teaching

[Guest guest]

I've not been on the board much this week. That's because i'm involved in a

kids art program. I've been teaching dance there for about 3 years, but a

year ago, the budget for the classes was cut. Still, I stayed involved. The

teacher asked me if I could help out - we are scared the whole program will

be cut - so I've been drumming up publicity to show how awesome it is in the

hopes that people will see all the good it does.

Every time I go to the school I am so moved. The teacher told me yesterday

I've brought magic into the school - by getting the kids opportunities to

perform, to create, to model, to do anything they want to do (so long as its

in the arts or social science spectrum, I'm in and comfortable with my

abilities). I came home and told my boyfriend that and I cried and cried and

cried. I swear, the only times in my life when I have cried tears of joy has

been related to teaching those kids, working with that school. I sobed at

work the day they hired me. Ha ha, my coworkers had no idea what was going

on - they don't understand that the kids heal me. It is one of the singular

joys of my existance to watch those kids grow, try new things, improve and

be excited, happy and confident. Wow.

So last night when I came home from that I thought - wow, I want to teach

there again. I'll do it for free. Seriously, I only earned about 60 bucks a

month ha ha when I was officially teaching. I never did it for the money. So

I told the teacher I was up for teaching almost anything she would like. She

responded today and said yes, she would love to assign me a class in Jan.

Wow!! I'm on cloud 9.

So the reason for this long post, is that I would love to have your input on

what I should teach. More than anything, i want these kids to be emotionally

healthy, confident, balanced, happy, ready to stand up for themselves,

proud, . . etc. Everything else is secondary. Input? I can just incorporate

it into my lessons. I will be doing a one day Christmas craft lesson in late

Nov or early Dec. The kids are ages 8 to 14. Many of the kids who were in my

classes are getting a bit older now. I'm excited to get to know the little

guys.