Dear Teachers,

Thank you for inviting us into your classroom. Working closely with you, we hope to create an extraordinary and memorable SPIRIT SERIES experience for your students. Our most successful residencies are those where the partner teacher actively participates in this learning adventure right along with us.

Opportunities to co-create powerful outcomes are built into each hour of the Lesson Plan, from pre-launch to program assessment. Beyond your help with daily planning and classroom management, your engagement is vital…and much appreciated!

Here are some simple ways to begin:

Explore this website. Background on the SERIES aims, methods, and outcomes is at your fingertips, including videos, unit-specific photo GALLERIES and, soon, an educator forum.

Become an expert. We know how busy you are. Still, we have provided resources to help you prepare for classroom success:  the play, Lesson Plan, application of Common Core Standards and CASEL competencies, as well as program curriculum including the SERIES AT HOME—short personal video stories designed to engage families in the life lessons and values embedded in each SPIRIT SERIES play. By familiarizing yourself with the range of program resources, you can jump-start our collaboration and align to the SERIES’ multidisciplinary, multisensory and interactive approach, satisfying content standards while bringing empowerment and joy to your students.

Give us your feedback. While we have worked hard to develop the SERIES curriculum, we know that you have established specific expectations for your classroom and have developed a special rapport with your students. We value your expert eye to spot the opportunity or problem we may have missed, your advice if difficulties arise or a particular student requires a different approach. Most of all, we need your input and honest assessments so that, together, we can work magic!

Thank you, once again, for your partnership.

–SPIRIT SERIES STAFF

Footnote

This original one-act SPIRIT SERIES play is the product of rigorous research, profound respect for the cultural tradition being portrayed, and careful fidelity to actual events as best understood by current scholarship. Still, THE CONQUISTADOR’S WIFE is a work of historical fiction. While the vast majority of the characters portrayed are actual figures from history, composite characters have been created on occasion, when the narrative demands and/or length constrains of the play require them. Dialogue has been written whenever verifiable exchanges between the characters was not available, and all poetry in the text has been created for this play. We invite you to go to “SOURCES” and view the research materials used in the creation of this title from the SERIES.