DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Author Study Reflection:

 

Maria and I chose Patricia Polacco to be the subject of our author study. I had honestly not heard of this author before, but she turned out to be such an interesting person to learn about and I love her books. I think that Maria and I really took our time researching our author and making plans about what to talk about in the presentation. The problem that we encountered though was more with technology than anything else. Neither of us had created a Prezi before but knew this would be the best way to present the information, because it would enable us to both work on the presentation at our own convenience. Once we overcame that hurdle and figured out how to manipulate the prezi we were able to work well together and I think the actual prezi turned out quite nice. Our next obstacle was the fact that it took us several tries to record the audio to our satisfaction. It is surprising how nervous we were just to be recording our voices. We were so relieved once that was done. It wasn't until much later, after Maria had submitted the video that she realized that because we used the screen cast program, a viewer was not able to click on the links that we had included throughout. So, those had to be sent seperatley.  On the day of the presentation, I think that we had chosen two activities that were really a great represenation of Patricia Polacco and the common themes in her books. The class seemed to really enjoy the bird/ atrium activity. I think in a classroom this would be a fun activity that would allow the children to be creative, would make a beautiful display for the room and also give students insight and allow them to learn more about their peers.  Providing the apples and popcorn was Maria's great idea. I thought that was nice to incorporate into the activity because those times that Polacco spent with her grandparents provided much of the inspiration for her books. And quite honestly, who doesn't like a snack while creating art?   Unfortunatley, we were not able to have the class work on our last activity. Circumstances prevented Maria and I from meeting one last time before class to make sure we had everything situated, so the materials that we needed for the last activity were not availabe.  If we were to do things again, I think the only thing I would want to change is of course, having what was needed for the second activity, but also planning better for the in-class presentation. I thought that I would easily remember everything that needed to be said, but didn't realize just how nervous I would be in front of the class. It is strange that in my current position at the middle school, I often am in front of classrooms and even the speaker at assemblies and I do not get very nervous. But I did get quite nervous during our presentation, so it would have been better if I would have written a sort of script to help me stay on track. Instead, I feel as if I rushed through that part and didn't fully explain the meaning behind the activity.  Overall, I enjoyed learning about Patricia Polacco and also enjoyed sharing the information and the activities with the other students in our class. 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.