Reflection Paper On Communication 101

Upon finishing communications 101 I have reflected on my growth from the beginning of the semester up until now. I have learned how to craft and deliver a well written speech and how to apply what I have learned in class to my professional career. When I first registered for this class I was very scared. I was homeschooled most of my life, up until high school, and had not had the opportunity to talk in front of groups of people I didn’t know well. I did take a speech class in high school but it was very difficult for me because of my shy, reserved nature. I learned a lot in that class but since I was never comfortable giving speeches or being in front of the class, I thought that speeches were just not for me. This communications 101 class

As I said before, I was never an outgoing child. This class helped me, through experience, develop into a person that can confidently deliver a speech. After I was able to get over my extreme fear of public speaking, I was able to focus on my verbal and nonverbal skills. For my verbal skills my volume has always been a problem. Since I am a quiet person, I am constantly challenged to talk louder so everyone will hear and I can convey my thoughts with confidence. In my first couple speeches I received plenty of feedback that said to talk louder. When I felt more comfortable about my speech deliveries, I was able to focus on projecting my voice. For my nonverbal skills it was very difficult for me to have a good posture and keep eye contact. I got a lot of feedback saying that I should straighten up my posture and not sway as much. I forgot about this many times but for my final speech I actually wrote on my outline to not sway. This helped me remember to stand straight in order to present a more formal speech delivery. Finding the balance between memorizing my whole speech and only the main points was difficult for me. In my first couple speeches I wasn’t comfortable enough in my speech to be able to make frequent eye contact and not read off of my outline but in my final speech I wrote only the main points down and tried to deliver it as extemporaneously as possible. This is important because

I understand that academic journals give a much more credible source than many of the sources we would be able to find online but, with technology advancing so much and the internet expansion, I believe that finding credible sources without the use of the library database can be effective. These sources are much easy to read and convey to an audience because the people that write them are writing them for the average American rather than scholars or professors. Since we are giving our speech to fellow college students, I believe sources other than scholarly journals can be more effective.
In conclusion, this class has helped me be able to express my ideas in a clear, concise manner. I am now feel confident conveying my thoughts in ways that people will be able to clearly understand. This class has helped me gain a better understanding of how people communicate and how I can most effectively communicate with others. Furthermore, it has helped me overcome my