Her Story
About Jane
My love for drama started in high school where being in plays was my favorite thing. I was very lucky to get into a Bachelor of Fine Arts program in theater at the University of Detroit, where the last two years were full-time dance, singing, and acting. We did children's theater, educational theater, and I was in the university plays. We actually built a Shakespearean theater and learned wiring and construction. I also got into costuming there, which became my first drama job as a costumiere, sewing costumes. After earning my specialist degree in dramatic arts (100 extra hours of drama education), I taught full-time drama in Toronto for 10 years. When my husband's bank, Toronto Dominion, moved him to New York, I got my master's in educational theater from NYU, which I completed in 1986 with a 3.75 GPA. After moving to Connecticut, I had to substitute for almost 4 years before finally getting the drama teacher position at one of the two major high schools in Stamford, where I taught for 25 years. I ran the North Star Playmakers after-school drama program and directed plays and musicals, working very long hours. The high school was only a couple minutes from our house, which was very convenient. I really built the drama program at our public school and kept the drama classes alive even when they were cutting electives to bolster core subjects. I started an arts career academy, a two-period class where seven genres of art worked together. Students put together portfolios, got professional headshots, and received recommendations from local arts organizations and from me, which helped them get into fine arts universities. I was very active in the Connecticut Drama Association, taking 30 or 40 kids on a bus every year to compete with productions against about 14 different schools. Towards the end, I started having kids direct and produce the plays themselves, which gave them things to put on their resumes. What made teaching drama special was that theater is like a family - no one person gets the accolades, it's a real collaboration of many different parts. The kids were empowered to be leaders, work together, communicate, and collaborate. It gave them confidence, and we were very successful. I still keep in touch with a lot of students who make sure to take me out for coffee.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jane
01What do you attribute your success to?
I had a lot of patience, which is essential when working with high school students. I was very nurturing and always showed respect for my students. One thing I think is very important in education is to show respect for students - a lot of teachers delight in running kids down and can never be wrong, but when I made a mistake, I told the kids and would apologize if I didn't see something or treated someone unfairly. We had a nice circle of communication. A lot of teachers think they have to strong-arm kids and disrespect them, but then the kids start paying you back and cause trouble. You don't get the cooperation that you do when you have patience and show respect. I've always been able to see through their abrupt behaviors. Whenever I felt like someone was being bad or wasn't trying hard, I would find out that they're homeless or living in a car, or didn't bring their notebook to school because their father had it. Kids, especially in Stamford where we have a very diverse population, have a rough life. You've got to understand that not everyone has a positive attitude, so I think I was always positive and tried to infuse that in kids.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
One thing that I do regret was I never wanted to make waves or bother our administration, so I stayed under the wire, off the radar, and I never really let them understand what I was trying to do. When they don't understand, they don't appreciate. A lot of times, I didn't get support that I felt I deserved because I didn't always let them know how wonderful the work was that I was doing. I would say to young people starting off, you gotta really brag - not brag, but you have to acknowledge what you're doing. Communicate it to the administrators or your higher-ups, because they don't always see and they don't understand, and then they don't appreciate. I would say really make it an effort to educate them in what you're hoping to accomplish.
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