Several years ago, my journey started at Gaia Waldorf School. I was fortunate enough to start with a brand new class coming into their first year as Class 1’s and I too was a spring chicken with no experience, apart from a few teaching practicals, but eager to get started in my new role as class teacher. Luckily it was a small group of children and my colleagues and class parents provided plenty of support and encouragement.
It was only a matter of days before I felt completely overwhelmed yet totally consumed by my enormous task as a teacher. The children were so little and it felt like I needed to teach them everything, from turning the pages of a book, to holding a paintbrush, to being kind to one another…and so on…not to mention, actually teaching them to read, write and count…yikes!
The children were like young saplings, full of life and ready to grow. And I was the gardener. They weren’t quite ready for large showers of rain but just a few drops of water and of course plenty of warm and loving sunlight. The earth, their home, provided the healthy environment for their roots to feel safe and secure. And so this little garden of young plants began to grow, and grow and grow. We went through some difficult times, where some plants were uprooted to other gardens, some plants needed less sunlight and more shade and some plants even shaded the other plants. Some plants grew a little taller, some a little more colourful, and some plants enjoyed moving about in the breeze a little too often but they were all unique and together they blossomed into a marvellous garden. Today many of these children are 17 and 18 years old and each one of them is a beautiful young person, almost ready to go into the world and share their gifts.
One of my pupils, Yamkela Kasana, shared a beautiful song with us about the beauty of our differences. We quickly learnt the words and it wasn’t long before the school adopted it as their school song:
It takes the sunshine and the rain to make a garden grow,
The waterfalls together work, to make the oceans flow,
Our strength is in our differences,
The gifts we have to share,
And together we can build a better world for people everywhere.
We’re the colours of the rainbow,
We’re the stars up in the sky,
No two of us are quite the same
And here’s the reason why…
We all have a purpose and special place to serve,
For it takes a world of differences to make a difference in our world.
Origin of song unknown
The Gaia community welcomed me back after a short leave of absence to start my little family. And now with a few more years of life experience, motherhood and teaching experience I have started a new journey as class 1 teacher once again. It’s only been four weeks but my little garden is growing and thriving each day a little more than the day before. I am so excited about our journey together and I can’t wait to shower them with drops of knowledge and rays of love along the way. It’s wonderful to be back!
Sunshine, sunshine, morning light
Making the world so warm and bright
Dry is the land,
River, forest, sand
Elves in blossoms waiting
For the clouds of raining
Splish, splash….and splish and splash and splish and splash
Listen to the raindrops falling down
Drumming on roofs and windows.
A song taught by Claus-Peter Roh
With love and light
Miss Vienie