Smart Librarians

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

September 22, 2016

Every Thursday, you’ll get this short, fun, relevant newsletter. It will contain a quote or smile about the library and those who love it, an idea you can use to promote your library or reading in general, and an occasional shameless plug for the programs I offer. Enjoy!

If you are new to us or have missed any previous issues, you can read them all at www.smartlibrarians.com. And please tell your friends about it!

In this issue:

Bryan Davis Rocks!

Quotable

Speak Up in Staff Meeting!

Alabama Library Expo Report!

Bryan Davis Rocks!

One of the highlights of this week has been to spend some time with author Bryan Davis (www.daviscrossing.com). He writes fantasy epics for older children and teens (and occasionally for grownups!).

He talked this week about some of the letters he has gotten from teens who have been inspired by his books. One in particular was a girl who had been sexually abused and by reading about the strong female hero of one of his books, gained the courage to stand up to her abuser and report him. He’s now in jail and the girl is a young woman who is pursuing creative writing as a college student. Just hearing him tell of the impact of story as a life changer gave me chills – every time I heard him tell it!

One hero in this story that was overlooked? The MEDIA SPECIALIST who selected and processed the book and made it available to this young lady. You serve as the pipeline between authors of inspiring literature and the kids whose lives are changed by the power of a book!

You are making a difference today for your students! Keep up the good work!

Quotable!

"I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved."

-- Barbara Kingsolver, novelist

Encouraging reading – from 45 Ideas in 45 Minutes – Getting Resources to Teachers

#38. Ask your principal for a full one hour session in pre-planning (or a 3 minute Spotlight on Media Center Resources in every staff meeting!) to tell/remind teachers of the great resources available. When you remind teachers what resources you have (or tell them about them for the first time) you can make them more effective teachers and become an indispensable part of the team. They need to know that the media center is not just for the students, but that you have a lot to offer them as well. You can do it one big session, but it would probably be more effective in bite-size, time relevant doses at the point of need.

Alabama Library Expo

I had so much fun sharing 45 Ideas in 45 Minutes with nearly 500 media specialists this week at the Alabama Library Expo! I made some new friends and saw a lot of folks I have known for a while. And we have added over 100 people to the Smart Librarians newsletter list! Welcome! (BTW, I can come to YOUR county or region and lead a professional development session. Check it out on my website!)

Encouraging kids to read, I am
Tommy Johns
Educational Entertainment Specialist

PS – Don’t forget to share this newsletter and blog with your colleagues!

www.TommyJohnsPresents.com
tommy@tommyjohnspresents.com
Call 770-315-3339 or Toll Free at (866) 490-READ
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Your peers appreciate your advice about quality programs. Please tell them about your experience working with us. Our best sales people are our many loyal clients.

You are receiving this newsletter because you have attended one of my workshops, invited me to your school, or registered for a free half day of assemblies at a conference. If you’d like to unsubscribe, simply click reply and let me know. Have a WONDER-Filled Day!

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Gary Paulsen thinks you are AMAZING!

September 15, 2016

If you are new to us or have missed any previous issues, you can read them all at www.smartlibrarians.com. And please tell your friends about it!

In this issue:

Gary Paulsen Inspired!

Quotable

How to impress your teachers!

Alabama Library Expo!

Gary Paulsen Inspired!

I had the privilege a few years ago to perform “I Love to Read!” at a community wide library event where Gary Paulsen was the featured speaker. He has had over 200 books published and is a real rock star in contemporary children’s literature. He had some hilarious stories to tell, but my favorite 3 minutes of the whole day was when he told how his life changed forever at the library.

"One night, in a small Minnesota town (Thief River Falls) where I was selling newspapers, as I was walking past the public library in twenty below temperatures, I could see the reading room bathed in beautiful golden light. I went in to get warm and, to my absolute astonishment, the librarian walked up to me and said, 'Would you like a book?'

"I said, 'Sure.' And she said, 'Bring it back when you're done and you can get another one.' This went on for a long time. The librarian kept giving me things to take home and read— westerns, science fiction, and every once in a while a classic. She didn't care if I wore the right clothes, dated the right girls; none of those prejudices existed in the library. When she handed me a library card, she handed me the world.”

____________________

When the librarian asked if he would like a library card, Paulsen says, "the most astonishing thing happened. This silly little card with my name on it gave me an identity I had not had. I felt I had become somebody."

From http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/paulsen.html & https://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/mtai/paulsen.html.

You are making a difference today for your students! Keep up the good work!

Quotable!

"Libraries and librarians have definitely changed my life -- and the lives of countless other Americans...they deserve the support and patronage of every single one of us who values education."

