Week 11 — Assignment (Adaptive Learning) · The Informative Speech

Course: Public Speaking — Fundamentals of Oral Communication (COMM 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Marchetti
Objective assessed: Objective 7 (informative speaking: types, strategies for clarity and retention, credible cited evidence, objectivity) · SLO A (compose & deliver a speech)
Worth 100 points · Speeches (Assignments) group = 25% of the grade
Format: adaptive learning — an AI speech coach walks you from specific purpose → thesis → research and credible cited evidence → outline → delivery rehearsal, then helps you score your own recording against the 100-pt speech rubric. First report line: STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100. You submit the coach's self-scored report (plus your chat link) and your recording.

Assignment 11 — the term's first full-length headline speech. You have learned every building block for this speech over the previous ten weeks. Now they go into one 4–6-minute informative speech that teaches your audience something real, using credible evidence you personally verified.

Part 1 — Student Instructions (read this first)

What this is. Your informative speech is a 4–6-minute recorded speech on a topic of your choice — one where you genuinely teach your audience something they don't know, clearly and without taking a side. An AI coach scaffolds every stage: finding and testing your specific purpose, building a solid thesis, researching and citing credible evidence, outlining, rehearsing, and self-scoring your recording against the rubric. Want a better score? Do another take — your best take counts.

The defining rule: an informative speech conveys knowledge. It describes, explains, or demonstrates. It takes no position and makes no argument that the audience should believe or do anything. The moment it advocates, it crosses the line. The coach will help you test your purpose and thesis against this line before you record.

How to run it (plan for 2–3 hours including research and recording):
1. Open any approved AI chatbot — Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT (free versions fine).
2. Copy everything in the box below and paste it as one single message.
3. Work through all stages with the coach. Research your sources personally — do not rely on citations the AI supplies without verifying them yourself. Record your speech (phone camera or Zoom). Watch your clip and self-assess honestly.

What to submit (three things):
1. The coach's report — its first line is STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100.
2. Your conversation's share link.
3. Your recording (upload the file or paste a link). The recording is part of the grade — the self-score is your honest estimate, and Prof. Marchetti spot-checks it against the clip.

Integrity note. Research your own sources; the coach helps you prepare and self-assess but must not invent citations for you. Submitting a report or recording you didn't make is an integrity violation.

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

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

You are my speech coach and grader for Week 11 of Public Speaking (COMM 1) at Silver Oak University. You will coach me through every stage of a 4–6-minute informative speech — from specific purpose to recorded delivery — then help me score my own recording against the rubric below and improve it with another take. You grade ONLY against the rubric below. Total possible: 100 points.

ABOUT THE SPEECH
- Goal: teach my audience something they don't know — clearly, accurately, and without taking a side.
- Target length: 4–6 minutes.
- Type: one of the four informative types — about an object, a process, an event, or a concept.
- Required: at least two credible oral citations to real, verified sources — spoken aloud in the speech.
- Organizational pattern: matched to the type (process → chronological; concept → topical; etc.).
- Delivery target: extemporaneous — keyword outline, conversational, not read or memorized.
- Thesis: a single declarative sentence that describes — it must NOT argue or advocate.
- Be warm, supportive, and honest. This is the term's first full headline speech.

THE RUBRIC (100 points) — grade against THIS, and teach me to hit each part. Do not show me the whole rubric as a block up front; reveal each piece as we work on it.
- Topic / specific purpose / thesis (20): informative purpose clearly formed (starts "To inform my audience about ___"); thesis is a single declarative sentence that describes without advocating; topic is narrowed to fit the 4–6-minute window.
- Organization / outline (20): clear structure with a recognizable introduction (attention-getter, preview), 2–3 well-organized main points in a pattern that fits the type, and a conclusion (summary + clincher); connectives and signposting present.
- Supporting material + oral citations (25): at least two credible oral citations (source + qualification + date spoken aloud); evidence supports each main point; no unverified or fabricated sources.
- Language (15): clear, vivid, audience-appropriate language; key terms defined; at least one effective analogy or example that aids understanding.
- Delivery — vocal + physical (20): audible and well-paced; eye contact (not reading); variety and emphasis; few filler words; extemporaneous style.

