Week 14 — Assignment (Adaptive Learning) · The Special-Occasion Speech

Course: Public Speaking — Fundamentals of Oral Communication (COMM 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Marchetti
Objective assessed: Objective 8 (special-occasion speech types; occasion fit; tone/mood; vivid language; brevity; delivery) · 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 occasion selection → structure → rehearsal, then helps you score your own recording against the rubric and improve it with another take. You submit the coach's self-scored report (plus your chat link) and your recording.

This is the course's fourth headline recorded speech — a short special-occasion speech fitted to a real (or realistically-imagined) occasion. You've built a substantial toolkit this term; this speech calls on your ability to read an occasion and calibrate your language and delivery to it.

Part 1 — Student Instructions (read this first)

What this is. You'll deliver a 60–90-second special-occasion speech — a tribute, toast, or introduction of a speaker — fitted to a stated occasion. An AI coach helps you select the type, plan the structure, rehearse it, and then assess your own recording against the rubric — teaching you to improve at each step. Want a better score? Do another take.

The occasion options (pick one):
- A toast at a friend's or family member's celebration (birthday milestone, graduation, engagement, retirement)
- A tribute to a mentor, coach, teacher, or colleague who has made a difference to you
- A speech of introduction for a speaker you would actually want to introduce (a professor, a guest at a club meeting, a community member)
- Your own fictional occasion with a clear description (e.g., "a retirement toast at a campus event")

How to run it (about 30–45 minutes, including recording):
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: select the type and occasion, plan the structure, record yourself (phone camera or Zoom), then watch your clip and answer the coach's self-assessment 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. Do your own thinking, supply your own true stories and details, and record your own speech; the coach helps you plan and self-assess. The most important rule: the coach cannot invent details about real people for you. Any specific story or detail about a real person in your speech must come from what you actually know. Submitting a report or recording you didn't actually 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 14 of Public Speaking (COMM 1) at Silver Oak University. You will coach me through planning, rehearsing, and recording a 60–90-second special-occasion speech (a tribute, toast, or speech of introduction), then help me score my own recording against the rubric below and improve it with another take. You grade ONLY against the rubric below — never invent criteria or inflate scores. Total possible: 100 points.

ABOUT THE SPEECH
- Goal: deliver a brief special-occasion speech fitted to a stated occasion — a tribute, a toast, or an introduction of a speaker.
- Target length: 60–90 seconds.
- The speech must be fitted to its occasion: the right type, the right tone, the right length.
- Delivery target: extemporaneous — prepared and practiced, spoken from a few keywords, NOT read word-for-word and NOT memorized robotically.
- Be warm and supportive throughout. This is a personal speech; handle the student's material with care.

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.
- Occasion fit (20): the speech is clearly the right type for the stated occasion (toast vs. introduction vs. tribute) and its content, tone, and approach are appropriate for that event.
- Tone / mood match (20): the tone matches what the occasion calls for — warm, celebratory, reflective, energizing, or gently humorous, as the occasion demands; never generic or off-key.
- Organization (15): the speech has a clear structure appropriate to its type (e.g., for a toast: detail → what it reveals → wish → raise; for an introduction: hook → topic → credentials → audience reason → handoff).
- Vivid language / specific detail (20): the speech contains at least one specific, true, vivid detail about the person or occasion — not generic sentiment; the detail makes the speech feel real and personal.
- Brevity (10): the speech lands within the 60–90-second window and ends decisively (not trailing off; not running long).
- Delivery (15): audible, conversational, looking at the camera/audience, speaking from keywords (not reading), with an appropriate vocal quality (warm, energetic, or reflective) for the occasion.

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. Then ask about the occasion: what type of speech am I giving (tribute, toast, introduction), and for whom/what occasion?
2. Stage A — Select type and occasion. Once I've described it, confirm the speech type (toast, tribute, or introduction), and ask one question to clarify the occasion and the audience if needed.
3. Stage B — Find the vivid detail. The most important question in the whole session: ask me for one specific, true thing I know about this person (or this topic, for an introduction) — a moment, a habit, a decision, something they did. Help me sharpen it to one concrete spoken sentence. Do NOT invent a detail for me — if I have nothing, ask guiding questions to help me find something real.
4. Stage C — Plan the structure. Walk me through the speech's structure for its type, one beat at a time (for a toast: detail → what it reveals → wish → raise; for a tribute: opening hook → the key true thing → what it reveals → a forward look; for an introduction: hook → topic → credentials → why the audience should care → handoff). Have me draft keywords for each beat, not a script.
5. Stage D — Rehearse. Have me say the speech once (type it or describe how it went). Give ONE or TWO specific improvements. Remind me to aim for the 60–90-second window.
6. Stage E — Record. Tell me to record myself on a phone or Zoom (60–90 sec), then watch it once.
7. Stage F — Self-assess against the rubric. Go criterion by criterion. For each, ask me what I actually observed in my clip (e.g., "Did the tone feel right for the occasion — warm but not over-the-top?"), then help me assign honest points and give specific, kind feedback and one concrete fix.
8. Offer a re-take. Ask if I want to record again to raise my score; if yes, coach the fix and re-assess. My BEST take counts.
- Score HONESTLY against the rubric — encourage me, but don't hand out points I didn't earn.
- Until the final report, every message ends with a question or a clear next step.

IMPORTANT — NO FABRICATION: You must NOT invent details, stories, or facts about the person or occasion I'm speaking about. Any specific story or detail in my speech must come from what I actually know. If I describe a real person, do not put words in their mouth or invent things they said or did — those must come from me. If I use the speech in a real context, fabricated details would be embarrassing or harmful.

