One Tree Tutorial & Enrichment

Praseeda Valayapallil

Head of Tutorial & Primary Class Teacher

Praseeda has a Bachelor of Science Degree and holds a Diploma in Montessori Method of Education from Modern Montessori International.  She’s certified to teach Speech & Drama , Music & Movement and Phonics to young learners. She’s also a certified kid’s yoga and meditation teacher. Her passion for learning led her to also complete IMSE’s Comprehensive Orton-Gillingham reading instruction training this year. 

Praseeda has been in the teaching field since 2007. She has worked in international schools, local schools, Montessori, kindergarten and day care centres in Singapore. Her husband’s job brought her to Franklin, TN in 2015. They have two children, a junior in college and a junior in high school. She has been with One Tree since 2020 and is excited to see what this year has in store!

Maggie Conran

All School Assistant & Assistant Teacher

Maggie has been part of the One Tree community since 2015 as a parent and an assistant teacher. She is passionate about raising and educating her two sons and has been homeschooling since her oldest (now a sophomore) was in 1st grade. As a lifelong learner, she loves the Montessori approach to education which emphasizes process over product. She graduated with a BA in English Literature and continues to be passionate about writing and reading. She loves being in nature, finding and creating beautiful things, deep thinking, connection and hanging out with her family and friends in her awesome community of East Nashville.

Sarah Carroll

Primary Outdoor Classroom Teacher

Sarah, who upon completing a bachelor’s degree in Printmaking, began traveling until she came across Waldorf education in New Zealand. It was there she first felt a calling to be an educator. Sarah has assisted in the First Grade, Kindergarten and Preschool classrooms at Linden Waldorf School. Between 2017-2020, Sarah operated and taught at Nashville Nature Days, a fully outdoor preschool. Since the Fall of 2020 Sarah has been homeschooling her son who is now in second grade and attending One Tree Tutorial’s Lower Elementary program. Sarah is thrilled to join the One Tree community to bring the gifts of Forest School to the Primary students. 
Since 2014, Sarah has completed four teacher certifications: 

• Farm & Forest Kindergartens through Sunbridge Institute 

• Birth to Three, an early childhood educator course for Waldorf and Pikler teachers at Sophia’s Hearth Family Center 

• Forest School Teacher Institute’s Director and Teacher Certificate

Avi Katzman

Upper Elementary Teacher

Avi found her way to Nashville after living on the east coast for many years where she honed her skills as an artist, farmer, and experiential educator. Her background in the visual arts led her to a love of working with plants and helping others connect to themselves, their community, and the earth. She worked for many years as lead farmer and program director at the first Jewish farm-to-table summer camp located in upstate New York. It was there she got to dive deep into her roles as steward, facilitator, and space holder. She continued her journey in experiential education here in Nashville, working for Plant the Seed, a garden-education non-profit working in Metro’s public school pre-k program for four years as a facilitator, curriculum creator, and program manager. Last year she was delighted to be working with One Tree's middle schoolers and also with a small forest preschool program called Riverwood House Outings. Avi and her husband live on and steward forested land in Ashland City within a growing community of earth tenders, artists, and magic makers. She truly believes that all people can benefit from the power of learning through play, exploring and nurturing their own unique creativity, and allowing curiosity to take the lead; letting the ‘mountains speak for the mountains’.

Jacqueline DeSelms-Wolfe  

Founder & Executive Director

Jacqueline has her MEd in Applied Child Studies from Peabody College at Vanderbilt and a BA in Spanish, Education from Harding University. She also holds her Montessori Upper Elementary credentials through NAMC.With over 20 years of educational experience, she has a passion for teaching and for working with children and their parents. She has taught children of all ages (beginning with age 3 all the way through high school) as well as taught English to second language learners in Barcelona Spain, and Spanish to adults enrolled in community education courses. She is also an assistant teacher for a variety of courses taught at the School of Healing Arts here in Nashville, TN.  

Currently, she also serves the Director of Lower and Upper Elementary at Montessori Academy, located in Brentwood, Tn.

Maureen Wildman

Montessori Consultant

Maureen has a BA in Psychology and Philosophy at the State University of New York, Albany. From 1988 to 2015 (27 years) she taught in both the 3 to 6 year and 6 to 9 year levels having been Montessori credentialed in both. Maureen has been immersed in Montessori philosophy for most of her adult life. She also homeschooled her daughter, Dycee, from 5th grade through high school.

Working in the One Tree community is an exciting opportunity for Maureen to continue her embrace of both Montessori education and home schooling.

Although not on campus, she is our go-to person for all things Montessori and is a huge asset to our community.