-- Former First Lady Barbara Bush

Encouraging reading – from 45 Ideas in 45 Minutes – Promote Reading

39. Keep up with what your teachers are teaching. Know the standards and ask to be invited to the teacher planning time/collaboration to let them know what resources the library media center offers to support upcoming lessons. You can increase your value to the school and help your colleagues become better teachers by showing them that there are DVD’s, books and databases that can help 5th grade teachers teach about the Civil War. More effective teachers, increased value, better educated students and increased test scores should be motive enough. Add to that the warm feeling you get when you KNOW that you are making a difference for the whole school, and this is worth doing.

Alabama Library Expo

I am so excited to be a featured speaker at the Alabama Library Expo next week. I will be presenting “45 Ideas in 45 Minutes!” for the folks attending. I look forward to seeing you there!

Let me know how I can help! See you next week!

“Thanks for a great show. Our mission is to educate, enrich and entertain – you certainly covered all three areas! What a great way to get children to Dream BIG! Thank you again and have a great summer.”

Mandi Cantrell, BB Comer Library, Sylacauga, AL

Encouraging kids to read, I am
Tommy Johns
Educational Entertainment Specialist

PS – Don’t forget to share this newsletter and blog with your colleagues!

Thursday, September 8, 2016

September 8, 2016

If you are new to us or have missed any previous issues, you can read them all at www.smartlibrarians.com. And please tell your friends about it!

In this issue:

Zoo Atlanta Educator Day!

Quotable

READ Posters –Starring YOU!

Time’s running out!

Zoo Atlanta Educator Day!

Zoo Atlanta is having their Fall Educator Appreciation Day on Saturday, September 17, 2016. Educators receive FREE admission (educator ID required) and $2 OFF general admission for accompanying guests. Visit the Educator’s Lounge in the Ford Tent from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to receive your coupon for 10% off gift shops and food outlets.

Quotable!

Librarians are there:

To help, aid, assist. To teach, collate, enthuse. To catalogue, index, arrange, organize. To find, discover, promote, display. To interest, intrigue, amuse and amaze. To instill wonder. To help children, adults, old people, the underprivileged, the rich, the poor, those with voices and those without. To protect resources, to archive them, to store them, to save them for the future. To provide differing viewpoints, to engender thought, conversation, research, fun. To provide the best answer possible, to match the answer to the enquirer, to provide just enough information without overwhelming the user, but enough to always help. To better a local community, a company, a college, an organization, a country, the world.

Google is there: To make money.

- Phil Bradley

Encouraging reading – from 45 Ideas in 45 Minutes – Promote Reading

9. Design and print READ posters for top readers, classes, administration, and staff with favorite books. I have designed a series of READ type posters you can use for your top readers and others in the school. I usually print these 11X17 so they are big enough to see, but affordable. If your school doesn’t have a large format color printer, most big office supply stores run specials so that an 11X17 color copy of one of these posters is less than $2.00.

If you’d like to have the templates, send me an e-mail at tommy@tommyjohnspresents.com and I’ll send them along with directions on how to insert your photos into the poster.

Time is running out to book at last year’s pricing!

Earlier this year, I worked with a REAL web designer and upgraded my website, www.TommyJohnsPresents.com. And when I did that, I raised my prices for the first time since 2005! But here’s a deal for folks who read the WHOLE newsletter. If you book any programs for any time in the 2016-17 school year, you get the old pricing! All you have to do is send me an email and say “I want the old price!” The only catch is that you must contact me to book the program before my birthday on September 12, 2016. That’s when this offer expires. The program can be scheduled for any day this year, but you must book it in the next 5 days. (BTW, the old pricing is $875 for a full day of programs and $550 for a half day.)

Let me know how I can help! See you next week!

“WOW! Tommy Johns is fantastic! Through magic, puppets, games, music and lots of volunteers from the audience, his enthusiastic personality encourages students to be READERS.”

Janie B. Vaden, Media Specialist, Dalton, GA

Encouraging kids to read, I am
Tommy Johns
Educational Entertainment Specialist

PS – Don’t forget to share this newsletter and blog with your colleagues!

Thursday, September 1, 2016

September 1, 2016

Every Thursday, you’ll get this short, fun, relevant newsletter. It will contain a quote or smile about the library and those who love it, an idea you can use to promote your media center or reading in general, and an occasional shameless plug for the programs I offer. Enjoy!

If you are new to us or have missed any previous issues, you can read them all at www.smartlibrarians.com. And please tell your friends about it!

In this issue:
Meet Hilda
Quotable

Brag About It!
Alabama Library Expo!

Meet Hilda!

Hilda is 88 years young and we have been friends for about 20 years. She and her late husband Bob sort of adopted our family and we just love her to pieces. Here’s why YOU should know her!

