Has anyone taken a communcations/public speaking course at college?

[Vermillion]

If so, how was it? Describe your experience..
I know that a lot of majors require you take this, and I'm putting this off for as long as possible.

[Perad]

If I was in college I would like to take one.

Its slightly different but I hope to join a drama group in the new year. I'm looking forwards to the experience of meeting new people and improving my incredibly mediocre acting skills. :)

Why are you putting off the public speaking course? Yes you stutter but have you thought about the positive things you could take from it?

[Adrian]

If so, how was it? Describe your experience..
I know that a lot of majors require you take this, and I'm putting this off for as long as possible.

I managed to get a waiver for this when I was in college. Big mistake! It was this type of avoidance behavior that fueled my stuttering.

[Jimmy169]

I dropped it as soon as the teacher said we'd have to do a few presentations. You know how some classes go through the room to find out your name, basically they ask u to just say your name and a little about you. Well just that part of it made my heart pound so hard I though it would explode. I couldn't do it...sometime's I wonder though if I could do it even if I didn't stutter, honestly I just don't like presentations, I'll never forget when I was in high school doing one and I couldn't stop shaking, I thought everyone in the class noticed but idk if they did or it was just me, but my legs and everything shook so bad, I don't even think stuttering was an issue I was just shaking so much, lol.

[bwelling]

If so, how was it? Describe your experience..
I know that a lot of majors require you take this, and I'm putting this off for as long as possible.

Verm - when I took my business speaking class, I did all the speeches with great fear and trembling. I stuttered like crazy. My prof was proud of me. He gave me the final over pizza and beer. I got an A. Who could ask for more.

bw

[peebee]

i had to take a public speaking class. It was hell for me. I wrote about it a while ago so ill just copy and paste what I wrote !

The most embarassing moment I can remember was when I was forced to take this public speaking class and the class was pretty small so the prof would randomly ask people questions and start conversations, so when it came my turn i'd always answer with "I dont know" or give small dumb answers even though I actually knew what to say. A few weeks later he kicked me out of a lecture because I wasnt "participating", and then later after class when I told him I had a stutter he just blew it off and said "That's too bad" and reminded me that active participation was worth a good chunk of my final grade and I was failing..

oh and on a side note, I had to do 3-4 presentations and actually doing the presentations helped me a lot. I barely stutter if im reading off powerpoints now. I got a D in that class!

[chrish15]

Hi, I took a Communications class my freshman year in college, now a senior. It was defintely nerve wracking, we did three presentations, the first week of class I told my professor I stuttered. She said thats no big deal, just take your time. I actually ended up doing my informative speech on stuttering, made people more aware and informed on stuttering. It was actually a good thing for me to take my first semester in college because it got the jitters out of me, and definetly made it easier for speeches in other classes. I did great in that class. I actually decided to take another Communication class this semester my last semester in college before I graduate.

This one wasn't even required, its gone great as well so far, on the first day everybody had to say something unique interesting about thereselves and I said I stuttered. Has made it easier to just let them know, my first presentation was unbelievably fluent it was like a dream. I got one more this week, so I will see how that goes.

Good luck in whatever you decide, definetly don't let your speech hold you back, most college students won't laugh. Most with admire you for your ability to get up there and do it when you have such a fear.

[Charlieb]

I remember having to do a public speaking class in school, I'd stand up and get through about a quarter or my speech before the teacher would ask me to sit down, I used always hate him for that, even though I'd be sweating buckets by the end I still wanted to finish the same as everyone else.

These days I have to regularly get up infront of 100+ people and speak, If I stammer so be it. I just wish I could keep more eye contact.

I'm actually considering joining a local Toastmaster club in the new year, Has any here done this?

Charlie

[Dondiegojr]

I know how you feel. It took me three times to complete my speech class. The first time I thought that I would take it over the summer since the term is only 2 months, but I still ended up only being able to get through the first 2 minute introduction speech. Basically you just talk about yourself for 2 minutes, but it felt like 10 minutes and I never returned. The second time I signed up for it for the fall semester, walked up to the door, then walked away and walked straight to the adminstration office and dropped it. The third time I realized how rediculous I was being and just got through it. I could kick myself because after the first couple of speeches it really wasn't that bad. I got to know some people in my class and I felt more comfortable. Also I was under pressure because I had a scholarship to University and it was all riding on this class. So if I was you I would just DO IT because your not going to be able to graduate without it.

[Hattitude]

I took a speech class when I was at college. It was during the summer and the class only had 15 people so that made it easier. The teacher was also very understanding. I tried having all kinds of gimmicks like bringing in visuals so I could divert their focus away from me. That seemed to help.

I also hated the first day of class. I'd sit there in fear, worrying about saying my name.etc etc. But I did noticed that the more I stuttered on the first day of class the less I get called on by the teacher during the semester. So after a while I started to hope I stutter badly on the first day.

Group projects I'd always try to make a deal with the other members "I'll do more work, if you talk more during the presentation" Most people though would not have it and insist that we all do the same amount of work. However, they would always stress that I wouldn't have to talk much if I didn't want to. So it was cool.

[southpaw]

I took a speech class in college a year ago. Basically I practiced for countless hours until I had every speech memorized word for word (I find that if I have something memorized I almost never stutter) and I gave every speech fluently. However a few times during class we had to speak without preparation (introducing ourselves, class discussion, etc) and I stuttered as usual.