Book Talk: Student Oriented Curriculum

Overall, I found the book talk presentation to be interesting and intriguing, all at the same time. First of all, there was a lot of movement, which, especially that particular day, I really appreciated due to my hyperactiveness. I liked how the presenters gave us a chance to share our own experiences in middle school, but something I think I would have enjoyed more was the choice of whether to speak in front of the class like that or not. I was the student (and still am, depending on the situation) who froze up when asked a direct question, even though direct questioning was happening all over the place. I REALLY enjoyed the activity at the end, where we picked from the statement papers and wrote about them. Another aspect of the presentation that, I'm sorry to say, didn't really hold my interest, was the bit where we counted off and then later jigsawed. I found that the information was too dense even with the notecards to take notes with. I did see, however, that in addition to notecards, one group got a typed handout; I was extremely jealous and would have probably been less stressed out about sharing about my first group topics had I had a secondary notesheet to look back on.
Overall, I liked the way the presentation went; it was very relaxed and unrehearsed, which I find to be ten times more exciting than a 'practiced' lesson. I think I would have liked to see the 'Devil's advocate' point of view come out a little more for added variety, but in all, excellent job. :)