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.

Storytelling

It can be surprising to find that people don't take your topic seriously. It can be even more surprising when you find people that you admire who think that you chose an "easy way out" with your senior project.

I suppose these ideas might originate in the topic name. I chose to use storytelling over words like "writing" or "reading". I did this on purpose of course, all word choice is important. I knew that writing and reading had more educational ties to it. They made you think of essays and required reading, they didn't give you the creative side. By choosing storytelling I was making a statement. My topic would be creative, it would not be restricted to educational and factual questions, and most of all it represented my passion.

That's what this project is all about right? Learning about what you love and teaching a class about it so that maybe they can learn too.

So that is my first assumption, but I'm sure not everyone looked that deep into my topic name. Maybe what set them the wrong way was the way I did my research. Literature is fluid, as I have said countless of times. I rely mostly on interviews and personal experience to find my answers. Writing styles and rules are constantly changing so all I can really do is try and discern what matters right now. But I assure you that I am working just as hard as everyone else to find and dissect my research. Maybe even a little harder, because nothing is ever laid out for me. Everything needs to be thought through and interpreted in order to be valuable research.

Or perhaps what really bothers them is the creative aspect of it all. It's really silly to even consider, but it's possible that they have a prejudice against creative writing and anything associated. People are often taught that there is no future in the arts, including creative writing. The assumption is that writers are wasting their time, poor, or still a child. I hate to think that anyone would be trapped by these assumptions. Storytelling is such an important and incredible thing! With out story tellers we wouldn't have plays, movies, books. We wouldn't even have television. (Well we might, but it would be totally lame.) So I really don't understand where these thoughts come from.

But I am not saying all this to try and make them understand. That's not my job. My job is to explore my passion for a year and share what I find. If they don't understand that, then they are welcome to my presentation, come May. I would be glad to teach them just a little about what I love.

Thoughts on Senior Project

I am so excited about senior project!! 

Lately I have been stressing about what I am going to do about my lesson. I wasn't sure how I could teach my first answer to my audience. And how could I keep them as I excited as I was about stories?

It felt like a chore rather than an opportunity to share what I have been learning. In reality, I am always waiting for someone to let me unleash the dam of built up excitement about stories. So why worry? The only thing I should be worrying about is how I am going to pick which things to talk about and which ones I cannot. The worst thing should be the thought of limiting myself.

Sometimes, I think that maybe my first answer is wrong. But then I remember that I am allowed to change my answer and that no one will tell me that I cannot. Then I worry that maybe I won't be able to back up my answer. But then I realize that nothing is concrete in literature. There are no set rules, not even to grammar and spelling. There are hundreds of possible interpretations to everything, which means that no matter what I decide, I can't be wrong. I just have to believe it.

My last thought just happened a few hours ago. I was reading one of my books, The Glimmer Train by Susan Brown and Linda Davies, which is an absolute gem. I was getting all bubbly because of all of the wonderful quotes when it hit me. I really like the senior project. Like, a lot. I always hear the other students complaining about how they are done with it and just ready for it to end, but I can't get enough. I am literally being given a grade to read books and talk to cool people. I get to spend a few hours of school every week just talking about what I love. And then at the end of the year I get two hours to share all of this with everyone else! How is this not something to love? The independent component is your chance to explore your passion however you'd like. The essential question is something that you truly want to know, that you get to explore for a year. This is such a good project!! All I have to say to those other students is, I'm sorry you picked the wrong topic. And to the teachers, thank you for giving us this opportunity, I appreciate how much work you put into this just so that we can enjoy school.