She is an avid reader and her love of reading is the main reason she decided to get cataract surgery earlier this year. “There just aren’t enough Big Print books available in the mystery section! Besides – those books are for old people!”

Her love of reading started when she was about 9 years old and a librarian in Girardville, Pennsylvania suggested she read “Little Women.” She was hooked! And almost 80 years later, she still talks about that library lady.

In 80 years, somebody’s going to be talking about you too! Because you’re AWESOME!

Quotable!

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.”

-George RR Martin

Encouraging reading – from 45 Ideas in 45 Minutes – Promote Reading

#1 - Post your circulation statistics and update them every week or so. Just outside the media center door, place a sign that says,

DID YOU KNOW?

So far this year, your media center has checked out

1,428 items to staff

6, 201 items to students

7,629 total items

That’s a 12.7% increase over last year!

Way to go, Bobcats!

You can run a report every week and update your school’s progress and brag about what the teacher librarian is doing to help!

I’m Speaking at the Alabama Library Expo!

I will be presenting “45 Ideas in 45 Minutes” to the attendees of the Library Expo, a four day four city rolling conference. If you are in Alabama I hope to see you there!

Go to http://alabamalibraryexpo.com/ to find out more!

Let me know how I can help! See you next week!

Encouraging kids to read, I am
Tommy Johns
Educational Entertainment Specialist

PS – Don’t forget to share this newsletter and blog with your colleagues!

www.TommyJohnsPresents.com
tommy@tommyjohnspresents.com
Call 770-315-3339 or Toll Free at (866) 490-READ
------------------------------------
Your peers appreciate your advice about quality programs. Please tell them about your experience working with us. Our best sales people are our many loyal clients.

Thursday, August 18, 2016

August 18, 2016

If you are new to us or have missed any previous issues, you can read them all at www.smartlibrarians.com. And please tell your friends about it!

In this issue:

More than books!

Quotable

Experiences are better than stuff!

I gave myself a raise!

More than books!

When most people think of the library, they think of books, and rightly so. With a very few exceptions, your media center has more books than any other resource, even if you don’t count e-books.

But we both know that the library media center contains so much more! When a student or teacher goes to the library, they may well leave with a book. Or a DVD. Or a piece of equipment.

But often they leave with an answer to a big question. A student struggling with family problems may leave with an assurance that she can overcome her situation. A teacher may walk out of the media center with a new idea for teaching a tough concept. Students learn empathy when they read about the challenges of a character in a compelling story. A minority student may be inspired by reading about someone just like her who changed the world.

Imaginations are awakened. Ideas come to life. Lives are changed.

Your library looks like a room full of books to some folks. But we know that they are filled with SO much more!

Quotable!

“Each time you open a book and read it, a tree smiles, knowing there’s life after death.”

Author Unknown (quote borrowed from Laurie Bryant’s e-mail signature)

Encouraging reading – from 45 Ideas in 45 Minutes – Promote Reading

#10. Reward readers with EXPERIENCES, not just stuff. EX. Lunch in the Library, first checkout of new books, allow a hold on a favorite series. People remember the things they DO and EXPERIENCE longer than they remember the STUFF that they get. So why not give your kids experiences! Going to a show, going first in line, being the first one to checkout a new book, having lunch with YOU – all these things man a lot more than a fake plastic rainbow Slinky shaped like a book from Oriental Trading! And experiences are usually cheaper!

I gave myself a raise!

Let me know how I can help! See you next week!

“Everyone loved Go Wild! (the science and reading program)and want you to come back! I have let other schools know about the AWESOME show my students saw. I tell them how well you manage and control student behavior, and how much the kids l earned. Students are still showing parents your posters and saying, ‘I saw him. It was so much fun!’ They were sorry when the show ended!”

Patty Krezinski, Media Specialist

Diamond Lakes ES, Hephzibah, GA

Encouraging kids to read, I am
Tommy Johns
Educational Entertainment Specialist

PS – Don’t forget to share this newsletter and blog with your colleagues!

August 11, 2016

If you are new to EOT or have missed any previous issues, you can read them all at www.smartlibrarians.com. And please tell your friends about it!

In this issue:

Why do you do it?

Quotes

Singing about READING!

Why do you do it?

Many of you are among the first in the building every day. You are available to and have the responsibility to serve every student and teacher in the building. The variety of questions you get each day are amazing in their subject matter and how MUCH they matter. You have to be an enthusiastic advocate for reading and technology, even when those two things seem to be contradictory. And all of this while having to explain to family and friends that your job is SO much more than checking out books and returning them to the shelves! Why in the world would you willingly accept such a challenging and underappreciated job and why would you EVER return to it year after year?