HOW TO RUN IT — go in STAGES, one at a time:
1. Greet + name. Greet me warmly in 1–2 sentences; ask my FIRST NAME and major/interest. (If I skip my name, continue, but ask before the final report.)
2. Stage A — Specific purpose and type. Help me choose a topic, identify the informative type (object/process/event/concept), and write a correctly-formed specific purpose. Test it against the three informative tests: (1) starts "To inform…"? (2) describes/explains/demonstrates, no argument? (3) could someone who disagrees with the outcome still feel treated fairly? Don't move on until we have a clean specific purpose and type.
3. Stage B — Thesis. Help me write a single declarative thesis sentence that describes without advocating. Test it: if it reads like an opinion or a "should" statement, revise it together.
4. Stage C — Research guidance and oral citations. Tell me I need at least two credible sources with oral citations. IMPORTANT: I must find and verify these sources myself — do NOT invent citations for me; do NOT provide specific statistics, author names, or publication titles as if they are real. Instead, guide me: suggest what kind of source would be credible for my topic (a government agency, a peer-reviewed journal, a university extension page), and describe the format of an oral citation (source name / author + qualification + date + claim, spoken aloud). After I tell you the sources I found and verified, help me write the oral-citation sentences. If I report a source the AI gave me without verifying it, warn me that AI-supplied citations may be fabricated and that I must confirm every source personally at the actual URL or publication.
5. Stage D — Outline. Walk me through building the keyword outline: specific purpose, thesis, 2–3 main points with supporting evidence and oral citations, transitions, introduction and conclusion. One section at a time. Check that the organizational pattern matches the type.
6. Stage E — Rehearsal. Have me deliver the speech (or describe how a rehearsal went). Give ONE or TWO specific improvements. Remind me: eye contact, pace, vary your voice on the thesis and main point labels, pause after each main point. Aim for extemporaneous — not read.
7. Stage F — Record. Tell me to record on a phone or Zoom (4–6 min). Watch it once before self-assessing.
8. Stage G — Self-assess against the rubric. Go criterion by criterion. For each, ask what I observed in my clip, then help me assign honest points and give one concrete fix.
9. Offer a re-take. Ask if I want to record again; if yes, coach the fix and re-assess. My BEST take counts.

Off-topic questions: brief answer, then — IN THE SAME MESSAGE — back to the stage.
Until the final report, every message ends with a question or clear next step.
Score HONESTLY — a reading-heavy, disorganized speech without cited evidence scores lower than a conversational, well-organized, two-citation speech, even if the content is rich.

CRITICAL — NO FABRICATION: You must never invent a source, statistic, author name, study title, or quotation for my speech. If I ask you for "a good statistic about my topic," you may describe what kind of source would be credible (e.g., "for a topic about sleep, the National Sleep Foundation or a recent peer-reviewed journal article would be strong sources") — but you must not provide the specific statistic, author, or date as if it is real. I must find and verify my own sources. Putting an AI-supplied, unverified citation into a speech is fabrication.

COMPLETION + REPORT. After I've assessed my best take, produce the report in EXACTLY this format — the FIRST LINE is my score:
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
WEEK 11 ASSIGNMENT — The Informative Speech
Student: [name] | Date: ___
Topic / specific purpose / thesis (a/20): [one line]
Organization / outline (b/20): [one line]
Supporting material + oral citations (c/25): [one line — note whether two verified oral citations were present]
Language (d/15): [one line]
Delivery — vocal + physical (e/20): [one line]
Strongest moment: ___
One thing to carry into the persuasive speech (Week 12): ___
(The five 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 — and don't forget to upload your recording." 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 Speech Rubric — 100 points (what the coach grades, and what Prof. Marchetti confirms)

Rubric total: 20 + 20 + 25 + 15 + 20 = 100. Levels describe observable behavior for consistent grading.

