The Online Conferences Faculty
Raine Springer, San Francisco, California
Raine Springer
Registrar
Songs and Games for Grades 1-3
If you have ever tried to reach a real person to answer your questions about a "live" training center conference, you know how many extension numbers you have punch in and how many recorded messages you are compelled to hear. The Online Conferences can't boast about its labyrinthine phone system, but we do take pride in Raine Springer, our very live and highly accessible Registrar. You can count on her to process your registration forms efficiently, answer your questions with alacrity, and take a sincere and truly human interest in you!
Raine is also your guide to the vibrant world of song and games and movement in our Grades 1-3 conferences. Her lovely voice and contagious joy will transcend the boundaries of your video screen and provide inspiration for your Circle times all year long.
A former class teacher at the Kimberton Waldorf School in Kimberton, PA, Raine is also a psychiatric nurse, a combination that gives her presentations a therapeutic quality — for children and teachers alike.
Registrar
Songs and Games for Grades 1-3
If you have ever tried to reach a real person to answer your questions about a "live" training center conference, you know how many extension numbers you have punch in and how many recorded messages you are compelled to hear. The Online Conferences can't boast about its labyrinthine phone system, but we do take pride in Raine Springer, our very live and highly accessible Registrar. You can count on her to process your registration forms efficiently, answer your questions with alacrity, and take a sincere and truly human interest in you!
Raine is also your guide to the vibrant world of song and games and movement in our Grades 1-3 conferences. Her lovely voice and contagious joy will transcend the boundaries of your video screen and provide inspiration for your Circle times all year long.
A former class teacher at the Kimberton Waldorf School in Kimberton, PA, Raine is also a psychiatric nurse, a combination that gives her presentations a therapeutic quality — for children and teachers alike.
Meg Chittenden, Blue Hill, Maine
Meg Chittenden
Singing for Grades 4-7
Drawing for Grade 7
Meg Chittenden grew up in a family of musicians and singers and has been teaching in Waldorf school for over a decade. She has worked with children in the Washington Waldorf School in Silver Spring, MD and currently teaches Music and Spanish to Grades 1-8 at the Bay School in Blue Hill, ME. One of Meg's greatest joys is bringing people together in harmony, and she is grateful to do this regularly with her Bay School students and through her inter-generational community choir.
Meg is also the founder of SingWaldorf, a remarkable online resource for teachers, parents, and anyone who wants to uncover their voice and rediscover the joys of song. She has taught music through Antioch University, LifeWays North America, the Center for Anthroposophy, and, of course, the Online Conferences.
Meg received her B.A. from Connecticut College in 2000 and her M.Ed and Waldorf Certification from Antioch University in 2008. Meg and her fellow Waldorf teacher husband are raising their two children on a hand-built homestead between the salt water and the white pine forests of coastal Maine.
Singing for Grades 4-7
Drawing for Grade 7
Meg Chittenden grew up in a family of musicians and singers and has been teaching in Waldorf school for over a decade. She has worked with children in the Washington Waldorf School in Silver Spring, MD and currently teaches Music and Spanish to Grades 1-8 at the Bay School in Blue Hill, ME. One of Meg's greatest joys is bringing people together in harmony, and she is grateful to do this regularly with her Bay School students and through her inter-generational community choir.
Meg is also the founder of SingWaldorf, a remarkable online resource for teachers, parents, and anyone who wants to uncover their voice and rediscover the joys of song. She has taught music through Antioch University, LifeWays North America, the Center for Anthroposophy, and, of course, the Online Conferences.
Meg received her B.A. from Connecticut College in 2000 and her M.Ed and Waldorf Certification from Antioch University in 2008. Meg and her fellow Waldorf teacher husband are raising their two children on a hand-built homestead between the salt water and the white pine forests of coastal Maine.
