You Make a Commercial

What do you say when someone says why do I need to go to a database training? Last week, I was asked that question by more than one person. With a need, comes a solution. I needed an infommercial about our district one-stop-shopping source for all your digitial information needs- Destiny. So, at midnight on Friday, I grabbed my cell phone from the nightstand and recorded my thoughts. This morning, I made a little video. Too large to email, I created this post. Here is the text of the video. Perhaps you can use the bones of it to create your own infommercial.

Suppose you are a 6th grade student doing research on ancient China. You do a Google search and get 11 million hits. How are you supposed to know which site has the best answers?

Maybe you’re a classroom teacher. You have to teach a unit of inquiry and you just don’t have enough resources for content. You need differentiated texts.

Maybe you're a parent. You can’t afford to buy an encyclopedia every year and you don’t have the gas to drive to the public library after school closes.

Maybe you’re an administrator and you just want to level the playing field to ensure that everyone has equal access to the most current information.

We’re all busy. Isn’t there one place to go with all that information?

There is. I’m Deborah Ford, your resource librarian. The answer is one simple word. That word is Destiny. It’s available 24-7 and it goes beyond the bricks and mortar of your library.

Our district library catalog, Destiny, is more than a list of books. It’s one stop shopping for all your digital needs- from up to date encyclopedias to PDFs of magazine articles in databases, from vetted websites to readers’ theater scripts, you’ll find everything you need all at one website.

Want to know more about Destiny and the digital databases? Contact me, Deborah Ford, at Library Services to Schools. From a 15 minute overview that leaves you wanting more to a hands-on two hour workshop, you can find out how your library extends beyond the bricks and mortar with Destiny.

Oh! And you can find out what books you have in the collection too.

Words are Only Half the Story



Register for this FREE webinar,
hosted by yours truly.

 It appears that my fifteen minutes of Comic Con fame have been extended. Imagine my delight when I checked my voicemail only to discover a message from John Mason of Scholastic Trade, Inc. inquiring about my interest and availability to participate in a webinar about graphic novels. Could I write some lesson plans? Would I be willing to Skype in as the educator specialist for this panel of graphic novelists? (Can we say Dance of Joy?)

In spite of my recent after-cruise sickness, I jumped in and created the lesson plans to support the webinar. During a conference call with the director, producer, and marketing folks, we discussed the direction of the webinar itself. The following weekend, I was at ALA in Dallas and ran into the Scholastic Trade group at an author function- which was one of the highlights of my trip by the way. It seems they had made a production decision and wondered if I would be interested in flying to New York and hosting the webinar live!! (Can we say Dance of Joy with High Fives All Around?) I'm not sure I'm still not on the moon.

Here's the information so you can participate.

Join author/illustrators Jeff Smith, Kazu Kibuishi, and Raina Telgemeier as they share how words and pictures can work together to tell stories in unique ways!

Graphix: Words are Only Half the Story!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT

This free webinar should be a great deal of fun for you and your students.
· Learn how to draw Bone. (Bone Series)
· Find out how real life becomes a comic novel. (Smile)
· Watch Kazu color in a graphic novel panel. (Amulet series)

By registering in advance, you’ll ensure a reminder to participate that day and a sorry we missed you if you miss it. Go to Scholastic Graphix to register for the event:

The webinar teaching material is now posted. The script is being written. Conference calls continue to occur. It's becoming a wonderful experience in behind the scenes of production. Now to pack for New York!!