Jessie Cartwright
Class Teacher, grades 1-8
What is your educational background?
I am a DWS alum, I have a BA in Humanities with focusses on Sociology, History, and Art from Fort Lewis College. I have my Waldorf Teaching Degree from Antioch New England Graduate School.
What year did you start teaching at The Denver Waldorf School?
2003
What inspires you?
My inspirations come from time spent with my children and family, being in nature on hikes and camping, cooking and baking bread, gardening, and traveling to experience new ways of life and meeting my fellow humanity. And, of course, my students!
The Waldorf philosophy of education focuses on the whole child. What does this mean to you?
When a teacher sets out to work with students we really are meeting them where they are in their development and in their humanness. In order to support their becoming we teach to their entire being, for if one only taught towards a student’s thinking capacity, they would never fully be able to weave their heart’s feelings and willful actions into meaningful thoughts. If the student has been offered education that builds capacities and develops their will, feelings, and thinking, then their human-being will be fully realized and their contributions to the world will be imparted with true integrity.
What makes The Denver Waldorf School so unique?
We are an urban Waldorf school, we are diverse, we work out of Anthroposophy, we are teaching towards the future of our world with Waldorf education!
What has your alumni said impacted them most?
My students have shared with me that they always felt I honored their individuality, that they felt I loved them deeply, and that our learning together was fun.