Because today you may connect a kid to a text that moves him closer to gaining a REAL love for reading. Because tomorrow, you will tell a teacher about a resource that helps her be more effective in the classroom. Because next week and the week after that, you will change someone’s course in a small or large way. You could give me dozens of specific instances that answer the question why, but it boils down to this one simple fact:

Because what you do MATTERS. What you do MAKES A DIFFERENCE. What you do CHANGES LIVES. And that’s enough reason to do what you do. Keep up the good work. And know that no matter what happens next, you are following a high calling. Thank you for what you do!

Quotable!

“Libraries allow children to ask questions about the world and find the answers. And the wonderful thing is that once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open.”

--Laura Bush

Encouraging reading – from 45 Ideas in 45 Minutes – Promote Reading

For the past two summers, I have played songs before my library shows that SOUND like songs from the radio that everybody knows, but they really promote reading! Kids LOVE these song parodies and you can use them to promote reading.

There are dozens of these types of songs on YouTube. Librarians are a VERY creative bunch! Do a search for Reading Song Parodies and you'll have lots to choose from.

The ones I used this summer are:

Unread Books (parody of Uptown Funk) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6zcIFUvdJ0

All About Them Books (parody of All About That Bass) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVUwXtewEYU

Gotta Keep Reading (parody of I Gotta Feeling) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY9goJVX32I

And a new one I found this week is Check it Out (parody of Shake it Off) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjf7H8K9r4U

Enjoy these and play them during checkout, prior to the start of the day or even during a Maker Space visit!

Let me know how I can help! See you next week!

“Just want to say thanks again for an awesome presentation. I am officially the coolest media specialist in the world now!!!”

Pat Bell, Ed. S, Library Media Specialist

Blakeney Elementary School, Waynesboro, GA

Encouraging kids to read, I am
Tommy Johns
Educational Entertainment Specialist

PS – Don’t forget to share this newsletter and blog with your colleagues!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

April 16, 2015

Every Other Thursday, you’ll get this short, fun, relevant newsletter. It will contain a quote or smile about the library and those who love it, an idea you can use to promote your library or reading in general, a Common Core implementation idea and a shameless plug for the programs I offer. Enjoy!

If you are new to EOT or have missed any previous issues, you can read them all at www.smartlibrarians.com. And please tell your friends about it!

In this issue:

You Can Quote Me on That!

Here’s an idea!

Common Core Infographic

Shameless Plug – End of the Year and Post Planning Training Opportunities!

“You Can Quote Me On That!”

“We don’t need a list of rights and wrongs, tables of dos and don’ts: we need books, time, and silence. Thou shalt not is soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever.”

Philip Pullman

“Knowing you have something good to read before bed is among the most pleasurable of sensations.”

Vladimir Nabokov

Encouraging reading – from 45 Ideas in 45 Minutes

From the General Good Ideas section

31. Let the kids check in their books and place them on the appropriate shelving cart, in order. Doing so promotes/ties in with technology standards, teaches responsibility, and reinforces ABC order. I understand the hesitation many have about letting elementary age kids check OUT their books, but there are very few things that can go wrong with them checking them IN. After they check the books in, have them sort the books by type onto the shelving cart. This saves you time and teaches them library terms and skills. If you want, you can even insist that they shelve books on the cart in order to further teach library organization.

Common Core Infographic

I found this to be a really good infographic from www.AwesomeStories.com. Print it out and display it!
https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Give-Your-Students-A-Cure-for-the-Common-Core-infographic-//1?vsmaid=1581&vcid=55053

Shameless Plug

Now is a great time to schedule your big reader reward celebration for the end of the year! Go to www.tommyjohnspresents.com to look at pricing, shows offered and an up-to-date schedule!

Here’s what one of your colleagues has to say about the programs I offer:

“Your show (I Love to Read!) is AMAZING. The teachers are already asking when we can have you back. You were so easy to work with. And the silent dismissal was the best trick in the whole show”

Sharon Britt, Media Specialist, Hopkins Elementary, Lilburn, GA

Big News! I have already been booked to conduct Media Specialist training sessions for a couple of school systems for post planning. Want to have a great, relevant and FUN workshop? Check out http://tommyjohnspresents.com/teachers.htm for topics and give me a call today!

Let me know how I can help! See you in two weeks!

Encouraging kids to read, I am
Tommy Johns
Educational Entertainment Specialist

PS – Don’t forget to share this newsletter and blog with your colleagues!

www.TommyJohnsPresents.com
tommy@tommyjohnspresents.com
Call (770) 640-6509 or Toll Free at (866) 490-READ
------------------------------------
Your peers appreciate your advice about quality programs. Please tell them about your experience working with us. Our best sales people are our many loyal clients.