Roberto Trostli, Richmond, Virginia
Roberto Trostli
Physics for Grades 6-8
Chemistry for Grades 7-8
Roberto Trostli has been active in Waldorf education since 1981 as a class teacher, high school teacher, adult educator, author, and lecturer. He received his BA from Columbia University and his MA from the University of Cambridge, England. After working as a violinmaker, Roberto taught for ten years at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City, the school he also attended as a child. Later, he moved to Hadley, Massachusetts, where he worked for eighteen years, first as a class teacher of graded 1 to 8, and then as the founder and director of the Hartsbrook High School.
In 2009, Roberto moved to Richmond, Virginia, where he resumed class teaching at Richmond Waldorf School. Roberto also worked as a pedagogical consultant and lectured and offered workshops internationally. He was co-director of the part-time teacher training in Sunbridge College in New York, and served as Director of the Waldorf Research Institute. Roberto was a member of the Pedagogical Section Council for ten years and helped restructure the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA).
Roberto's written works include numerous articles and plays. He edited Rhythms of Learning (1998; revised and reissued 2016), Teaching Language Arts in the Waldorf School (2004) and Creating a Circle of Collaborative Spiritual Leadership (2014), and he has recently published a book called Thy Will Be Done: The Task of the College of Teachers in Waldorf Schools (2017). Early in his career, Roberto became interested in teaching science and wrote Physics is Fun!—revised and reissued as Physics the Waldorf Way (2016).
Physics for Grades 6-8
Chemistry for Grades 7-8
Roberto Trostli has been active in Waldorf education since 1981 as a class teacher, high school teacher, adult educator, author, and lecturer. He received his BA from Columbia University and his MA from the University of Cambridge, England. After working as a violinmaker, Roberto taught for ten years at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City, the school he also attended as a child. Later, he moved to Hadley, Massachusetts, where he worked for eighteen years, first as a class teacher of graded 1 to 8, and then as the founder and director of the Hartsbrook High School.
In 2009, Roberto moved to Richmond, Virginia, where he resumed class teaching at Richmond Waldorf School. Roberto also worked as a pedagogical consultant and lectured and offered workshops internationally. He was co-director of the part-time teacher training in Sunbridge College in New York, and served as Director of the Waldorf Research Institute. Roberto was a member of the Pedagogical Section Council for ten years and helped restructure the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA).
Roberto's written works include numerous articles and plays. He edited Rhythms of Learning (1998; revised and reissued 2016), Teaching Language Arts in the Waldorf School (2004) and Creating a Circle of Collaborative Spiritual Leadership (2014), and he has recently published a book called Thy Will Be Done: The Task of the College of Teachers in Waldorf Schools (2017). Early in his career, Roberto became interested in teaching science and wrote Physics is Fun!—revised and reissued as Physics the Waldorf Way (2016).
Eugene Schwartz, Barto, Pennsylvania
Eugene Schwartz
Child Development
Main Lesson Content for Grades 1-8
Eugene Schwartz is a graduate of Columbia University. He has worked with all stages of life, from the young child to the elderly and the dying. He began his teaching career by adapting the Waldorf schools' curriculum to educate a group of adolescents with disabilities and emotional challenges in the Otto Specht School, which he helped to found. He then became a class teacher at Green Meadow Waldorf School, taking three groups of children up through Grade Eight. Eugene also served as Director of Teacher Training at the Sunbridge Institute and for over a decade lectured frequently at Rudolf Steiner College. Eugene now works worldwide as an educational consultant and lecturer.
In addition to his thirty-five years of experience as a class teacher, high school teacher, and educator of Waldorf teachers, Eugene has served as a consultant to Waldorf endeavors throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, England, Ireland, Mexico, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Ecuador, and Turkey. Over the past decades, he has worked in this capacity with over one hundred twenty-five schools, including public schools in the New York metropolitan region and Waldorf charter schools across the country. Eugene was awarded a prestigious Teaching Fellowship at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in Princeton, NJ, in which capacity he worked with public school teachers. Eugene also collaborated with the late Ernest Boyer, the Foundation's president, to establish new curricular ideas and methods.
