Week 5 — Assignment (Adaptive Learning) · Pattern Choice & Main-Point Skeleton

Course: Public Speaking — Fundamentals of Oral Communication (COMM 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Marchetti
Objective assessed: Objective 4 (organizational patterns; main-point structure; pattern choice and justification) · SLO A (compose a well-organized speech structure)
Worth 100 points · Speeches (Assignments) group = 25% of the grade
Format: adaptive learning — an AI speech coach walks you from purpose → pattern → main-point skeleton → justification, then helps you self-score your work against the rubric and strengthen it.

Assignment 5 of the term — a building-block task that directly feeds your informative speech (W11) and your persuasive speech (W12). You will choose an organizational pattern for a topic, justify the choice, build a main-point skeleton, and match several additional patterns to topics. No recording this week — this is a written structure assignment.

Part 1 — Student Instructions (read this first)

What this is. An AI speech coach helps you choose the right organizational pattern for a topic of your choice, build a clean 2–3-main-point skeleton, and justify the pattern decision. Then it helps you self-score your work against the rubric and gives you a chance to revise before submitting.

How to run it (about 30–40 minutes):
1. Open any approved AI chatbot — Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT (free versions are fine).
2. Copy everything in the box below and paste it as one single message.
3. Work through it with the coach: pick your topic and purpose, choose a pattern, build the skeleton, justify, and self-assess.

What to submit (two things):
1. The coach's report — its first line is STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100.
2. Your conversation's share link.

Integrity note. Do your own thinking; the coach helps you develop and assess your structure. Submitting a report you didn't actually earn is an integrity violation.

Part 2 — The Coach Prompt (copy everything in the box)

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

You are my speech structure coach and grader for Week 5 of Public Speaking (COMM 1) at Silver Oak University. You will coach me through choosing an organizational pattern, building a main-point skeleton, justifying my choices, and matching patterns to topics — then help me self-score my work against the rubric below. Total possible: 100 points.

ABOUT THE ASSIGNMENT
- This is a writing/structure task — no recording this week.
- I need to: (1) choose a topic and name my specific purpose (informative or persuasive); (2) choose an organizational pattern and justify why it fits the purpose; (3) build a 2–3-main-point skeleton where the points are distinct, balanced, and parallel; (4) match four given topic/purpose combos to their best organizational pattern. Be warm and encouraging, but grade HONESTLY against the rubric.

THE RUBRIC (100 points) — reveal each section as we work on it, not all at once:
- Specific purpose and pattern choice (25): a clear, well-formed specific purpose (one infinitive phrase, one idea, audience-centered) + the correct best-fit pattern named.
- Justification of pattern (25): a 2–4 sentence explanation of WHY this pattern fits this purpose better than the alternatives; mentions at least one other pattern and why it fits less well.
- Main-point skeleton (30): 2–3 main points that are distinct (no overlap), balanced (roughly equal weight), and parallel (same grammatical form); subpoints are NOT required — just the main points.
- Pattern-matching (4 items × 5 pts each = 20): match each of the four described topic/purpose combos below to the best organizational pattern from: chronological / spatial / topical / causal / problem-solution / Monroe's Motivated Sequence.

PATTERN-MATCHING ITEMS (use these exactly — do not change them):
PM1: "To inform my audience about the four stages of human sleep." → Best pattern: chronological (stages occur in a time sequence essential to understanding sleep cycles).
PM2: "To persuade my audience to donate blood at the campus drive this Friday." → Best pattern: Monroe's Motivated Sequence (the goal is a specific, immediate action).
PM3: "To inform my audience about three types of renewable energy available in California." → Best pattern: topical (three parallel categories of a concept).
PM4: "To inform my audience about why community college transfer rates are declining." → Best pattern: causal (the purpose is to explain a cause-and-effect relationship).

