Professional development is like teacher’s oxygen.
When you speak with Revalyn Faba-Sack for the first time, you can’t help but feel inspired.
Revalyn has been traveling the globe for most of her life, teaching students in 9 different countries along the way, and the passion she has for education flows naturally from her. She quite literally lights up the room with her easy-going demeanor and her pleasant smile.
But her schooling didn’t always come easy. While growing up in South Africa, Revalyn describes many of her teachers as being terrible, and her dissatisfaction with the educational system became the catalyst she needed to change the world one student at a time.
For Revalyn, culture has always sparked her curiosity to learn more, so it’s no wonder that her journey into education mirrors her travels around the world.
She first earned a Ph.D. in Ecopsychology because she loves how the field reconnects nature with the study of the human mind. Then she went on to earn an EdD in Costa Rica so she could learn the practical applications of working with young people. She says she never felt the calling to work in academia, and that the younger grades have always been where her heart lies.
To date, Revalyn has taught students in South Africa, Spain, Israel, Thailand, Barbados, Norway, Denmark, China, and Canada. And she says that the experiences she’s had both learning and teaching in educational systems around the world have been priceless.
For Revalyn, life is all about service. She believes that we all have the responsibility to make the world a better place and to leave a better planet for future generations. She says we can do so by teaching young people about important topics at an early age, and that serving in small communities can have a huge ripple effect.
These days, Revalyn teaches IB Spanish in grades 11-12 through Pamoja, a global online platform. She’s been there since the company began, and she loves helping students learn tolerance through multilingualism while also earning their IB diplomas.
And she’s excited to help other teachers discover their unique potential on MiniPD. Revalyn describes MiniPD as a safe, personalized environment that helps teachers discover their own talents within themselves. And that it can really help smaller schools that can’t always afford great professional development for their teachers. Whether you are hoping to get coaching from her on teaching IB courses, helping reluctant learners in language acquisition classes, or differentiated assessment, Revalyn is really to help.
Revalyn feels that the best part of working with her is that you can ask her all the burning questions you could never ask members of your own faculty. She is a very non-threatening person who is easy to open up to. She laughs freely and she’s a humble person who’s honest when she doesn’t know the answer to something.
In her free time, Revalyn enjoys going to the beach, reading, meditating. and spending time with her grandchildren. Plus, she loves to travel around the world to see all of the friends she’s made throughout her lifetime.
When asked what message she’d like to impart to other teachers, she stated that “professional development is like teacher’s oxygen.”