Last Presentation Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

I am most proud of myself for completing Nanowrimo. It was a really intense experience and it taught me the most helpful things. For example it gave me two of my answers. It also inspired me to pursue writing in college and decide to put more effort into honing in on my writing skills.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.  What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?  Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

AE       P          AP       CR       NC
 I worked extremely hard on my presentation to make it feel as close to what I experienced this past year as I could. I dedicated a lot of time on making my set up creative and easy to understand. I believe that I deserve the AE because of all of this and more. I think that while not everything went as smoothly as I could hope, I still made a well informed, organized and creative presentation.

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

AE       P          AP       CR       NC
I think if you look at my blog alone then you can see that I have been putting a lot of dedication into my senior project. I have put in the mentorship hours, gone to see authors and tried to extend myself as much as I could, into the world of storytelling.

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
I loved that the EQ did not have a specific design, it made the experience much more enjoyable because I was comfortable with my EQ. I also really enjoyed my mentorship because it gave me a reason to go outside of my comfort zone. The interviews were also incredibly helpful and they pushed me out there into the open so I could experience new things surrounding my topic. 

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project?
I would go back and push myself to do more interviews, because they were so helpful.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

It has taken away my fears of having long presentations, that's for sure. I don't think I'll ever be nervous for presentations anymore. I mean, I wasn't really very nervous to begin with but from here on out there's nothing I can't handle. Also, it taught me knew ways to connect the information I have gathered from multiple sources. Especially when there are a lot of them.

Entrance

My dream presentation has hot drinks and no chairs!

I have seen a good number of senior project presentations before, and one of the things I like is that the presenter has full reign on the set up and location. For my own presentation, I really want to embrace that. 

The environment I want is what one of my writing sessions would look like. This means, hot drinks, pillows and blankets, and definitely on the floor. So here's a sketch I have of what i want to do:

-Have pillows/ blankets set up in the middle of the room in a circle similar to a large nest.

-Have all chairs and tables pushed to sides of the room except for four desks in the back.

-Have everyone enter through the back door towards the desks.

-On desks: Coffee and Tea/Hot Cocoa in already poured styrofoam cups

Idea!: 

• Have EQ on the cup sleeve.
• Have a towel for spills just in case
• Have a large tote for cleanup at the end of presentation
• Choose students to assist in cleanup/setup prior to presentation.

Answer 2

Me, when people ask for my best answer. I'm not ready to choose!

1.  What is your EQ?

"How does an author communicate who they are through their stories?"
2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

An author communicates who they are in their stories through setting.
3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

An author communicates who they are in their stories through characters.
4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

Personal experience- Reflecting on my own story from Nanowrimo, I can see now how much I relate to my characters. They aren't just random choices, they are a creation of who I am and who I would like to be. Their worst qualities are my worst qualities, their interests are my interests. even the world they exist in is mirrored off of what I know.

Other author experience- Looking in the book Glimmer Train I see that I am not the only author who has experienced this. There are lots of accounts where authors admit that they pose characters and settings based off their personal life. Sometimes it's harder to find but it's usually there. Lots of the authors interviewed in Glimmer Train will support my answer. 

Obvious Patterns in analysis-Obvious Patterns is another way of saying common sense. Or maybe I mean undeniable evidence. How can you write about something you don't know? How can you escape your experiences and past?

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

Glimmer Train-A book made completely of a wide spread of author's interviews.

NaNoWriMo-What better support than my own experience? I can share what I have felt, understood and written.

6.  What other source supports your answer?

Mentor, Alison Baker-My mentor is an author as well as a teacher. She has had nearly 16 years of higher education. I believe she qualifies as a source. By the way her answers are brilliant! I could pick her brain all day, but I will settle for our half hour meetings every Monday.

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.
I am rather confident in my answers, and I know that there are more possible answers that I should explore. I might do so, just to test out if they are more promising. But for now these are my answers.

  

Lesson 2 Reflection

I'm so relieved it's all over!

1.What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?
I am most proud of my hook and activity because they were giving me the most trouble when I was planning my lesson. I couldn't figure out how to involve them without boring them or not making sense. I din't want to ask too much of them but at the same time I didn't want it to be lame.
2. a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?
       AE       P          AP       CR       NC
     b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.
I think I deserve an AE because I think I did really well. My activity was fun and interesting and it reflected my whole presentation. I spent a lot of time putting together my answer and it took even more work to make the presentation flow more like a story than an infomercial. I did my best for it to seem more like a show than a presentation. Not to mention I spent a lot of time making that powerpoint pretty.
3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?
The power point, but i'm not keen to depend on a power point. The pictures definitely worked well, and so did having my EQ on all the important slides. I am thinking of just using pictures for my final presentation, like a slide show.
4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?
If I had a time machine I would go back and remind myself that the screen is a touch screen. I would have had less awkward pauses if I had just remembered that. The pauses made my presentation sound choppy and lame. I also might give myself a thumbs up and a hug so I could be less nervous while presenting.
5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be
Character, I am already planning it out.
other options might be:













-character personalities
-morals
-themes
-dedications
-word choice

Blog 11: Lesson 1 Reflection

Oh look, someone took a photo of my conclusion.

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?
I am really proud of the way that I presented, the quotes that I chose and the fact that I managed to not go over the time limit. I mean, I don't actually really remember much about the actual presentation, but that sort of comes with the whol social anxiety thing. But from what I do remember, I generally stayed in one place, I used hand gestures and I didn't stumble over too many of my words. So unless I did something stupid that I just can't remember, I would count this presentation as a win. 

I think the quotes especially made me proud. I really love quotes, and they are a key part to why I am so passionate about storytelling. I was glad that I had quotes on hand that acurately portrayed my passion for me. Which brings me to something else that I'm proud of, my definition of storytelling. I had just recently picked up that book, The Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede and when I read that quote "There are many ways of seeing. Each has an element of truth, but none is the whole truth."  I Knew exactly where it would fit in my presentation and after I started to include that part, everything started to fall into place.  

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.

I think that I deserve an AE on my presentation. When I first started planning it out I was a bit sad because it felt like and AP presentation. Then I realized that I should really be embracing my creative side because that's what story telling is about and so I rewrote it all and I was really happy with what I came up with. I really put the effort into making smooth transitions from quote to quote and I really wanted the audience to be as excited as I was to be participating in NaNoWriMo. I believe I met all the criteria, but I am not quite sure because like I said I usually faze out during presentations. I tried to go above and beyond in a lot of ways. First of all I dressed the part of a comfy, slightly dirty looking writer. Second, I tried to use more creative ways to explain my newfound knowledge, mostly through my quotes and books. And last, I think I deserve some credit for making a half hour long presentation of beautiful knowledge fit into less than ten minutes. 

3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson?  How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?
I would get a NaNoWriMo poster to put up and maybe set up a slide show of pictures of my mentorship and writing sessions/write ins. 
I can use this knowledge by actuallly doing it. Only problem is you have to pay for one of those posters and I am never photogenic during writing sessions. Oh well, I'll take one for the team.