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Corinna Rezzelle

TEACHER EDUCATION HIGHLIGHT: ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY’S M.ED IN WALDORF EDUCATION

  • Corinna grew up in a small town in Georgia to a theatre family. She spent most of her life watching her mother direct, act, and create professional theatrical performances all over the Southeast. This experience inspired in her a love of theater and inspired her to gain a B.F.A in Performing Arts and a minor in Art History from the Savannah College of Art and Design. After graduating from college, she moved to the Atlanta area and worked for several professional theatre companies there. While working with one theatre company, she became introduced to Theatre for Young Audience plays and started leading Literacy Through Drama workshops in Fulton County Title One Schools. This changed the entire course of her life! By working in that first classroom of third grade students, she knew that teaching students through the arts was her calling.

    She knew that she wanted to gain further education to make sure that she would be the best teacher for her students. Leaving Atlanta, Corinna began pursuing her M.A. in Educational Theatre at New York University and a teaching credential in English. While pursuing this degree, she ran her own theatre company, The Jewel Conservatory Theatre, that had the mission of providing the Low Country with affordable theatre education and Theatre for Young Audience performances that would inspire children to be imaginative, creative, and find confidence in communicating with others. The theatre company started with six students, and in its final year had flourished to over 400 students, a well-established teacher residency program, and a wonderful relationship with the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia.

    After completing her Masters and teaching credential, Corinna packed up her two cats and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to marry her now husband. Since living in California, Corinna has worked with several public and private schools, teaching English/Language Arts, Speech, and General Music (she holds a Music Certification as well). Her joy was creating drama programs and working with early childhood to middle school teachers in finding ways to utilize Drama in their classrooms. She has also found theater homes in Children’s Fairyland, American Conservatory Theatre, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, and East Bay Children’s Theatre. She also realized a life-long dream of learning puppetry and works with the acclaimed Puppet Company. She believes that all of these experiences (a deep love of stories, puppetry, music, and literacy) has paved the path that led her to value Waldorf education!

    By happenstance, she stumbled upon a video of a Waldorf teacher leading a morning circle. Though looking back now, she feels as though she has been a Waldorf-inspired teacher all along without even knowing it. Needless to say, Corinna was hooked. She had to learn more about this pedagogy. That hunger for knowledge inspired her to join Antioch University’s M.ED in Waldorf Education program and pursue her doctorate in Waldorf Education. Her specialization is in making arts-integrated and drama teacher training accessible to Waldorf teachers and students alike.

    In addition to working with Streaming for Humanity, Corinna is engaged in full-time research for her dissertation with several Waldorf schools working in the elementary grades. As an avid playwright, Corinna enjoys writing scripts for schools across the globe to enjoy. She looks forward inspiring your students to learn through story, engage in creativity, and flourish with Streaming for Humanity.

Vikas Shah

TEACHER EDUCATION HIGHLIGHTS: ACHER EDUCATION HIGHLIGHT: WALDORF FOUNDATION COURSE AT KINGDOM OF CHILDHOOD, BENGALURU, INDIA. TEACHER WORKSHOPS BY JAMIE YORK, SVEN SAAR, AND OTHER WALDORF MASTER TEACHERS

  • As a child, Vikas grew up in the bustling city of Mumbai, and so he treasured the summer breaks that allowed him to visit his grandfather’s rural home where he could chase squirrels, pick fruits, and feed cows.

    Growing up, he completed a degree in computer engineering; and after two decades of getting scorched in the head-dominant technology industry, Vikas took to Waldorf education as a fish takes to water. His son’s birth led him to find his calling in Waldorf education, and he began his teacher training on weekends at the Kingdom of Childhood (Bengaluru), while still pursuing a technology job. 

    A few years later, the time seemed ripe for Vikas to move from being a Waldorf parent to being a Waldorf class teacher, and the family moved from New Jersey to Pune, where over the next 2 years, at Swadhaa Waldorf School, Vikas tended his class children through grades 5 and 6.

    During the subsequent year at Vidyakshetra School in Bengaluru (a Waldorf-inspired Forest school), Vikas and his class parents discovered his success in bringing Math the Waldorf way to his grade 4 class. Since then, over the last 3 years, Vikas did Waldorf Math Teacher Workshops, and has privately supported the Math journey of homeschoolers, and other children needing Math support, of all ages; and particularly of grades 7 and 8. 

    He often designs and makes up kits or manipulatives for use with children in the class. He has also been teaching Form Drawing to younger children. Vikas cherishes the aha moments of children learning out of the application of the principles of Waldorf education. He believes that every child can cultivate a lifelong love of Math if it is brought to meet the child in the right way. He is also interested in discovering more the spiritual nature of math and finding more about ancient math-based board games.

    With an objective to localize and decolonize the narrative of the history of India, Vikas carried out research with a small group of teachers and prepared a Waldorf teacher’s reader of the history of India. Vikas’s next goal for the localization of Waldorf education is to prepare a teacher’s reader for the teaching of Observational (Indian) Astronomy. In his free time Vikas tends to a small terrace garden trying to grow a few vegetables, flowers, and fruits.

    Vikas is blessed to bring his gifts to children and looks forward to being a part of their journey.

Vanessa Gemignani

TEACHER EDUCATION HIGHLIGHT: SUNBRIDGE INSTITUTE; ALLIANCE FOR PUBLIC WALDORF EDUCATION; MICH-AEL INSTITUTE

  • Ms. Gemignani is a passionate educator dedicated to fostering a love of learning in young children and igniting genuine curiosity. She brings 7 years of experience to the classroom, having previously nurtured students through their educational journeys from 1st to 4th grade in a Waldorf-inspired setting.

