College of Liberal Arts
Spin, Speak, Connect: How a Grad Student’s Classroom Activity Builds Confidence Across Backgrounds
Kat Reichert, CLA Public Information OfficeDecember 15, 2025cla-pio@alaska.edu
UAF Communication grad student Anne Moore turned classroom innovation into a published chapter this fall with the release of “The Impromptu Construction Wheel” in Communication Activities for the Classroom: Embodied Pedagogy Across the Communication Curriculum (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). The chapter is available through Springer Nature’s Link platform: Communication Activities for the Classroom.
For Moore, now an MA student in Professional Communication at UAF, the publication is rooted in her life story. Born and raised in the mountains of Guatemala, she has lived in six cities and traveled to 40 countries, and has long been engaged in work with historically marginalized communities across the United States. Those experiences, together with her move to the U.S. in 2020 and eventual settling in Alaska, sharpened her awareness of how culture, law, and policy shape everyday communication and classroom dynamics.
The spark for The Impromptu Construction Wheel came in the wake of the pandemic. “As a foreign-born professor, I noticed the dynamics in the classroom post-COVID felt awkward, and most of the students were shy,” Moore recalls. “I was looking for activities that would help me overcome shyness (especially in the first year of school) with the use of humor, while also developing communication skills.” She also saw how a prolonged period without face-to-face interaction had affected students’ confidence and sense of connection.
Her response was a fast-paced, low-stakes activity that gets students building speeches in real time. Instructors and students brainstorm potential topics, ranging from campus issues to playful prompts like whether cereal counts as soup, then load them into an online “wheel” and spin to receive a randomized assignment. Students either develop a barebones impromptu speech in just a few minutes or build a full 5–7 minute persuasive presentation to deliver in a later class, integrating ethos, pathos, logos, nonverbal delivery, and reflection on frontstage/backstage performance. “The primary goal of this activity is to promote creativity, address glossophobia [the intense fear of public speaking], apply the techniques of persuasion and nonverbal communication via an impromptu speech, and consider the role of dramaturgy in public speaking,” Moore writes.
Moore says UAF’s MA in Professional Communication has been key to turning that vision into publishable work. “The MA in Professional Communication has been instrumental in enhancing my own communication skills as a migrant in the US,” she explains, noting that the department’s mentorship, orientation, and strong theoretical grounding helped her refine both the assignment and her scholarly voice. Teaching Public Speaking at UAF has been “one of the most challenging yet rewarding aspects of the entire degree,” and it has helped her build confidence as a non-native English speaker in front of a classroom.
Beyond the chapter, Moore recently presented her thesis defense in early November, which explored how TikTok shapes immigration narratives from Latin America to the United States. She employed qualitative methods to examine power dynamics, opportunities, and challenges in those digital stories—work deeply informed by her own experience as a migrant and her nonprofit consulting with immigrant communities. Looking ahead, she hopes “to expand [her] research regarding communication among the immigrant and refugee community” and “develop more in-class pedagogical tools to help students and professors in a diverse classroom.” In sharing her activity with instructors worldwide, Moore reflects UAF’s commitment to student success, community-engaged scholarship, and communication that connects local and global stories.
About the UAF Department of Communication
The UAF Department of Communication offers a flexible BA in Communication, a MA in Professional Communication, and an accelerated BA-to-MA pathway for students ready to move quickly into advanced study. In small, discussion-driven classes, students explore interpersonal, organizational, and public communication while building real-world skills in speaking, writing, and digital media. With close faculty mentorship, research and teaching opportunities, and strong ties to Alaska communities, the department prepares graduates to lead in professions where clear, ethical communication matters.
Gifts to the UAF Department of Communication help students like Anne Moore turn innovative teaching ideas and community-engaged research into work that reaches far beyond our classrooms. Your support provides scholarships, undergraduate and graduate research opportunities, and high-impact learning experiences that prepare communicators to serve Alaska and the wider world. If you’re able, please consider making a gift to sustain this work for future Nanooks.
