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George Acosta
Geneviève DeBose
Joy Kraft-Watts
Nate Monley Maurice
Rabb Andrew
Glass
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Joy
Kraft-Watts, 27, Venice High School, Venice, CA Joy challenges her students to look at themselves and their place in society. In one class, she forces a student to confront his own bigotry head-on. She's unafraid to discuss difficult topics with her high school students and question the status quo. With 180 students to teach and no classroom, Joy is forced to fight her own battle within the system. She longs for more one on one connections with her students and is determined to reach her kids despite the overwhelming obstacles that a school system in crisis present to her. Hometown Born in Long Island, NY. Grew up in Smithtown and Westlake, California. What do you teach? High School US History. Life Skills. Art History. Why and how did you become a teacher? I was pursuing an art history degree at Cal State Long Beach but soon discovered that I loved teaching and connecting with people. It’s about the human contact. Also at the time, my boyfriend was killed in a drunk-driving accident. That shifted my perspective of what was really important to me. I knew at that point, I needed to do something I was passionate about and that touched people’s lives. Another major inspiration for me was my high school teacher, Mr. Litton, from Agoura High School in Agoura Hills, CA. He taught a Humanities class in my senior year at high school. He exposed me to art history and new ways of seeing that inspired me to become an art history major in college. I loved his class so much that I wanted to duplicate it for others. And now, I am finally teaching art history. What did you encounter in your first year of teaching? Not having a classroom deeply affected me during my first year of teaching. I never had time to really connect with my kids. However, I had one experience recently, where one student I had in my first year came to my classroom and reached out to me. I was able to help him in a personal matter and it felt like I was making a difference and had a positive impact. That was incredibly rewarding. After The First Year Joy got married and returned to Venice High School where she teaches U.S. History and Life Skills classes. She also teaches an AP Art History class. You can email Joy at: joy.kraft@gte.net (return to top) |
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 56k 220k Joy on Cultural Awareness 56k 220k Joy on connecting with students 56k 220k Joy on her first year |
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