This is a bracelet my 11 year old daughter made for me for my birthday. I am also so impressed with her creatively and what she thinks of me. It makes me work harder to be a good Dad.
Even though today was my first day back from three days off from work, Emma asked if I would go see her and her classmates’ presentation at school today. It was part of the “rollercoaster” she helped build and I filmed — remember?
It was their big Egypt Three Kings Park presentation. They all had great speaking parts and her classmate Jacob was the most vocal by “projecting” as Liz and I would always instruct Emma and Joaquin whenever they read out loud to a group.
You know the instruction, you look away from your kids…you gaze, far, far away.
You imagine a spotlight illuminate you on a stage, in front of a packed audience. You pause, gather your voice and then slowly speak the words, “PROOOOOO….JECT.”
As you speak the words, you then with an open hand begin to trace in one fluid motion, the path your voice should travel up from your stomach, to your throat, out your mouth and to the furthest person in the audience.
Typically you repeat it a couple of times because by now your kid is either smiling at you or rolling their eyes…
I got there a little early and it was fun to watch the nervous energy about them as they were setting up…reminded me of what I probably look like when I’m getting ready for a presentation — only thing different was they don’t sweat as much as I do!
But it was eerie to see how the same process goes into setting up a presentation – whether at work, at a banquet or at school, there is still the same concerns with placement, visuals and presentation.
“We need a table!”
“Where are our pointers?”
“I’m almost finished! Hang on!”
After it was all set up, they walked out of the room, then came in doing the “Walk like an Egyptian” dance from the Bangles – it was playing in the background…that was my contribution to the presentation since the teacher was busy with the other kids. Nothing big on my part, I just hit play button on the computer.
I just can’t help not being part of the AV portion of a presentation!
The presentation was great, as I mentioned, they all had equal parts in speaking. I tell you, some of those Egyptian god names were tough! I don’t think I could have pronounced them! They also provided a drink from the region to all (including me), had maps to pass out, a PowerPoint presentation and an interactive game at the end.
I have some pictures I took with my iPhone (I didn’t want to bring my big camera and distract them) so they are not that great but I have posted them below. Click on them for a larger view.
As I mentioned, even though today was my first day back from vacation, I knew I had to attend since there was so much at stake — the bracelet and all!
I’m glad I did and I’m very proud of them.
Thanks for letting me share,
Beto