COMM 101 - Fundamentals of Communication

Dr. Lee McGaan  

  Office:  WH 308  (ph. 309-457-2155);  email:  lee@monmouthcollege.edu
  Home:  418 North Sunny Lane (ph. 309-734-5431, cell 309-333-5447)

Fall 2016 Office Hours:   MWF:  9:30 - 10am, 11am - Noon & 1 -2pm;  TTh:  2-3pm & by apt.  |  copyright (c) by Lee McGaan, 2006-2016

"My Community's Concern"

An informal speech describing a civic concern of your hometown  (2 - 3 minutes)


Goals:  ** To develop your ability to identify an issue of civic importance to people you know.
  **  To increase your understanding of your community and its concerns.
  **  To provide experience in explaining issues to members of the class by providing the context for an issue and the views of citizens in your community.
  **  To become more comfortable speaking to your classmates.

For this assignment, you will need to identify an issue, problem, desire or concern held by some, many or all of the members of your home community. You might think of this as a way to introduce us to your community by discussing what people in your hometown care about and why. 

Some examples of topics:

  •  Local food banks are seeing more and more requests from families but need more food to give.

  •  Community leaders are seeking to attract new businesses to the city in order to increase employment opportunities

  •  Young people have few job opportunities and leave town after H.S. or college.

  •  Arts and other programs are being cut from schools due to lack of funds.

  •  A major local employer recently closed hurting the economy of the town.

  •  Immigration has raised concerns among some citizens.

  •   Crime (or drugs or gun violence) remains a concern with no solutions.

  •  Taxes are rising and yet are insufficient to support ___ needs. (fill in the blank) 

  •  Adequate [health care, child daycare, nutrition, etc.] is in short supply.

  •  School quality is being questioned.

  •   A new community resource is/has been created (e.g. a building, activity, business, charitable event) that is changing lives

Key Elements of a good "Community Concerns" speech

  • The opening lines need to grab our attention

  • Following the opening lines, we need a clear statement of the main-point of your speech, the thesis.  The statement, presented early in the speech should be an assertion (typically a declarative sentence that MAKES A POINT and does so through the use of support material that illustrates and proves the point.  The phrasingof the example topics above are thesis statements.

  • A good "community concerns" speech will probably include three main points:  1) a clear explanation of what the concern is;  2) a discussion of the context, that is why people in your community have this concern (signiicance of the concern); and 3)  What is happening now in terms of responses to the concern.

  • Each point should have some supporting material that illustrates your main point and helps the class "see" what you mean,.  This material might include a story (used well by several students in the 6 Word Profile), quotations from your friends, family, newspapers, etc. that support your points, as well as facts, statistics and descriptions that illustrate your ideas.

  • The speech should end with a closing line that reinforces the main point (thesis) of your presentation and gives us a clear sense of ending to the speech.

Ways to go about constructing this speech: 

  • Based on your knowledge of your home community, think of one or more issues that some people at home care about. 

  • Contact one or more people at home who might be able to discuss with you the issue you thought of or who might suggest a different topic for you to describe.  Ask them to explain the concern to you as they understand it.  If you are in person or on the phone, take some notes.  See if you can get some quotations or a story about the issue that you can use in your presentation.

  • Keep in mind, 2-3 minutes is not much time.  You don't need a large amount of information.  The important thing is to be sure those of us in class can understand what people in your home town are concerned about and why.  Context setting, therefore, is the key.

  • Once you have the appropriate information, create an outline of your presentation that includes all of the "key elements" mentioned above.  Then prepare a notecard (5" x8") with your speech outline to use in giving your presentation in class.

  • Practice your presentation several times (at least 4-5) so that you know you will be confident and not way too short (under two minutes) or way too long (over three and a half minutes).

  • Do not, under any circumstances, write out what you intend to say word-for-word and attempt to read it to us. Just tell us about yourself in a conversational way.

  • Be prepared to present your Community Concerns speech on the day assigned.

  • As an alternative, you may redefine "community" as a different group, larger or smaller, than your hometown (e.g. neighborhood, region, state, etc.).

Evaluation:  Grades will be based solely on how well you accomplish the "Key Elements" listed above (excellent, good, fair, poor, missing).  I will give you letter grades. If you read your speech rather than talking to us conversationally, that will hurt your grade. This grade will serve as the "Introduction and Community Speeches" portion of your course grade assuming you completed the 6 Word Profile.

Due:  September 7, 9, or 12 (in class) as assigned.

Feedback form