I was maybe 6 years old when I got the idea that my mother’s classroom would someday pass down to me. Like a queenship, I would accept my role as the next teacher in the long line of teachers that must have come before me.

All I Expected… And More

Just out of college, I moved to Picardie, France, to accept a teaching job as an English teacher in a French public school. I loved my students. I loved teaching. I hated being a teacher.

I hated watching my excited 11yr olds learn from the jaded 14yr olds to distrust teachers and dislike learning. I hated watching them grow up into these unhappy young adults, wishing they could be anywhere other than my classroom. Even those that loved me were unhappy being stuck in an ugly grey building, where other teachers came in to lecture me if my class was “too loud.” (This effectively ruined any games I tried to get started in class.)

Not a Teacher, a Coach!

NuVu gave me the opportunity to be a coach instead of a teacher, and the last two weeks have felt like a second chance for me. Instead of 11-14yr olds (as I taught in France) I was coaching 15-17yr olds. And yet, these high school students had an excitement equal to the 11yr olds who once ran up to hug me daily.

They weren’t jaded. They were happy to be there. Everything about the NuVu Studio space helped support their work and gave them a sense of purpose. Everything I wanted to teach them had application in the real world, and they often figured that out without any help from me.

I can’t say enough good things about NuVu Studios. An amazing experience, and one I hope to repeat.