May 17, 2010
Today, I had the opportunity of giving a presentation at my old elementary school as part of the school’s big 50th Birthday Celebration. The entire student body was in attendance (grades K-6) which included 550 students (plus the teachers and staff). Isn’t it cool that during the school’s 50th year there were exactly 550 kids enrolled? What a coincidence. 🙂
I had a fantastic time speaking to the students today–they were a great audience. I started out the presentation with a few slides that showed the students in their “decades’ dances” at last week’s birthday party. Then, I went on to talk about my personal connection with the school which included my K-5 education and also my student teaching experience.
After that brief introduction, I began the heart of the presentation which was, of course, on writing. I covered the different types of writing (sports writing, journal writing, newspapers, magazines, recipes, jokes, comics, etc. etc. etc.) that people do for careers and for fun. Then, I talked more specifically about the type of writing that I do. I included information about 3 of my books that had a direct connection to Wilson School: The Backyard Flower Garden for Kids, The Backyard Vegetable Garden For Kids, and How to Convince Your Parents you Can Care for a Pet Chinchilla. For those books, I asked my nephew to come up and explain his role in the books. He had helped me complete some of the hands-on research and had allowed me to take his photograph for all three of the books.
At the end of the presentation, I gave each of the students a special Wilson School bookmark as a keepsake. As the students were going back to their classes, it was particularly fun that the sixth graders wanted to come up and look at my books that I had on display in the front of the lunchroom. And, it was also fun that a little first grader who recognized his picture from the “decades’ dances” slides came up to say hello.
I definitely appreciated the fantastic reception I received by faculty, staff, administration, and students at Wilson School.
What a fun afternoon and a memorable experience! 🙂
Below is a portion of my PowerPoint presentation. I removed the photos of the children’s performance since I do not have permission slips to post them online.
|
|