Week 14 · Assignment (adaptive)

Week 14 — Fit the Moment: Build Your Special-Occasion Speech

Public Speaking Free sample edition

Adaptive assignment. This is the published, graded assignment: the student works it through with an approved chatbot and submits the chat link with the required summary. Its traditional alternative (no AI) ships unpublished beside it: read the traditional assignment.

Assignment 13 of the term — choose a real occasion, build a 60- to 90-second toast, tribute, or speech of introduction on one true detail, rehearse it twice from one keyword card, sort the roles in a group you know, and explain to a friend why a chatbot's "heartfelt" toast is not enough.

This adaptive assignment uses a coaching dialogue to help you turn a first attempt into clear, careful work on your own occasion speech. You remain the speaker and the author. The coach asks questions, checks the reasoning you show, and waits for you to revise before it produces the required report. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and Speech Workshop practice the same ideas from other angles; this assignment is where you put them together on a speech you will really give. It builds on Week 7's work on language and delivery: the appropriate words and the extemporaneous delivery you practiced there are what carry a short speech here.

The task

This week's shared example is the library toast and the planning committee, which are illustrative and attributed to no one. Chapter 14 builds them. The toast is a retirement toast for a fictional colleague, built as a keyword skeleton in four beats: a specific detail, what it reveals, a wish, and the raise. It has a 60- to 90-second limit, and the delivery self-assessment table's illustrative take-2 rate is 120 words per minute. The planning committee walks the reflective-thinking agenda and sorts five member lines into task, maintenance, and self-centered roles. Chapter 14 also walks through an illustrative chatbot toast whose lines fit any coworker anywhere and which adds an invented story about the day the colleague saved the holiday party.

Choose your own occasion for this week's graded speech: a toast, a tribute, or a speech of introduction for a real occasion in your life, such as a friend's birthday, a teammate's award, a coworker's farewell, or a guest at a club meeting, or for an illustrative occasion you describe. Do not reuse the library retirement party; that one is the course's example. If you speak about a real person, use only details you saw yourself or checked with someone who did, and leave out anything that person would not want said in front of a room.

Work these four problems, and show how you reached each one:

The library toast has a 90-second limit, and the delivery table's illustrative take-2 rate is 120 words per minute. At that rate, about how many words fit in 90 seconds?
The speaker self-assesses each of 2 recorded takes of the toast against the 3 criteria: occasion fit, brevity, and mood or tone match. How many criterion checks is that?
In the planning committee's meeting, 2 member lines are task roles, 2 are maintenance roles, and 1 is a self-centered role. How many member lines are sorted?
The toast has 4 beats, and the speaker delivers the whole toast in each of 2 recorded takes. How many beats does the speaker deliver across both takes?

Beside each answer, add one brief explanation, and use your own speech and your own group for the parts that ask for it:

Problem 1: name your occasion and the speech it calls for, a toast, a tribute, or a speech of introduction, by what you are there to do. Then plan your speech against the three criteria: occasion fit, brevity (your own time limit between 60 and 90 seconds, with an estimated word budget at a rate you choose), and mood or tone match.
Problem 2: deliver your own speech out loud twice, extemporaneously from one keyword card. Self-assess each take against the three criteria and name one moment that changed between the two takes. Then name one delivery choice, such as a strategic pause, where your eyes go, or your rate and tone, and say how it matches the occasion's mood.
Problem 3: describe a real group you have been part of, or an illustrative one, and write down three things members said. Sort each into task, maintenance, or self-centered roles and name its move. Then name one leadership move you could make in that group and the step of the reflective-thinking agenda it would help.
Problem 4: write your own keyword card, keywords only, built on one true, specific detail you witnessed. For a toast or a tribute, use the four beats: a specific detail, what it reveals, a wish, and the raise. For a speech of introduction, use the guest, the topic, why this audience should listen, and the welcome. Then, in the illustrative chatbot toast, name its two problems and the fix for each.

For Problem 2's two takes, you choose how to capture them: a video on your own phone, an audio-only recording, or no recording at all, with a trusted listener who tells you one moment that changed. You never submit or upload the recording itself, and you may delete it as soon as you have written down the moment you named. Nerves before an occasion speech are normal; a slow breath and a first line you know well both help.

Explain it to a non-expert

Your friend has to give a toast at a cousin's wedding and plans to read, word for word, a chatbot's "heartfelt" toast that includes a funny story about the couple's first date, a story your friend has never heard. Write a message of three to five sentences that explains, in everyday words, why one true detail beats a page of warm lines; the three things a good occasion speech does (fits the event, stays short, and matches the mood); why the invented story has to go; and one limit, such as only telling a story your friend saw or checked with the couple. Explain any course term in everyday words. More than one good answer is possible; this message is scored with Problem 4.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a coworker who will introduce a guest speaker at a team meeting and plans to spend most of the time on how long the two of them have known each other. Model answer: "Your job up there is to hand the room to the guest, not to tell your own story. Say what the guest does, what the talk is about, and why this team should care, and then welcome them by name, said the way they say it. Keep it to about a minute so the guest gets the time. If you mention something about them, make it something you know is true and that they would be glad to hear."

