I took speech with Kochian winter 2015 and he was great, he always makes students feel comfortable and connects with them. Keeps the classroom atmosphere light and has great vibes.

If anyone is looking to buy the course reader he requires for the course text me at ********** -

I'd like to start off by saying TAKE THIS COURSE.

Professor Kochian is perhaps one of the friendliest professors I have had here, and contrary to what the previous post said, don't all I have to say is don't listen to a ridiculous, uptight student, who more than likely didn't get an A in the class.

I mean, who really considers the term "twerking" to be inappropriate? Please. Stop being so uptight and live a little. It's 2013. It's Los Angeles. Stop being such a snooze and get out and do something.

Anyways, Professor Kochian is an outstanding professor. Yeah, he can ramble a bit during the beginning of class, but whatever, it kills time. Additionally, he tells you HOW to improve your speeches. He ALWAYS has positive feedback for you, and always seems interested in your subject. He knows how to make your speech better, and he gives you constructive criticism.

Additionally, we all take difficult classes. If public speaking isn't your forte, then uh, obviously don't take it. This class is designed for you to learn how to give a speech. Don't get all butthurt just because you didn't get the grade you wanted, which, I'm pretty sure is what happened with this uptight sap that wrote the post prior to mine. If you can't give a speech, then go take a seat honey, go take a seat. No one needs an uptight person. Stop being boring.

If you are looking for a great class to take that is super chill, fun, and with a great professor, take this class! It's awesome. I had a great experience, and I'm sure you all will too! Definitely my favorite class of all the other terrible ones I took this quarter!

Go Professor Kochian!

Strengths (apparent)-
-Provides an easy course.
-Is lax on submitting assignments.
-Provides highly (read: unreasonably high) optimistic feedback.
-Connects with his students.

Weaknesses-
- Provides an easy course. The course, as taught by Professor Kochian, provides no challenge and has simple assignments in terms of workload and critical-thinking. Students, or I, felt no improvement by the end of his class and felt my time was squandered. Professor Kochian spends roughly half of the class speaking of his hard-to-believe encounters with celebrities and repeats, often, the massively immense importance of this class. It indeed is an important life skill to be able to speak fluently and confidently in front of others, but Kochian's instructions offered no semblance of any words of improvement. However, he did provide a total of two days of actual teaching where he wrote on the board about a scale of audience approval and of speaking anxiety. Two days.

On a slightly related note, it is very evident that Kochian focuses narrowly on one tidbit of a student's speech as he has immense difficulty recalling the substance of the speech. In a speech about the destruction of the ozone layer by fluorocarbons, Kochian remarked that the speaker's topic was very complex and scientific, "all about chemicals and cancers and what have you." In a speech on the life of Carl Sagan, Kochian once more remarked that the student picked a highly difficult subject with "black holes and planets and such". The student who spoke on the life of Carl Sagan did not mention black holes or planets in his speech. In both instances, as with many, Kochian offers a complete misunderstanding or lack of understanding of the student's subject. Instead of providing helpful, relevant feedback and constructive criticism, it was common for him to bully students about petty aspects such as their hands going into their pockets or speaking softly.

-Is lax on submitting assignments. So lax that he does not grade down students who fail to submit assignments on time or who submit assignments scribbled on wrinkled scratch paper (it is required that students turn in a typed Speech Plan before giving their speech). This is unfair. Students who do the very least amount of work are given the same grades as students who follow his instructions. Many students would submit their assignments a week after their speech and receive no grade deduction.

-Connects with his students by treating them like grade-school children. Kochian, daily, states things like, "Oh, these kids and their gadgets," or "what's that new dance that all you kids are doing these days? Twerking, I think?" (Yes, he actually stated this inappropriate term in class). Many of us, including myself, are honest-to-goodness adults with families and people we are responsible for. Being spoken to as if we are unruly high school children is inappropriate and highly unusual for a professor teaching at UCLA.

Aside from these demeaning and patronizing statements (there are many), Kochian fails to provide a nurturing environment for the learning of students. As stated before, most of his class time is him speaking about things that are not needed to be said. A simple statement is elongated into a five-minute monologue. Most offensive, was his inability to tie the class together. Because he would simply talk without need we would not be able to finish the day's speeches and have speeches moved to the next class session. He would also never allow us to work in groups or collaborate in any way.

On top of everything already said, Kochian is VERY unresponsive to emails and seems to forget about previously mentioned things.

Overall, this class was near valueless, very disorganized, patronizing, and unfair. If you're looking for the easiest "A" you will receive here at UCLA while not improving as an individual, this is the course to take.

I hope this candid evaluation results in immense change in both how this course is structured, and in how Professor Kochian instructs his future classes. As it stands, it is an embarrassment to what UCLA stands for.

