Opening Remarks
Is this thing working?
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Well, here we are. Thanks for coming. After five years at WordPress.com and a self-hosted site, this blog is now here at School Library Journal. I was able to bring my old header with me, so It’s feeling like home already.
I never wrote a proper opening post when I started 100 Scope Notes back in the golden days of aught seven, but it seems appropriate now. Time for the firm handshake and eye contact.
My name’s Travis and I’m a 31 year old K-6 school librarian in Michigan. My school district has four elementary schools and I work at all of them (usually not at the same time), with the help of four wonderful assistants. I’m married to a second grade teacher and we have a son and a daughter.
The timing of this move is good – December is my favorite blogging month. Plenty to share. Due to this, December is also my worst going to bed at a reasonable hour month. But to sleep I say “ha!” There’s much to post about. Time to get cracking.
Happy to be here.
(And bonus points if you can name the 2012 picture book to which my above drawing pays tribute. The answer is in this post.)
Filed under: Articles
About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
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S.W. says
Looks like your move was smooth. Best of luck in the new location.
Mary Lee Hahn says
Congrats on the move!
My German “mom” (from HS exchange days) says, “I’ll sleep in the grave!!”
Elizabeth Fama says
Hooray! You made it safely, and my g-reader didn’t even hiccup. Now, don’t leave all those moving boxes in the hall where we’ll trip on them, okay?
Lynn Rutan says
Congratulations on the new digs – Travis! I’m updating my bookmark and can’t wait to see what you have to say in December – and all the year!
Katherine says
Yay, Travis! Glad your “move” went well and loved reading your introductory post. Four elementary schools? My librarian has to travel between two and I think that’s hard. Wow!
Travis Jonker says
Elizabeth – I’ll be sure to at least shove them into a closet. Thanks for the well wishes, everyone!
Mr. Schu says
Travis, congratulations on your big move! 🙂
PragmaticMom says
The New Sweater? Congrats on your new gig! Love your blog!
Travis Jonker says
You got it! Thanks
Sondy says
Congratulations, Travis! I’m a lazy one and head to slj.com for my blog reading, so now I’ll get to your site that much more often — and I’m glad! And who needs sleep anyway?
Allison says
The new digs are looking good! Congrats on joining the SLJ team, Travis. I look forward to reading your posts here.
Tom Angleberger says
Hooray!
Lisa says
It must be The Hueys in the New Sweater. You drew that? I’m impressed. Congrats on your new digs.
Shannon says
Welcome! Also, as you mentioned in an earlier post, your RSS feed DID switch over in my Google Reader, so huzzah!
Travis Jonker says
Good to hear, Shannon! The folks at SLJ pulled some magic tricks, I think – I’m really happy at how smooth the transition worked.