Teaching

I’ve been writing my whole life, and I’ve been performing or teaching speech arts my whole life. Speech arts remains an important part not just of my work life, but to my creative life, as well, and the way I live in the world. Let me share my passion for speech arts and writing with you!

Photo credit: Greg Santos

I teach my students to be proud of their voices on the page and on the stage.

Please note: Due to increased demand and the conditions of COVID-19, my teaching schedule is full. I am not currently accepting any new students.

Speech & Literary Arts – children & youth (K-12)

This class is an interdisciplinary speech arts (what is speech arts?) class that focuses on performance but includes some elements of creative writing in order to foster the student’s confidence in their own ideas alongside the presentation of published literary work. Students will learn to speak confidently and clearly, using the skills of theatre, public speaking, and storytelling, and develop their own original material including speech-writing and poetry. I prepare my students for competing in local performance festivals. The curriculum I have developed and followed, because of its interdisciplinary approach, is less prescriptive and more adaptive (I think more robust and more fun!) but I also very enthusiastically guide interested students as they complete speech arts certifications through the RCM Speech Arts & Drama program, including the written theory exams (for which I have a special passion!). Please contact me to discuss availability and rates. Depending on the age and experience of the student, I offer once-a-week lessons of 30 minutes or 60 minutes. If you are in the Okanagan, classes will be in person in my home studio. If you are querying outside of the Okanagan, we can discuss online lessons. Due to the ongoing pandemic, until further notice all classes will taught online through video call.

Creative Writing – children & youth

This class is similiar to my speech and literary arts one-on-one class, but the focus is shifted: instead of a speech arts class complemented by the study of speech arts, it’s a creative writing class complemented with some speech arts. This class is for students who are specifically excited to challenge their writing skills. Depending on the interests, challenges, and strengths of the student, we will cover topics which include: lyric poetry, narrative poetry, dramatic poetry, figurative language and literary devices, conventions of narrative genres, creating a plot, creating characters, writing strong essays and clear thesis statements, personal essays, application essays, critical thinking, and how to come up with ideas.

Speech Arts & Performance – adults

I am available to teach adults public speaking and speech arts skills, and I am particularly excited to talk to other educators and writers about how to make their own creative work come to life off the page for their listeners.

Speech Arts Workshops for Writers & Educators

I teach group workshops for adults. If you are a member of a community or company looking to host a workshop, please get in touch and we can make arrangements that will work best for you. Workshops are usually booked for one or three hours, but I can accommodate most requests.

Mentorship for Emerging Writers

I work with emerging writers on their work for one, three, or six-month-long mentorships, in which I will help edit individual poems and/or stories and coach you through the process of submitting to literary magazines. Please note that I can’t always accept new students (two kids at home!), but do query. If we’re the right fit I won’t be able to say no!