Waldorf Handwork Educators
Who WHE Are
We began in 2013 as a small group holding in person summer conferences in a retreat setting in Southern California for anyone who self-identifies as a teacher of handwork in a Waldorf environment. In 2018 we held our first February conference, in 2019 our first homeschool conference, and in 2020 our first Austral-Asian conference. Our organization has evolved over the years! In order to meet changing needs, we pivoted to online conferences in July 2020. With this new growth came a new name, and a renewed purpose.
Today Waldorf Handwork Educators has expanded to offer a wide variety of programs. In addition to our July and February conferences we now offer professional development opportunities, handwork skills classes for home-based learning and new teachers, and a two-year handwork teacher training program. We also offer handwork curriculum for homeschoolers and new teachers in classroom settings. Offering these programs online allows us to welcome colleagues from around the world, creating space to learn from the diversity of our shared experiences.
Waldorf Handwork Educators is dedicated to:
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Offering the highest quality, forward-thinking professional development and teacher training for handwork teachers in Waldorf schools and other educational settings.
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Bringing the Waldorf Handwork curriculum to homeschooling parents and home-based programs who seek to bring handwork to their children in an effective, lively, and developmentally appropriate way.
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Working collaboratively with Waldorf handwork teachers around the world to establish an international peer-learning network.
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Balancing the outpouring of the school year by reconnecting with colleagues and rediscovering balance, passion, and purpose.
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Offering online programs to increase accessibility for handwork teachers worldwide.
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A reputation for warmth, acceptance, and collaborative, respectful group dynamics.
Our Community
HERE TO GUIDE, INSPIRE AND SUPPORT
Founders and Directors
Elizabeth Seward
Elizabeth Seward has 35+ years teaching Handwork and other subjects in public, private, and homeschool Waldorf settings. She was co-director of a nationally recognized Waldorf teacher training institute from 2000 - 2003. Elizabeth is a trained Waldorf class teacher in the grades. She holds a PhD in Education, an MA in second language learning, and an MA in Education and Spirituality. She is author of Teaching Through Stories: Jane and Jeremy Learn to Knit
Shellie Smith
Shellie Smith is a lifelong educator with over two decades of experience in both public and private Waldorf schools. For 12 years, she served as the handwork teacher for grades 1–8 at the Haleakala Waldorf School on Maui. With a background in social work and education (BA), and formal training in Waldorf handwork education from the Rudolf Steiner College, Shellie brings a rich blend of skill, heart, and experience to her work. She believes that teaching through the imagination and fostering authentic relationships are the keys to meaningful, lasting learning. Shellie is also the author and illustrator of A Twisted Tangled Tale: A Handwork Fairy Tale
Core Faculty
Sven Saar
Sven Saar gained his Waldorf Teaching diploma as a very young man. After moving to England, he worked as a class teacher for 30 years, eight of those in Germany. He also taught in the High School, specialising in history and drama. Now he works full time in Teacher Education and is on the faculty of several courses and universities in the UK and abroad. Sven gives lectures and seminars internationally and works as an active mentor and advisor to schools and teachers in Britain, Germany, Asia and Africa. He is a co-founder of Waldorf Modern Teacher Education UK.
Website: www.waldorfmodern.uk
Penni Sparks
Penni Sparks is a 41-year veteran Waldorf 1-12 educator. Most recently she’s the former director of Haleakala Waldorf High School; the former Pedagogical Director of Kona Pacific Public Charter School; the former faculty member of Rudolf Steiner College’s Summer Teacher Trainings, Public School Institute, and Waldorf Court and Community School Teacher Trainings. She taught high school drama, choir, English, math, history, and astronomy for 10 years before stepping-in as a class teacher to graduate 8 eighth grades.
Penni is a well-traveled Waldorf teacher evaluator, published author, public speaker, workshop leader, and consultant to teachers, parents, and administration. Her unique approach is dedicated to inspiring human beings to greater confidence and kindness by encouraging adults to take up their own inner work to be a model human being for their students and children.
Her book, The ABC’s of Being Human is a wonderful collection of imaginations and soul games to bring you back to a sense of inner peace, well-being, and joy.
Yoriko Yamamoto
Yoriko Yamamoto (she/her) was born and raised in Tokyo.
She teaches Handwork in the San Francisco Waldorf School. She also teaches Japanese folk toy art, Temari, using cotton thread she dyes herself using many plants from the San Francisco Bay Area. She graduated from Yokohama National University (BA), San Francisco State University (MA) and Rudolf Steiner College Handwork Teacher Training.
Dahlia Haberman
Dahlia has been an educator all her adult life, starting as a preschool teacher in 1980 in a Kibbutz in Israel. Currently she has been teaching Handwork to grades 1-8, in the Davis Waldorf School, Davis, CA, since 2005.
