Davis FoulgerFormer Adjunct Professor
|
Department of Communication |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SPCH 101: Fundamentals of Speech CommunicationSemester Syllabus - Spring, 2005Monday/Wednesday - 11:30AM-12:45PM
and 1:00PM-1:15PM
|
Weight | Description | |
Written Assignment | 10% | A highly structured essay. |
Informative Speech | 15% | A speech that informs an audience about a particular topic. Grade will be based on both speech and speech outline. |
Persuasive Speech | 20% | A speech that attempts to change an audiences perspective or sway it to take action. Grade will be based on speech, outline, and the extent both are adaptive to a designated audience. |
Group Presentation | 25% | A coordinated business presentation, developed and presented by a small group. Grade will be based on presentations, handouts, and the integration of the overall presentation. |
Final | 10%-15% | Classic Question and Answer testing, conducted at the end of the semester. Covers all of the material covered in the course, including lectures, classroom discussion, and textbooks. Even the content of your speeches might be used in a test question if it seems relevant. |
quizzes | Up to 5% | If, during any class, I decide that the class seems unprepared, I will administer a quiz. |
Index Card Assignments | 10% | Index card assignments entail doing a small assignment involving thought or observation, but usually with the restriction that the output of the assignment (your answer or observation) must fit on one side of a 3x5 card. There will be at least 10 such assignments, each worth about 1 percent of your overall grade. These will not be graded beyond an assessment of whether or not they satisfy the assignment. Simply turning them in on time nets the points unless it seems obvious that a particular assignment wasn't taken seriously. Index Card Assignments will frequently be used in the course of class discussions. |
Questions | 5% | You are expected to do the assigned readings and should arrive at class, each period, with at least two questions written on one side of a 3x5 card. Class discussions will generally be oriented to those questions. I will call on several students each day to ask a question based on the text and will collect your cards on randomly selected days during the semester. |
Total Grade (based on above) | 100% |
A copy of the Montclair State Departmental Policies will be handed out with this syllabus. This course will observe those policies.
A professional meets their commitments. This class is a professional commitment. You are expected to attend every meeting of the class during the semester. It is the policy of the Speech Department that students are allowed no more than two absences in this course for any reason. A third absence will result in a 5% reduction in your final grade. A fourth absence will result in a 10% reduction. Any student who is absent five times during the semester can expect to fail the course. Arriving late or leaving early counts as 1/3 of an absence.
There are several layers of content associated with this course, including:
All of these elements contribute to the overall learning experience of this class, and you will necessary miss out on these layers if you miss class. For most students these absences will have additional secondary effects on test scores and other assignments.
Bottom line: Be here.
I have caught a number of students attempting to pass off other people's work as their own. Such behavior is unacceptable in any classroom, and I won't accept it in mine. My usual practice will be to zero any assignment on which a student has been found to be cheating and consult with the department chair on what other actions may be appropriate.
Examples of cheating include:
- Duplicate test answers. I cannot prevent students from studying together or comparing notes on a take home exam (should I give any). Test answers should always be in your own words (e.g. not copied out of a book or off of someone else's test paper).
- Plagiarized term paper content. I encourage you to look at content from a wide variety of sources, but the content of your term paper should be in your own words.
- Unreferenced term paper content. Where, in the course of writing a term paper, you present the ideas of others, you must indicate where they came from with a reference. This is true even when you have stated the ideas in your own words or if the ideas or their sources seem obvious.
Bottom line: Write in your own words and reference the ideas you use to the sources you read them in.
Students who have a disabling condition which might interfere with their ability to successfully complete this course are encouraged to speak to me confidentially. I will be happy to cooperate in identifying alternate means of demonstrating such mastery where there is a demonstrable need.
Bottom line: I'm here to help.
It is your responsibility to ensure that all assignments are submitted by the due date. No late assignments will be accepted unless arraingements have been made with me in advance. No make up quizzes or exams will be given unless arraingements have been made in advance.
If you have a question I encourage you to ask it in class. There are no stupid questions; only answers that didn't need to be. If you don't know the answer to a question it is likely someone else is curious as well. Please ask. The worst that can happen is that I defer my answer to a meeting after class or during office hours.
If you have a problem in the class I encourage you to contact me as quickly as possible. Several means of contact are listed at the top of my Montclair State College home page (http://davis.foulger.net/montclair), including telephone, e-mail, and instant messenger. I also maintain regular office hours. Note, in particular, that I will not grant an incomplete for the course unless you talk to me about it in advance and I am aware of conditions which would make it impossible for you to complete the course on time.