Interwoven Learning Program

My role is to guide each student through their educational journey. I follow a philosophy of child-led learning, backed by 10 years working as an educator in a variety of settings, including many of those years in public school classrooms. Child-led learning allows students to maintain their natural, innate sense of curiosity for the world. In a small classroom, with a maximum of 3-5 students, each student is respected as a whole person and is given the individual attention they need to support their learning. Children gain a level of independence that allows them to feel responsible for their learning, while the level of content and pace remains appropriate for their developmental age.
Creative play, art, and experiential projects are the pathways to learning academic content and the subject areas taught in all public schools. Students define the direction of their learning and I help to facilitate it by providing the necessary resources, enhancing the learning with fun and experiential projects and encouraging their interests. Each student and their learning goals are valued so that each student can thrive.

10+ years experience as an educator both in and outside classroom, with children ages 4-18 in variety of settings (primary and secondary public schools, foster care programs, dance studios, camps, museums, etc). I have worked in educational settings in Italy, Mexico, and the United States. Some of my students have struggled with emotional, physical, and cognitive, and linguistic differences. Many of my students have spoken languages other than English at home. I strive to meet students where they are at in their abilities, help them to recognize their strengths, and to find joy in the learning process.

Over the last 5 years, I have focused on collaborating with teachers in K-6 schools to integrate art with academic content.

I adhere to educational philosophies based on Montessori, Friedrich Froebel (inventor of kindergarten) child-led methods of discovery and play to help nurture creativity, compassion, and curiosity in children.

Some, but not all, of the ways we learn:

Gardening: Watering plants, planting, compost investigating (lots of bugs!);
Child-led play: sandbox with buckets, shovels, and toys; scooter and bicycle riding; water play with water toys and containers;
Scavenger hunts with eggs and treasures;
Story-time when requested;

Climbing, hiking;

Cooking and baking;

Designing science experiments, nature observations, math play with legos;

Painting: watercolor, tempera, paint pens;
Drawing: colored pencils, charcoal, marker, crayon, oil pastels, chalk;
Sculpture: papier-mâché, tape, clay, fiber and cloth, cardboard;
Paper: origami, puppetry, papier-mâché, cut-outs, collage, book-making;
Dance: movement exercises based in ballet, modern dance, and yoga

Theatre: theatrical readings, costume making, puppetry, set-building, script-writing, and performance