Citation-integrity gate: the supporting material criterion (c/25) is explicitly load-bearing — a speech with no oral citations to verified sources cannot score above 10/25 on that criterion. The coach must never supply citations the student hasn't personally verified.

Instructor grading note (Prof. Marchetti)

• Record the STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100 from line 1 of the submitted report into the Speeches group.
• Spot-check the recording against the self-score — the recording is the ground truth. Check especially: (a) were two oral citations actually delivered in the speech? (b) does the thesis cross into advocacy? (c) does the delivery score match what's on screen?
• Citation verification note: the adaptive coach is instructed never to supply citations; the self-score criterion for supporting material explicitly requires verified oral citations. Still: if a student's self-score seems high and their recording lacks oral citations, flag and adjust.

Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Assignment
title            = "Week 11 Assignment — The Informative Speech (adaptive)"
assignment_group = "Speeches (Assignments)"
points_possible  = 100
grading_type     = points
assignment_type  = adaptive
submission_types = [online_text_entry, online_url, media_recording]
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-11 assignment is the AI-coached, self-scored version in I-assignment-and-rubric-week-11.md. This file shows the same Week-11 speech built the traditional way — the student prepares and records the speech and submits it, and the instructor grades against the rubric — 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 7 (informative speaking: types, strategies for clarity and retention, credible cited evidence, objectivity) · SLO A (compose & deliver a speech)
Worth 100 points · Speeches (Assignments) group = 25% of the grade

The Assignment

Your informative speech is a 4–6-minute recorded speech on a topic of your choice. Your job is to teach your audience something they don't know — clearly, accurately, and without taking a side. You will be graded on the rubric below — read it before you write a word.

Build it in four stages:

Stage 1 — Choose a topic, type, and specific purpose.
- Pick a topic that genuinely interests you and that you can explain clearly to a non-expert audience in 4–6 minutes.
- Decide the type: is your topic an object (what it is), a process (how it works), an event (what happened), or a concept (what it means)?
- Write a specific purpose that starts with "To inform my audience about ___." Test it: does it describe or explain? Does it take no side? Could someone who disagrees with the outcome still feel they were treated fairly? If no, revise.

Stage 2 — Research and build your oral citations.
- Find at least two credible sources — library databases, official agency sites, peer-reviewed journals, established news organizations with named authors and publication dates.
- Verify every source yourself before citing it. Do not use a source an AI gave you without confirming it at the actual URL or publication. AI tools can and do invent plausible-sounding citations that don't exist.
- Write an oral citation for each source: "According to [source/author], [qualification], in [year], ___." You will say this aloud in your speech.

Stage 3 — Build your outline.
- Write a specific purpose and a thesis (one declarative sentence that describes, does not argue).
- Choose the organizational pattern that fits your type (process → chronological; concept → topical with analogy; object → topical by parts; event → chronological or causal).
- Build 2–3 main points, each supported by evidence with an oral citation.
- Write a full introduction (attention-getter, credibility/relevance, preview of main points) and conclusion (summary, memorable clincher).
- Aim for extemporaneous delivery — reduce the outline to a keyword speaking outline before you rehearse.

Stage 4 — Rehearse and record.
- Practice the speech out loud at least three times from the keyword outline, not from a script.
- Record your speech on a phone camera or Zoom (4–6 min). Watch it once before submitting.
- Read the rubric against your recording before you submit.

Delivery target: extemporaneous — keyword outline, conversational, eye contact, not read. No reading allowed.

A note on research ethics: Every source you cite must be one you personally looked up and confirmed is real. Citing an AI-invented source — even accidentally — is fabrication. If you're not sure a source is real, don't use it; find a different one.

Integrity & AI note. This speech must use your own words and your own verified sources. You may use an approved chatbot to brainstorm topic ideas, test your specific purpose, or practice delivery — but: (1) verify every source yourself before citing it; (2) write your own thesis and outline; (3) record your own speech. If AI helped you prepare, add a one-line note of which tool and how.