He has lectured on innovative ideas in education at Harvard, Columbia, University of Tennessee Medical Center, Roehampton University in London, and the Aspen Institute. In 2006 he gave the first lectures on Waldorf education ever presented in Turkey. Eugene has also served as an Adjunct Instructor on the faculty of the Waldorf Masters Program at Touro University in Vallejo, California, focusing on educational issues facing public Waldorf schools in the United States.
Eugene's books and articles have been published widely in the United States and have been translated into German, Hungarian, Russian, Czech, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, and Italian. Over fifty of Eugene's lectures and collections of student work, as well as many free downloadable resources are available at www.millennialchild.com. Eugene has also pioneered the development of the Online Conferences that have been attended by thousands of Waldorf practitioners worldwide.
Eugene has written and directed four films in association with Hagens Production Studios:
Considering Waldorf: Changing Perspectives in Education (2013)
Waldorf Education for All (2011)
Eurythmy: Making Movement Human (2006)
Waldorf Education: A Vision of Wholeness (1995)
Eugene’s books and videos include:
Dragonsblood: An Environmental Fairy Tale
Waldorf Education: Schools for the Twenty-First Century
Millennial Child
Why the Setting Sun Turns Red and Other Stories for Children
Adolescence, the Search for the Self
Seeing, Hearing, Learning: The Interplay of the Eye and Ear in Waldorf Education
Rhythms and Turning Points in the Life of the Child
Child Development
Main Lesson Content for Grades 1-8
Eugene Schwartz is a graduate of Columbia University. He has worked with all stages of life, from the young child to the elderly and the dying. He began his teaching career by adapting the Waldorf schools' curriculum to educate a group of adolescents with disabilities and emotional challenges in the Otto Specht School, which he helped to found. He then became a class teacher at Green Meadow Waldorf School, taking three groups of children up through Grade Eight. Eugene also served as Director of Teacher Training at the Sunbridge Institute and for over a decade lectured frequently at Rudolf Steiner College. Eugene now works worldwide as an educational consultant and lecturer.
In addition to his thirty-five years of experience as a class teacher, high school teacher, and educator of Waldorf teachers, Eugene has served as a consultant to Waldorf endeavors throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, England, Ireland, Mexico, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Ecuador, and Turkey. Over the past decades, he has worked in this capacity with over one hundred twenty-five schools, including public schools in the New York metropolitan region and Waldorf charter schools across the country. Eugene was awarded a prestigious Teaching Fellowship at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in Princeton, NJ, in which capacity he worked with public school teachers. Eugene also collaborated with the late Ernest Boyer, the Foundation's president, to establish new curricular ideas and methods.
He has lectured on innovative ideas in education at Harvard, Columbia, University of Tennessee Medical Center, Roehampton University in London, and the Aspen Institute. In 2006 he gave the first lectures on Waldorf education ever presented in Turkey. Eugene has also served as an Adjunct Instructor on the faculty of the Waldorf Masters Program at Touro University in Vallejo, California, focusing on educational issues facing public Waldorf schools in the United States.
Eugene's books and articles have been published widely in the United States and have been translated into German, Hungarian, Russian, Czech, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, and Italian. Over fifty of Eugene's lectures and collections of student work, as well as many free downloadable resources are available at www.millennialchild.com. Eugene has also pioneered the development of the Online Conferences that have been attended by thousands of Waldorf practitioners worldwide.
Eugene has written and directed four films in association with Hagens Production Studios:
Considering Waldorf: Changing Perspectives in Education (2013)
Waldorf Education for All (2011)
Eurythmy: Making Movement Human (2006)
Waldorf Education: A Vision of Wholeness (1995)
Eugene’s books and videos include:
Dragonsblood: An Environmental Fairy Tale
Waldorf Education: Schools for the Twenty-First Century
Millennial Child
Why the Setting Sun Turns Red and Other Stories for Children
Adolescence, the Search for the Self
Seeing, Hearing, Learning: The Interplay of the Eye and Ear in Waldorf Education
Rhythms and Turning Points in the Life of the Child