I have written before on occasion about a good friend and a truly magnificent school assembly performer, Toma the Mime. Toma was recently at Fisher Elementary in Speedway, Indianapolis. I just got off the phone with Kathryn Richards the principal there, and ... wow!
Fisher has had many programs from us over the years but in the past they have always favored the living history characters like Lincoln and Martin Luther King. And they have always loved them! But they had never seen Toma before. Toma does our Young Author's Day school assembly. And he is really good! Ms. Richards was so excited she could hardly finish her own sentences! She told me of veteran teachers who, prior to the show, were skeptical. What can a mime teach about writing? But after Toma had finished his school assembly program, the same teachers were beside themselves with excitement! The school uses the 6 plus 1 traits of writing plan and works very hard at it but had not found the “spark” to get kids interested in it. Ms. Richards told me in particular about her sixth graders and how they are usually too “cool” for school assemblies. But after the visit from Toma, these same young people were bouncing off the walls with excitement! Now the school plans to have Toma back every year as the very “spark” that was needed.
One last anecdote she shared with me. One particular student was so impressed with this school assembly that he went home and was up for hours reading and sharing in the stories posted on Toma’s Facebook page. The next day he told his teacher about his night. The teacher couldn’t wait to tell Ms. Richards. This particular student has learning disabilities and normally struggles with even the simplest of reading tasks. And yet this same student not only spent hours reading postings on Tom’s site, and posting some himself, he could not wait to share his experience with his teacher the next day! So.... just what can you learn from a mime? A whole lot it would seem! Kudos, Toma!
Well, I said this was about Texas school assemblies, and so it is! As I write, Toma is en route to Texas to spend a few weeks introducing students there to the joy of writing and creativity. There are still a few dates left open in his schedule, so if you represent a school in the great Lone Star State, and could use a little help in the writing department, give us a call. We have a school assembly tailor made for you! But don’t wait. Toma won’t be in Texas for long!

Get the news out! As of this week, Mobile Ed is now accepting orders for school assemblies at Indiana schools for the 2011-2012 school year.

Just a teaser here... Mobile Ed Productions will be making a great announcement in the next few days very relevant to the world of Midwest school assemblies and science assemblies. Stay tuned for details!

Normally I write about school assemblies and school shows, as school assembly programs make up the lion’s share of our business. Mobile Ed Productions was, after all, founded to help educate children through entertaining and educational school assemblies.

I have often commented on the affect of winter weather on school assemblies. Well this week has been a brute! Throughout large parts of the midwest school assemblies have been shut down due to schools closing. Northwestern Ohio and Northern Indiana were hit earlier this week with bad morning ice, causing countless schools to close and countless school assemblies to be rescheduled.

We have looked at State Educational Standards a few times now, examining how school assemblies can so strongly support what children are supposed to be learning. The last few times I used Kentucky as an example, but the results can be similar in any state. This time let’s look at Indiana instead, and instead of science let’s take a look at Social Studies, and, in particular, history!

Well, it’s December 17, 2010, and the year is winding down here at Mobile Ed Productions. At lunchtime today the office will close, and, with the exception of a skeleton staff, we will be closed until January 3. 

I wrote awhile back about Kathleen Day, a stellar performer for us who hails from the great city of Springfield, Ohio and performs Ohio school assemblies, as well as assemblies in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and other parts of the Midwest.

Travel is a regular part of the life of a school assembly performer. Professional presenters of school assemblies are regularly “on the road”, and these "road warriors" often rack up huge amounts of miles during the course of a normal school year. One presenter of ours who does not usually travel as often or as far, is our wonderful “Dr Exhaustus” himself, Jeff Hoge. Jeff is resident in Chicago and regularly performs in schools all around northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, with his own program on the environment, “Our Changing Climate” as well as with our creative writing school assembly program “Young Authors Day”. In addition, during the winter, Jeff handles our Living Lincoln assembly program.

So I was watching a commercial recently, and they had a Polar Bear walking slowly from somewhere out in the snow.
He came all the way into the suburbs of some city to give a hug to some guy who drives an electric car. It was cute. But I got to thinking... does an electric car really help the environment? Or does the manufacturing of the car create enough pollution
to offset the gains from not burning gas? Or does it make any difference at all? I am no expert so I really don't know the answers to these questions, but I know someone who can give me some really good information on the subject!