Rubric — 100 points

Rubric total: 20 + 20 + 25 + 15 + 20 = 100.**

Instructor answer key & model — REMOVE BEFORE PUBLISHING TO STUDENTS

The informative speech is chosen by each student, so there is no single "right" content. This model shows what a full-marks speech looks like in shape, evidence, and delivery; grade each student's speech against the rubric criteria, not against this topic.

Model informative speech (≈5 minutes), in keyword form (the student would speak it, not read it):

Topic: how sleep cycles work
Type: process
Specific purpose: "To inform my audience about the four stages of a human sleep cycle and how they function."
Thesis: "A single human sleep cycle takes about 90 minutes and consists of four stages — N1, N2, N3, and REM — each with a distinct biological function."

Introduction:
- Attention-getter: "You've probably had the experience of waking up feeling completely rested even after only 6 hours — and other times, groggy after 9. The difference isn't just how long you slept. It's where in your sleep cycle you woke up."
- Preview: "Today I'm going to explain the four stages of a human sleep cycle — what happens in each one, and why it matters."

Main points:
- I. N1 — the lightest sleep: the transition into sleep, muscles relax, easy to wake.
- II. N2 — light sleep: heart rate drops, body temperature falls, sleep spindles appear.
- III. N3 — deep sleep (slow-wave sleep): the hardest stage to wake from; tissue repair, immune support.
- IV. REM — rapid eye movement: dreaming, memory consolidation, emotional processing.

Transition: "So those are the four stages. Now let's look at how they cycle through the night and why the cycle length matters."

Supporting evidence and oral citations (model format — for instructor reference; in a real deployment, the instructor would verify each source before including it in any model distributed to students):
- Cite #1 (illustrative format): "According to the National Sleep Foundation, in its 2022 Sleep Health resource, adults complete four to six full sleep cycles per night."
- Cite #2 (illustrative format): "Dr. Matthew Walker, a sleep scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, explains in his book Why We Sleep (2017) that REM sleep is critical for emotional memory processing."

Note to instructor: before distributing this model to students, verify these claims at the actual sources and update with confirmed figures and dates. The National Sleep Foundation (sleepfoundation.org) is a real, verifiable organization. Matthew Walker's book "Why We Sleep" (Scribner, 2017) is a real published work. Verify any specific statistics against the actual pages before use in grading.

Conclusion:
- Summary: "So tonight, when you fall asleep, your body will move through N1, N2, N3, and REM — roughly every 90 minutes — with each stage doing something different to restore you."
- Clincher: "Now you'll know why the snooze button might actually be working against you — you're most likely interrupting an REM stage when you wake up naturally feeling rested."

Why it earns full marks: informative specific purpose (describes, no advocacy); descriptive thesis (not an argument); four main points in a natural chronological-process pattern; two oral citations with source + qualification + date; at least one analogy/concrete hook; extemporaneous delivery (keyword outline, eye contact, pauses).

Common ways students lose points on the informative speech:
- Specific purpose crosses into persuasion: "To inform my audience that everyone should get more sleep" → advocacy, not information. Revise to "To inform my audience about the biological effects of sleep deprivation."
- Thesis is an argument: "Sleep deprivation is a public health crisis." → rewrite as a factual, descriptive statement.
- Missing oral citations: describing research without saying the source aloud → supporting material criterion capped at 0–10/25.
- Paraphrasing an AI citation without verifying it: the AI invented the source → fabrication.
- Reading the speech: eye contact absent → delivery criterion capped.
- Too many main points: six half-explained stages instead of four well-explained ones → information overload, organization criterion affected.

Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Assignment
title            = "Week 11 Assignment — The Informative Speech (traditional)"
assignment_group = "Speeches (Assignments)"
points_possible  = 100
grading_type     = points
assignment_type  = traditional
submission_types = [media_recording, online_upload]
due_offset_days  = 6
published        = true
rubric_ref       = "week-11-informative-speech-rubric"
provenance       = "~ Prof. Marchetti's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com"