3 years of teaching, check!

One more week of my 3rd year of teaching! Compared to my first two, this one has definitely given me more satisfaction, more enjoyment and more personal growth I think than I had in my first two. Being in a new school, in a new position, new living situation, new friends and family in Colorado, I really think I have clarified a lot of things that were fuzzy before and I know that being a teacher is what I am supposed to be doing. It is excited to see this a bit more clearly and to be able to plan for the next few years to work harder on being the best drama teacher that I can be. This weekend I did a day and a half training for being licensed to teach yoga to kids. I decided to do it in spite of a parent letter I got from one of my students addressing the yoga stretches I teach my kids in drama. They had asked me to not involve their child in any yoga activities whatsoever and so this sparked my curiosity about what it actually DOES mean to teach yoga. I went through a training at a local yoga organization here in Denver, and I am excited to see where this new knowledge takes me. I have a lot of ideas about adding different activities and concepts to my curriculum, and even adding an after school yoga club at my school. The summer is filled with a few visits from family and friends, a trip to St. Louis, a trip to California, and possibly a trip to Chicago. I will also be teaching drama at the Museo de las Americas and preparing to start my graduate program in the fall. Crazy how fast 3 years have gone by, especially this last year. I am grateful for all of the changes that have presented themselves and allowed me to grow and learn and allow Denver to be a bigger and bigger part of who I am and the direction I am taking my career and life!

Everything is falling into place

Lots to update!

- Getting closer to the Shakespeare Festival! First we have a Spring Arts Night to perform our scenes at, so the kIds have been working hard on memorizing their lines and blocking, and I have been running all over the city collecting costume pieces and making sure everything is prepared for the Arts Night. I am proud of the kids and I think they will do great.

- Found out this week that I am accepted to begin at the University of Northern Colorado in the Fall of 2012 in their Master's program in Theater Education! Very exciting news, feeling like I am FINALLY making bigger strides towards learning and growing in my profession, and I cannot wait to get started.

-Got a little summer gig teaching theater at the Museo de las Americas Summer Camp! I volunteered at this camp 2 years ago when there were about 24 kids, and they told me that this year there will be about 90 some kids between kindergarten age and 6th grade! Very excited for the opportunity and to stay a bit busy this summer staying sharp on my teaching skills.

- Brought K home to Chicago for the first time, showed him around the city and he met the family. Very proud of him for getting accepted into school and making a positive splash with my family and friends. He is such a great part of my life right now and it was wonderful to bring him back there and show him that part of me.

- Also just looking forward to an already pretty busy summer of visitors and vacations and working and relaxing. Spring time is the busiest time of the year it seems like, and so the summer arriving and being a bit longer, will be very rewarding. : )


With a bunch of negativity around me this week, my clarifying and SWEATY yoga session tonight motivated me to sit down and hammer out the summer and the rest of the spring, and also gave me some space in my head to reflect on all the POSITIVE things that have happened and that are happening. I am proud of the progress I have made this year and I am excited about all of the possibilites of things that are to come!

"It's not WHO you are, it's THAT you are."