A website dedicated to the unlikely intersection of my duo passions: teacher capacity building and the potential of my leveraging comedy to support charities, and teacher capacity building.
PART 1-Comedy
Because of limited opportunities to perform, this section is my "work space", where I analyze and revise my comedy, using both my successes and failures.
UPCOMING VENUES
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Please join us for an evening of laughter and music. THIS WILL BE THE FIRST OF FOUR FORTY- MINUTE SHOWS WITH DIFFERENT MIXTURES OF MATERIAL. I have organized this first show around the trials and tribulations of teaching, all of which is captured in my last bit, a "rap", "Teacher, American Hero." The October show will be completely different and focus on observational humor. The next two shows will blend the best of shows 1 and 2. My goal is to create a product that reflects the best of my work and then leverage it to raise money for charities. |
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COMEDY PAGE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
My comedy pages are divided into three parts: 1."2022 Booked Shows". Appearances with real audiences! I have posted three 45 minute shows, ones I created after my husband's passing. They all begin with fifteen minutes of "Classic Claire", which are my most successful pieces, and then I add different bits from my "comedy repertoire". Also, on this page, I include shorter booked shows from Improv City, etc. 2. "Robin Williams Challenge": about an hour and a half of material I created in my garage during the height of COVID. Inspired by Robin Williams' comedic support in the late 70's, I worked with my "comedy muse", my husband, to develop and revise material I use this page as a reference tool incase I forget my material. (which happens more often than not now a days.) 3. "Open Mikes," five minute appearances. These tend to be brutal, as often there is no audience, only other aspiring comics, so it's hard to evaluate the effectiveness of a bit. This page is my comedy "homework" because I study these and make revisions.
NUMBER 1: 2022 BOOKED SHOWS. My goal is to "Make No Little Plans", Go Big or Go Home...Which means I will weave together the best of the hour and a half of the material I have. My impossible dream? Create a "Netflix" type show, one outstanding 60-minute show that could possibly be marketed to raise money for education. |
NUMBER 2: "Garage Comedy: Robin Williams Challenge. " Video clips of "baseline" comedy bits, which I created working my garage, then evaluated by my husband. |
NUMBER 3: OPEN MIKES, 5 to 10 minutes, a space for me to study my work and revise. |
A TRIBUTE TO MY COMEDY MUSE
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August 20, 2022 Due to my husband's soul-crushing death, (not Covid..leukemia, small strokes, brain bleed), a four-month decline, I halted all work on this website. However, because Terry would not want me to emotionally capituate from my suffocating grief, I am continuing with our shared vision, developing a substantive comedy routine that could benefit education. Now that Covid cases have dropped, I am performing again. My dear friends are helping me navigate my new reality. On March 31, many showed to support me for my 43 minutes at LaCave, 47 minutes on May 7 at The Amazing Comedy Theater and 40 minutes, June 18, at Durty Nellies. My next step is to produce half-hour shows and refine pieces from those shows. As you see above, Durty Nellies is allowing early Saturday performances. I suspect I will be returning to my "home base", the Harp, in Costa Mesa, to do one final taping. The Harp is where I returned to comedy again in 2018 after a 40 year break. At this writing, I am still devastated, as Terry was my soul mate and my comedy muse. Because of Covid, I was forced to perform for him. Most of material you see on the next pages is "Terry approved", however, on many he said, "test it out, then work on it some more." Which is exactly what I am doing.
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Part 2
TEACHER CAPACITY BUILDING
CALL TO ACTION
Contact: cratfield@gmail.com
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THE DESPERATE NEED FOR A POST PANDEMIC PEDAGOGY, PURPOSE AND POSSIBILITY |
As revealed in keynotes during the March, 2021 Computer User Education Conference, such as the shared clip above, COVID didn’t destroy education, it uncovered and exposed education’s historic failures, in particular its ability to leverage technology to promote unprecedented student learning.
Education sits on the precipice of change, a historical threshold moment, an opportunity to spark a new generation of teaching and learning. This is what Stephen Johnson calls the “Adjacent Possible…a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself. The adjacent possible captures both the limits and the creative potential of change and innovation."
In the Wakelet resources below, I provide links to essential educational technology tools and highlight just some of the legions of educational leaders, "transcendent" innovators who provide free resources to help teachers transform their teaching. One visionary leader, Dr. Sonny Magana, in his book, Disruptive Classroom Technologies: A Framework for Innovation in Education, leads the way. His T3 Framework for Innovation "is a highly reliable model for enhancing modern instructional practice with modern teaching and learning tools." This hierarchal structure leverages technology's power, and promotes revolutionary thinking about how to electrify the teaching profession around its core mission, creating visible learning. through critical thinking templates like Eduprotocols and Hyperdocs. Using the interactions of these T-3 tools, translational, transformational and transcendent, teachers can save an enormous amount of time while at the same time significantly enhance student learning. resources to promote “wicked problem solving”.
