Kelli Paul

Reflections by Maggie Kincheloe, 4th Grade Class Teacher

When I “found” Waldorf education, I did not have intentions of teaching in a classroom. At the time, I was teaching outdoor education in the mountains of southern California…the forest was my classroom! However, I felt a strong pull towards the Waldorf curriculum and how the arts, movement and connection to the Earth were woven into daily lessons. The developmental intentions brought throughout the span of the curriculum was a new idea for me and these resonated deeply. My curiosity was piqued! 

I decided to begin the Waldorf Teacher Training program in San Diego and was inspired by the work I saw the teachers doing there. The connections between the class teachers, their students and the parent body felt so genuine, (truly, any good teacher can cultivate this!),  and yet I sensed something extra special about these relationships. I recognized, too, the growth that takes place in class teachers who dive into a different curriculum each year. From introducing letters with fairy tales in first grade to finding one’s story and geographic place in fourth, allllll the way up to revolutions and civil rights in eighth, the grades curriculum makes me excited to be a teacher. Humans are creative, intelligent  beings and children should be given every opportunity to draw from their own wellspring while in school. Our curriculum does just that. These are just a few things that prompted me to pursue Waldorf class teaching. 

As I prepare to bring local geography and histories to the fourth graders, I’ve learned a lot about the history and founding of our very special school. I grew up in Northeastern PA and have lived in Montgomery County for just five years now, so learning about local people and places helped me feel ever more at home here…this is what I hope my students feel this year. KWS is the second oldest Waldorf school in the United States, which I’ve always thought was notable. Many, many individuals and families contributed to the various phases and chapters of our school’s biography. Learning about our glass-domed middle school building and all the stories that took place within those walls was especially interesting! I feel part of something bigger whenever I walk through that building now.

In fourth grade, we transitioned from learning to read to…reading to learn! With this in mind, I’ve set up our classroom library to help my students choose topics of interest and books they can read independently. Inclusivity and cultural representation in our library is important to me, too. I hope each child can find their reflection in our classroom books and learn something of one other’s differences and similarities. I’m always on the lookout for new titles and I welcome suggestions!  Another aim is to develop form and flow with our cursive handwriting. I’m hopeful that our new alphabet display and continued practice will help the fourth graders here. I’ve always enjoyed seeing the care that early-grades teachers put into their classroom’s ABCs, as well! 

I’m looking forward to spending the school year in our beautiful, new classroom with the fourth graders! 

‘Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” -Albert Einstein

When I left Kimberton Waldorf, I came away with a strong foundation in creativity. Creativity proved most useful for teaching English in Japan. My first job after college was teaching English to kindergarteners, high-school and hotel-school students, housewives, police, and medical residents at the Sendai YMCA, a community center with six schools. Once we covered the required textbook material, we played language games and held freestyle conversations and discussions. We gathered for Japanese food at friends’ homes and sipped tea in traditional tea houses with darling tiny gardens on Ichibancho. We hiked Izumigatake, a gentle mountain (easily accessed by bus!) with fantastic views. YMCA friends and I attended Japanese festivals and traveled by train to see historic places and museums. We performed skits for the YMCA Christmas party. We enjoyed oysters in Matsushima, one of the loveliest places in the northeast. I saw Romeo & Juliet performed in Sendai dialect, as well as a traditional Noh play.  In Tokyo I saw the most amazing Hamlet:  Hamlet, a woman samurai, sang her soliloquies to a jazz quartet. My friend’s father was a calligrapher at such a high level of mastery, he was known as “a national treasure.” Japanese genuinely appreciate the arts! I spent pleasant afternoons in a Zen temple garden, writing letters.

While I taught full-time at the YMCA English School, I also taught English conversation part-time at Tohoku Gakuin University, the sister school of Ursinus College.  In 1991 I fulfilled my two-year YMCA contract and could now teach full-time at Gakuin. Here I did not need to use a textbook! Here I could create my own method of teaching, and I remember the exact moment when I came up with the idea of a learning environment. I was riding in a bus, and I thought—like Dr. Montessori’s method—I could create a whole-language learning environment within which students were free to choose what to learn. I set up my classroom in the university audio-visual center, where each student had a tape player. I provided each student an English-English dictionary. My learning environment included fifty books-on-tape of a variety of levels. There were newspapers and news magazines, as well as Simon & Garfunkel and The Beatles. Students listened to the song and filled in the blanks on my worksheet for the lyrics. In the same class I had students who were so shy they could barely introduce themselves to students who had lived abroad and were fluent English speakers. During the class, I was available for conversations with students who were ready to practice speaking. I remember one favorite topic was ghost stories. We also talked about current events and students’ hopes and dreams for the future. The students who were not speaking with me were listening to and following along in a book, writing their questions. I answered the questions in writing and returned papers the following week. Grades were based on attendance and effort, and I deducted points for sleeping during my class. Japanese college students are famous for sleeping during class and learning material just for the final exam. My class was workshop style with no final exam. Everyone worked independently and focused on reading, writing, listening to, and speaking English without textbooks and without Japanese dictionaries.

That was thirty-four years ago. Teaching English in Japan was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I stayed for six years. The memories sustain me and every now and then I’ll look through a photo album. Each time I came home on holiday, I brought some handsome object with me:  lacquer ware, ceramics, textiles, iron work. I still exchange letters, birthday cards, and email with Japanese friends. Someday I’ll return to Japan to visit friends and see how Sendai has changed.

YMCA English School, kindergarten front row, elementary to junior high, 1990

Izumigatake

Tohoku Gakuin students, staff, and their families, 1992

With YMCA Staff, 1989

Mt. Kurikoma in Iwate Prefecture

Kindergarten class and teachers from YMCA, 1990