What makes US one-of-a-kind?
The Unusual Suspects staff are one-of-a-kind! They adjust whenever necessary to meet our partner sites and students where they are. We practice the highest levels of selection and training of our teaching teams because we know it’s essential to create safe spaces in every workshop giving our students consistent, unconditional support no matter what else is happening around them.
Did you know that every US workshop is led by two paid teaching artists (TAs) with professional experience in theatre instruction? Our stellar roster of US teaching artists also:
- Work professionally in theatre and film
- Hold master’s degrees in fine arts
- Are bilingual Spanish/English to incorporate English language learners into our workshops
Along with supervision from US senior staff, our teaching team also includes volunteer mentors to ensure our kids have all the support they need.
But it doesn’t end with recruiting the best people. We believe it is essential to provide them with tools and ongoing training like:
- Quarterly trainings on our standards-based curriculum, classroom-management, and conflict resolution strategies.
- Intensive professional development from mental health and social work professionals regarding the effects of trauma on youth, de-escalation strategies and post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Techniques to support self-care to manage the physical and emotional effects of working with traumatized youth.
- Presentations from partner organizations specializing in cultural empathy, LGBTQ+ issues, and community resources.
- Plus, each volunteer mentor receives additional orientation to experience a “day-in-the-life” of an US workshop through the eyes of a participant.
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