WISE Gateways Conference 2023

FRIDAY KEYNOTE & SATURDAY MORNING FOLLOW-UP TALK

Culturally Relevant Indigenous Waldorf Education

Celestine Stadnick will share her own experience teaching in the Lakota Waldorf school, and discuss how Waldorf curricula, teaching methods and practices shape cultural identity, and its importance in Indigenous communities. Celestine will address common misconceptions around inclusion and equity.

Please see more detailed information below:

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Friday Night

6:00 pm ~ Registration opens

6:30-8:15 pm ~ Keynote speech (Celestine Stadnick)

Saturday daytime

8:30 am ~ Registration opens

9:00-10:00 am ~ Plenary session (Celestine Stadnick)

10:00-11:45 am ~ Morning Workshops (Various Presenters)

11:45 am-noon ~ Break

noon-1:00 pm ~ Catered Lunch

1:00 pm-2:45 pm ~ Afternoon Workshops (Various Presenters)

2:45 pm-3:00 pm ~ Break

3:00 pm-onwards ~ Conference wrap-up

SATURDAY MORNING WORKSHOP OPTIONS

A. DECONSTRUCTING THE EUROCENTRIC WORLDVIEW, Celestine Stadnick

Celestine Stadnick will explore Eurocentrism and take workshop attendees through a process of unlearning colonial thinking. Participants will be able to go into their own experiences and analyze and deconstruct their own colonialism. 

 B. THE JOY OF STORY-TELLING, Kory Baker-Henderson

WISE Teacher & Homeschool facilitator Kory Baker-Henderson will share how to bring the joy of stories and storytelling into your home for your children. Kory will take participants through, storytelling, from simple to elaborate puppet plays. Learn how to add in music, song and verses, and how to create your own wonderful stories with imagination, personal histories and for healing.

C. SLEEP, Mary Conrod

Re-discover sleep: its purpose, its power and its potential. WISE Class teacher Mary Conrod is conducting research on sleep as part of her final year of Waldorf Teacher training, learn how to use sleep as a tool to improve your life. 

D. WOOL-FELTING, Thea Ramsfield

WISE Kindergarten teacher Thea Ramsfield will focus on two dimensional needle felting, such as a wall hanging or back drop for stories/nature table/play mats. Thea will demonstrate how to use colour and playful layering for depth and texture. The techniques discussed in this workshop can also be easily transferred to customized garments and visible mending. 

E. EURYTHMY, Megan Collins

Come and meet eurythmy, an entirely new art-form-in-movement. With Megan’s help, you will explore exercises in expansion/contraction, rhythmic movement as social interaction, and more.  How do we move differently to speech sounds or with music? All are welcome!

SATURDAY AFTERNOON WORKSHOP OPTIONS

1. NATURAL SKIN-CARE, Kellie Menard

Discover the science of emulsifying oils and botanical waters and make a luxurious skin cream. Kellie will show workshop participants how to make a gentle facial exfoliant using all natural plant based ingredients. 

2. LEATHER WORKING, Annemarie van Oploo & Danny Grenier

Learn basic leather-working techniques from the Maroquinerie Formidable Leather-works team, and then put your new skills into practice by creating beautiful leather bracelets and/or key fobs.

3. A SPACE FOR PLAY, Layla Ahmed

Layla will take participants through creating an early childhood space truly designed for open-ended imaginative play. Layla will bring her experience as a Waldorf graduate and a midwife to the joyful task of creating the space for children to be or imagine anything.

4. LET US SING TOGETHER

Emily Toews

Do you love singing? Do you love singing WITH others? WISE music teacher Emily Toews will give workshop participants tools on how to breathe and sing properly, and provide participants with understanding on their unique vocal structure. Most importantly, however, Emily will be leading participants in singing together. Come, join us, and let us Sing Together!

5. AGROHOMEOPATHY

Dr. Aziz Merchant

Combining a passion for organic gardening with his years of experience as a Homeopath, Dr. Aziz Merchant will introduce workshop attendees to Homeopathy to the world of plants. He will discuss soil improvement, pests, diseases, transplant shocks, increasing pollination and fruit production, and share some basic Agrohomeopathy remedies to take home. 

6. GIVING FROM THE OVERFLOW

Lea Philpott

Lea Philpott, experienced Waldorf Parent and Child teacher and former home childcare provider looks forward to exploring and sharing our inspirations and questions around balancing our own needs with those of our children. Please bring a yoga mat if possible!

Fee Details

Before April 15th, Single* - $75, Couple - $115

After April 15th, Single* - $90, Couple - $130

 Snacks & lunch are provided.

 More about our Keynote Speaker, Celestine Stadnick: Celestine Stadnick, an Oglala Lakota Sioux tribal member, was born on November 12th 1990 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Her mother, a Swiss Waldorf School alumni, and her father, a traditional Lakota man, raised her on the Pine Ridge Reservation and in Switzerland. She received a Bachelor degree in Waldorf pedagogy from the Academy for Anthroposophical Pedagogy in Dornach, taught in Switzerland and at the Lakota Waldorf School. During her time at the Lakota Waldorf School she founded the Academy for Indigenous Waldorf Pedagogy, an in-house teacher training for the school’s teachers. Within that process she developed culturally relevant teaching methods and created a culturally relevant Waldorf curriculum based on the Lakota culture. Following this, she received her Master of Education in Educational Administration and Leadership from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. The importance of learners’ cultural identity has been her striving force in creating spaces wherein students can reconnect to their culture that colonization and assimilation has removed them from. It is her strong belief that Waldorf education has strong potential to pursue social and climate justice in ways many other educational systems can only dream of. At this time she is Assistant Principal at a public school on the Pine Ridge Reservation where she is discovering how culturally relevant practices can be brought into public schools as well.