Use that pattern for your friend, with your own wording and examples.

Part 1 — Student instructions

Draft all four answers, the four brief explanations, your occasion and criteria plan, the moment you named from your two takes with your delivery choice, your three sorted group lines with your leadership move, your keyword card with your critique of the chatbot toast, and your message to the friend before opening a chatbot.
Open any course-approved chatbot. Copy the entire Coach Prompt box, including its first and last marker lines, and paste it as one message. The coach will ask for your draft and then work one question at a time.
Answer in your own words. Show your arithmetic when asked. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one answer or explanation, even if your first attempt was strong.
Never let the coach write your toast, your tribute, your introduction, or your keyword card, and never accept a story or a detail about a real person from it. If it offers one, decline, and use a detail you witnessed.
Never upload a recording to the chatbot. Describe your takes in words; the coach cannot see or hear you and must not pretend to.
Continue until the prompt's exit condition is met, then save the chat's share link and copy the final report exactly as the coach gives it.

The chatbot is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It must draw out your reasoning rather than write your speech, your card, or the message for you.

Coach Prompt

COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE
ROLE: You are a careful public speaking coach for an introductory Public Speaking course. Draw out and challenge MY thinking about special-occasion speaking and small groups: the three criteria (occasion fit, brevity, mood or tone match), the specific-detail principle, the speech each occasion calls for, the four-beat toast, extemporaneous delivery from a keyword card, the reflective-thinking agenda, and task, maintenance, and self-centered roles. Do not write my assignment, my toast, my tribute, my introduction, my keyword card, or my message for me, and do not invent work I did not show. Never supply a story, a detail, or a quotation about a real person; if I mention a detail, ask me whether I saw it myself or checked it with someone who did. You cannot see or hear me: never ask for a recording, never accept an upload, and never claim to judge a delivery you have not seen. Treat nervousness as normal and give no medical advice.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these four problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. The data: the library toast and the planning committee are illustrative and attributed to no one. The toast is a retirement toast for a fictional colleague, built in four beats: a specific detail, what it reveals, a wish, and the raise. It has a 60- to 90-second limit, and the delivery table's illustrative take-2 rate is 120 words per minute. The committee walks the reflective-thinking agenda and sorts member lines into task, maintenance, and self-centered roles. In the illustrative chatbot toast, the lines fit any coworker anywhere, and the chatbot adds an invented story about the day the colleague saved the holiday party.
PROBLEM P1: The library toast has a 90-second limit, and the delivery table's illustrative take-2 rate is 120 words per minute. At that rate, about how many words fit in 90 seconds?
PROBLEM P2: The speaker self-assesses each of 2 recorded takes of the toast against the 3 criteria: occasion fit, brevity, and mood or tone match. How many criterion checks is that?
PROBLEM P3: In the planning committee's meeting, 2 member lines are task roles, 2 are maintenance roles, and 1 is a self-centered role. How many member lines are sorted?
PROBLEM P4: The toast has 4 beats, and the speaker delivers the whole toast in each of 2 recorded takes. How many beats does the speaker deliver across both takes?
After the four answers, I must add a brief explanation to each one. For P1: my own occasion and the speech it calls for (a toast, a tribute, or a speech of introduction) named by what I am there to do, plus a plan that checks it against occasion fit, brevity with my own time limit and word budget, and mood or tone match; for P2, two takes of my own speech delivered from one keyword card and self-assessed against the three criteria with one moment I name that changed, plus one delivery choice tied to the occasion's mood; for P3, three things said in a group I describe, each sorted into task, maintenance, or self-centered roles with its move named, plus one leadership move I could make, tied to a step of the reflective-thinking agenda; for P4, my own keyword card built on one true, specific detail I witnessed, plus a critique naming the chatbot toast's two problems and the fix for each. I must then write a message of three to five sentences to a friend who plans to read a chatbot's wedding toast with an invented first-date story, explaining in everyday words the specific-detail principle, the three criteria, why the invented story has to go, and one limit. I must explain course terms in everyday words.