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 14 ASSIGNMENT — The Special-Occasion Speech
Student: [name] | Date: ___
Occasion type (toast / tribute / introduction): ___
Occasion fit (a/20): [one line]
Tone / mood match (b/20): [one line]
Organization (c/15): [one line]
Vivid language / specific detail (d/20): [one line]
Brevity (e/10): [one line]
Delivery (f/15): [one line]
What landed best: ___
One thing to carry into your next speech: ___
(The six 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 ask about my occasion.

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

The Speech Rubric — 100 points (what the coach grades, and what Prof. Marchetti confirms)

Sum check: 20 + 20 + 15 + 20 + 10 + 15 = 100. Levels describe observable behavior for consistent grading.

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 clip is ground truth. The embedded rubric keeps grading consistent across Gemini / Claude / ChatGPT.
• Watch for fabricated details: the coach prompt explicitly prohibits inventing details about a real person. If the speech's "specific detail" reads like something a chatbot invented (rather than something the student knew), probe the recording and the chat log.
• Known weak point (H5/H7): self-assessed grade is gameable; the recording is the check.

Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Assignment
title            = "Week 14 Assignment — The Special-Occasion Speech (adaptive)"
assignment_group = "Speeches (Assignments)"
points_possible  = 100
grading_type     = points
assignment_type  = adaptive
submission_types = [online_text_entry, online_url, media_recording]   # report (score on line 1) + chat link + 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-14 assignment is the AI-coached, self-scored version in I-assignment-and-rubric-week-14.md. This file shows the same Week-14 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 8 (special-occasion speech types; occasion fit; tone/mood; vivid language; brevity; delivery) · SLO A (compose & deliver a speech)
Worth 100 points · Speeches (Assignments) group = 25% of the grade

The Assignment

Deliver a 60–90-second special-occasion speech — a tribute, toast, or speech of introduction — fitted to a stated occasion. This is the course's fourth headline recorded speech. Prepare it extemporaneously (from a few keywords, not a script), record it, and submit the recording with a one-paragraph description of the occasion you chose.

Choose your occasion (pick one):
- A toast at a friend's or family member's celebration (birthday milestone, graduation, engagement, retirement) — real or realistically-imagined
- A tribute to a mentor, coach, teacher, or colleague who has made a difference to you
- A speech of introduction for a speaker you would actually want to introduce (a professor, a guest at a club meeting, a community member)
- Your own fictional occasion with a clear description

Build it in the structure for your speech type:

For a toast or tribute:
1. Vivid specific detail — one true thing about this person that the whole room can picture (not a generic compliment — a specific moment, habit, or decision)
2. What it reveals — what that detail shows about who they are as a person
3. A wish or forward look — one sentence about what comes next for them
4. The close — for a toast: a clear raising signal; for a tribute: a clean, resonant landing

For a speech of introduction:
1. Hook — a brief grabber that connects to why this speaker matters now
2. The topic — briefly, what the speaker will address
3. Credentials — why this person is the right voice on this topic
4. Why the audience should care — one line that makes it personal and relevant
5. Handoff — "please welcome [name]" (and start clapping)

Delivery target: extemporaneous — prepared and practiced, spoken conversationally from a few keywords. Don't read it word-for-word; don't memorize it so hard it sounds robotic. Look at the camera. Aim for 60–90 seconds.

The most important rule: the speech must contain at least one specific, true, vivid detail about the person or occasion. Generic sentiment ("She has always been supportive") scores lower than specific language ("She sent me a handwritten note the week before my first professional presentation"). If you're using a fictional occasion, the detail should still feel true and specific, not like a greeting card.

Integrity & AI note. This is your own speech in your own words, with details you actually know. You may use an approved chatbot (Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT) to help you plan the structure or rehearse — but the specific details about real people must come from what you know; the AI must not invent them. If AI helped you prepare, add a one-line note of which tool and how.

Rubric — 100 points

Sum check: 20 + 20 + 15 + 20 + 10 + 15 = 100. Levels describe observable behavior for consistent grading.

Instructor answer key & model — REMOVE BEFORE PUBLISHING TO STUDENTS

Special-occasion speeches are personal and occasion-specific, so there is no single "right" content. This model shows what a full-marks toast looks like in shape, detail, and delivery; grade students' own speeches against the rubric, not against this exact content. All persons and occasions in the model are fictional.

Model toast (≈75 seconds), keyword form — fictional occasion and person:
- Vivid specific detail: "The week before her first national conference presentation, Dr. Reyes sent every first-year student in our program a handwritten note — not a group email, a handwritten note — telling each of us one specific thing she saw in our work."
- What it reveals: "That is who she is — not just a brilliant scholar, but someone who pays enough attention to see you."
- Wish: "Whatever she builds next, may it be surrounded by people who pay as much attention to her as she pays to everyone around her."
- Raise: "Please raise your glass to Dr. Reyes."

Why this model earns full marks:
- Occasion fit: it's a toast at a reception — correct type, correct context.
- Tone/mood match: warm and specific, celebratory without being generic.
- Organization: all four toast beats in the right order; clean close with the raise.
- Vivid language: "handwritten note, not a group email" — the contrast is specific and telling.
- Brevity: keyword structure suggests ~75 seconds delivered naturally.
- Delivery: extemporaneous from keywords, appropriate warmth.

Common ways students lose points (watch for these):
- No specific detail — "She is a wonderful mentor and colleague who cares deeply about students" → vivid-language cap.
- Wrong tone — a solemn, eulogy-like delivery for a warm birthday toast → tone/mood cap.
- No close / no raise (for a toast) — trails off without a signal → organization cap.
- Running long — a 4-minute toast at a 30-minute reception → brevity cap.
- Reading — the whole thing off the screen → delivery cap.

Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Assignment
title            = "Week 14 Assignment — The Special-Occasion 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-14-special-occasion-rubric"
provenance       = "~ Prof. Marchetti's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com"