Nancy Tang

Director/Lead Teacher

“Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contribution in life unless you do this.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt

I am honored to be director of the Acton Barn and to be a part of this amazing supportive community. The Barn has long stood for recognizing and nurturing individual children, families and teachers for who they are and allowing them to flourish in their own unique ways.

I have been enjoying bringing my creative engaging style of teaching to the Barn since 1997 when I joined the teaching team as a lead teacher. I believe in listening, truly listening to children then bringing experiences to address their developmental needs through hands-on discovery and experimentation.  When we let go of our own egos and ideas about how and why we believe things should be, we open ourselves up to following the discoveries of the young and to new and fresh approaches to thought. My lesson plans are open and flexible so that I may be spontaneous in my teaching while keeping in mind the theories of Howard Gardner who said “The biggest mistake of past centuries in teaching has been to treat all students as if they were variants of the same individual”

As director I am lucky to work with a talented, dedicated and diverse team of teachers and I celebrate the unique qualities each brings to our community. Together we meld our teaching styles to provide a smorgasbord of opportunities for the children and families that we serve.

I have been working in the field of education for over 30 years. In addition to my 20 years teaching at the Barn, my resume includes ten years of caring for infants, toddlers and preschoolers in my own family day care, over three years of teaching English as a second language to children and working as an administrator in a large afterschool program in Boston’s Chinatown.  I hold a Masters Degree in Elementary Education from Boston College, a Bachelors Degree in English from the University of New Hampshire, and recently received a Leadership in Early Childhood Education certificate from Quinsigamond Community College and Worcester State University. I have also completed numerous courses in Early Childhood Education from Lesley and Wheelock Colleges.

I live in Westford, MA where I have served on the Norman E. Day School and Robinson School’s Advisory Councils as parent and community member at large. I volunteered as a coach for the creative thinking program Odyssey of the Mind and served as Secretary on the Acton Barn Cooperative Board of Directors when my children attended the school from 1993-1996. I am the mother of two grown children, grandmother to one and an avid competitive rower with Westford Community Rowing