IN THE BEGINNING
I began teaching in the mid-sixties, starting with practice teaching as I completed studies for a Montana Teachers' Certificate in Speech and Drama, secondary level. My first real experience in the world at large was substitute or supply teaching in the Seattle School system in drama classes. Drama has a reputation for being an easy course where one can "fool around a lot". My assignments reflected burned out teachers who desperately needed a break and who, for the most part left things in crisis condition. I tried all sorts of strategies from jolly entertainer to stern prison warden as I searched for ways to deal with stuff they'd never mentioned in my training. This along with a horrifying war in Viet Nam and political assassinations influenced me to postpone my Masters in Directing at the University of Washington and to flee to Canada in search of a kinder gentler way of life.
CREATIVE DRAMA
After a few years of deep dropping out, salmon fishing off the west coast of Vancouver Island, I returned to society. My first teaching position was with Hubermann Educational Institute in Vancouver, creating curriculum for those who did not fit easily into the school system - either because they were emotionally disturbed or learning disabled or because they were new Canadians. It did not occur to me to to research how to design curriculum. I simply looked at the standards required for high school graduation in B.C. and shaped the courses to answer these objectives.
A SUCCESS STORY
I can vividly recall one of my successes at this school. I was working with a young woman who was emotionally disturbed. One day in class she became quite upset and I traced the root of the problem to a past teacher who had belittled and berated her for being a failure. My intuition led me to ask her to write out her frustrations then tear up the writings and put them in the garbage. This exercise was the breakthrough catalyst for her with her studies.
CALL OF THE THEATRE
I had an opportunity for work at the regional professional theatre company in Vancouver, Playhouse Theatre. I left teaching except for extracurricular classes I facilitated in creative drama at Playhouse Holiday. I went through a series of positions leading to design apprentice. It was 1972 when I accepted a scholarship for graduate school and returned to the role of learner. The Dallas Theatre Centre had a national reputation for producing multi-talented professionals and I immersed myself in the great spectrum of roles available at the school: playwright, director, actor, designer.
RETURN TO TEACHING
After a brief stint teaching acting movement at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, I left on what was to become a transforming journey of discovery abroad. After a few months travelling in Europe, I spent two years in Greece, researching and writing a play and what was to become my Master of Fine Arts thesis. To support myself, I became a private tutor teaching English. I thought I was doing well when I asked my students if they understood and they nodded. I soon found out that this gesture mean "no" in Greek. So I developed a strategy for teaching English (as I struggled to learn Greek). I would tell a fairy tale or Greek myth in English and we would discuss it. The next session, they had to retell the story in whatever English vocabulary they could summon.
When I returned from this adventure, I spent some time searching for connections - work in the theatre primarily, a great variety of assignments moving from coast to coast and city to country, writing, performing, producing, directing and designing and finally, teaching.
In 1985, I left the world of theatre, film and television and staked out a claim in the community college realm. I at last discovered that I could do all of the wonderful and creative things I loved to do in a classroom. I began with teaching creative drama to early childhood educators. It only took one fumbling semester of transmission mode to see that this was an inappropriate approach to the subject. Over the years, I delighted in guiding my students towards empowerment as life long learners.
A NEW AWARENESS
I had the good fortune to find a full-time position as a counsellor in Ontario's FUTURES program in the mid-eighties. This was a new incentive to help young adults, aged 16-24. These "severely employment disadvantaged youth" were a huge challenge that few instructors wanted to experience. I soon realized that Life Skills was really creative problem-solving and I gained success incorporating activities into the curriculum from the world of the performing arts. Before long I was creating 16 week, 12 week, and 6 week modules, sharing my strategies with other counsellors by giving workshops locally and regionally. To move into video production with my classes, I began to learn how to use cameras and computers. At every opportunity, I took classes to learn more about multimedia. Soon, I was able to create secondments that allowed me to design and develop curriculum in new and exciting ways.
BACK TO SCHOOL
It became time to gain even more
knowledge. I had been creating curriculum for a decade on the
strength of my teaching and theatre training and my continuing
education. I decided to invest in a higher level exploration,
doctoral studies in curriculum at OISE/UT. That began in the fall
of 1994 and will continue through 1999. I have quickly discovered
my areas of interest to be holistic learning and multimedia. It
is a rich and rewarding exploration. I have recently left the
FUTURES program to teach Computer Applications. This web resource
chronicles my continuing adventure with curriculum as I work to
integrate what I am learning with what I am teaching.