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Brittany Brinker has 12 years experience working with children. She earned her Master of Education degree in 2015. In the course of her career, Ms. Brinker has taught in Washington State, South Carolina and New Mexico in public, private, charter and parochial schools. As a practitioner, she specializes in Gifted and Twice Exceptional Education (students who are both Gifted and qualify for Special Education services). In 2019, Ms. Brinker was named Outstanding Teacher of American History by the New Mexico State Daughters of the American Revolution. She is a published author in both poetry and policy writing. Currently, Ms. Brinker is the pedagogical (science of teaching) reviewer for Wondergarten's curriculum-in-development.
Ms. Brinker is a Level II certified teacher and is qualified to teach in all three pathways possible in the state of New Mexico: Special Education (special education students, ages 3-21 in all subjects), Elementary Education (all subjects to general education students in Kindergarten through 8th grade), and Upper Division (Social Studies to students in 6th-12th grades). Her Elementary Education qualifications include theory and practice of teaching reading, as well as teaching "specials" such as art, music and physical education.
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As a professional, some of Ms. Brinker's most notable accomplishments include travelling internationally with students as a Model UN advisor and serving as a writing lead in the most recent revision of the New Mexico State Social Studies Standards. She delights in bringing hands-on and artistic activities into the classroom; her students sing, card wool, bake and create their own textbooks. Ms. Brinker has won multiple competitive classroom grants to bring diverse perspectives into the classroom through a variety of genres, including graphic novels, science-fiction and non-fiction.
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Ms. Brinker lives with her husband, two precocious young children, and their rescued animal testing beagle in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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In Brief
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NM Level II Certified Teacher, qualified in all subjects
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M.Ed. in Instructional Accommodations; B.A. in International Studies
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Writing Lead for updated NM State Social Studies Standards
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2021 GLSEN Rainbow Library Grant Recipient
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2021 Bueno Foods Classroom Library Grant Recipient
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2019 Outstanding Teacher of American History (New Mexico State Daughters of the American Revolution)
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2019 Daughters of the American Revolution Classroom Grant Recipient
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Model UN Advisor of Open Window School's International Travel Team
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2015 Confucius Institute (Mandarin in the classroom) teacher and grant recipient
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World Affairs Council Global Classroom Intern
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Congressional Intern (in Washington, D.C.)
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CPR/ AED/ First Aid Certified (Previous: Wilderness First Aid Certified, when overnight traveling with students)
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Adults creating a safe, nurturing, developmentally appropriate learning environment that provides holistic education grounded in nature’s rhythms, early childhood research, current industry best practices and Steiner Waldorf educational philosophies. Viewing the child holistically, rather than just a brain inside a body, adults educate children towards autonomy and joyful learning by maintaining a frame within which children have broad, deep and authentic freedoms to play.
Children playing in freedom within the frame set by adults. Within the frame, children have broad, deep and authentic opportunities for play-- that is, to explore, make mistakes, progress at their own rate.
Our community respecting free play as the child's most important work. We value freely chosen, self-directed play as the deepest form of learning any individual, of any age, engages in. Adults actively and visibly engage in community partners and shareholders by connecting through lines similarity and across lines of difference to model grace, courtesy and trust for children.
All of us respecting our planet, and the peoples, plants and animals that inhabit it. Engaging in sustainable practices. Asking questions and finding innovative solutions to real problems.
Grace:
Assume the best of everyone in our space, including yourself. Act as a citizen of character. Treat others (including non-humans), our space, and materials properly and safely.
Courtesy:
Treat others as you would like to be treated. If you’re unsure, ask. Asking permission and waiting for a response shows that you are thinking of others. When you mess up, learn from it and do better next time. Mistakes are expected, inspected, and respected here.
Trust:
We work together. Collaborating with teachers, classmates and others in our community will challenge you to practice patience, to communicate, and to keep an open mind. Your voice matters; speak up when you see something you think is unfair.
We foster independence of, and respect for, the child.
Whenever possible, we teach children to use authentic tools with respect and responsibility. We encourage children to learn their limits through experience: playing hard, getting muddy, testing their balance by using that stick on the ground as a tightrope.
We respect children by offering choices, stating directions and directives clearly, and respecting their responses. We teach about justice, fairness, and equity in ways that directly connect to children's lives. We move at the children's pace...which sometimes means a quick trip to the park slows down into a thoughtful hour looking at the bees.
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We support each individual's holistic growth.
In English, "well-educated" means something akin to "well-read". In Spanish, someone who is well educated is able to act with nuanced appropriateness in a variety of situations. In this sense, to be well educated means to have to ability to connect to something greater than oneself (soul education); appreciate, curate and create beauty (spirit education); seek to understand others and do good, in the most general sense (heart education); and have the knowledge, skills and background (education of the mind) to engage in stimulating discussions, communicate effectively and have the freedom of choice when it comes to individual self-determination.
We maintain space to make mistakes.
This is really the heart of quality gifted education. We believe that making mistakes is where learning begins. At Ponderosa, we maintain a physical space of open-ended materials that invite multiple uses and interpretations. More importantly, we encourage asking questions, trying new approaches, learning from mistakes and examining why something didn't work. We value the process as much as (and, often, more than) the product. We examine cause and effect, and if our intent matches our impact. Robots are super cool, but without the habits of mind behind them, a tool becomes a toy. In the hands of your child, with experienced mentors guiding their explorations, almost anything can become a tool for learning.
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"Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited.
Imagination encircles the world."
-Albert Einstein
To educate the mind, body, spirit and soul of young children with high academic potential in a connected, authentic and playful environment.