Spotlight On: Brooke Thomas at the American Educational Research Association Conference

By Avery Castellani and Brooke Thomas

On April 13th, student researcher extraordinaire Brooke Thomas and Dr. Bunten took on the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in Philadelphia. What they brought to the table was a carefully crafted presentation on elementary teachers' perspectives on preparing themselves and their students for author/illustrator visits. A conference experience like this has been a long time coming for Brooke, who's been with the team for over a year now. In this year, she's watched her fellow student researchers prep for previously covered conferences like NCTE, garnering advice along the way. With an occasion so momentous, it's only fair that we share Brooke's side of the story in a classic Q&A post. Find her responses from our conversation below!

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Q: This was your first ever research conference! How did you feel leading up to it? How did the team help you prepare? 

BT: I felt a bit nervous leading up to [it], but also excited to have the opportunity to experience this as an undergraduate student. The rest of the research team helped me prepare for the conference by working with me on the content and delivery of my presentation, offering feedback and words of encouragement. 

Q: Describe the setup of your presentation. What did it entail? Who else was there? 

BT: My presentation was held at a roundtable special interest group focused on learning environments. Our table was in a large room that had over 40 roundtable presentations happening at once! At my table were three other presenter groups, along with a chairperson that mediated discussion and timed presentations. 

Q: What impact do you hope your presentation had on conference attendees? What do you hope your audience took away from your presentation? 

BT: I hope that attendees of the conference were able to see the Busload of Books Research Project in the same way that I do. I hope that the information I presented was impactful and helped the others in my roundtable group consider their own research in learning environments in a way that relates back to the topic I presented on, teacher perspectives on preparing themselves and their students for an author/illustrator school visit, and that they can make connections between our research and theirs.

Q: What about AERA as a conference makes it a good place to share BoB research? 

BT: AERA is a great place to share BoB research because many of the presenters there are exploring some of the same interests or topics we are in our research! It makes you realize how connected different researchers and projects can be, while sharing your work that may have similar goals to others' work.  

Q: Was there anything additional you learned about our research or the conference process through preparing for this presentation? 

BT: While preparing for this conference, I realized how many different ways we can explore the research that we have already done! I also gained so much insight into how conferences function and all of the different presentation styles they have to offer.

Q: After giving this presentation, what are you looking forward to in the future regarding your role on the team? / What do you want to see this data achieve? 

BT: After giving this presentation, I am excited to continue working with the BoB team to explore the different things we can do with our data, what we might want to research in the future, and how new and pre-existing research could be related to our work. I would love to see our data inspire more research in this area, as well as be a resource for educators of all kinds to advocate for these kinds of experiences for their students!