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Graduate Profile
Angie Denby succesfully completed the Diploma in Rudolf Steiner Education in 2006.
Angie, having worked for many years as a social worker in mental health, became aware of being in transition and started thinking of working with children again. Not sure of what her next step would be she worked in various administrative roles in community groups in the Hawkes Bay. In the middle of 2005 she became the secretary at Taruna College. This is where she saw the brochure for the teacher’s course and thought it looked interesting. Having worked as a primary school teacher in her 20s and now in her 50s Angie enrolled in the Diploma in Rudolf Steiner Teaching, 2006 with a view to refreshing her teaching skills and seeking employment in either the State System or a Steiner school.
Angie discovered the course to be very full, touching on many aspects of teaching and anthroposophy. “I loved the artistic activity, that was one of the main reasons I decided to come. I needed to dig into myself and find my creative juices again. That certainly happened and was most enjoyable. Having to write assignments was something I hadn’t done for a long time and so that was interesting. I rediscovered my ability with language and to write creatively. This was something I hadn’t thought of before hand and thoroughly enjoyed, as well as listening to other’s creative writings and getting nourished by that too.”
“At the end of the year I really wanted to have a job. I wanted to try myself out.” A teaching position was available at Hohepa and I was accepted. “It was wonderful, I felt at home immediately because I had worked there in the past and I knew I had an affinity for working with young people with special needs. I never pictured myself working with teenagers, but I have a class of teenagers. They range in age from 14 to 18 years. Each of them has multiple challenges. The common denominator is autism. None of them communicate verbally, communication happens in other ways. After lesson planning, I like to work out of my intuition and be in the moment. I like working with craft and music. The challenge for me is to get a clear picture of each student, their likes and dislikes. This, to me, is the avenue to connect with them. An additional aspect of special needs is that there are teacher aides. I have 6 students, and 3 teacher aides. My job includes team development. I am very conscious of wanting the teacher aides to bring their talents forward and to experience job satisfaction.”
At Taruna I got to learn new things about my strengths and weaknesses. Through my strengths I discovered what to build on and thought that’s where I could be an inspiration to others. In the area of weaknesses, I became aware of them in order to think - right that is where I have to develop things or I can develop things. At the same time being 55 I would say to myself “I’m good enough too” rather than feeling that I had to be improving all the time. I’m learning to work with what I have got which doesn’t mean to block off from new experiences at all – in fact the opposite. The world suddenly became a more exciting place in terms of my own learning because once in the classroom with a curriculum in front of me the need to get myself educated escalates. It can be daunting as well as exciting.
In the bigger picture of the future, as individuals working together, that is where our challenge is. Having the courage to be who we really are, and then to work well with others.
It was a wonderful opportunity to take a year for self – to find direction and that can be on all sorts of levels for different people, different ages, and different stages of life. I mean everyone came for a different reason really. It was an “opening up opportunity”.
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