Second-grade teacher, Claire Selva, joined SDFAS in 2013 as a creativity visionary who welcomes spontaneity in the classroom. Claire has actively developed and spearheaded SDFAS’s numerous musical performances throughout the years while teaching year-round.
Growing up in Ardèche, France, Claire’s passion for music is rooted in her childhood years spent playing the flute and participating in choir and band. She pursued a career as an agricultural engineer before moving to the US, where she discovered her love for teaching.
As a true virtuoso, Claire threads music in her class activities, which she credits as a main contender for allowing her to connect deeply with her students. Her classroom is an environment where structure meets spontaneity. She caters to her students’ individualism and transforms their mistakes into character-building opportunities. She also encourages them to stay curious and explore, while reinforcing their growth through unexpected teachable moments found in the mundane. Her second graders are currently caring for stick bugs (pictured below) as their class pets.
Claire met her husband at a bus station in Costa Rica. Their family of two children enjoys traveling and has visited China, South America, Argentina, and Turkey. You can find them playing tennis and scoping out the best hiking and camping spots on the weekends.
