On Teaching...
-"Lacy Alana makes teaching look effortless. She is a master at reading the needs of the group, adapting instructional methods, and managing diverse personalities and behaviors". - Jim Ansaldo, PhD (Center on Education and Lifelong Learning w/ Indiana Institute on Disability and Community @ IU)
-"Lacy is an easily understandable teacher who does her best to make improv awesome, and succeeds. Without improv, I wouldn't have met my best friends and broken out of my social shell. Lacy is one of the best people I have ever met." -Teen student, Dylan
-"Lacy's students are encouraged to have fun with improv, and they always leave the class with happiness in their hearts. Lacy does a great job negotiating with families and delivering information to them". - Parent, Alisa
-"As a teacher, Lacy is extremely articulate and flexible, which allows her to explain concepts in many ways. She is always well prepared for lessons, classes, and camps, but is able to adapt curriculum and scaffold teaching in the moment to serve the needs of any population, including those with special needs. Lacy's compassion, patience, and management style makes her phenomenal with children, and an excellent supervisor. She sets clear boundaries and expectations that are easy to understand and uphold, and is able to re-calibrate, and re-direct with compassion as necessary. Watching her teach is always a learning experience, because she is truly a master at it, and quite honestly, she is immensely overqualified for the job she has held at Sky Candy." - Supervisee & Aerial Instructor - Roy Ruiz
On Leadership...
"Lacy is a wonderful supervisor who is always ready to answer questions, even when I’ve felt silly for asking them. Any issue I have seen brought to Lacy is handled calmly and fairly, focusing on solutions instead of placing blame. She fosters a productive, collaborative working environment that allows for the growth of employees and students. She doesn't need to remind people she is in charge, because she leads so smoothly that there is never any question about it. Both teachers and students alike orient towards her in all working settings, which leads to smooth programmatic management. As a program developer, Lacy has developed a robust circus and aerial program that is child-oriented, developmentally appropriate, and incredibly fun. She has blended her clinical expertise, teaching skills, and aerial knowledge to create a one-of-a-kind program." - Supervisee & Aerial Instructor - Lily Poe
"-In her tenure with Sky Candy, she helped us grow our fledging Youth Program from a couple of drop-in classes per week and a few camps a year to a robust, sustainable program that includes regular drop-in classes, semester-long series classes, and camps during Spring Break and throughout the entire summer break. She introduced our youth staff to compassionate behavioral management techniques that have improved not only the way we interact with our younger students, but also our instructors’ level of comfort in working with this population. She has fostered and nurtured relationships with families that have led to exceptionally high student retention rates. In short, Lacy has been an invaluable asset to Sky Candy and the growth of our Youth Program." - CEO, Aerial Instructor - Winnie Hsia
Praise for the Connect Improv Curriculum:
"With the Connect Improv Curriculum, Lacy Alana offers detailed instructions for playing and teaching a broad selection of improv games that will hone students’ performance skills while simultaneously supporting their personal, communicative, and social development.
I’ve used the Connect Improv Curriculum as a resource to develop classes and standalone workshops for a variety of audiences – from teens on the autism spectrum to engineers working for the Department of Defense. It is a priceless resource."
- Jim Ansaldo, PhD (Center on Education and Lifelong Learning w/ Indiana Institute on Disability and Community @ IU)
"These days, I use my Connect Improv curriculum weekly to support my middle schoolers' language and social communication goals… and most importantly — they love it! It’s the best activity I’ve found for practicing social skills in real-time. I’m even able to conduct push-in services and get the teachers engaged with their students as well. There is nothing like seeing a class full of adolescent males and their educators virtually silent as they “work” on (or play?) nonverbal communication games. It changes the classroom dynamic for the better!
While attending a training/Camp Yes And with Lacy is a MUST, the curriculum will support you long after the final showcase. You can tell Lacy has YEARS of experience because she is able to anticipate - within the text - exactly where you may hit roadblocks with certain types of students. She not only offers detours for these situations, but authentic teaching moments as well." - Rachel Hopf, MA, CCC- Speech Language Pathologist