Kerry Salazar

Field Consultant

Kerry Salazar was a teacher-researcher at Opal School from 2008-2021. She has a degree in Early Childhood Education from Western Washington University and was drawn to Opal School through a visit to a Summer Symposium where her imagination of environments for learning was stretched beyond what she originally believed was possible.

Her career at Opal began as an apprentice and student teacher where she became immersed in the relationships and dialogue that supported the mission of Opal School, to strengthen public education through provoking fresh ideas concerning environments where creativity, imagination, and the wonder of learning thrive. This is where Kerry began to grow her understanding of the incredible capacities of young children.

Kerry taught in both the primary and intermediate communities and loves bringing that work to communities of teachers around the world. Kerry continues to be amazed and inspired by her work with young children and believes that listening and relationships is at the heart of this work. As a teacher-researcher, her interests include researching literacy practices, including the study and development of Story Workshop and the connections between play and learning. Her favorite part of working at Opal School was being able to explore big, unanswerable questions and ideas with the children she works with and to share those stories with a larger audience beyond the classroom walls.

When she’s not working with TPP, she’s seeing the world with fresh eyes through her son and daughter.