Hard Beeswax: Experiences in Waldorf Education

episode-1-gather-round-my-merry-choir-an-introduction
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Matthew: [00:00:00] Hello, I'm Matthew Burritt.

Taylor: And I'm Taylor Romens, and this is Hard Beeswax, Experiences in Waldorf Education.

Matthew: Hello, and welcome to episode one of Hard Beeswax, where Taylor and I start at the very beginning our experiences of growing up in Waldorf schools, going out into the world and then ultimately finding our way back as teachers.

Taylor: We realize that we are just two individuals who are part of this global educational movement and we want to be very clear that we are only speaking from our own experiences and from our own impressions.

We do not presume to speak for the Waldorf movement as a whole.

So, Matthew, here we are.

Matthew: Taylor, here we are, our first episode, I'm so excited.

Taylor: I know, it's been a long time coming.

Matthew: It feels like that, and it's [00:01:00] yet a very more recent endeavor for us.

Taylor: Totally. It was not premeditated in any way. It was reactionary, but in the most beautiful way possible.

Matthew: So what are we doing?

Taylor: So Matthew and I were coworkers at the Santa Fe Waldorf School in the high school. Matthew taught math and ran the wilderness program. What else did you do?

Matthew: I taught math and science for 18 years and I ran our wilderness program first as a guide and then as a trip leader and a coordinator and I did a whole bunch of other roles, lots of different hats.

I grew up in the Waldorf movement and as a teacher I want to continue my work in supporting Waldorf education as best as I can.

Taylor: I was also in the high school with Matthew. And I taught English, history, some art. I did college guidance for a few years. I taught marimba, kind of the, the typical, doing a lot [00:02:00] of different things as, as things emerged that were needed.

I also, like Matthew, grew up in the Waldorf movement. It was a big part of who I became and who I continue to be. And so, the school where we were both teaching closed right before the school year, and so, one afternoon, very unexpectedly, I got a text from Matthew saying, Hey, you want to do a podcast about Waldorf education?

I said, Sure. Yes. Cool. Really?

Matthew: Yeah. It was a little bit out of the blue. I was washing dishes and listening to other podcasts and thought, hmm, maybe we could do something to kind of celebrate, you know, our work together and the work of this several years. And that's where the podcast idea was born.

My hopes for this podcast really is that it can continue to feed me and us in our exploration of the topic and as well as provide a forum to hear from a lot [00:03:00] of other voices in the movement, both alumni, Waldorf alumni, and, and Waldorf professionals, you know, in different roles, teachers and administrators and my, my hope for this podcast is that it could hopefully help a family find their way to a Waldorf school.

Taylor: Matthew and I have this unique perspective of having been the recipients of a Waldorf education as students where you really are just in the experience of it, right? And that's really all you know. And then later as teachers, you learn so much about what goes into what is taught. And so we're hoping to also connect with Waldorf alums out there in the world who may think of their Waldorf education as a series of watercolor paintings, right? And not really understand maybe the deeper intentions behind what was received. And you know, [00:04:00] Waldorf graduates are out there in the world doing incredible things, and we'd like to talk to you all, hopefully, who are out there.

Matthew: Absolutely, and I'd also add that so much of the background of Waldorf education is quite a deep and vast topic, and so much of that is not presented on the surface for a student, right?

It really took me, personally, to dive into my Waldorf teacher training to understand just some of the background reasons why things were taught when they were and, and the method and what, what the teachers were holding even within their own meditative life, you know, for their students. And so I think there's an opportunity in our podcast to also explore some of the deeper roots of Waldorf education and we actually are excited to say that we have like every fifth episode or so will be an exploration into the deeper material of Waldorf [00:05:00] education and anthroposophy.

Taylor: Yeah. And, and it's tough stuff, right? I mean, even as trained teachers, you know, my experience of reading esoteric science is a bit of a blur because it's it's dense stuff. I mean, and I think that giving us an opportunity to come back to some of these texts and wrestle with it ourselves in addition to hopefully talking to some people who have really devoted their lives to gaining a deeper understanding of Steiner's work, especially as it pertains to Waldorf education, which is just one of the many things, right? That's only one stream out of all of Steiner's work. So we have lofty goals, but we're really excited about at the core just coming together and talking about this educational movement.

Matthew, who is your dream guest to have on the podcast? Who's the, the gold star of hard [00:06:00] beeswax conversations?

Matthew: Well, actually there's a couple different ones. I would say first, I would really love to talk to my class teacher, Mr. John Metric. He was a real... inspiration for me through many years of childhood, and I've lost contact with him, and if, if we could talk to him, that would be a huge personal achievement for me.

