Introducing Associate Teacher Grace Jolliffe

I’ll be teaching Stage III core classes with Rachel Blum-Jose as an associate teacher!

 

Graduating from Kenyon College this year was a major highlight of my life. My family and my sisters came down to campus for the graduation ceremony and then I got to swim with them in the river that runs through campus- I’d only ever done that with my friends, I loved sharing it with them too. Another highlight was driving out to Yellowstone National Park with my family when I was about 9. It was so fun, I remember seeing purple lightning outside of our car one night and then hearing snoring buffalo the next.

 

For a year, I would live in Barcelona, Spain so that I could visit La Sagrada Familia every day.

 

I am the youngest of 3, and my 2 older siblings are my best friends. We grew up in West Bloomfield and in the WB public school system. I love being outside, I don’t think I could live in a place without changing seasons. Something crucial to know about me is I think Stevie Wonder is a genius, and I would love to make something as beautiful as his album Songs in the Key of Life. I love art of all kinds, and especially art that blends multiple forms together. An ideal kind of creative work, for me, would combine forms like dance, sculpture, creative writing, acting, music, biography and film- which can happen in a classroom!

 

I love to make theatre as an actor, director, writer, or stage manager. I love to go see and discuss plays. I also like to make cards for various occasions with collage and water color paint. I love to sing and play guitar with my dad. I love to watch plays, TV shows, and movies- and then to discuss them at length. I also play soccer (competitively) and do yoga (peacefully).

 

I have the most experience teaching theatre, so I love teaching improvisation and the very basics of acting. I hope I get to teach it to my stage III students this year, it’s all about the combination of imaginative contexts and practical tasks, or “living truthfully in imaginative circumstances.” I also love social/emotional learning, and I’m looking forward to in-depth discussions with students about their many relationships and perceptions of the world. I think that learning and relating are one in the same, so any kind of learning in the classroom can easily be applied to our understanding of each other.