June 13 Presentation re-cap
his past Saturday, I was the guest author at the library’s weekly story time event, and afterward I ran the Magical Scale Challenge for the 3rd time. You would think I’d be used to this by now, but I still get stupid nervous. I had been fretting about it for days, and did the only thing I could do: rehearse my speech (which I continually change) over and over until my throat hurt.
Families started to file in. My good friend (and second assistant) showed up and we went over the “agenda.” And more and more families kept coming….After 60+ folks piled in (and spilled out into the main library), we began, because at that point, there’s no calling-in sick!
Although it’s hard for kids to sit through much, I was very impressed at how well this large group, which included some pretty young children, sat with their parents and listened. There’s always the usual squirming and crying, but a trick to keep me from getting distracted is that I rehearse in front of a TV that is on. That way, extraneous movement and noise don't phase me.
After I read the story, I like to spend about 3 minutes explaining where the idea of centipede dragon came from, and how I developed the character. Some folks don’t agree that I interject this, but I want to remind them to NOT ignore that all-important 2nd audience: the parents. When I do this talk, most often each and every adult eye IS on me…unless their kid is chewing on a book. My husband, who was taking photos, saw one parent text a picture of the original batik I show during the talk to someone.
You also might think it gets predictable to play the same game over and over again. But kids will always surprise you, as they did this time when they jumped in to help me with the last challenge of the morning: A star!
To every one of the kids who came, you are all my shining stars. Thank you!
Families started to file in. My good friend (and second assistant) showed up and we went over the “agenda.” And more and more families kept coming….After 60+ folks piled in (and spilled out into the main library), we began, because at that point, there’s no calling-in sick!
Although it’s hard for kids to sit through much, I was very impressed at how well this large group, which included some pretty young children, sat with their parents and listened. There’s always the usual squirming and crying, but a trick to keep me from getting distracted is that I rehearse in front of a TV that is on. That way, extraneous movement and noise don't phase me.
After I read the story, I like to spend about 3 minutes explaining where the idea of centipede dragon came from, and how I developed the character. Some folks don’t agree that I interject this, but I want to remind them to NOT ignore that all-important 2nd audience: the parents. When I do this talk, most often each and every adult eye IS on me…unless their kid is chewing on a book. My husband, who was taking photos, saw one parent text a picture of the original batik I show during the talk to someone.
You also might think it gets predictable to play the same game over and over again. But kids will always surprise you, as they did this time when they jumped in to help me with the last challenge of the morning: A star!
To every one of the kids who came, you are all my shining stars. Thank you!
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