Ohio is just across the line from our home state of Michigan so, of course, a lot of our school assemblies appear at Ohio schools throughout the year. Every so often we will encounter a reporter at a school, either from a newspaper or a television station, and we are always happy to see them. Sadly, by the time the article appears in print we are usually gone from the area and so we seldom see our own publicity.
Recently, however, one of our school assembly presenters was in a southern Ohio school to present our television production school assembly program - “Lights Camera Action”. Derek McDonald, one of the gentlemen who presents that show was visiting at the Bishop Flaget school in Chillicothe, Ohio. He found himself speaking with David Berman, a reporter from the Chillicothe Gazette. Well David wrote a nice little piece about the program which you can read here:
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20110303/NEWS01/103030301/-1/7daysarchives/Bishop-Flaget-students-get-hands-chance-video-production
We are very proud of Derek. Derek hails from the great state of Tennessee and has been performing school assemblies in schools throughout the midwest for us for many years. He has many fans in schools in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Derek also presents our Character Counts school assembly “Inspector Iwannano”, and does a really great job. The great news is that next year Derek will also take on two of our other programs (two of our absolute best!), “Sky Dome Planetarium” and “The Earth Dome” (AKA Earth Balloon). We are certain he will bring great professionalism and flair to these fine school assemblies. The bad news is that next year Derek will spend very little time in the midwest schools where he has performed for so many years. Schools in Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky will have to fight over a small number of dates in September and January, as Derek will spend much of the 2011-2012 school year on the East coast visiting our client schools in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, New England and throughout the area around DC, Maryland and Virginia. So bad news for midwest schools but great news for schools on the East coast.
Regardless of where you are, whether your school is in Ohio or New York, Michigan or Virginia, the great school assemblies presented by Derek will provide an awesome experience for your school. He is a champion school assembly performer and we hope you will bring him to your school next year!

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

We have written before about Rojo, a truly inspiring school assembly presenter who has worked for us for many years. He currently performs our Character Counts assembly program - Inspector Iwannano - and also is one of our presenters for the portable planetarium Skydome here in the Midwest. But Rojo came to us originally to present our Martin Luther King school assembly, and he is still truly magnificent in that role and renowned for his presentations in schools throughout the Midwest. And that is what some students from Natcher Elementary in Bowling Green, Kentucky found out for themselves just recently!

School assembly audiences across the Midwest and on the East Coast are likely familiar with a great school assembly performer from Mobile Ed Productions named Robert Pirtle. Robert comes to us from Memphis, Tennessee and is a multitalented individual who offers schools a variety of school assemblies including Bodyworks (a program on human anatomy), The Magic of Science, Martin Luther King and Frederick Douglas. However, Robert is also a very skilled mime and carries our two mime based programs Young Authors Day (Creative Writing) as well as Mime Time a simple exploration of the entertainment and cultural arts wonders inherent in the practice of classical mime.

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!

April Showers Bring May School Assemblies, or something like that... more like January snow brings a longer school year. This winter has been tough and a lot of school districts are facing the prospect of a longer school year in order to make up the lost time. Sadly, in many cases, with the extra days thrown in at the end of the year it does not help schools prepare for testing which occurs in most states in the Spring. By May and June testing is usually done. School are looking for things to do. And with a longer school year, in some areas stretching into nearly the end of June, there is a lot of time to fill. 

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.

Mobile Ed Productions is based in the Midwest, sending school assemblies all over Michigan and out into other states all over the country. All year, every year, year after year. Including all through the winter. We have seen our share of snow days over our thirty-one years of existence!

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!

In an earlier entry (Science Assemblies - It's Been a Long Road) we discussed the rise of science school assemblies in Michigan and the Midwest through the actions and creativity of two competing companies, Mr. Wizard and Mobile Ed Productions. We also discussed how many employees have filtered through both companies over the years, and set out to start solo careers following a stint with one or the other of these two founding companies.