What a great professor. Even if you aren't a Comm major or this course isn't required, you will have fun in this class. He's an incredibly funny and nice guy and goes to great lengths to get to know you personally and make the class bond.
He will ask you to buy a (rather expensive) course reader and pocket textbook. Don't waste your money.
As for the class, it consisted of delivering 3 separate 5 minute long speeches in front of the class that you write yourself. You are allowed (and highly encouraged) to use visual aid, notes, and virtually any other tool you want to improve your performance. You can pick pretty much any topic you want for the speeches (although the first must be a biolography) as long as you tie it in to the vague requirements. Topic select is important.
Kochian is a fairly easy grader and even if you are terrible at or terrified of giving speeches, he takes note of improvements and always always finds something positive about your performance and tells you in the kindest way possible what to work on.
There is one very very short and pretty insignificant paper you don't need to worry about.
Also, if you aren't able to get into the class, show up on the first day anyway and he will most likely enroll you, even if you aren't on the waitlist.
Overall, a terrific professor and a great class. Take him!

Comm St 1, Winter 2012

Professor: Interesting, like-able guy. He did something for a movie once, and I think he said he has a trophy wife or something. He came late to a few of the classes (not as bad as other reviews), but that's because of his commute. He's pretty lenient on tardy/attendance because of it. Listen to his advices/feedback after each speech and incorporate them to your's.

Work: Didn't read the assigned textbook, but he'll have a different up next quarter. I did go into the course reader every now-and-then though. He doesn't get into any theories (maybe only once in the beginning on ethos/pathos/logos), it's just straight to the speeches. The class is purely based on your performance.

Speeches:
1) Pass/No pass 3-4 minute ice-breaker for weeks - learn more about your classmates, it's pretty chill.

2) Graded Biography speech, week - mandatory use of visual aid (I would say not to go for the Powerpoint unless you have a technician-person in your class to help you set-up; he said he also doesn't like you to

3) Graded Informative presentation - optional use of visuals, but I suggest that you use them. Similar biography speeches.

4) Graded Persuasive presentation - Be careful not to make this an informative speech.

**Speeches/presentations might change in future class

Grading: He does not have a rubric. He has his own notebook where he writes down his notes and comments on your speech. He grades on Topic, Content, and Delivery. As other people reviewed, this is very subjective. For topic, get Kochian's okay on those days that he holds "workshops." For content, I'd say don't make your speech in one night, do it at least 3 days beforehand. For delivery, practice more than once, and make sure you're good on time. He wants "extemporaneous" (google it), but I think he's lenient on what constitutes as it. If you create a script, turn it into an outline-that should help.

Finals: A rhetorical analysis paper, but he did not input it's grade, so I'm not sure if he read/graded them.

I didn't get an A in this class even though I consider myself a decent speaker. This is probably because of Kochian's subjective grading. I didn't really try to get on his good side or go to his office hours, maybe that might have boasted my grade. Or if I went to a professor that had a set rubric (Miller), then maybe I might have gotten an A. He might be more lenient on athletes and/or 'improving' speaker, but I do not know for sure.

Professor Kochian is the best professor for Com 1, especially if you get nervous speaking in front of people, like I always have. I was dreading Com 1, but much to my surprise, it ended up being one of my favorite classes as a comm major at ucla. He makes the class really fun and enjoyable, because he truly wants everyone to do well. The mood in the classroom is always upbeat and engaging, making it a comfortable environment for all the students.

You give 3 speeches in total, none of them are supposed to go over 6 or 7 minutes, but when you are up there reciting your speech, time seriously goes by SO FAST! And you can always pick a topic that you are really interested in and that hopefully interests the class as well. He is not a fan of dull subject matter, but as long as your passion about your topic shows through in your speech, you will end up doing well...JUST DON'T GO OVER THE TIME LIMIT! That's where it can hurt your grade.

If you start of with a grade that you think is too low, don't worry, because each time you give a new speech you grade will improve. I started with a low B and ended up with an A in the class.

I REALLY RECOMMEND TAKING THIS CLASS WITH KOCHIAN!!!! DO IT!

My biggest beef with this class is that Professor Kochian emphasizes that you must "must, must" buy a course reader. The course reader has not been changed for the past couple of years. Get a used copy if possible. Unfortunately, there are none in the reserves. Professor Kochian is always late to class, and makes up some excuse for coming late. always.
The class is disorganized, but pretty easy. Bring homework with you always so you don't have to waste time listening to him repeat the order of who's going to present every day.
I don't know if this is the best class to take for Comm 1. He's not a great role model of a person who's extremely articulate (out of all the professors in the Comm department, I feel like he's the only one that doesn't deserve to be on the staff.), and the advice he gives you after each speech is softened down so he doesn't insult anyone. My friend had Bridgewater and loved him, and another had Miller and thought his class was great, so if you can, check out those classes.
Anyway, my class itself was pretty chill. The class size is smaller--maybe 30 people? We got to know each other well because Kochian was always late.
O, if you're an athlete, take this class, you'll probably get an A forsure, but if you're not, hah, Kochian does play favorites.