SCORING CRITERIA: Score only evidence I supply: accurate counts from the week's occasion and group examples (40 points), occasion and group reasoning (32 points), clarity for a non-expert listener (16 points), and showing the work and the evidence (12 points). For each of P1-P4, give 2, 1, or 0 evidence units per criterion; one unit is worth 5 count points, 4 reasoning points, 2 clarity points, or 1.5 showing-the-work points. Sum all four problems within each criterion. Count my final message only with P4, not again with P1-P3.
COUNT UNITS: A correct number of words, criterion checks, lines sorted, or beats delivered = 2; the right values with only an arithmetic slip = 1; a missing answer or the wrong values = 0. Do not penalize an alternative valid method or equivalent wording.
REASONING UNITS: For P1-P3 separately, an explanation that meets both parts named for that problem = 2; exactly one part = 1; neither = 0. For P4, BOTH my keyword card built on one true detail I witnessed plus a critique naming the chatbot toast's two problems with the fix for each AND a message to the friend that explains the specific-detail principle, the three criteria, why the invented story goes, and one limit = 2. If full P4 evidence is absent but at least one accurate substantive part appears, give 1. No accurate reasoning = 0; naming a term alone does not earn a unit. An arithmetic slip alone is not a reasoning error.
CLARITY UNITS: For each problem, labeled evidence understandable to someone who has never taken a speaking course, with course terms explained = 2; intelligible evidence that needs rereading because of ambiguity or unexplained terms = 1; absent or unintelligible evidence = 0. Include the final message with P4 if submitted. Missing reasoning alone does not lower clarity for otherwise clear submitted work.
SHOWING-THE-WORK UNITS: For each problem, the values, labels, or steps behind the answer shown so they can be checked = 2; a relevant but incomplete value, label, or step = 1; an answer alone or no evidence = 0. Visible evidence stays checkable despite an arithmetic slip.

Do NOT invent grading rules.

DIALOGUE RULES: Ask exactly one question per message and wait for my answer. Start by asking for my complete first attempt. Build each next question from my exact words. Probe an unsupported claim and ask me to examine its evidence. When I describe a detail for my card, ask me whether I saw it myself; when I describe a take, ask me which moment I would change and why.

ENGAGEMENT GUARDS: A greeting, copied prompt, yes/no reply, or one-word answer is not a substantive exchange. Do not flatter or accept agreement as evidence. Praise only a concrete move I made, and name the words you are praising. If evidence is missing, say what is missing and ask for it. Require a real revision plus a short reflection on why the revision is better. Do not issue the report early.

EXIT CONDITION: Continue until at least five substantive exchanges have occurred AND I have supplied all four answers and their brief explanations AND written my message to the friend AND revised at least one answer or explanation AND reflected on the revision. Stop only after whichever requirement happens last.

REPORT: After the exit condition is satisfied, output exactly these labelled lines in this order. Replace X with the exact earned score; it may end in .5 and must not be rounded to a whole number. Base every line only on evidence in this chat; write "Not supplied" for missing evidence and never raise the score for polished chatbot prose.
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
EVIDENCE FOR THE SCORE: [specific evidence from my answers and explanations]
REVISION MADE: [what I changed and why]
STRENGTH: [one earned strength]
NEXT STEP: [one concrete improvement]
Then tell me to submit this report, my revised work, and the share link.
COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE

Deliverables

Submit these three items in the assignment entry:

your revised work with all four answers, their brief explanations, your occasion and criteria plan, the moment you named from your two takes with your delivery choice, your three sorted group lines with your leadership move, your keyword card with your critique of the chatbot toast, and your message to the friend — written, or spoken and recorded as audio or video with a transcript, or sketched as a labelled outline with a written description; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria;
the coach's five-line report; and
the conversation share link.

You do not submit the recording of your takes; the moment you name is the evidence.

Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

This route assesses the same Week 14 skills — fitting an occasion speech to its job, its time, and its mood with one true detail, delivering it extemporaneously from a keyword card, sorting the roles in a working group, catching a toast that fits anyone and an invented story, and explaining all of it to someone who has never taken a speaking course — for comparable time and effort, about 60 to 90 minutes, the same as the coached route. Complete the same four problems, the four brief explanations, the two takes, and the message to the friend. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, criterion by criterion, and write a second draft. Add a 150–200 word revision memo that names one answer or explanation you changed, the evidence that prompted the change, and one question you still have. Submit the revised work, your completed criteria checklist, and the revision memo in the assignment entry; together they replace the share link and the coach's report. This route uses the same scoring criteria and the same points, with no penalty for choosing it.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

The counts, the explanations, your occasion plan, your takes, your group lines, your keyword card, the revision, and the message to the friend must be your own. Do not ask the chatbot to write your speech or your card, or to supply a story or a detail about a real person. Never upload a recording to it. Submit an honest share link from your own dialogue. The equivalent route keeps the same workload and evidence and requires no AI account.

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