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Dahlia completed her Handwork Teacher Training in Israel in the School of Education, Oranim and in the Rudolf Steiner College, Fair Oaks. Dahlia comes from a long line of makers and her life mission is to empower children and adults to become creative makers.
Camille McHaffie
Camille McHaffie teaches handwork at the Edinburgh Steiner School in Scotland and oversees the school’s costume department. She earned her B.A. in English and German in the U.S. and later trained as a class teacher in the Edinburgh Steiner Teacher Training Course, subsequently completing her Handwork Teacher Training in
Berlin, Germany. Camille’s current area of research focus is the early development of the Steiner-Waldorf handwork curriculum at the time of Hedwig Hauck and how that influences the current teaching of handwork. Her other areas of interest are quilting,
developing her pattern making skills and learning how to repair treadles.
Guest Teachers
Kevin Avison
Kevin trained as a "mainstream teacher" in the 1970s & taught in Secondary & Primary schools before moving to Steiner education via a (curative) "home-school" for children with multiple special needs. From there, Kevin moved into Waldorf education, teaching classes in three UK Waldorf schools. He worked for the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship (the UK Waldorf association) full time after leaving teaching, establishing the Steiner Waldorf Advisory Service & travelling regularly to schools throughout UK & Ireland. He was for a number of years UK representative to the European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education. He is author of "A Handbook for Waldorf Class Teachers" & an editor of "Towards Creative Teaching", "Tasks & Content of the Steiner Waldorf Curriculum" & author of the introduction to the most recent edition of Karl Stockmeyer's compilation of Rudolf Steiner's indications for the first Waldorf School. Now retired, he serves on the governing Council for Elmfield Steiner School, responsible for teaching & learning. He and his wife Jane, a Waldorf school administrator, have two grown-up, Waldorf educated children, now in their 40s.
Kristin Palen
Kristin Palen is an occupational therapist with over 19 years of experience solely in pediatrics. Kristin is the owner of Coastal Connections Pediatric Therapy, in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. Her practice provides direct nature based occupational therapy services, nature based parent resources, and homeschool coaching. Kristin uses a holistic and eclectic approach in her OT practice, ensuring that a family’s needs are met which resonates well with Waldorf Education. Her specialties are sensory integration, self-regulation and co-regulation. As a Waldorf homeschooler in a neurodiverse family, Kristin particularly enjoys supporting and coaching fellow neurodiverse homeschool families to adapt, accommodate and meet the needs of their children.
Website: www.coastalconnectionsot.com
Theodora Mason
Theodora was an integral part of the Sanderling Waldorf School in Southern California. Theodora developed and taught the handwork and movement program for 1st - 8th grade students. She then taught movement at the Portland Waldorf School from 1st -12th grade. She is now beginning a new teaching adventure at Living Oaks in Texas Hill Country. Theodora has over twenty years of teaching experience, with over sixteen of them teaching children in a Waldorf school.
Theodora is a graduate of level l and an ongoing student in the level ll and lll Spacial Dynamics training program, certified in Bothmer gymnastics, a life-long yoga practitioner and a certified instructor. She understands the vital importance of an education that supports and encourages each child’s development as a free human being.
Jodie Jean Marston-Arellano
Jodie Jean Marston-Arellano grew up performing bluegrass and folk music in the Sierra Nevada of California. She has taught handwork, music, and pre-school, with training as a Waldorf Handwork Educator through the Rudolf Steiner College of Sacramento. Jodie Jean lives in Talent, Oregon at Wildflower Farm, where she raises a small flock of sheep and sells handspun yarns. She teaches guitar, voice, and songwriting lessons from her home studio.
Website: www.jodiejeanmarston.com
Meg Quinlisk
Meg Quinlisk worked in Steiner early childhood settings for more than a decade before turning her interest to teaching handwork. She co-authored a book on playgroups in 2018 -- Early Childhood Wisdom: a journey through the playgroup year. She teaches in the Sydney Rudolf Steiner College early childhood teacher training courses, specialising in festivals, puppetry, dollmaking, storytelling, and biography work.
Meg is a graduate of the WHE Handwork Teacher Development Program and is now working as a handwork assistant in Sydney, Australia.
Ania Kubik
​Ania Kubik has been teaching in independent Waldorf schools in Southern California for 20 years as a class teacher, handwork teacher and art specialist, and is currently mentoring teachers and teaching art at Waldorf-inspired Ocean Charter School in Marina del Rey.
She earned her Bachelor of Art degree in sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University and her Waldorf certificate at the Waldorf Institute of Southern California (WISC). She is a faculty member at WISC, teaching art to teacher education students since 2011 and recorder since 2020.
Her mission is to guide students through the intellectual understanding of manual projects imbued with beauty, meaning and imagination while guiding them in making discoveries and allowing themselves to be joyfully artistic through self-acceptance.
Ania enjoys outdoor recreation with family and friends and is proud to be descended from parents who were refugees from Poland during World War II and later immigrated to America.