HOW TO RUN IT (with me, the student) — go in STAGES, one at a time:
1. Greet + name. Greet me warmly in 1–2 sentences, ask my FIRST NAME and major/interest.
2. Stage A — Topic and purpose. Ask me what topic I want to work with and whether it is informative or persuasive. Help me form a clean specific purpose statement (one infinitive phrase, one idea, audience-centered). Do not move on until I have a well-formed specific purpose.
3. Stage B — Pattern choice. Ask me which organizational pattern I think fits my purpose, and why. If my choice is wrong or poorly justified, ask a question that helps me find the right logic (e.g., "does time order matter here, or are you organizing by categories?"). After I have the right pattern, confirm it with a brief explanation of why it fits.
4. Stage C — Justification. Have me write 2–4 sentences justifying the pattern choice — including at least one other pattern and why it fits less well. Give feedback on whether the justification is specific enough.
5. Stage D — Main-point skeleton. Have me draft 2–3 main points for the body of this speech. Check: are they distinct (no overlap), balanced (roughly equal weight), and parallel (same grammatical form)? Give ONE specific, concrete suggestion if any of these three qualities is missing. Do not rewrite the main points for me — ask me to revise.
6. Stage E — Pattern-matching. Give me PM1 through PM4 one at a time, exactly as written above (the labels, the specific purposes, the answer options from the six patterns). For each: if I answer correctly, confirm and explain WHY in one sentence. If I answer incorrectly, give me a hint about the logic of the correct pattern without naming it — then re-ask.
7. Self-assessment. Walk me through each rubric section, ask me to assess my work honestly, and give feedback on whether my self-score is calibrated. If my self-score is too high (e.g., full marks for a weak justification), point out specifically what would need to be stronger.
- If I ask about the material, answer briefly, then return to the stage.
- Until the final report, every message ends with a question or a clear next step.
- Do NOT invent topics, statistics, or example speeches for me — my specific purpose, topic, and main points are mine.

IMPORTANT — NO FABRICATION: do not invent quotations, statistics, or "research" for my speech. The topic is mine; the structure work is mine. If I ask for a statistic to include, redirect me to find and verify a real one before citing it.

COMPLETION + REPORT. After self-assessment, produce the report in EXACTLY this format — the FIRST LINE is my score:
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENT — Pattern Choice & Main-Point Skeleton
Student: [name] | Date: ___
Specific purpose and pattern choice (a/25): [one line]
Justification of pattern (b/25): [one line]
Main-point skeleton (c/30): [one line]
Pattern-matching score (d/20): [X/20 — note which items were correct]
One thing that worked well: ___
One thing to carry into your next speech: ___
(The four scores must add up to the number on line 1.) Then say, verbatim: "Copy this entire report AND your share link to this chat, and submit both in Canvas for this assignment." End with one genuine sentence of encouragement.

GETTING STARTED
Begin now: greet me, ask my first name and major/interest, and start Stage A.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

The Assignment Rubric — 100 points

Instructor grading note (Prof. Marchetti)

• Record the STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100 from line 1 of the submitted report into the Speeches/Assignments group.
• Spot-check the share link — the coach's pattern-matching items (PM1–PM4) are embedded with correct answers, so a student who worked through them genuinely should have a PM score that reflects that. A student who skipped to the report without doing PM1–PM4 in the conversation is the failure mode to watch.
• The main-point skeleton is the most substantive criterion this week — look for genuine distinctness, balance, and parallelism, not just "three different-sounding points."

Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Assignment
title            = "Week 5 Assignment — Pattern Choice & Main-Point Skeleton (adaptive)"
assignment_group = "Speeches (Assignments)"
points_possible  = 100
grading_type     = points
assignment_type  = adaptive
submission_types = [online_text_entry, online_url]   # report (score on line 1) + chat link
due_offset_days  = 6
published        = true
provenance       = "~ Prof. Marchetti's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com"

Traditional variant — for comparison. This sample course is configured adaptive learning, so its actual Week-5 assignment is the AI-coached, self-scored version in I-assignment-and-rubric-week-05.md. This file shows the same Week-5 task built the traditional way — the student completes the work independently and submits it for instructor grading — so you can see both formats side by side. (Choosing assignment_type = traditional at course setup generates this style instead.)

Course: Public Speaking — Fundamentals of Oral Communication (COMM 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Marchetti
Objective assessed: Objective 4 (organizational patterns; main-point structure; pattern choice and justification) · SLO A (compose a well-organized speech structure)
Worth 100 points · Speeches (Assignments) group = 25% of the grade

REMOVE BEFORE PUBLISHING TO STUDENTS — this banner and the instructor answer key are for the instructor preview only. The student-facing version starts below the line.

The Assignment

This week's task is a written structure exercise — no recording. You will choose a topic, write a specific purpose, choose an organizational pattern, justify the choice, build a main-point skeleton, and match patterns to topics. Every part of this task feeds directly into the speeches later in the term.

Complete all four parts. Submit as a single document.

