Welcome to my blog! I am Perry Noia the Scaredy Clown, but I'm also known as Erin Hawkins (nee Goodchild). I plan to focus on topics related to learning through play, but I should probably start with a bit of my own background story.
I was born and still live in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. At the age of 5, I saw a man named Itzhak Perlman on Sesame Street playing violin with a little girl. I asked my mom if I could learn to play the violin and so began my musical journey. I had several regular private violin students in high school and when it came to University, I eventually finished a Bachelor of Musical Arts in Vocal Music (how I ended up in voice is a long story) and a Bachelor of Education in Junior/Intermediate Vocal Music.
During my time at the University of Windsor, I was a member of the University Singers and the University of Windsor Chamber Choir (the more elite group) and even joined them on a trip to New York where we performed as part of a collaborative choir at Carnegie Hall.
After completing all of these studies, I found myself working as a substitute teacher. I discovered rather quickly that it takes a very special kind of teacher to be a supply... And I'm not one of them. I'm not an intimidating figure in any way and the kids were walking all over me. Since I was pregnant at the end of that school year, it seemed a good time to leave that behind.
As a stay at home mom of two beautiful girls, I went through several home business attempts. I taught baby sign language classes, made chocolates, tried a few network marketing sales things... And as the children got a little older, I tried to get myself a "real job." After four years though of being out of the normal workforce, most employers looked at my resume and laughed or due to my degrees claimed that I was "over qualified." However, with two kids at home, my husband's income alone was not quite covering all the bills.
After having hired the marvellous Trixie the Clown for both of my girls' second birthdays, I started to think...... I could do that. With a little help from Trixie and a lot of online self-study, I got myself started on the path to being a professional clown. I have since continued my clowning education, but this at least gives you a bit of a background on me and my love of educating children. I use a lot of the activities and techniques learned in teaching music when I am clowning and in that way, try to bring value to my interactions with children.
It is my sincere hope that you will find the discussions and information shared in this blog interesting and valuable in your life. Please share your feedback with me and pass on links to others so that we can all continue our lifelong learning.
Perry Noia
AKA Erin :oD
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