When I graduated as a Waldorf class teacher from Antioch University, NE, I became one big step closer to the dream of becoming a Waldorf class teacher and take the challenging journey with a group of children from first through eighth grade. However, destiny had other amazing plans for me. After graduation, I began to work in the early childhood program at the Rudolf Steiner School of Ann Arbor. It was then and there that I began to form my teacherly manner and realized that not only words and thoughts, but the whole being of a Waldorf teacher impacts the children under her care. Day by day, I became more aware of my own being: the way I walked, my inner feelings and moods, the tone of my speech, the way I dressed, and my will and inner strength would flow through me, filling the whole room and the children in my class.
It was in the kindergarten that I truly learned that Waldorf education is the art of knowing myself and the unique being of each individual child in my care. When I returned to my home country, Iran, I decided to focus on early childhood education.
Currently, we have two ongoing projects in Tehran: A program with five-and-a-half and six-year old children. In this Waldorf kindergarten program we practice meaningful daily work. The teachers learn about phases of child development, practice child observation and learn to make felted and knitted dolls and animals.
Sometimes I offer introductory Waldorf education workshops for early childhood teachers and parents.
Leila Alemi
Waldorf teacher
Lives and works in Tehran, Iran
Instagram: @Mehrsheed_Waldorf