Preschool teacher Lizelle Canque showed us an amazing technique she learned from her kindergarten which she uses to this day to help her reduce stress and let her tap into her creativity. One of the things we loved about Lizelle’s piece is that it demonstrates the profound impact educators can have on their students' lives long after they have left the classroom. Years later, Lizelle not only uses the technique for herself but she now uses it with her students as well. Watch the video below to hear Lizelle explain the technique and how she uses it today.

On December 15th, Guild President and CEO Alex Kopelman presented testimony to the New York City Council Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries, and International Intergroup Relations on the impact of COVID-19 on Art and Cultural Education Programming in New York City. We call on the Council and the Administration to allocate funding to ensure that online creativity education is accessible to all children.

In the second installment of our new interview series we talk with Kezia Plummer. Kezia is a speech language pathologist teaching in Brooklyn. We first met Kezia as a Self-Care workshop participant and she has quickly become one of our greatest advocates for the Self-Care practice. Starting this fall, we are proud to have her join the team as one of our self-care workshop facilitators. She spoke to us about the importance of self-care for educators and how working small can help you achieve big goals.

The Guild is launching a new project where we’ll be sharing a series of short interviews with educators across the country to find out how they are implementing authenticity in their classrooms.

Our first interview is with Kindergarten teacher Tobi Waldron who spoke with us about her unique parent-teacher approach and how engaging parents can set the tone for a productive school year.