Tracy Aiden
Tracy has been teaching young children in Progressive Schools for 22 years.
Her approach to creating a classroom community is to ensure that every child is seen, heard, honored, valued and nurtured. Through the cultivation of each child's individual sense of purpose and worth, Tracy believes that children begin to grow their abilities to be more empathetic and become confident and competent in using their voices to advocate for themselves and others.
As soon as you enter Tracy's classroom, you will feel the vibe that has been created for her classroom community. The energy is not just representative of her life as a Black woman, educator, ally and social justice advocate and abolitionist, but is also an important message for ALL of her families and children to know that, in their classroom community they are welcome, they belong, they will be seen, they will be honored and they will have a voice that is heard and respected.
Through play, modeling, stories and building relationships and community, Tracy builds classroom vocabulary in a way that allows children to wonder about how they can impact those around them in a positive way.
Young children are just beginning to understand the concept of fairness. Justice to young children is a sense of fairness and equal treatment. More than merely meaning “equality,” fairness means leveling the playing field and making sure everyone has what they need to succeed. Without fairness, we leave people behind who might not have the same advantages that many of us do.
And so, Tracy wholeheartedly believes it is vital that we begin teaching our children, at an early age, not just to be fair, but to also question systems that prevent marginalized folks from obtaining equity and justice. Through this teaching it is her dream that her students will realize that the culture they create now and as adults can be one which gives everyone the fair chance to prosper.
Tracy believes that starting small and starting young is key to creating future citizens that will go on to repair the world.