life full of multiple and potentially conflicting human realities is to become socially responsible, educated, compassionate, critical thinkers and to trust that our own construction of reality will ultimately serve us well both personally and collectively.

-Jean

My Concerns of Speaking out loud

So I figure since we communicate through blog for class that I would express my nervousness at this point. So on Thursday I am suppose to stand up in class and talk for 5 min about something that is informative to my peers. The only thing I can vision is the words in my head but for some reason the words are not coming out of my mouth. Also I realized that hey I talk a lot but never for 5 min straight without having someone else say something back. At this point I am extremely nervous and I have counted 789 "and ums" in my speech already. Just figured I would share with everyone else.

sincerely
Completely nervous in
ClassVille

Jerome Rush Introduction

My name is Jerome S Rush Jr.

I am the third in the line of five siblings, three brothers and two sisters. I am originally form a little town called Esmont VA, which I really love because if give you the country life. I joined the military in 1989. The military has afforded me to see many places and regions I would not have seen otherwise. The military has also given me a rounded base in responsibility and ownership.

I am 37 years old, married to my loving wife of 15 years. I have two kids, Jaylen and Jordan and they are twin. They are truly the highlight of my life.

I am very out spoken and considered a jokester at all times. I say what is on my mind and wear everything on my sleeve. I is absoutly not my intention to offend anyone on my post. I try to be helpful with my comments and alway try to be respectful.

I think this is going to be a great class!!!!