“When Tessa was my instructional coach she never forgot what it was like to be in the classroom. She was transparent and forgiving. She reminded me that we’re all human doing the best that we can and learning from experiences.”
— Sarah M.
Register for Adult Facing Caregiver Classes (Parents, educators, etc)
Woman sitting on the floor in a library, holding a picture book with a yellow school bus illustration, smiling and showing it to an audience, with a small drum on her lap and bookshelves in the background.

Tales with Tessa

Tales with Tessa provides a variety of services using reciprocal story sharing to increase peace, joy, and dignity for children and adults in learning and life, in all experiences.

Tessa Baden has a M.Ed. in Special Education with a focus in Behavior Analysis. She uses her ‘4C Framework’ to ensure learning feels safe, realistic, and information can be not only learned, but applied and generalized in the real world. 

Example Services:

  • Consulting 

    • Educational Decisions/School Choice

    • Learning Environments (home and school)

    • Schedule/Routines (home and school) 

    • Increased Desired Behavior (home and school) 

  • Parent Coaching/Classes 

  • Unique Event Story Times, featuring Raw Authoring, silly songs, and literacy skill building 

  • Caring for the Caregiver Support Walking Groups

  • Tutoring for ages 0-10 (all academic content areas as well as executive function, social skills, and play/imagination)

  • Educator Peace

A circular logo for "Tales with Tessa," featuring a peacock feather, snake, fox tail, and an open book with a landscape of hills and trees inside, established in 2025.

Previous Logo,

New Look, Same Peace

Why Tessa:

Tessa brings a rare fusion of educational science, captivating storytelling, and deep empathy to every client relationship. Grounded in behavior analysis and HighScope pedagogy, her foundation includes 8 years of classroom teaching, some as a certified HighScope teacher and 10 years educating adults. She crafts safe, dignified, and joyful learning environments where both children and adults feel seen, respected, and empowered.

What sets Tessa apart is her unique approach to transformation:

  • Interest and Need are considered for all learning goals for adults or children.

  • Infectious sense of humor, instant warmth, and an innate ability to offer compassionate validation.

  • Every strategy is rooted in dignity and fun, ensuring learners stay motivated, confident, and eager to participate in their own success.

Whether working with young learners or guiding adults, Tessa turns skill-building into a joyful, personalized journey at Tales with Tessa. She started her career path as a volunteer at Camp C.A.M.P. and holds close that anything and everything can become inclusive of ANYONE with any exceptionality.

A woman and a girl using a sewing machine together at a table in a home, with a large window in the background showing an outdoor yard with a wooden fence, a ladder, and trees. A black dog is lying on the floor near the window, and a painted egg is on the table in front of them.

Meet Ms. Tessa

Consultant, Coach, Speaker, Story Teller, Play Advocate, Tutor, Reader

Tessa Baden is a nature and play advocate who shares her personal transformation story to inspire reflection, connection, and evolution in others.

Tessa started her career at Camp C.A.M.P. (a camp for people of all abilities) and various (pre)schools. For almost 20 years, she has journeyed through public and private education spaces exploring opportunities to ensure adults trust and honor children’s learning to occur in its most authentic form, PLAY. She encourages others to name the challenges and fears they face in working with children and find peaceful ways to transform their thinking and action.

Her personal mission is to advocate peace, joy and dignity for all children and those who guide them in all spaces, always.

Tessa is the mother to two strong, clever, and compelling souls. Her favorite place to be is outside camping, walking, hiking, playing with loose parts in her backyard and sharing books with others!

A woman in glasses holding an open children's book and talking outdoors near a basketball hoop, with another woman smiling in the background among trees.
A woman with light skin, glasses, and wavy blonde hair, smiling in front of a brick wall in a bookstore. She is wearing a colorful headscarf, a dark green T-shirt with a circular design and text that reads 'A Community Bookshop, A Book Nerd! San Antonio, Texas', and a watch on her left wrist.
A person sitting on the floor in a library, wearing a chicken hat, holding a children's book showing birds, and a small drum. They are smiling and wearing glasses, with bookshelves in the background.

Get to know Ms. Tessa a little better.

Tessa's Tales

Contact Tessa

Need a consultant, coach, tutor, reader, storyteller, professional development, or help with nurturing a love for books?

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