I’ve spent the past 16 years working with children and families, and the thing I still love most is getting to know who a child actually is.
What makes them laugh? What are they fascinated by? What are they incredibly good at? What makes them light up? What do they wish the adults around them understood?
I’m endlessly curious about kids — especially the ones who don’t fit neatly into the boxes our educational systems create for them.
That curiosity is at the heart of the way I work today.
Hi, I’m Jessie Blake.
16 Years in Education
My perspective comes from experiencing education from a lot of different angles.
I’ve worked in Vermont public schools, independent schools, alternative education settings, summer camps, and with homeschooling families. I’ve been a classroom teacher, multi-age educator, school director, camp director and counselor, educational consultant, and advocate.
For seven years, I served as the director and head teacher of Mansfield Cooperative School, an independent multi-age school for students in grades 5–8. There, I taught across subject areas and helped create individualized learning experiences built around students’ strengths and interests.
I’ve also taught grades 3–6 in Vermont public schools.
Over the course of my teaching career, I’ve taught language arts, social studies, science, math, Spanish, and interdisciplinary project-based learning.
Working across such different educational environments has given me the chance to see something important again and again:
Children can look very different in different environments.
Changing the expectations, relationships, level of challenge, sensory environment, amount of autonomy, or approach to learning can completely change how a child engages, participates, and learns.
That understanding now shapes much of my consulting work.
Neurodivergent Learners
Much of my work focuses on children whose strengths and needs don’t always fit comfortably within traditional educational expectations.
I have particular experience supporting autistic and ADHD learners, PDAers, gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) learners, and children with sensory differences.
My work is strengths-based and neurodiversity-affirming. I want to understand how each particular child experiences the world and what helps them access learning, relationships, curiosity, and joy.
I continue to deepen this work through graduate study in neurodiversity and inclusion at the Vermont Higher Education Collaborative, exploring topics including sensory differences, giftedness and twice-exceptionality, individual learning needs, advocacy, and Universal Design for Learning.
What It’s Like to Work With Me
I’m curious. I ask thoughtful questions and look for patterns and connections that can help us understand what’s really going on.
I’m practical. I want our conversations to lead to ideas you can actually use.
I’m creative. If the obvious solutions haven’t worked, I’m very willing to look somewhere else.
And I’m collaborative. I don’t believe any one person has the whole picture. Parents know things educators don’t. Children know things adults don’t. Teachers see things families may not see at home. My job is often to help bring those pieces together.
Most importantly, I genuinely like kids. I enjoy their humor, wonderfully specific interests, big ideas, strong opinions, creativity, and different ways of seeing the world.
I believe we can help children grow without asking them to be someone they’re not. The more deeply we understand who they are, the better we can support them in becoming more fully themselves.
That’s the work I want Joyful Horizons to do.
“Our son has always been a unique learner, and Jessie recognized and honored his differences instead of trying to fit him into a box. She encouraged him to pursue his interests, which kept him engaged and allowed him to thrive.”
— Lars, Richmond