Tanya has worked in early learning for 16 years and is an Educator at Choklits in Croydon. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design from RMIT University, a Certificate in Italian from Università Roma Tre, a Graduate Diploma in Primary Teaching from La Trobe University, and a Graduate Diploma in Early Childhood Education from RMIT University.
Over to Tanya…
I love working in early education and care because I finally discovered a vital way to put my life experiences, knowledge accrued along the way and my passions of caring for our precious environment, love of art and of language into daily practice. Working with our youngest learners is an enormous privilege and joy, through which there is much to learn daily, about how they learn best.
Throughout my career, I’ve been most proud of finding ways to instil confidence in the capacities of children to be intrinsically motivated to do their best as members of our community. (Other examples are drawing and writing, playing games, singing, learning Italian, self-care, and most importantly being independent thinkers). This involves us all sharing ideas and feedback on a daily basis.
When I’m not at Choklits, I enjoy seeing new parts of the world like the deserts of Marocco, the cheetahs of South Africa and the sublime fjords of Norway. We are huge soccer fans (Viva La Roma!). I adore dancing and live music in Melbourne – the greatest city in the world. My favourite place is getting lost in the great Australian bush.
I love when a child makes a comment that shows deep reflection on a practice or concept we have covered together, such as ‘” ‘teached ‘my family to open the tap only a little” after a discussion about how precious and small our freshwater reserves are, on Earth. And proudly showing me their bowls after lunch, looking almost clean, as wasting food is a no-no.