Mary Ruud
Mary Ruud has taught eurythmy to children and adults for 40 years. She also works as a eurythmy therapist and teaches Therapeutic Horsemanship.
Mary has degrees from Spring Valley Eurythmy School, the Eurythmy School in Nurnberg, Germany, and a therapeutic degree from the London School of Eurythmy. She has a Masters in Liberal Studies from the 21st Century Department of the University of Wisconsin.
Mary has taught at Green Meadow Waldorf School, Spring Valley N.Y., Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School in Viroqua Wisconsin, and spent 16 years teaching in the Urban Waldorf School in Milwaukee. She taught at City Garden Waldorf School in Chicago and taught homeschool classes in Chicago.
As an adult educator Mary teaches for Great Lakes Waldorf Institute, Lifeways Early Childhood Training, Waldorf Teacher Institute of Chicago and has travelled widely teaching in the Alliance for Waldorf in Public Schools.
Mary has a love of handwork. She has been able to teach handwork to the younger children and was often under the guidance of Margaret Frohlich.
Mary is a mother of a Waldorf student, grandmother of Waldorf students and a great-grandmother to a Waldorf Kindergartner.
Administration
Melissa Koeneman - Business Manager
Melissa Koeneman lives on the island of Maui with her husband and two young children, a son, William, and a daughter, Adelynn. She is originally from Portland, Oregon, although she has lived in Hawaii for 10 years and, prior to that, resided in Traverse City, Michigan. She has been involved with education for 10 years and Waldorf Education since 2016. Her husband is a Waldorf middle school teacher and her son is a Waldorf preschool student. She has a degree in business and, aside from Waldorf Handwork Educators, has a small agricultural business that she runs with her family. She loves farming and homesteading, children and animals, decorating and holidays, and spending quality time with her growing family.
Monica De Francisco - Student Mentor and Teaching Assistant
Monica has taught high school Social Studies for 8 years before having kids and discovering Waldorf education and rediscovering handwork. Before returning to the classroom officially, she volunteered in her children's Handwork classes, led the parent crafting group and taught doll making to adults at Pasadena Waldorf School. She was the Handwork Assistant at PWS for 4 years and taught 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade Handwork at Ocean Charter School for 2 years. She completed the WHE program in 2022 and did the Foundations training with Betty Staley and Rudolf Steiner College around 2012. This school year, she is stepping back from teaching to complete a supplemental Art credential so that she can continue to bring Handwork to public school students. She loves reflecting on teaching and learning and is looking forward to supporting other Handwork teachers!
Aparna Basu - Website Design & Development
A web and graphic designer for over 21 years, Aparna is passionate about bringing thoughts to life - creating websites and visuals for businesses, organizations, or individuals. A seasoned professional, she analyzes websites for usability and accessibility issues, and develops search strategies, project scope, promotional plans, SEO, and brand advertising strategies.
Aparna also loves teaching, and is currently part of “thread a joy” that focuses on teaching handwork to kids and everyone. She is a part-time handwork teacher at an International school in Goa. A graduate from Delhi University, she also completed her teacher training course with Waldorf Handwork Educators in 2023.
Mary Kate Jenkins - Educational Support
Mary Kate Jenkins is a Chicagoland native who graduated from NYU with a degree in Experimental Theater and came back home to hone her skills. Since 2009, she has been creating, teaching, and performing with Sea Beast Puppet Company and is a founding member of the troupe. She is an avid crafter and knitter who has worked at several Chicagoland yarn stores teaching basic and advanced knitting techniques to both children and adults. Mary Kate currently resides in the Chicago area with her husband and toddler and enjoys dabbling in new crafts just as much as she loves getting comfy with some soft yarn to knit.
As a recent graduate of the WHE Teacher Training program, she is excited to now be a regular guest teacher in our online handwork skills classes and providing educational support to our current students.
Grace Spath - Administrative Assistant
Grace has been teaching handwork to students in grades 1-8 at a Waldorf school since 2021. She is also a proud mother of three children who have attended Waldorf Education since kindergarten. In 2024, she graduated from the Waldorf Handwork Educators program as part of the TT3 cohort. Grace holds a degree in fashion production with a minor in studio art. Her fiber art pieces have been showcased and sold in galleries, and she also specializes in creating upcycled clothing. Additionally, she processes her own sheep and alpaca wool from her farm, bringing a personal touch to her craft.
As a graduate of the WHE teacher training program she is well equipped to answer any questions you may have about our programs or schedules. You can reach out to Grace through info@waldorfhandwork.org
Kristina Santamauro - Social Media Marketing Specialist
Kristina brings over 12 years of experience in social media marketing, education, and nonprofit administration. She is a mother of two and has a deep connection to Waldorf education and homeschooling. With her passion for storytelling Kristina’s goal is to create engaging content to inspire, connect, and build our WHE handwork teaching community.