Rest in Peace first speech course

Although I have taken a speech course before, for some reason I had more success in this one. Maybe it was how close I got with everyone or just being older, but I feel I have become more comfortable with public speaking. I was literally dreading this class, wanting to withdrawal before it even started. Now, I will probably take another speech course because I realize that it sometimes just take practice. In my previous speech class we also didn't talk about ethos, logos, and pathos, and we also were never taught how to relate to an audience. That made me think of it more than just public speaking but delivering a message. I am more aware of how giving a good speech is not just how you present but what you're presenting and how the speaker relates that to their audience uses rhetoric to portray the purpose of their speech.

Although I don't think my individual performance improved drastically in between the two speeches, I definitely feel that it's has improved from before beginning this class.

I know that I will need to use public speaking in my professional life, but I am also starting to realize from the recent group activities that I will need it if I plan to join any sororities or clubs.

As far as each of the speeches are concerned, I obviously felt more comfortable with the second one because I had already done the first one and survived, but I also liked the topic better. I personally hate talking about myself, it makes me pretty uncomfortable, so the second topic itself just took some nerves away.

Although I am not about to go out and look for opportunities of public speaking, if it came to a life or death situation, I feel confident that I would be able to deliver.

Now I Can CONFIDENTLY Say That the 'Last Lecture' Is A Great Speech

       When I reflected upon my first blog post, an explanation/analysis of Randy Pausch's 'Last Lecture', I realized that I still find the speech to be magnificent, and an example of what I someday want to be able to achieve. However, I feel now that I have completed CAS100A, I can better analyze Pausch's speech, and explain more knowledgeably, why it is so successful.
        I never mentioned Pausch's ability to gain ethos, within my first blog post. I mentioned Pausch's clear comfort and confidence, and the fact that he was speaking about a subject that he was qualified to discuss, but either I was unaware of the term ethos, or lacked the knowledge of it's connotative meaning. Randy Pausch undeniably succeeded in achieving a remarkable ethos, and that should've been discussed in my initial post.
       CAS100A helped to inform me of the proper way to construct a speech, and the basic techniques of designing various types of speeches. I had stated in my initial post that I wanted to be able to present a speech like the 'Last Lecture', but I never clarified what aspects of the speech I truly wanted to obtain. Now, I know that Language Style and Delivery are two of the '5 Classical Canons', and the two aspects that I admired most in Pausch's speech, even though I didn't really know what I was recognizing.      
        Clearly, the two speeches that I've presented in class were nowhere near the caliber of the 'Last Lecture'. I can honestly say that I strived to use correct, simple wording, a relatable tone, and appear confident and relaxed, like Pausch, when presenting each speech, though. I feel that CAS100A personally helped me to refine the skills surrounding Language Style and Delivery, like designing an outline, providing terms for the inferences I had never before known, explaining the connections between ethos, logos, and pathos, and identifying key points of analyzing an audience, but Randy Pausch provided an example, which inspired me to produce the best possible speech delivery I possibly could.
         In conclusion, now that CAS100A comes to an end, I remain to see the 'Last Lecture' as an admirable, well-presented speech. I feel more confident when analyzing the 'Last Lecture', and stating my opinion, now that I have completed a semester of speech class. I've been familiarized with the vocabulary, reasoning, and basic techniques of "speech-giving". Looking back, I would say that I'm lucky, perhaps, that I chose to post the 'Last Lecture' as my first blog post, because it did provide me with an excellent example of a speech, and helped me to design goals, which I held throughout the class.