Podcast Grading Rubric (Vandenberg)

Grading Criteria: You will be graded independently according to 4 of the 5 Canons of Classical Rhetoric (Invention/Content, Arrangement, Delivery, Style)*

1. Content: You introduced yourselves and offered brief context for the discussion. You spoke knowledgeably (comments were largely grounded in the assigned readings) and clearly oriented the listeners to the main concerns and questions you were addressing. You employed signal phrases to signal when you were paraphrasing, summarizing, or quoting the authors.  You posed intelligent and relevant questions to one another, and answered each other in an engaged and educated fashion.
2. Arrangement: You spoke fluently (few hesitations) and coherently (listeners could easily follow the conversation). If edits were made to the conversation postproduction (e.g., splicing out of material), they were not apparent to the listener. You may structure this as an interview/interviewee situation or just a conversation.
3. Delivery/Style: Volume was appropriate, background noises (e.g., the rustling of papers or movement of the mic) were minimized or eliminated, silences and “filler words” were edited out, main points were vocally emphasized (there was no trailing off or “upspeak” or vocal fry) the pacing was engaging (not too fast, not too slow), and you avoided sounding monotone or like you were reading. In terms of style, it was clear you were largely speaking rather than reading.

*As this is not a prepared speech, there is no need for the 5th canon of Rhetoric: memory