This class may seem intimidating at first, but once you get your first speech done, you'll realize it's not so bad! Professor Kochian is a nice & funny guy! The class itself is an easy A if you put effort into your speeches and practice! Make sure you choose topics that your class would find interesting AND the professor; definitely look at his course-reader and avoid the topics he mentions in it. Other than that you don't really need to purchase a new course-reader since he doesn't really update it much (from what I know).

Class consists of 3 speeches and one non-graded autobiography speech you do within the 1st or 2nd week of class. At the end you have a take-home final and a paper you write based on a speech you watch in person, on tv, or online.

Overall I would definitely recommend this class to anyone (even non-comm majors) because it definitely helps you improve your public speaking skills. Definitely take it with Professor Kochian! He's a really cool guy!

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

Even though I am not from America and my English pronunciations is not so good, this class helped me with public speaking. The teacher is very nice and always tries to give advice in a nice way. Everyone in his class has fun and laugh everyday. I learned I have to practice many hours for my speeches to make it sound good. I feel I improve a lot after this class.

About the course:
- Consists of 3 speeches of approx. 5min each, a paper, and a final.
- The speeches are: 1. biography, 2. informative about anything you want, 3. persuasive/sales speech. You choose your own topics for each speech.
- The paper: you listen/watch a public speaker (a church pastor, standup comedian, politician, etc.) and critique their speech.
- The final: was a take home final, consisted of 6 essay questions: 4 based from the textbook, 2 are self-reflection type questions.
- You get "workshop" days before each speech to ask questions and get feedback on your ideas. These are OPTIONAL attendance.
- In addition, you get to miss 2 days of any class (except for days where you are presenting your speech) without penalty.
- The schedule on the syllabus is very TENTATIVE. Days get moved around all the time, but you will always know what day you are presenting and will never have your day moved earlier.

About the grading:
- First of all, this is a performance based course. Any professor for this course will grade you based mostly on your speech/presentations. There will be a degree of subjectivity with this type of grading, but you can always tell a good speech from a bad one. With that said, Kochian does look for and considers improvement throughout the quarter.

About the professor:
- After each speech, you get immediate and EXTREMELY gentle feedback from Kochian about what you did well AND how you can improve. What he says is encouraging and very helpful. Listen to how you can improve because he will look for these improvements in your next speech!
- Kochian is NOT rude at all.
- He does NOT play with his phone during your speech - most of the time he is scribbling down notes about your speech.
- More than anything, Kochian builds your confidence in yourself in regard to preparing speeches and presenting them before an audience of ~30 students
- He cares! When you talk to him during workshop days (which are basically like group office hours), after class, or in office hours, he always asks about your life, what your interests are, career goals, etc. and tries to get to know you as a person. It's not just a Q&A convo like in other classes. He makes you feel like he is genuinely concerned about what you are saying.
- The only criticism about Kochian is that he may come 5-10min late to class during the first week or two and miss a few office hours.

Other stuff:
- For your first speech you also get anonymous feedback cards from your classmates - very encouraging also.
- The class usually runs the whole 1hr50min each time.
- Classmates are always very supportive of each other so don't be shy/afraid of standing up there presenting! You will always get an applause before and after your speech, and there are always people who make supporting sounds and laugh at your jokes during your speech (like "oooh" "wow!" "hahaha")

Tips:
- Choose a topic and run it by Kochian. Pick INTERESTING and UNIQUE topics. Be creative! If he says it's a good topic, go with it. If he doesn't look so happy about or seems on the fence, then try to think of something else.
- Use visual material in every speech. Powerpoints are very useful. Put in a bunch of pictures and maybe even video clips. Use the slides as your guide when you are speaking so you don't have to look at any notes. Kochian does not require you to memorize anything, but when you speak without using notes it just makes it look/feel that much better.
- MAKE SURE YOUR TECHNOLOGY STUFF WORKS!!! ESPECIALLY YOUTUBE VIDEOS AND ANYTHING THAT NEEDS INTERNET. NOTHING IS MORE FRUSTRATING FOR YOU AND FOR THE AUDIENCE AND FOR KOCHIAN WHEN VIDEOS/LINKS DONT WORK!!
- Don't rely on the ucla wifi...
- If you are speaking about something food related, nobody will complain if you bring in cookies, cake, coffee, etc as your visual aid..
- Practice your speech as you would present it (aka using the powerpoints, etc) at least once or twice and time yourself.