I came across this picture today. It shows a very young astronaut named John Glenn standing next to one of the early space capsules that took our brave young pilots into space for the first time. He is in the company of President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie Kennedy. For those too young to remember, those were heady days filled with excitement, energy, enthusiasm and pride.

Everyone connected with education knows that No Child left Behind has changed the world od education dramatically. Some say for better, others say for the worse. What we do know is that there is more strain on principals and teachers than ever before to meet the goals of this initiative. Even now, there is movement underway to try and modify this initiative to improve the ways in which it affects the education of our children.

Driving to work this morning at my usual time I happily noticed that the sky was much lighter than it had been a month ago, and I loved the thought that Spring is coming!

These days many schools are felling the weight of state mandates testing and are opting to reduce time for assemblies and school shows. Those that do continue using school assemblies often try to focus them exclusively on tested areas such as Math and Reading.

I know you have all been waiting desperately for this, so here it is, our newest School Assembly Dog of the Month. I must confess to a shortage of School Assembly Dog of the Month entries at present, so this month we give the award to not a specific animal but rather to a kind of animal. May we have a drum roll please .... The Mobile Ed Productions Dog of the Month Award for January 2012 goes to ....  The Family Dog!

This morning we all woke to news of the results of the Iowa Presidential Caucuses which took place last night. 

Yesterday we spoke a little about middle school assemblies and assembly ideas for school shows that play well at that age level. We just received a really nice e-mail following a performance of our Sky Dome Planetarium in California, and although this was an elementary school assembly, it reminded me how well this inflatable planetarium works for middle school aged kids as well.

I was listening to NPR again this morning on my way in to work (I know, I know ... NPR again?), and I caught an interview with a gentleman by the name of Ta-Nehisi Coates which I found really interesting. He is the author of a recent article in The Atlantic entitled “Why Do So Few Blacks Study The Civil War?”. As a long time Abraham Lincoln impersonator, and a true lover of history, I was amazed that this was a topic which I had never before considered, and as I listened I realized it’s importance.

Our resident author, Geoff Beauchamp, writes blog posts exemplifying the talent of his co-workers and the importance of the school assembly programs they present. The humble Mr. Beauchamp never writes to exemplify his talent. This blog post will do what has never been done before, praise Geoff for his dedication, hard work and inspiring performance as Abraham Lincoln.

Schools searching online for elementary school assembly ideas will no doubt be struck eventually by the fact that of the many companies and performers offering science assemblies and other types of educational school assembly programs, a very large number are based in Michigan and other parts of the Midwest.