Kristina Favaloro is in her second year
with RiverRun and is responsible for all aspects
of the elementary classroom. She directs day-to-day classroom
operations - overseeing the administration of a Montessori curriculum and providing a warm
and nurturing learning environment for RiverRun students.
Ms. Favaloro ensures a
classroom experience that fosters the education of students while
respecting and accommodating each student’s individual developmental
needs. She provides arrangement of the classroom environment and
leads individual or group lessons in a manner which implements a
whole-child approach that considers the intellectual, physical, creative,
and spiritual dimensions of each student.
Ms. Favaloro has a strong background in
providing differentiated instruction, inquiry-based learning and
project-based learning, responsive classroom techniques, and a personal
interest in both art integration and technology. She has led after
school enrichment programs for students in grades 2-5 that ranged from
handmade paper-making, mural design and painting, origami, and gardening
and has also led intensive summer school reading programs for grades
3-4.
Prior to RiverRun, Miss Favaloro worked as head teacher for five years in an
Expeditionary Learning elementary school in Massachusetts. Expeditionary Learning
is an education reform model that has many parallels to Montessori and
is based on design principles such as self-discovery, empathy and
caring, success and failure, the natural world, and solitude and
reflection.
In the summer of 2008, Ms. Favaloro,
through a Fund for Teachers fellowship, traveled to Norway to study the
Norwegian concept of ‘friluftsliv.’ 'Friluftsliv' roughly translates to
‘open-air life’ and encourages people to make personal daily connections
with the outdoors that will benefit them mentally, emotionally, and
physically.
Ms. Favaloro has established
relationships with
Montessori consultants and has completed the first portion of her
intensive elementary Montessori certification program.