Part A — Your Topic and Specific Purpose (worth 25 pts combined with Part B)

1. Choose a topic you'd like to speak about — something you know something about or care about. It can be informative or persuasive.
2. Write a specific purpose statement: a single infinitive phrase, audience-centered, one idea, appropriately narrow.
   - Strong example: "To inform my audience about three evidence-based strategies for improving sleep quality."
   - Flawed example: "To talk about sleep and health and maybe persuade people to sleep more." (multiple ideas; not audience-centered; vague)

Part B — Pattern Choice and Justification (worth 25 pts combined with Part A)

3. Name the organizational pattern you will use for your speech. Choose from: chronological, spatial, topical, causal, problem-solution, or Monroe's Motivated Sequence.
4. In 2–4 sentences, justify your choice: explain WHY this pattern fits your specific purpose, and name at least one other pattern and explain why it fits less well.
   - Strong justification: "I chose topical because I want to cover three distinct categories of sleep strategies — they don't have a natural time sequence, so chronological doesn't fit. Problem-solution would work if I were calling for action on a systemic issue, but my purpose is to inform, not to persuade."

Part C — Main-Point Skeleton (worth 30 pts)

5. Write 2–3 main points for the body of your speech. Check each one against all three criteria:
   - Distinct: no overlap between points (they cover different ground).
   - Balanced: roughly equal weight (you could develop each with similar depth).
   - Parallel: same grammatical form (all noun phrases, or all infinitive phrases, or all full declarative sentences — not a mix).

Write your main points as full sentences in outline form (I. , II. , III. ___).

Part D — Pattern Matching (worth 20 pts: 5 pts each)

Match each of the following described topic/purpose combinations to its best organizational pattern. Choose from: chronological / spatial / topical / causal / problem-solution / Monroe's Motivated Sequence. Write the pattern name next to each item.

PM1: "To inform my audience about the four stages of human sleep." → Best pattern: ___
PM2: "To persuade my audience to donate blood at the campus drive this Friday." → Best pattern: ___
PM3: "To inform my audience about three types of renewable energy available in California." → Best pattern: ___
PM4: "To inform my audience about why community college transfer rates are declining." → Best pattern: ___

Integrity & AI note. This is your own thinking. You may use an approved chatbot (Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT) to check a definition or brainstorm, but the specific purpose, pattern choice, justification, and main points you submit must be yours — in your own words. If AI helped, add a one-line note saying which tool and how. (Note: this is the traditional format. In this course's actual adaptive assignment, you work through the structure with a chatbot coach and submit its self-scored report — see I-assignment-and-rubric-week-05.md.)

Rubric — 100 points

Instructor answer key & model — REMOVE BEFORE PUBLISHING TO STUDENTS

Part D answer key (pattern-matching):
- PM1: Chronological — the four stages of sleep (NREM 1, NREM 2, NREM 3, REM) occur in a specific time sequence that is essential to understanding how sleep cycles work.
- PM2: Monroe's Motivated Sequence — the goal is a specific, immediate action (donate blood at this Friday's drive). The five steps (attention → need → satisfaction → visualization → action) are designed exactly for this kind of call-to-action persuasion.
- PM3: Topical — three types of renewable energy are parallel categories of a concept (solar, wind, geothermal, or similar); they don't have a natural time order, causal relationship, or problem-fix logic.
- PM4: Causal — the purpose is explicitly to explain why transfer rates are declining (cause-and-effect relationship). Causal reasoning requires a real causal link, not just a sequence.

Model main-point skeleton (illustrative — for the topic "three evidence-based strategies for improving sleep quality," specific purpose = "To inform my audience about three evidence-based strategies for improving sleep quality"):
- I. Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule regulates the body's internal clock.
- II. Reducing screen exposure in the 30 minutes before bed supports natural melatonin production.
- III. Creating a cool, dark sleep environment reduces arousal and improves sleep onset.

Why it earns full marks: all three points are distinct (different strategies, no overlap), balanced (each could be developed with similar depth), and parallel (all are full declarative sentences about what a strategy does). The topic is illustrative — the specific example topics use plain descriptions of common, well-established health guidance; no specific statistic is cited here, so no verification is required.

Common ways students lose points:
- A specific purpose with two ideas ("to inform and persuade about sleep") → Part A/B cap.
- A justification that is one sentence with no alternative pattern considered → Part B cap.
- Non-parallel main points (I. The importance of a sleep schedule. II. Put down your phone at night. III. Your bedroom temperature matters.) → Part C cap.
- Wrong pattern on PM4 — students often choose "problem-solution" because "declining transfer rates" sounds like a problem, but the purpose is to explain why (causal), not to propose a fix.

Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Assignment
title            = "Week 5 Assignment — Pattern Choice & Main-Point Skeleton (traditional)"
assignment_group = "Speeches (Assignments)"
points_possible  = 100
grading_type     = points
assignment_type  = traditional
submission_types = [online_text_entry, online_upload]
due_offset_days  = 6
published        = true
rubric_ref       = "week-05-pattern-choice-rubric"
provenance       = "~ Prof. Marchetti's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com"