Sorry for the hiatus. Since my last post, I worked at my other job over the weekend and battled with a stomach bug I caught from who knows where. I'm home today, regaining my strength for tomorrow. I feel MUCH better than I had. AND my computer is behaving again. Things are good.
Anyhow, let's continue. So after we get into the boardroom and everyone gets settled, the meeting begins. We went around and introduced ourselves to everyone with the aid of a short video on each of us. (Remember I told you the Scholastic staff took pictures when they came to visit my classroom? That's where the pictures went.) After our introductions, the "folks in charge" introduced themselves. We were introduced to the VPs of different departments as well as key players in each department. We were also introduced to the owner of Scholastic, who sat in on every minute of the meetings. (No pressure, right? No seriously, he was great. Very personable and interested in what we had to say.)
Throughout the course of the day, we were asked our opinions on everything from online ordering vs. paper orders, ease of use of the Scholastic website and its features*, how we get our students interested in reading, what types of books we should offer to help students who speak other languages, how to help new teachers be aware of the resources Scholastic offers, and even packaging/sending of orders.
*Speaking of features, did you know that Scholastic has the following items:
- A Facebook page? There are links/pages for teachers, parents, Read 180, etc. There are even pages for specific reading series.
- A blog that highlights favorite books, recommended books, and upcoming titles/subjects? There are book summaries, teacher reviews, author interviews, and links to books by topic. There's also a link about the meeting with the Scholastic Advisors. (Check out the February 28 post on the site.)
- Many, many resources for us teachers to use in the classroom, from lesson plans to printables, teaching resource guides to activities?
When the meetings were over, we were surprised with gift cards to the Scholastic store, located on the bottom level of the building. So of course, we went shopping! If you've never been there, the place was unbelievable. I took some pictures with my class in mind, but even they don't show the true scope of the store. You just have to go.
 |
| This is on the wall to your right just before you enter the store. |
 |
This is the entrance from the lobby.
|
 |
| The Magic School Bus houses most of the science section, along with sofas and a television showing videos for the little ones. |
 |
| Would you like a ride on the Magic School Bus? |
 |
| All of the walls are decorated with different characters from different reading series. I took this section of the wall because these are characters my students would recognize. |
 |
| This was huge! I'd say he was at least 8 feet tall. |
 |
| One of the MANY mini displays throughout the store. |
After sitting in the meetings all day (and a little shopping!), we were treated to dinner at
O'Nieals in Soho. There were probably about 50 or so folks who went to dinner. Not just the teachers, but some of the folks on the staff at Scholastic. I was seated next to one of the ladies that visited my classroom who works on the BookTalk blog, a designer/artist, and one of the other folks that works on the blog. The place was amazing...be sure to look at the link above to see what I mean. Dinner was very tasty. I would definitely go back again.
By the time dinner was over, it was about 9:30, 10:00. I went back to the hotel and called my two back home to wish them goodnight. Then I showered and hit the sack. I was just a bit tired!
Saturday's adventures up next...
No comments:
Post a Comment