Week 3 Discussion — Passion or Audience, and Saying the Message — Traditional alternative (no AI)
Instructors: publish this instead of the adaptive version if you prefer, and unpublish or delete the adaptive one.
Hook
Every speech starts with two decisions most speakers make without noticing: what the talk is about, and what its one message is. This week you learned the three general purposes, how to narrow a topic through the four filters (purpose, audience, context, time), and how a specific purpose differs from a central idea that is said out loud.
Your discussion question — choose Option A or Option B; they carry the same weight and the same rubric, and you say which you picked.
Option A: Passion or audience: when you choose a speech topic, should you start from what you care about most, or from what your audience most needs to hear? Some people say a speaker who loves the topic will carry any room; others say a topic that ignores the listeners fails no matter how much the speaker cares. Take a position, support it with a real speech you have given or will give (a class, a team, a club, a workplace, a family gathering), and use at least one of the four narrowing filters accurately.
Option B: Say it early or let them find it? Some speakers state the central idea out loud near the end of the introduction; others hold the message back so listeners discover it. Think of a real talk you heard or gave. Say what its central idea was, or what it should have been, and take a position on whether stating it early helped, or would have helped, those listeners.
There is no single right answer here. A class speech, a team huddle, or a family toast can each be argued well in more than one direction. Pick one you actually remember, and tell us about it.
Expectations
Activity format: one initial post followed by two substantive peer replies. Plan on about 45 minutes across the two deadlines; your instructor sets both due dates in Canvas.
Your initial post — by the first due date (early in the module week):
- Say which option you chose.
- For Option A, describe a real speech, say how its topic was chosen, run it through at least one of the four filters, and take a position on whether passion or audience should lead. For Option B, describe the real talk, state its central idea as one declarative sentence (or the one it should have had), and take a position on whether saying it early helped or would have helped.
- Use at least two of this week's terms (general purpose, topic, specific purpose, central idea, a narrowing filter) correctly.
- Say what you would do differently next time when you choose a topic or state a message, and why.
- Describe speeches and talks by what was said and done; never name or describe a real classmate, coworker, or family member.
- Length: roughly 150–250 words if written. You may instead record your post as audio or video (about two minutes) and attach a transcript; both forms are scored by the same rubric.
Your replies — by the second due date (the end of the module week):
- Reply substantively to at least two classmates.
- A substantive reply does more than agree: point to a filter the poster did not use and show how it changes the topic, offer the poster's central idea back as one declarative sentence and ask whether it fits, or name the strongest objection to their position. "Nice post!" on its own does not count.
What a strong post looks like (an illustrative example, attributed to no one):
I chose Option A. For my informative speech, I started with what I love: rock climbing. But the audience filter changed my mind about the angle. Most of my classmates have never climbed, and some are nervous about heights, so a talk on advanced routes would lose them. I narrowed it to how a beginner's first indoor climbing session works, which fits five minutes. I think passion should pick the subject and the audience should pick the angle. Next time I would run the audience filter before I write a single note, because it saved me from a speech only climbers would follow.
Notice how it names a real speech, uses a filter accurately, takes a position, and says what would change. That is the bar.
Participation rubric
This discussion is worth 10 points. The three criteria below look at your initial post and your peer replies.
| Criterion | Full credit | Partial credit | No credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality of the initial post (4 pts) | A real, specific speech or talk, a clear position on the chosen option, and at least one reason tied to a detail of that speech | A speech or talk is described, but the position is vague or asserted without a reason | Missing, off-topic, or no reasoning about the speech |
| Use of course concepts (3 pts) | Names at least two course terms (such as a narrowing filter, the specific purpose, or the central idea) and uses them accurately | Uses a term loosely or with a small error, such as calling a topic a specific purpose | No course terms, or used incorrectly |
| Engagement with peers (3 pts) | Two or more substantive replies that extend or challenge a classmate's reasoning | One substantive reply, or replies that only agree | No replies, or "I agree" with nothing added |
Post early if you can — the best threads happen when people have time to reply before the second due date.
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