Selected work, 2008–2020

Context

What I did

• Planned the education schedules for 19 classes, so children could move across groups and spaces without losing structure.
• Coached 30 teachers on the model’s principles and held the program to its standards.
• Set up 14 staff commissions and mentored their leaders, so a very large school ran safely and efficiently and still felt warm to children and staff.
• Kept the model in line with every standard of the national preschool program.

Outcome

• About 2,500 children from every socio-economic background learned in the model between 2012 and 2017.
• Free or low-cost public preschool in a purpose-built facility, held to a consistently high standard, gave the school a reputation that drew families from all income groups.
• The school received the Istanbul Directorate of National Education’s Good Practices in Education flag for School-Without-Walls in 2012–2013, and Sabancı University listed it among its good practices in education in 2013.

Context

What I did

• Managed the program’s operations and coordinated its teachers.
• Acted as the link between the teachers and the Ministry of National Education’s systems and processes, so a classroom on a bus ran by the same rules as a classroom in the building.

Outcome

• Two municipal buses, fitted out as classrooms, brought free preschool to disadvantaged neighborhoods across the district.
• The school presented Traveling Schools, together with School-Without-Walls, at the International Play Association (IPA) world conference in 2014.

Context

What I did

• Led the school’s registration and orientation program every year and coordinated parent-teacher meetings before the year began.
• Created the First Week adaptation program, which eased children into school over their first days with their families involved.
• Later, as head of a preschool branch, built the same approach into a new school: parent sessions first, then a gradual orientation for each child.

Outcome

• About 900 children and their families started school through the program each year.
• At Şehit Vedat Barceğci Anaokulu, the approach kept attendance high and compliance and communication problems low for three years.

Context

What I did

• Built four learning centers used by twelve groups of children: a community library, a sustainable agriculture area, a mini-farm, and a sensory workshop.
• Introduced outdoor education to my fellow teachers and led the whole school’s participation in Outdoor Classroom Day.
• Set up an internship program with universities and mentored 17 undergraduates in preschool education and child development.
• Kept teaching: a class of about 30 five- and six-year-olds.
• Gave guest lectures on alternative preschool models to preschool education students at Istanbul Aydın University.

Outcome

• Twelve groups of children gained four new places to learn inside their school.
• Outdoor Classroom Day brought 300 children and their families outside to learn in 2018 and 2019.
• Seventeen future teachers trained in a working preschool.

Context

What I did

• Designed and taught lessons for groups aged 3–4, 4–5, and 5–6.
• Held family participation events every week and coached parents on ways to support their child’s development at home.
• Kept a warm classroom where every child felt safe, and planned for each child’s emotional, physical, and social needs.