Our Team
& Teacher Training
Meet Our Team
Timothy D. Walker
Director of Instruction & K-1 English Teacher
Tim Walker is a U.S. educator, speaker, and author who spent several years working in Finland’s renowned education system. He has written extensively about his teaching experiences for Educational Leadership, Education Week Teacher, and on his blog, Taught by Finland. Tim served as a contributing writer on education issues for The Atlantic.
Tim’s Teach Like Finland: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms, a book that resonated with educators worldwide, has been translated into 18 languages. His collaboration with Pasi Sahlberg, the author of Finnish Lessons, led to the creation of their 2021 book In Teachers We Trust: The Finnish Way to World-Class Schools.
At Sol, Tim not only teaches our English curriculum to our kindergarten and grade one students but also plays a pivotal role in mentoring and supporting our teachers.Our staff benefits from his innovative ideas and plans, such as his unique approach to creating and cultivating relationships with his network of Finnish educators.
Sra. Raquel
K-1 Spanish Teacher
“Hola, my name is Raquel & I’m from Dominican Republic. I have been in USA for the past 30 years. I received my degree in Business Management Administration from Miami Dade College. I am grateful to be part of Sol Spanish Immersion School since our opening day in December 2021 as Managing Director. During my time at Sol, I have seen the beauty of the Finnish pedagogy in action & completed my Teacher Diploma from University of Helsinki! I have taught Spanish as a second language & also worked in Early Childhood Education in a Waldorf school.
I am the mother of 2 young men. I enjoy spending time with my family, cooking, & traveling.”
Sra. Laura
Co-Lead Early Childhood Education (Preschool) Teacher
Originally from Lima, Perú, Sra. Laura is fluent in Spanish and English. She has vast experience working with children as a nanny as well as in a spanish immersion program in Ann Arbor, Michigan and as an assistant teacher in Los Angeles, California. She moved to Tennessee from California and we are blessed to have her join our school!
Sra. Tamara
Lead Early Childhood Education (Preschool) Teacher
Hello, my name is Tamara and I was born in Santiago, the capital of Chile. I obtained my degree in Education & in Early Childhood Education at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. In 2023, I completed my “Body, Art, & Education” degree at the University of Chile, which focuses on body awareness. I worked as a portfolio evaluator for Pedagogical Excellence, a department of the Chilean Ministry of Education that seeks to strengthen educational quality by highlighting teachers with exceptional knowledge, skills, and talents to use as models.
As an Early Childhood Educator, I have played various roles, both as lead teacher and co-teaching, with children between 2 and 5 years old. I have worked with large groups of up to 45 children, applying initial teaching strategies in reading, writing, math, & critical thinking. I was also in charge of smaller groups, where I implemented the Comprehensive Curriculum and acquired experience with the Reggio Emilia approach. Both experiences share similarities with Finnish education, such as a holistic view of the child and a love for nature. At Sol Spanish Immersion School, I seek to enrich the children's experience and contribute to increasing their creativity and confidence!
Sra. Brigitt
Early Childhood Education Teacher’s Assistant
Hola, my name is Brigitt and I’m from Venezuela! I have a degree in Communications from Universidad Rafael Belloso Chacín. My experience taking care of children with cancer as well as helping my mother raise my younger siblings, has bestowed upon me great patience & empathy towards children. At Sol, I’m part of the Los Zorritos Preschool Classroom & work with Sra. Tamara.
Jennifer Santana
School Founder & Managing Director
Hola, I was born and raised in Dominican Republic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I fell in love with the education model of Finland with its emphasis on joyful learning and focus on transversal skills. My desire for my children to learn in this type of setting had me at a crossroads; either to move to Finland or set up a Finnish style school in our area. A year later, HEI Schools Franklin (now known as Sol Spanish immersion School) opened its doors. It has been a wonderful journey witnessing children grow to love learning through joyful moments of our play-based curriculum, as well as hearing children speak Spanish without any prior knowledge of the language!
We’re Hiring!
More Great Teachers To Come!
Interested in working at here? Please, click here to visit our school jobs page!
TRAINING THE BEST: HOW OUR TEACHERS ARE TRAINED
Well-Trained Teachers Are Key
We strongly believe that teachers matter. We recognize teachers as educators (not as babysitters) and as experts in their field. The curriculum is only as good as the teacher implementing it, so all teachers are rigorously trained in research-based methods and engage in ongoing teacher training and development to deliver quality education. Their role is to encourage, support and guide children while maintaining a high level of independence, creativity and professionalism in the classroom.
The initial part of our teacher training process starts with a mentoring program lead by our Finnish pedagogical manager & Finnish mentor teachers who travel from Finland to Franklin, TN during this period. During this time, our local teachers receive an intensive immersion into our Finnish pedagogy & curriculum implementation.
Training To Teach More Than Just Academics
Our teachers want their students to think independently & to challenge themselves. We give our teachers the freedom and flexibility to think creatively and try new things. They are encouraged to take initiatives and courageously explore different ways of teaching, which makes good teachers great and expands the possibilities of education.
The training process also promotes our teachers to teach social and emotional skills in order to understand the child social and emotional learning process. When the teacher understands child's cognitive and social development pathway, it's also easier for them to do empathize and support the child. The Finnish pedagogy focuses on these skills because it is grounded in the holistic approach to teaching, meaning that education should address all aspects of child growth and development, not just the academic aspects. Teachers are therefore empowered and educated to teach social emotional competence to their students to equip them with the skills for life.
Training on Sociometrics
We consider it essential that our teachers are trained on how to evaluate social-emotional skills and document their observations. Some of the methods that our teachers are trained on to assess social-emotional skills are sociograms (please see image above) & friendship network activities (please see image on the left).
From this template a teacher can visualize, if...
Someone is not mentioned at all by the peers (as Alex)
Someone does not have bilateral mentions (Alex, Edith, Li)
If someone seems to be very selective (Li, maybe she hopes to make friends with Sofia?)
Someone is often seen as a helper. This can be beneficial in pedagogical planning - e.g choosing children to support someone in play, giving credits or revealing roles (here it seems to be a girl more often - could we balance this somehow by supporting boys to take on helper’s roles?)
HEI Teacher's Diploma Program
In addition to the mentoring process, our teachers complete the HEI Schools Teacher's Diploma program. This program was developed in partnership with HEI Schools co-founder Professor Lasse Lipponen from University of Helsinki, which was recently ranked 22nd in the world in educational sciences. It comprises ten modules that cover a range of subjects, from play and learning to working with families. It also includes practical, hands-on assignments to complete in the classroom, as well as observational tools and practices to help teachers develop their independent and creative thinking as educators.
Communication Touch Points
Let’s Stay Connected
We encourage active participation from both children, and their parents. It is important to create an atmosphere where everyone’s thoughts are being heard and everyone feels appreciated. So, collaborating with families is very important to us. For this reason, we offer many avenues of communicating with parents, including:
Daily interaction at the center (drop-off and pick-up)
Family education materials (Welcome Kit, weekly family newsletter, and monthly curriculum newsletter with a calendar of our daily activities)
Daily communication via our app
Teachers create newsletters (with the children) to share information about activities and educational practices
Family meetings (1:1) twice a year or more if requested
Family events at our school
Children’s work/personal portfolios are always accessible
Parent’s Committee