Welcome to Mr. Bertrand's Portfolio!

A Cluster of Words about Freshman English

Why we do what we do

Public speaking is the ultimate accountability instrument. When we study the political philosophy of government based on our understanding of human nature, we won't take lots of quizzes or a final exam. Instead, I will ask you to take notes and be involved in lectures and ultimately to demonstrate your understanding of the content by taking an oral exam – you'll have to tell me what you learned. No papers, no collages, no dioramas, no videos you post on Youtube. I will require a demonstration of your mastery of the content by placing you in front of your peers and starting a count down timer – no notes, no excuses – just plain old fashioned accountability. Sound stressful? Read this unsolicited testimonial by a young woman who graduated in the top 15% of her class overall and who earned an above average grade all three trimesters in freshmen English.

Click here to read Hayley Morrow's testimonial

A General Defense of Public Speaking and How I Grade It

Bertrand and MiloOf all the types of speaking we will cover, I will grade in two fashions. First, the memorizations are graded pass/fail/half. I require that Albert Einstein's words be recited exactly as he wrote them - Thomas Jefferson and William Shakespeare's, too. Just like being on time for your flight or reporting your taxes to the IRS or the phlebotomist finding a vein the first time, precision and accuracy are important. While these assignments are always worth less than the bigger speeches, they are still important and are graded as either 100%, 50% or 0%, depending on whether the assignment was completed on-time or late. Some students ask why they would bother to complete an assignment if the best they can do is earn 50%, which is still a failing grade? While it is better to have $10,000 than zero dollars, it is better to have zero dollars than owe $10,000. If you are trying to pass the class with 60% or better, and because passing the class is based on a average of all assignments over the trimester, having a zero percent averaged in for an assignment is vastly more damaging than having a 50% averaged in for an assignment.

The second type of speech, the ones that are always more numerically valuable, are graded on an A-F scale, with the scoring guides ALWAYS provided to, and explained for, the student.  In addition, I model both the memorizations and the larger speeches every time before the students are required to complete the assignments.

More on Speaking and Grading

How many of each type of speech are there?  Using the 2011-1012 school year as a reference, of the 13 assignments recorded over the first trimester, there was one 100 point memorization out of a total 1,284 points possible, making memorizations constitute only 8% of that trimester’s grade.  That same trimester there were three speeches graded on the A-F scale that, combined with the memorization, totaled 39% of the points possible that first trimester.  Another way of saying this: if your student refused, I mean actually didn’t even stand up and attempt not just one, but ALL of the public speaking assignments, but did really well on all the other non-public speaking assignments, they could still have passed the class first trimester with a passing grade of 61%.

Or take a student from third trimester.  Even with my Draconian “it’s got to be perfect or it’s an F” grading policy, and knowing that she failed four of the six memorizations (and by failed I mean that she failed on the first try and then made them up to a 50% grade before two weeks time had elapsed) she still earned an “A” for her overall, recorded-on-her transcript-grade for that trimester.  Want more?  A syllabus and my classroom rules are also available on-line.

Click here for the course syllabus

How to be Successful in this Course

There are rules... there are always rules... BUT at least there are only ten of them!

Click here to learn how to be successful in this class

Course Reading Materials

All students read

Honors students read