NEWS Walnut Valley Unified School District
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 880 S. Lemon Avenue
February 13, 2014 Walnut, CA 91789
Walnut Elementary Teacher Serving on Scholastic Advisory Board
WALNUT, CA—Walnut Elementary fifth grader teacher Seema Bagai has been invited to continue as part the 2014 Scholastic Teacher Advisory Board.
Bagai, an avid reader and published author, was named to the Board in 2013.
“Getting my students exciting about reading is one of the best things in teaching,” she said.
The entire 21-member board comprised of educators from across the nation has been asked to return.
“This is only the second time Scholastic has asked a group to return for a second year,”Bagai said. Two new members will be joining the board along with nine profession advisors this year, for a total of 32 members.
These educators become the eyes and ears in classrooms helping the company track latest trends in education.
“I'm looking forward to hearing what teachers across the country are doing in their classrooms and schools. I also want to find out what new books Scholastic will be publishing this year,” Bagai said.
Advisory members also work together to help influence every aspect of Scholastic Book Club, from product selection, to pricing, monthly promotions, and special offers.
Advisory members will attend an all-expense paid working weekend at Scholastic headquarters in New York on March 6-9, 2014. They work together to discuss who books are used in classrooms and how Book Clubs can further help students’ love of reading.
Bagai said one of the highlights from last year’s meetings was having CEO Dick Robinson come up to her at a break to say he liked her enthusiasm and appreciated her candid opinions.
Bagai has pages of notes from the gatherings of elite educators who were listened to and valued as teachers.
One Vice President called the group the “cream of the crop”.
“Every time I thanked someone, their reply was to thank us in return,” Bagai recalled.
Scholastic has made significant changes to their book clubs, rebranding them as Reading Clubs.
“We were part of the planning of this shift and the streamlining of the catalogs and fliers. It was exciting to show my students the rough drafts we worked with in New York and then compare them to the finished catalog in September,” Bagai said.
She will serve on the advisory board through March 2015.
Shown:
Walnut Elementary teacher Seema Bagai, shown with Clifford the Big Red Dog from the popular children’s series, has been asked to continue as an Scholastic Teacher Advisory Board.