Dr. Magana explaining the T-3 Model
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A Wakelet is a curation platform, a place to organize favorite links. My links are organized in categories, from basic "translational" teacher tools, to "transformative and transcendent tools." Consequently, there may be many overlaps. For example Quiziz and Quizlet are located under Formative Assessments but also "Gamified Learning." I will be organizing this Wakelet in late September.
See additional support page:
Resources for
Student Depression
COMEDY: Part 2: This page includes PRE-COVID, 2019 to 2020 shows or practices: I am keeping them here as "happy memories" of working with my husband.
Part 2:
Teacher, American Hero-Rap
This "rap" captures the intersection of comedy and education.
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https://www.wevideo.com/view/1787316771
QUARANTINE COMEDY
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MY FAN WALL
When I practice at home, I practice in front of my "virtual" yet real friends.
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Pre Covid work.
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Upcoming Venue'
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Upcoming Venue:
7PM Monday, September 20, 2021
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PRE-COVID SHOWCASES:
SEPTEMBER, 2018-FEBRUARY, 2020
FEBRUARY 25 BELOW..my last public performance!
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FEBRUARY 25, 2020. My last show before Covid lock down. Thanks again to my over 20 supporters. With limited stage time, I savor the audience support to help me develop materal.
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FEBRUARY 4, 2020
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January 26, 2020
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January 14, 2020
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January 15, 2020
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Princess Cruise Karaoke Night, December 16, 2019. Stand up comedy is not only about writing, its finding places to refine and revise my work. I asked the cruise director, "Rich from Australia", about possible stage time on any of their countless stages. Though his first response was befuddled (really?). as a tribute to him, he took the time to look at my comedy website. He suggested Karaoke Night for my "Rap". I hadn't done the whole rap in so long, I stumbled, but as I say, when you forget material at 73, it's "adorable". |
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On December 3, 2019, I tested out ten new minutes at the Harp Although I have 40 tested minutes, most of my friends have seen parts of my material. I feel obligated to provide them some fresh new insights into my world perspective.
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The SOCAL COMEDY COMEDY CONTEST
This video represents my "Tight 8", or a successful 8 minute set.
NOVEMBER 1, 2019
COMEDY STORE
No videos allowed but great show.
THE FEDERAL LONG BEACH OCTOBER 12, 2019
I am so inspired by entrepreneurs like Felize Gee. We met at "open mikes", comedy experiences that sometimes lead you to question the validity of your existence. In order to assure a better room and better audience for herself and friends, she created this Long Beach Comedy Show as a venue for seasoned comics and new talent. She's a humanist doing comedy! Quite a treat.
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THE FEDERAL VIDEO
OCTOBER 8, 2019
The Harp Inn honored both Gary and I as featured acts for their anniversary show. I will be posting video soon.
Thanks to my loyal fans!!
Unfortunately, there are no videos for Aug 27, The Harp and
Aug 28, The Comedy Store, 2019. My husband rented a limo to celebrate my 73rd birthday so the trip to and from the event was pure joy.
I'm pleased to announce that after my 40 year absence, the audience celebrated my return to the Comedy Store with a standing ovation. Of course, 15 guests in the audience were my friends, so that may be a factor.
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JULY 30, 2019 PERFORMANCE
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PERFORMANCE VIDEO: JULY 9, 2019 THE HARP
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PERFORMANCE VIDEO: JUNE 18, 2019 THE HARP
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PERFORMANCE VIDEO:
MAY 21, 2019, THE HARP
SEVEN MORE NEW MINUTES!
PERFORMANCE VIDEO:
MARCH 26, 2019. THE HARP. PLEASE NOTE: SEVEN MINUTES WAS NEW MATERIAL.
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PERFORMACE FEBRUARY FIFTH
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PERFORMANCE JANUARY 27: AMERICA'S GOT TALENT CLIP MAKES UP THE FIRST FIRST TWO MINUTES OF THIS VIDEO. THIS WAS PERFORMED AT IMPROV CITY-IRVINE LANES
PERFORMANCE: JANUARY 8, 2019
NOTE: I completely revised "Concealed Gun Carrier Rap" and converted it to something more relevant: "Teacher America Hero".
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PERFORMANCE: November 27, 2018
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SOME OLDER PRACTICE AND PERFORMANCE VIDEOS
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