My name is JOY. I am from Dallas Texas. I am 22 years old and i have been teaching for about 6 going on 7 years. I have been dancing since I was three. I have danced, ballet, tap, jazz, clogging, lyrical, hip hop, and pointe. I have taught at least a year in all those catagories.....I have taught ages 1-45. My passion is teaching the young ones. 7 and under. It is so much fun. I have always loved children. I have 10 older brothers and sisters who gve me 24 nieces and nephews. I have enjoyed every minute of it. I have taken some dance classes in college, however, my major is Education/pyschology. I am in pursuit of my Masters in Education and my Ph.D in child psychology. I first knew I loved teaching when i turned 15. It had been a year since my mom died and I had 150% imersed myself into dancing. I was old enough to be come a "Teacher in Training" T-I-T on our time cards. I wrote a letter to my teacher/second mom/studio owner. She hired me that year. I was petrified my first class. They were 4-5 dancing to "baby face". I had to SING!!!! OMG it was so embarrasing. I eventually got over it though. After a year I had become a "wanted" teacher. Kids wouldn't come to class unless I was in there. When I was 18 I became a T-O-O-T a "teacher out of training" What a year that was......it was so much fun.......I fell in love with the students, but out of love with my studio. My dance teacher resigned as owner and just continued as a regular teacher. She was a T-A-T "Teacher of All Teachers".....The studio changed hands and politics created a very ugly money hungry monster! I had to leave. So I did. I left and became a teacher at a studio about an hour away. I love it there and I love my students......I never planned for this to be my career but I can't see myself not teaching......I've had a blast.

Good post!