Why XYZ?

My dad was a W. 

Ba-dum-bum! (SFX: crickets) Is this thing on?

My name Chris Espinosa, but when you search the internet for me, the first listing is for Chris Espinosa who works at Apple. NOT ME!

And another Chris Espinosa was faster than I to buy the Chris Espinosa dot com domain name. Again...NOT ME!

I was able to register the .xyz domain name. That was the 'Aha!' moment. Just add XYZ to my name and ALAKAZAM! My name is the first one on the list of internet searches of Teaching Artists.

I majored in advertising (art minor) at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. When I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1991, I returned to my hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas to begin a career in advertising. I didn't find a job in an ad agency and ended up developing and designing sales catalogs for 18-wheeler truck parts...I WASN'T HAVING ANY FUN---SHOCKER!---

That's when I discovered the local community theater. I found a group of comedians and actors who needed more opportunities to perform, so I created a comedy troupe. We were performing shows regularly throughout Corpus Christi. 

In 1998, I moved to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), a popular location for TV commercials and movie productions. I signed with a talent agency and auditioned A LOT. I booked a few acting gigs, including a national commercial for Denny's Restaurants and a billboard campaign for Southwest Airlines. 

To improve my acting skills and my chances at becoming an actor, I signed up for an intensive, 2-year improv program with Randy Bennett, an original members of the Groundlings. His former pupils include such well-known celebrities as Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz, and Elvira — Mistress of the Dark. 

That's right. A bunny. You might want to 'awwwwww'. Please don't. It was a cotton-tail nightmare. Bunnies are not that cute and cuddly when they are your boss. However, I did enjoy hopping around the eastern part of the United States visiting elementary schools and hawking a book that chronicled the rabbit's travels across America. 

That robot dog was Rocket Megabyte, the main character of my Rocket Megabyte's Texas Adventure, published in 2002. Premise of the book is that Rocket Megabyte is programmed to explore Texas on his own, but something happens (Spoiler -- It's my fault!) and he escapes before he's ready. The goal of the book was to inspire children to learn more about Texas by making Texas history fun and exciting. To promote the book, I visited schools with a comedy show that entertained and educated students about Texas history. I also developed an improv-based writing workshop to show students how much fun the writing process could be.

She asked me to create a 5-day residency and my teaching artist career began. My 5-day residencies motivate students to write in the classroom as well as for “The Test.” Even reluctant writers will want to write! I have implemented over one hundred residencies (that's 2,000+ classroom hours) and helped thousands of elementary and middle school students write their stories and essays. 

My TEKS-based lessons focus on ideas, voice, and word choice. Although there may be thousands of teachers across the state with just as many lesson plans to teach writing, I can adapt my program to support the writing methods in any classroom. And that's what makes my program successful. I have visited over 300 schools and public libraries across Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi. I have entertained and educated in excess of 150,000 students. In addition, I have been a guest author and/or speaker at various conferences, conventions, writers' groups, and other literary events.