Tumbleweed Infant House, LLC
Cohort 4 Teacher: Briana
Cohort 1+2 Teacher: Aron Cohort 3 Teacher: Bee Director and Owner: Amy Teacher Assistant: Melinda Briana Weber is the Primary Care Provider for Cohort 4.
Hello! My name is Briana Weber, and I am a teacher here at
Tumbleweed Infant House. I have been
with the school since it opened in October 2008. I treasure my experiences here from the
ability to follow the children in their interests to the support I receive in
regards to my personal professional goals. I feel that I have blossomed as a teacher and my understanding of the
child as a communicator, active participant in life and inquisitor from birth
heightens every day. I began my
career in 1996 as a nursery attendant, caring for young children during Sunday
school. I had some experience previously
as part of my participation in Camp Fire USA, including a toy drive for a
parent relief nursery in my home town. After graduating high school I pursued further learning in education,
and through a series of events found myself working at a large daycare in
downtown Portland. Here I worked with
children from 9 months to 3 years during my time there and I began my personal
path of discovering the child. In the
summer of 2007 I earned my AMI Primary Teaching Certificate from Montessori
Institute Northwest and that fall I began a new position as a Montessori
teacher. I loved being in a beautiful
Montessori classroom, but always felt like something was missing. The birth of
my son in August 2008 gave me a chance to slow down and remember why I had
decided to take the Montessori training in the first place. I have always been passionate about
furthering my knowledge of the child and the Montessori training gave me new
tools and information to use as a teacher, researcher and observer. It was then that I met Amy and found my home
at Tumbleweeds. My teaching
style is based on a fusion of philosophies stemming mainly from my observations
of the children's emergent interests, individual caregiving needs and the needs
of our environment, support of
functional independence and individual paths of development, as well as
building basic trust and a loving teacher/child relationship. I draw inspiration from RIE, Reggio Emilia,
Montessori, Waldorf, Constructivist learning, Emergent Curriculum, Studio Art
and the world and community we live in. I feel it is my ultimate goal to help the children in my care become not
just active, but contributing members of their community. Being outdoors and music are two integral
parts of my interactions with the children as they are things that I am
passionate about, so it is my goal to incorporate both into our daily rhythm. I am excited
about new research that his happening connecting the importance of brain
development and the work we are doing with the children. I find myself on a constant quest to find
more information to supplement my work and am excited about the growing community
of early childhood educators. I have
been highly inspired by the writings of Richard Louv (Last Child in the
Woods), Pema Chodron (Always Maintain a Joyful Mind), Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
(Flow), and Dr. Seuss (The Butter Battle Book). Tumbleweed
is a place where learning is done together, and where I look forward to
continuing my growth and refinement as a teacher. I see life as a constant learning process and
it is the children with their fresh outlook and constant wonder that keeps me
continually invigorated and inspired. Aron Steinke is the Preschool Teacher for Cohorts 1 and 2.
Hi! My name is Aron Steinke and I am very excited to be joining Tumbleweed Infant House as the new preschool teacher. I graduated from Lewis and Clark College with my MAT in early childhood and elementary.
I spent a year student teaching at Buckman Elementary, an arts focus school, where I got to work with many K-5 classrooms, developing curriculum and help students become enthusiastic about learning. Before that I worked with preschoolers at the Portland Children’s museum Art camp where every day involved getting messy and being creative.
I am also a children's book author/illustrator and graphic novelist. I love to teach comics workshops to school age kids and will continue to do this with any free time I get this year.
When I’m not at Tumbleweed you might see me riding my bike around the city or walking down the street and reading a book at the same time. I love to spend my weekends drawing, drinking coffee, and hanging out with my wife, Ariel and our three cats. I just got married in march and my wife is also pursuing a degree in early childhood education.
I grew up in the wilds of Washington, out near Camas, spending my early childhood building forts, eating berries, and climbing trees. My wife and I live in S.E. Portland and constantly remark on what a beautiful city we live in.
I can honestly say that I’ve found the perfect home here at TIH. Working with younger children is such an amazing experience because they are learning so much so quickly and have so much to do and share. Figuring out exactly what kids need and guiding them along the way is what I enjoy most.
I look forward to meeting all of you.
Aron
Briana "Bee" Hoskins is the Primary Care Provider for our Third
Cohort.
