FIRST GRADE: Christine Crawley
Christine Crawley pioneered Waldorf education in the Rogue Valley & her passion for teaching has inspired children & faculty for 30 years. She received her Waldorf training from Emerson College in Sussex, England. Her philosophy is to give students the support and tools they need to find their own creative genius within a joyful environment where children love to learn. She believes the goal of education is to engage and excite. After graduating her fifth 8th grade in June 2006, Christine took a one year sabbatical from class teaching. This fall she is very excited to begin the class teacher's journey with a new class of first graders. In addition to her love of teaching, she enjoys tennis, gardening, painting, camping, body surfing, swimming in mountain lakes, and, above all, just being with family and friends. Christine is married and has a daughter.
SECOND GRADE: Christine Cassagnau
Christine Cassagnau began her teaching career in Mali, West Africa, where she developed and taught an environmental education curriculum to children in French and in Bambara. She managed to avoid the malaria bug but was bitten instead with the teaching bug. She returned to the United States and taught as an itinerant arts teacher in the Metro DC area. Christine's interest in a curriculum and way of teaching that honored the developing consciousness of children led her to the Waldorf Teacher Training Program in Eugene, Oregon. During her training she also substituted in Eugene's French Immersion schools. As a teacher she seeks to unfold the capacities inherent in each child while nurturing their ever deepening interest and love of the world. Christine has traveled throughout Europe, parts of Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. She continues to dabble in various arts forms and media.
THIRD GRADE: Jeanne Renaux
Jeanne is excited about being Jade Class's new class teacher. She says teaching brings all her passions and talents together; philosophically, her life seems to have been leading her to Waldorf education for some time. A child actress and a professional storyteller and puppeteer, with 10 years of experience working with children in elementary classrooms and as a social worker, Jeanne decided just a couple of years ago to make teaching her career. She enrolled in a Masters in teaching program at Southern Oregon University and will receive her degree this September. (Her BA is in Acting and Directing from the University of Arizona, 1995) In the last two years she found herself being an activist for change in the public school system, advocating for many of the things she saw her daughter, Clara, experiencing as a Waldorf school student in Mrs. Murphy’s 4th grade class. Joining the Siskiyou School faculty feels like a homecoming, she says. For us, too.
FOURTH GRADE: Debbie Murphy
Debbie has nineteen years of teaching experience from first through twelfth grades. Thirteen of those years have been as a Waldorf class teacher in Bend and Ashland. She is currently with her third class (having graduated her second class here in Ashland in 2004). Debbie has a B.A. in Education from Eastern Washington State College, an M.S. in Education from the University of Alaska, and holds a Waldorf certificate from Rudolf Steiner College in Sacramento, CA. She finds that the Waldorf method not only inspires a love of learning in children, but also inspires teachers to strive for personal artistic development. Besides teaching, Debbie has a passion for gardening and music. She lives in Ashland with her husband, Joe. Their children are Bill, a local potter; and Lindsay, who is studying massage therapy in Seattle. Their foster daughter, Susan, lives in Anchorage with granddaughter, Santha.
FIFTH GRADE: Nina Gallwey
Nina Gallwey is a certified Waldorf teacher and Remedial Instructor and has been involved with Waldorf Education for thirteen years. Trained at the HANDLE Institute in Seattle, Nina has worked as a consultant for families with children having learning challenges and as a trainer of teachers in special needs assessment and the use of integrative movement in the classroom. She has found her remedial training invaluable in her work as a class teacher as well. Fascinated by the correlation between the active, artistic, and experiential Waldorf approach to teaching and the latest research on how the brain develops and how children learn, Nina is working on a book documenting her experiences working with children with special needs. When not in the classroom, Nina enjoys cross-country skiing, gardening, cooking and writing poetry. She lives with her partner, Jacob, and son, Brendon.
SIXTH GRADE: Kelly Shelstad
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Kelly Shelstad graduated from Northland College, a private liberal arts college in Ashland, WI with a B.S. in Elementary Education and a minor in Environmental Education. Before becoming a Waldorf class teacher, Kelly helped administer and teach at the Heartlight School in Ashland, OR, she created and implemented environmental education summer courses for K-6, led trail experiences for school groups, facilitated self-discovery workshops for teens, and substituted both in Waldorf and public schools. The Waldorf approach, with its integration of the arts and ability to meet each student holistically, resonates deeply with Kelly. Her passions include family, painting, writing, singing, dancing, and camping under a clear night sky near a fire's warm glow after a good long hike. Kelly lives in Ashland with her husband Tom.
SEVENTH GRADE: Anna (Ghigs) Razi- Robertson
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Ghigs began teaching at The Siskiyou School in 2005 in the fourth grade class. She graduated from the Goethean Studies Program at the Rudolf Steiner College in Sacramento. Prior to attending Steiner College, Ghigs received her BA in Political Science from Colorado College, in Colorado. Upon graduation, Ghigs was offered several teaching positions throughout the West, and she chose Ashland as her home.
Having gone through Waldorf education as a child and having witnessed her mother teach Waldorf education for fifteen years, Ghigs has a sense for both the challenges and incredible growth that occurs for both student and teacher. Ghigs feels that the freedom of the teacher to meet each child where he or she is, and the ability to enliven each day with creativity and imagination, is a living example of the transformation that is possible in every realm of society.
EIGHTH GRADE: Molly McKissick
Molly McKissick began her teaching career in 1984 at an eclectic private school in San Francisco. Her love of teaching was kindled there and later exploded into full flame when she helped found a Waldorf school in Gig Harbor, Washington. She ran a home-based Waldorf kindergarten for ten years before becoming a class teacher. Molly brings imagination and spontaneity into her teaching, with an emphasis on multi-sensory learning. She inspires children to bring pride and integrity to their work while allowing for individual differences. Her passions include traveling, harp-playing, storytelling, skiing, and attending faculty meetings! She lives with her Swiss husband and has four children and a big black dog.
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