    Ms. Gemignani believes in the immense power of the Waldorf methodology, especially when in relationship to homeschooling, which cultivates well-rounded development by engaging a child's head, hands, and heart while being surrounded by engaged adults. She is a strong advocate for integrating nature into the curriculum, fostering a connection with the natural world that mirrors her own love for the outdoors.

    Ms. Gemignani is a curious learner, actively participating in professional development courses offered by the Sunbridge Institute and the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education. She is currently deepening her knowledge of Rudolf Steiner’s work through the Mich-ael Institute's Grades Training.

    Her passion for teaching began as a child as she watched her grandmother teach elementary school, bake pies, and paint gorgeous watercolor landscapes. As she’s grown up, she’s followed in her grandmother’s footsteps, mentoring children of all ages in classrooms, schools, youth sports, and collegiate athletics.

    She, her partner, and their 2 dogs reside in Portland, Oregon where you’ll find her painting, drinking tea, biking in the rain, or muddy in the garden.

    She is thrilled to embark on this educational journey with students and their families at Streaming for Humanity. She is eager to foster a collaborative learning environment that sparks curiosity, ignites imaginations, and celebrates the joy of discovery.

Hannah Straubel

TEACHER EDUCATION HIGHLIGHT: MASTER’S DEGREE IN WALDORF EDUCATION FROM FREIE HOCHSCHULE STUTTGART

  • Hannah first learned about Waldorf education while working in a Camphill Community in Pennsylvania. Since then, she has traveled and taught around the world, and has loved focusing on how geopolitics and how culture influences education and curriculum. After working in a Camphill school in England, Hannah continued on to work in Korea, and went on to complete Bachelor degrees in Sociology and Anthropology in the United States, and a Masters degree in Waldorf Education and Handwork in Germany. 

    Now taking a class through the grades at a brick and mortar school in New York, Hannah continues to be passionate about making Waldorf education accessible and affordable across the world. Her trainings in Restorative Practice and Orton-Gillingham, and ongoing work to decolonize curriculum influence how she approaches teaching. With reverence and gratitude for every child, Hannah continues to love learning and working to better support her students. 

    A bookworm since childhood, Ms. Straubel holds space for students to fall in love with reading and find books that support them in their interests, development, and understanding. She looks forward to bringing history, geography, and both classic and contemporary literature into the lessons. She enjoys setting the stage for books by building a scaffold of contextual and cultural understanding so that students gain a broader scope of how we can relate to the world around us.

John Brauer

TEACHER EDUCATION HIGHLIGHTS: WALDORF INSTITITE OF MERCY COLLEGE IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN

  • John's path to teaching started during his senior year at the University of Maryland. There he met Dr. Clopper Almon who presented a course on the work of Rudolf Steiner. John was thinking of a career as a teacher and it just happened that Dr. Almon was one of the founders of the Washington Waldorf School. After a school visit, his path was set.

    John trained at the Waldorf Institute of Mercy College in Detroit, Michigan. By the fall of 1975 he met his initial class of first graders. John has taught four complete classes, had "relief pitching appearances" in four other classes, served as a movement teacher, athletic director and coach. John has also taught U.S. history blocks in the high school.

Joanna Novosedlik

TEACHER EDUCATION HIGHLIGHTS: SOUND HEALING FACILITATION WITH VOICE; YOGA SOUND AND MOVEMENT TEACHING; SACRED CIRCLE DANCE FACILITATION; EURYTHMY FOR SELF-DEVELOPMENT

  • Joanna is a classical vocal musician, devotional music singer, teacher and life coach who shares her passion for helping those she serves to find their soul connection through vocal sound, movement, expressive arts and nature therapy. Her scope of work includes elementary school teaching, private music lesson teaching in voice and piano, vocal performance, facilitating sound healing with the voice, yoga sound and movement teaching, and facilitating both sacred circle dance and Eurythmy for self-development.

    Her work with children involves a holistic hybrid of movement and sounding processes aimed at supporting healthy human development at the levels of body, soul and spirit. Incorporating indications from the work of Rudolf Steiner into her therapeutic and teaching work as well as her personal soul journey has been a primary focus for the past 22 years.

    Her life mission: I strive to be a healing force in the world and a mirror of the joy of the Divine in all beings.

Samantha deLeca

TEACHER EDUCATION HIGHLIGHT: WALDORF TEACHER EDUCATION CERTIFICATE

  • Samantha de Leca is a long-time Waldorf homeschool parent and teacher. Eighteen years ago she began her homeschool journey with her firstborn son. Her eldest two children have completed their Waldorf schooling and are embarking on their life’s journey with a true love of learning and a confident sense of self. She has a 14-year-old rising 9th grader and an 8-year-old rising 2nd grader.

    She has dived deeply into hundreds of Waldorf books, spent years working closely with Waldorf teachers, and eventually qualified as a Waldorf teacher with a degree in Early childhood education, and a postgraduate in Waldorf pedagogy and anthroposophy. She has taught in multi-level classes in global brick and mortar and online Waldorf Schools from South Africa, to Canada, USA and Ireland.

    She has taught two Waldorf cycles of class 1-9 with her own children. She taught grade 7 at the Village Waldorf School in South Africa. She taught grades 1,2,3,4 and 5 at the Dublin Steiner school in Ireland. A member of the Anthroposophical Society of Ireland, she taught grades 1 through 6 at the Kildare Steiner School in Ireland, and she supported the grade 1 teacher as a mentor at the Squamish Waldorf School in Canada. She taught grade 6 online in 2020 and she is currently teaching class 7 and 8 online.

    She is a lifelong learner, continuously attending courses and conferences, adding what she learns to her live lessons. These lessons are organic, evolving every year with the children that are placed before her. She is passionate about the lesson content and curriculum that she delivers. She is happy to be part of the Streaming for Humanity teaching team and looks forward to sharing meaningful lessons with her students.