Hello, my name is Briana Hoskins, aka Bee. I am very excited to be joining Tumbleweed Infant House as the Infant Teacher of Cohort 3. I am so pleased that Amy decided to add a new cohort to her growing home and that I have been chosen to be a part of this expansion! I have been working with children since my parents allowed me to stay at home alone. During those babysitting days, I quickly developed a passion for watching children grow and learn and loved being a part of this process. This passion grew into a desire to work with children professionally, and by the time I was 12, I knew I wanted to be a child therapist one day. I took those first steps towards my dream in 2003 when I earned my BA in Psychology from Western Washington University. I then began the MA in Counseling Psychology program at Pacific University and received my degree this last August. During the first year of my Master’s program, I had an amazing opportunity and experience working as a teacher at an early intervention center for at-risk infants and toddlers who lived on-site with their teenage mothers. I gained a strong understanding of the development of infants and toddlers as well as how nature and nurture intertwine to make children who they are. This experience was what made me want to branch out and not only have a career working with older children and adolescents, but also infants and toddlers. Soon after completing my counseling internship, I realized that infants and toddlers are often left out of the counseling process. This drew me to the conclusion that I wanted to gain a more complete understanding of infants and toddlers in a positive, respectful, self-initiating environment so that one day I can have my own counseling practice, working with all children. I then found Tumbleweed Infant House and was amazed and excited by Amy’s approach to partnering with children. I instantly knew that being a part of Tumbleweed is exactly where I need and want to be. I am looking forward to a new experience in RIE as well as being able to support this approach with research in my educational field. Children bring me joy every day, and I am excited to be working with infants, as this is a time of development where so much growing and learning occurs. I live in NE Portland with my partner Joe and our two children, aka cats, Bear and Arie. Joe and I share a passion for running, and we both just recently completed a half marathon for the first time. We love to spend time with our friends and family, as well as spend time alone making each other laugh! When I am not at Tumbleweed, you will probably find me running on some trail in the woods. I also enjoy traveling as often as possible, reading a good book, playing the wrong notes on my keyboard, singing, knitting, skiing (water and snow), and eating sushi. I look forward to meeting and getting to know each of you and becoming a part of all of your lives! Warm Wishes, Bee
Amy Williams is the Director and Owner.
I
developed my dream program concept over years of working with Head Start and
then as the Director of Growing Seeds and later as the Director of ChildRoots. TIH is my dream come true! And I'm
so proud of having a program that supports the entire triangle of
participants: children, families, AND teachers. Our work with
everyone emphasizes respect, heart-felt interest, a supportive environment, and
an ever-growing love for the earth! The
Center is in our home. The entire first floor is set up for TIH, with
separate classrooms for each age group, an art studio for the preschoolers, a
bathroom, a pantry, and a kitchen. Our family (including my daughter, born 11/08, and son, born 1/11) lives upstairs. My
role is that of an on-site Director and Owner. I do all of the training
and on-going guidance for the teachers, administrative work, and so on.
Willa and I spend the majority of our day downstairs, giving teachers breaks,
helping to clean up after messy art processes, lending a hand when it helps, taking pictures, and just hanging out. There
are definitely days that I spend more time upstairs (like when producing a
newsletter, payroll, or quarterly taxes), but for the most part, we are extra
hands downstairs. This was part of my dream: to be able to support
teachers as best as possible so that we can provide the best environment for our children.
Melinda Lotspeich is our Teacher Assistant
My name is Melinda Lotspeich, and I’ve been substituting at Tumbleweed Infant House since July 2010. I’ll be the Preschool Teacher Assistant from October through December 2010, and then I'll transition into a center-wide Teacher Assistant in January 2011. I have known Amy for a number of years now and worked with her at a previous center. I strongly believe in each child’s, and each adult’s, own unique journey and every child’s ability to trod along their own path. One of the things I love most about Tumbleweed is the community here and how we all recognize that while sometimes we can do it on our own sometimes we need some help too- regardless of our age!
I began working with children in middle school. I worked at day camps as an assistant and helped organize activities for children as young as preschool and up to fifth grade. In high school I continued this and started to also work for camps for older children, up to age thirteen. From here I moved on to working in center settings with children under the age of five. I found I loved watching the numerous milestones that happen from birth to five and have stuck with those age groups since. Each age group is special to me in their own and I honestly can say I don’t have a favorite. I love the gentle nature and constant curiosity of infants. I love the determined nature of toddlers. I love the way preschoolers think things through and view the world with vivid imaginations.
My teaching style strongly resembles RIE and has since long before I had ever heard of Magda Gerber. I sit back and observe children long before I will interact with what they are doing. I feel this helps children to learn confidence and to try new things without fear of what I as an adult might say or think. I love letting a child figure out a solution whenever possible, even if I think it may not work. Not only for the joy of letting them feel responsible and confident in their decisions, but also because sometimes as adults we will use logic to throw out a solution that just might surprise us and work after all. I think of children as important contributing members from the moment they are born and work to help them develop a strong sense of self that will help them to continue on as contributing members in adulthood.
Outside of working with children, I have a wide array of very vast interests. The one thing that links them all together is my genuine passion for working with small businesses. For this reason, I am pursuing a business degree. I will graduate from Mount Hood Community College in the spring of 2011 and move on to Eastern Oregon University. Along with business, I am also studying ECED, philosophy, and accounting. With my free time, I take even more classes such as film history, wine tasting, and art history. I love learning and can’t imagine ever not being enrolled in some sort of class.
In January 2010 I had my first child. He is now approaching two is and is definitely a toddler. He loves climbing, investigating, and taking things apart. He is very inquisitive and I find we share a great number of interests in common. Since having him, I have been reminded of how much I enjoyed learning and how much I love simply being with people. He has helped me to find myself again and for that I am eternally grateful. Beyond school and my son, I do sometimes find time for hobbies like reading, light hiking, classic rock adoration, and a number of things our great state of Oregon has to offer! I look forward to working with all of you here at Tumbleweed and am so very excited to once again be working for a place that believes in the importance of children.
Briana, Bee, and Amy portraits by Debbie Baxter.