Smart Librarians

February 21, 2013

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 occasionally a shameless plug for the programs I offer.  Enjoy! 

If you have missed any previous EOT issues, you can read them all at http://smartlibrarians.blogspot.com/.

Library Quote/Smile

I found this quote by Carl Sagan on Pinterest this week and knew immediately that it would show up in this edition of EOT.

“What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.”

Bonus Quote: “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”  Stephen King, Author

I got a lot of nice feedback about my “What do Teacher/Librarians Do?” slide show.  If you didn’t see it, here it is again - http://tommyjohnspresents.com/whatido.pdf. Enjoy!

 

Promote (From the “Rewarding Readers” Section of 45 Ideas in 45 Minutes)

Reward readers with EXPERIENCES, not just stuff. Examples include allowing students to have lunch with you in the media center, be the first to checkout new books, allow them to place 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 reward your readers with experiences! Going to an amazing reading show by a great magician/puppeteer (was that subtle enough?), going first in line, being the first one to checkout a new book, having lunch with YOU – all these things mean a lot more than a fake plastic rainbow Slinky shaped like a book!

Common Core Connection

As I continue to learn about educational challenges from teachers and media specialists (and from kids in my shows) one thing is certain.  It is difficult to teach readers of every grade how to get the main idea from a passage, story, or book.  Getting the main idea is important because it is one of those essential skills that will help a person who knows how to read become a reader AND because it is always a part of those big pesky tests that the students have to take. And getting the main idea is vital to Common Core.

As a matter of fact, inspired by this challenge and the desire to stay relevant and on the cutting edge, the show I am writing for this summer’s public libraries, Dig a Little Deeper!, is all about helping children understand things like:

• What is the main idea?
• Why is it important (and fun!) to be able to anticipate or predict what happens next  in the story? and
• How does “stuff I already know” help me enjoy a new book?

I found this article to be very helpful as I began working on the “main idea” portion of the show.  It will take a few minutes to read, but I think you will find it insightful and worth sharing with the rest of your faculty and staff.  “Establishing the Main Idea” can be found at http://www.teachervision.fen.com/skill-builder/reading-comprehension/48706.html?page=3&detoured=1&for_printing=1.  

Shameless Plug

If your elementary or middle school is planning a career day, consider bringing in “I Had This Crazy Dream!” This show is all about BIG DREAMERS - inventors, teachers, authors, and other leaders who had big dreams and the things they did to make their dreams a reality!  We use magic, puppets (Beauregard the Buzzard is back!), comedy, costuming and audience participation to get across the message that ALL of us have big dreams and we can make those dreams come true, if we work hard, try our best, and, of course, READ! 

All of the people discussed in the show are READERS and your kids will run to the shelves to find biographies, cookbooks, books about science and drawing and lots more as soon as the show ends. I’d love to come to your school to inspire your kids to DREAM BIG!

Let me know how I can help!

Encouraging kids to read, I am

Tommy Johns

Educational Entertainment Specialist

www.TommyJohnsPresents.com

tommy@tommyjohnspresents.com

Call (770) 640-6509 or Toll Free at (866) 490-READ

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