Hola,
I am Adriana Becerra, creator of JOY. Since I was a little girl I wanted to change the world, and early education was the most powerful way to do it. I believe that schools are a micro-cosmos of our society and that educators have the power to make a difference in a child’s life and therefore in creating a better world. I experienced the great joys and honor of teaching but unfortunately I also experienced the burnt out of education systems. So I stopped and worked on healing myself. Through this beautiful and challenging journey, my perspective changed and the words of Rumi made so much sense: “We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us”. This completely changed my life and my approach in my career; everything comes from the inside of us, and to create beautiful things we must be those things within. I started envisioning all the pieces together, the high quality practices I learned as a teacher, the creativity and innovative curriculums I had once created as a preschool program leader, the commitment to support teachers and educators in this beautiful and challenging journey that I learned as a consultant; but more importantly I brought the realization that love and joy are the only things that matter. How can we create a new education system in which love and joy are the core? How would this look in the daily practices? How would this look for people of different colors, cultures and backgrounds? What would this do to nature? How does this look not only for children but for the adults raising them? What should be the focus of schools, what are the world’s most pressing issues and how can schools strongly focus on them? I started to envision joy: a bilingual school, consulting services and an online platform… an entire educational movement; but it was not until I became a mom that I felt the urgency of materializing it. Inspired by what could be, I decided to bring JOY to the world during the pandemic; they say beautiful things come from crises. JOY represents everything I have learned and wish for my son Joaquin, for my inner teacher, and for every person: A holistic education in which people feel safe and loved for who they are, they treasure joy and are equipped and committed to create a better world.
With much joy,
Adriana Becerra, Founder and Director
We Promote High Quality Practices
We strongly believe in active learning, where children are the protagonists and adults serve as facilitators of learning
We use project based learning as the vehicle to connect real life experiences and interests to curriculum guidelines.
We believe the learning environment is the third teacher and we are intentional on creating beautiful spaces that children learn to respect and interact with independently.
We believe in empowering young children to solve their social disagreements independently through conflict resolution strategies.
We discovered that academics do not need to be sacrificed for holistic practices to be in place, but that when children are nurtured as a whole, they thrive in academics too.
But we don’t stop there
We realize that there is a disconnection between the pressing problems in our world right now with what young children are learning in schools. If we want a better world, we must be creative and discover new ways to bridge the gaps.
Mirror, Mirror
We live in a society where it is easy and more acceptable to not like ourselves than to love ourselves. Self-love is not selfishness, on the contrary, loving ourselves is the most powerful thing that we can do and can have a positive impact on everything around us. We believe that every child has everything they need inside of them; so we focus on fostering self-esteem and self empowerment, cultivating resiliency and emotional wellbeing through mirror play, mindfulness and positive affirmations.
The Earth is my home
We are facing an ongoing rise regarding environmental issues and yet ask our children to save an Earth that they do not even know. We believe that if our children have the opportunity to connect with nature, they will feel part of it and will be committed to take care of it. We focus on spending time outdoors , caring for living things, and discovering the wonders within our world.
I love my city
Civic education is mostly relegated to older grade levels and boring textbooks but we expect our children to grow up and be committed citizens. JOY believes in creating a strong link between the children and the City they live in. We go on City Explorations and fall in love with our community, we vote for a local organization and support it throughout the year. We learn that regardless of our age, young children can impact their community.
We are one
It is common that we talk about the importance of diversity and equity in schools, but we are afraid of talking about racism, privilege and stereotypes with young children. This does not serve anybody; we believe young children are wise and empathetic to learn about this big problem and become agents of change. We provide opportunities for children to develop a strong identity and appreciate differences. We promote the idea that culture is very personal, and we are careful with stereotypes. We are intentional on creating a space in which each person feels safe and loved for by who they are.
Our team is full with JOY
Ms. Laura
Head of School
Laura S. Garcia, has been dedicated to the Early Childhood field for over 12 years. Over the course of her career she has worked with children ranging in age from infants to high school students. She strives to create and maintain an environment where your child can grow and thrive while exploring the world around them. She believes that children should be provided with opportunities that promote creativity, curiosity, and JOY.
Ms. Jessica Hawp
Consulting and Support Lead
Jessica Hawp is passionate about helping others understand and embrace the magic of childhood. She believes that the creative soul of each child should be nurtured and embraced, empowering children to develop into their best selves. She is a dedicated learner and has a desire to grow alongside others to redefine the meaning of education. She has 19 years of experience, learning alongside children in the United States, Brazil, and Australia. She is helping create the JOY curriculum and support with consulting and professional development services.
Ms. Imelda
Teacher
Imelda Espinoza was born and raised in Monterrey, México. Her love for this profession in which she has been in for more than 20 years, was born from her mom who was also a teacher. One of her greatest passions is to help children build a strong foundation for tomorrow while embracing their unique personality; so they shine as individuals and unrepeatable humans. She has a beautiful family with two children, 12 and 6.
Ms. Rachel
Teacher
Rachel Ortiz Cavazos, born and raised on the Southside of San Antonio, is a Master Gardener and has taught in San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Oahu, Hawaii. Her teaching journey includes many methods such as Waldorf, Montessori and Reggio. Rachel is passionate for nature, mindfulness and emotional well-being. She resides with her husband, daughter, two sons, 5 chickens, 4 cats, 2 dogs and a duck named Mrs. Brown.
Ms. Yoyis
Teacher
For 20 years Gloria Sauceda has dedicated her life to early childhood education. For her, it is very important to provide young children with safety and a trusting learning environment. She is dedicated to fostering her students’ individuality so they can be happy while having fun learning. Ms. Yoyis is our JOY toddler teacher! She loves working with young children and has a lot of experience nurturing and supporting our little ones
Contact Us
Got any questions? Reach out to us!
(210) 455-0713
creator@joyholisticedu.com
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