Waldorf Education found me, not the other way around. I was twenty-two, spending my first year out of college working for a travelling educational theater company. I had just been told that I would not be offered a promotion to "team lead" because I didn't know how to work with small children, in their opinion. It was a damp day in March, and I emerged from my local co-op into the weak end-of-winter light.
Among all the postings for yoga classes and punk rock shows was a hand-painted, hand-lettered sign that said, "S---- Waldorf School needs Teachers". I read the sign with interest. My best friend from college was a Waldorf graduate, and I spent a summer teaching crafts at Hawthorne Valley Farm, a Waldorf inspired summer camp, so my interest was piqued. I took one of the little tearoff tabs with the school's phone number.
That week, while I was staying in a Super 8 in some little midwestern town, I called and left a message at the school. It was a preschool-kindergarten program then, and I thought to myself "well, I'll find out if I can work with small children or not." I knew I couldn't stand another year with the theater company. Another year of travel would have killed my relationship with my sweetheart at the time, who had moved out from New York with me after college, and I had a deep feeling that the work we did wasn't all that beneficial to the children. I didn't want to go into more classrooms to be just another adult who leaves, just another face and loud voice admonishing them to stand up to peer pressure and be tolerant of others and say no to drugs... I wanted to be there for someone, to offer my heart. It's hard to offer your heart in one forty-five-minute lesson.
More about this journey in my next post.
~~tigress
2 comments:
I love your story Miep (or is it Tigress?). I too am very drawn to Waldorf. I was hooked when many years ago i read "You are Your Child's First Teacher". It came into my life after i had quit a preschol teacher job, i'd been just miserable. I love children but am a mega introvert, and modern teaching basically assumes you are an extroverted bubbly actor there to be at the center of everything and "catch their attention", it was just exhausting. One of the things that struck me so much about the book was the very different description of a Waldorf teacher, she was not there to be the center of attention catching their attention, but rather she was there to wisely "set the space" for them and guide and nurture them...much more like a Keeper at Home than an actress, what a relief. I dont think its ironic at all that your misery with acting led you to Waldorf.
Looking forward to following your blog : )
Paix,
Wendy
hi, wendy!
it's true that the waldorf teacher operates like that in the kindergarten, but in the grades, we do stand in front. I dn't have to do a lot of attention catching, though. the curriculum does it for me! I just sort of point at it and say "look!"
Post a Comment