Journal #7: 

What have you been working on this past week? How have you been communicating with your partner? What challenges have you encountered and what have you personally done to overcome them? Lastly, what successes have you had along the way? 

This past week, Nick and I worked together to create an outline for a step-by-step guide on how to make a podcast. We focused on breaking the process down into four main sections: Planning Your Podcast, Recording Your Podcast, Editing Your Podcast, and Publishing & Distributing Your Podcast. Each section included three key points, but we only detailed the main ideas without diving into subpoints yet. We communicated primarily through shared documents, making sure to outline everything clearly so we could build on it in the coming week. A challenge we faced was organizing our ideas without getting overwhelmed by the details, but by focusing on the broader steps, we were able to stay on track. A success was finalizing the outline, which now serves as a solid foundation for our next steps in creating the full guide.

Journal #8: 

Reflection, Speech 2 Project: What have you been working on this past week? How have you been communicating with your partner(s)? What challenges have you encountered and what have you personally done to overcome them? Lastly, what successes have you encountered along the way?

This past week, my partner and I worked on refining our podcast guide outline and adding subpoints to each section. We also divided the content delivery based on our strengths: I took on the intro, planning, and recording sections, while Nick focused on editing, publishing, and the conclusion. We communicated through shared documents and messages, ensuring we were both clear on our roles and the flow of the presentation. One challenge we faced was making sure our individual sections tied together smoothly, but by reviewing each other’s work and adjusting as needed, we overcame that. A success was finalizing the details of our sections and feeling confident that we’re ready for the next steps in preparing the full presentation.

Journal #9: 

Watch your dry-runs and take notes on things that are working and places you might recalibrate/rethink before the delivery next time. Convert your notes into a 200 word “selffeedback letter” and post as JOURNAL # 9.

Watching my dry run video was honestly painful. I noticed a lot of things that I didn’t realize during the presentation. First off, Nick and I were standing way too far apart, which made our connection feel distant. I also found myself looking at the document way too much instead of engaging with the audience, which made me seem disconnected. I was also doing weird hand and foot gestures that were distracting, which is something I’ll need to work on. The most annoying thing, though, was the amount of times I said “um”—it was constant, and it really threw off the flow of the presentation. On top of that, when I’m nervous and concentrating, I make a face where my lips flatten into this unattractive line. It’s something I need to be more aware of, as it distracts from the content I’m presenting. Overall, watching myself made me realize how much work I need to do to improve my delivery and presentation skills. It’s definitely a wake-up call to pay more attention to my body language and speaking habits. 

Journal #10: 

Reflection, Speech 2 Project: What have you been working on this past week? How have you been communicating with your partner(s)? What challenges have you encountered and what have you personally done to overcome them? Lastly, what successes have you encountered along the way?

This past week, my partner and I focused on creating our slideshow for the speech and planning the props we would need. We decided to make the presentation visually engaging by including pictures of the audio recording equipment available for rent at the school library, as well as from our own personal projects. This helped highlight the resources students can use for their podcasts. We communicated regularly through a shared document to organize the slides and decide on the props. One challenge we encountered was figuring out how to showcase the equipment effectively without making the slides too cluttered. To overcome this, we simplified the layout and only included key items with clear captions. Additionally, I’ve decided to rent some audio recording equipment from the library to ensure we have high-quality sound for our presentation. A success this week was finalizing the slideshow and feeling prepared for the next steps in our project.

Journal #11: 

Journal Reflection as a Whole: Now that you’ve finished the project, what can you say about your engagement, process, discoveries, struggles, and successes along the way? (Time on task: 20 min) 

Looking back on the project as a whole, I feel that it went really well. Nick and I worked well together throughout the process, dividing the work in a way that played to our strengths. I really enjoyed the topic, and I think our final presentation and slideshow came together nicely. The images and information we included made the steps to creating a podcast clear and engaging. The only thing I feel could have improved the project was if we had more time to rehearse together. The snowstorm over the weekend and our conflicting work schedules made it tough to find time to meet up and practice. While we did our best to prepare individually, I think a few extra practice runs together would have helped smooth out our delivery. Overall, though, I’m happy with how everything turned out, and I’m proud of what we accomplished.