Stuff I Wish I'd Known: A Practical Guide for High School Speech and Drama Teachers [Paperback]

Toby Heathcotte (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 153 pages
• Publisher: Mardel Books (July 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964088207
• ISBN-13: 978-0964088207
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,785,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

At the age of seven, I lost my best friend in a car accident. Three months later, Marcia peeked over a cloud and said she liked her new world. My family dismissed the episode as mere imagination, and I grew up distrusting my own perceptions.Unable to reconcile this and other psychic experiences, such as precognitive dreams and seeing astral forms of living people, I became a lifelong student of the paranormal. My dream journals span forty years and serve as resources for my life and work.


Repeated psychic experiences forced me to learn some coping strategies. I sat in development groups and experimented with techniques like psychometry, automatic writing, and dream analysis. As I came to a peace about my nature, I wanted to share what I'd learned to help others end mistakes, self-doubt, and concerns about their sanity.


I taught high school speech and drama and college English. Now my primary interests rest in understanding my psychic abilities and writing projects that incorporate that learning. A mother of two and grandmother of three, I live in Arizona where I serve as president of Arizona Authors Association

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lifetime's drama experience summarized in a direct way, October 8, 1998

By 

Richard Rogers ([e-mail]) (Phoenix, Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stuff I Wish I'd Known: A Practical Guide for High School Speech and Drama Teachers (Paperback)

Stuff I Wish I'd Known is a remarkably direct guide for new drama and speech teachers. The author communicates like a mentor sharing the accumulated wisdom of a lifetime spent teaching. Every page is filled with essential information about the business of coaching speech and drama and running an auditorium, especially real-life, day-to-day details that even experienced teachers outside the field may not know. I recommend this book highly to any practitioner, new or old, who plans to take on a project in the area of drama--a play, competition, drama club, speech team, whatever--and wants to be certain not to forget a thing. This text is certain to save you valuable time in a field that doesn't have any to spare.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great guide for the first year teacher!, September 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Stuff I Wish I'd Known: A Practical Guide for High School Speech and Drama Teachers (Paperback)

Ms. Heathcotte has provided first year teachers with strategies for avoiding many of the problems teachers usually face that first frightening year. With the help of this book, new drama/speech teachers should feel much more confident about how to proceed in their very demanding special area. This book is almost like having a mentor guiding you through, offering time-saving hints and practical tips for making your first year successful. If you're looking for lesson plans, look elsewhere, but add this book to your shelf for practicalities such putting on a tournament and running an auditorium.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read for any Drama Teacher, September 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Stuff I Wish I'd Known: A Practical Guide for High School Speech and Drama Teachers (Paperback)

I found this book a complete practical guide to avoid the pitfalls of a new Drama Teacher's daily life. Each page is a discovery, each single advice makes perfect sense. The author shares, beyond her obvious passion for the theater, a wealth of realistic tips, and deals candidly with all the related issues to achieve a successful career, including financial issues, multiracial problems and personality conflicts. I learnt much about the treatment of a script, the running of an auditorium, equipment, the scheduling of rehearsals, even how to organize a tournament, down to the catering, as well as goal-setting. All is pressented in an easy to read format, with the light tone of those who learnt from their own mistakes and can now laugh about it. I sincerely thank the author for sharing such priceless wisdom.