I wasn't always Lincoln.
As we scurry about frantically getting every little thing in order for next year's school show tours, we have welcomed someone new into our family here at Mobile Ed Productions. No, this little Michigan native is not a new school assembly performer, though who is to say he might not be part of a show in the future. Nor is he someone new joining our office team here in Redford, Michigan, helping to put you in touch with the best school shows in the country, though we do expect he will be hanging around the office quite a bit. No, this new addition is Mobile Ed's newest Dog of the Month!
We are celebrating a birthday here at Mobile Ed Productions today! Mobile Ed is, of course, located in Michigan where we were founded more than thirty years ago, and from where we have launched super cool school assemblies on tours taking them to most of the states in our country. But Michigan is our home, and today is the birthday of the State of Michigan!
I was out of the office yesterday in the morning. I went over to Northwood Elementary School in Royal Oak, Michigan, because our program Stronger Than a Bully was performing there. Since Stronger Than a Bully started out on tour on the road this year, this was the first time I was to have an opportunity to catch a live presentation of this great new and important school show.
We all know that kids need to learn about science. It is crucial that we train up a new generation of engineers and research scientists who will ensure that this country stay at the forefront in an area that is so important in this new technological world in which we live. But how do we get kids to be interested in science? Obviously, some kids have an innate curiosity about such things but for others... well... take my niece, for example. Start talking about science and her eyes roll back in her head as though I had just suggested we spend an afternoon watching paint dry.
For many years, while my own two children were in elementary school here in Michigan, I was the Dad in charge of scheduling school assemblies. I brought in a lot of different programs. The principal at the time was a really wise man named Jim Felix. Jim had been principal at our school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan for many years. A tall, Gregory Peck kind of fellow, Jim had experience and wisdom to be envied by any young principal. Every year I would meet with him and go over the programs I was suggesting, and listen to him fill me in on anything good he had come across and we would decide which shows to bring in for the school. Jim was always interested in the science programs. He said he believed that part of the reason our school did so well in science scores was that every year we hit the kids with at least one and sometimes two different science assemblies. Good ones. Not glorified “magic” shows, but real science like chemistry, physics, astronomy and so on. And it did, indeed, show up in the science scores every year. The students really liked science and wanted to learn more.
That is the key to science assemblies. It isn’t what facts the kids actually learn in the assembly that is important. What is important is that they see that science is not boring, not dry, not something to be avoided, but rather how exciting it can be to witness chemical reactions, or the effects of Liquid Nitrogen or to ride on a hovercraft. What is important is to give them an enthusiasm for the subject which will allow skilled teachers to then fill their minds through classroom followups. Science assemblies are like can openers for the brain. They open up a young mind so the teachers can then fill it with all the good stuff kids need to learn.
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN.
Read More
For many years, while my own two children were in elementary school here in Michigan, I was the Dad in charge of scheduling school assemblies. I brought in a lot of different programs. The principal at the time was a really wise man named Jim Felix. Jim had been principal at our school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan for many years. A tall, Gregory Peck kind of fellow, Jim had experience and wisdom to be envied by any young principal. Every year I would meet with him and go over the programs I was suggesting, and listen to him fill me in on anything good he had come across and we would decide which shows to bring in for the school. Jim was always interested in the science programs. He said he believed that part of the reason our school did so well in science scores was that every year we hit the kids with at least one and sometimes two different science assemblies. Good ones. Not glorified “magic” shows, but real science like chemistry, physics, astronomy and so on. And it did, indeed, show up in the science scores every year. The students really liked science and wanted to learn more.
That is the key to science assemblies. It isn’t what facts the kids actually learn in the assembly that is important. What is important is that they see that science is not boring, not dry, not something to be avoided, but rather how exciting it can be to witness chemical reactions, or the effects of Liquid Nitrogen or to ride on a hovercraft. What is important is to give them an enthusiasm for the subject which will allow skilled teachers to then fill their minds through classroom followups. Science assemblies are like can openers for the brain. They open up a young mind so the teachers can then fill it with all the good stuff kids need to learn.
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN.
School assemblies today? Forget it! The weatherman promised an inch of snow last night for South East Michigan schools, but he was wrong. Michigan schools in the lower peninsula awoke this morning to as much as a foot of snow. A foot of snow! It was over the bumper of my car! Now, being that today is Presidents Day, many schools are closed anyway, but some were scheduled to be open. Not anymore! Ohio schools, Michigan schools, Indiana schools ... schools from Texas to Pennsylvania are all closed today!
Based in Michigan, as we are, many of our school assembly performers are Michigan artists and teachers. It also happens frequently that performing school assemblies will get into your blood. A great school show performer, having worked for us for awhile, will retire to some other profession only to find they miss our odd little world.