You know, I've actually, since the Santa Fe Waldorf School closed, I've been feeling adrift these past couple of weeks, I've actually started to have dreams about being in a Waldorf School. And I had one last night, a dream, and in my dream, the teachers who were, I was walking down the hallway, and the teachers in the classrooms that I was listening as I was walking down the hall, were actually several teachers who have passed away.

One was Sarah Stevens, who was a math teacher at the Santa Fe Waldorf School, and then my high school science teacher, who inspired me to be a math and science teacher, Mr. [00:07:00] Stephen Edelglass. You know, it's not totally possible to speak to them in a podcast, of course, but I just, I've been thinking about all those teachers or mentors of mine who've crossed the threshold. And, you know, there's just kind of that desire to form that kind of connection too.

Taylor: Totally and that can be a goal Right? Yeah.

Matthew: Yeah, who's your dream guest?

Taylor: My dream guest is much less lofty. It is actually Nick Suzuki who went to a Waldorf school who is a professional hockey player.

So Nick Suzuki, please come talk to us about how you went from knitting to being you know an incredibly successful player in the national hockey league.

So the process of naming this podcast was extensive and ranged from the absurd to the literal. And we ultimately agreed that Hard Beeswax was the perfect[00:08:00] title .

I think that immediately someone who has gone to lower school in a Waldorf or Steiner school will connect with the idea of hard beeswax. Since we came up with this name, I've actually told five or six people who were Waldorf students from various parts of the country, and all of them immediately laughed because they knew, they knew exactly what we were talking about.

Matthew: Yes. I've had the same experience. Yeah.

Taylor: So what does hard beeswax mean to you, Matthew?

Matthew: So hard beeswax, most, many first graders, would you say kindergarten students? I think it's a kind of a grade school activity.

Taylor: Totally. I remember sitting at a desk.

Matthew: Yeah, sitting at a desk, first grade, second grade, and the teacher would pass around this really hard ball, usually, or glob, of beeswax, and, you know, you were asked to do [00:09:00] something with it, and it was so hard that it was like, undigestible, you know, like, you didn't know what to do, and you know, some of us, you know, figured out you could cup it in your hands that was kind of like the, it'd take a long time for the, the warmth of your hands to warm up the wax. So you could, you know, so it would be malleable and you could move it.

Some of us stuck the hard beeswax underneath our arms cause that just heated it up faster. And, and so it was like this for, for me, the title is really indicative of what it's like - hard initially to understand, you know, what it is, there's a lot of misconceptions about what it is. And then once you start to work it and you put your warmth into it, it starts to become workable. You can start to form it and you can really make some beautiful shapes.

We typically made like animals out of it.

Taylor: I remember lots of swans. Yeah.

Matthew: Yeah. I remember snails and butterflies [00:10:00] for some reason. I did once see somebody who really made these beautiful eurythmy sculptures out of beeswax. But, but yeah, it was, so it's, it's this, this kind of hard exterior took a lot of conscious effort to make something out of it. And then you eventually made something and then you would like smash it or something, you know, at the end.

Taylor: Yeah, definitely. It's, it's a, it is a process, not a product. Right. The, the journeying through it is the meat. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Not the, because I, I don't think I have, out of all the stuff that my parents kept, I don't think there are any beeswax creatures.

Yeah. You know, they were, it was about the journey of getting in there and the patience and the just deliberate pressure and continuing to work it persistently. And, you know, we talk about the development of the will, and that was totally what was happening there. Just that, you know, and you could see the ones who just really wanted to, to [00:11:00] expedite it, right?

Hitting the beeswax against the desk, behind the knee, under the arm. There were all these, there were all these ways. So many personalities emerged when faced with a hard glob of beeswax, right? So, yeah, that's. You know, a little overview of what we're hoping to do here.

Matthew: I'm really looking forward to interviewing some guests.

We have an exciting alumni interview coming up and an exciting teacher interview.

Taylor: You know, we are, at this point. open to sponsorships or anyone who would like to collaborate as far as supporting our efforts here and we will have our website up and running to where there will be more information on how to engage with us in that way.

Any any last thoughts, Matthew, before we sign off?

Matthew: Well, I just like to, you know, ask our hopefully growing listening community for any questions that you might have that we might be able to help with from our experience, [00:12:00] you know, sending us little pieces of beeswax that we can work with and hopefully elaborate on.

Taylor: Yeah, and we are always looking for guests, you know, we have our personal spheres of people, but we hope to reach the broader community. So if you have anyone who comes to mind when you think of someone you'd like to hear interviewed on this podcast, please reach out to us and let us know.

In our next two episodes, join us as we interview each other about our beginnings as Waldorf students, our leaving and going out into the world, and our ultimate return as Waldorf teachers.

Matthew: You can reach us at hardbeeswax@gmail. com. Thank you so much for listening, and this is really exciting to close our first episode.

All right. Thank you,Taylor.

Taylor: Yeah, thank you, Matthew.[00:13:00]