Weaving Connections: Meeting The Students of Today (High School Focus)

Wednesday, April 29th

4-5:30pm PT / 7-8:30pm ET on Zoom

Our third installment of this series will feature High School teachers Adam Newman of Denver Waldorf School and Tania Adams of Austin Waldorf School, who bring their diverse backgrounds to this work.

You’ll leave this session with practical ideas for enlivening your work with high school students!

Series Overview:

In response to many requests and to support teachers in their daily classroom work, Alma Partners is offering a Community Class Series in Fall 2025 through Spring 2026, in which teachers will share about the concrete, practical steps they are taking to contextualize their pedagogy, curriculum, and classroom. 

Through this series, we will explore what contextualizing means and discuss the delicate and skillful art of weaving traditional Waldorf education with the needs of today’s children. What does Waldorf Education look like as it connects with newer modalities such as anti-bias education, culturally and historically responsive education, decolonizing education, and the complex world of state curriculum standards? 

Guests with expertise in working with different age groups will present their work, share resources, and engage directly with participants' questions. We will also hold additional space for brainstorming, with facilitation provided by Alma Partners.

*Please note: in alignment with the Alma Partners core value of Centering Relationship, we do not record our sessions! Please plan to attend live.

Resources will be shared with participants as follow-up to our live sessions.

Fee: Sliding scale, $25-100 per person.

Link will be shared after you register.

Note: Pricing is per person. Our sliding-scale pricing is intended to make our courses accessible to as many people as possible. Please pay the most you are able to afford, in order to keep lower-price spots open for those who need them. If you are in a double-income family or household, have savings or inherited wealth, own your home, and/or can afford vacations, please consider contributing at a higher tier.

About the Presenters

Tania Adams

Tania shares: "Healing work has always been the center of my life. Whether I am sitting with a student in crisis, teaching humanities, or supporting faculty and families, I understand my work as relational at its core. I serve as the High School Student Support Coordinator, Counselor, and Humanities teacher at Austin Waldorf School. I am a licensed clinical social worker and hold both an MSW and an M.Ed. I also received my Waldorf High School Teacher Certification from Sunbridge Institute. My training in trauma-informed practice and adolescent development shapes how I show up, but relationship is what guides me most.

I was born in the islands of Southeast Asia and grew up across cultural contexts shaped by migration and layered identities. Lineage and belonging are deeply important to me. I carry an awareness that stories, histories, and ways of knowing shape how we see the world and how we see ourselves. That perspective informs my teaching. I invite students to look not only at content, but at context. Who tells the story? Whose voices are centered? How does identity influence meaning?

My work moves between counseling, curriculum design, and community-building. I believe healing and learning are intertwined. Adolescents thrive when they feel seen in their wholeness and are challenged to think critically about the world they are inheriting and shaping. In high school especially, I am committed to confronting Waldorf education with the realities students are navigating today in ways that feel thoughtful, courageous, and deeply human.”

Adam Newman

Adam says, "From the age of 16, I knew I wanted to share my love of mathematics and physics with anyone who would listen. Discovering the universality of these subjects felt like learning the language of the universe itself. Yet when I first began teaching, I found myself focused almost exclusively on educating the head. As a deeply relational person, I longed for an approach that would allow me to teach the whole child.

That search carried me from London to Ecuador. While completing my MA in Educational Leadership at University College London, I focused my thesis on a school in Quito, exploring how educational environments can meaningfully support student wellbeing. That inquiry led me to the Denver Waldorf School, where I now teach high school mathematics and physics and am continually inspired by the human-centered, developmental approach at the heart of Waldorf education.

To deepen my understanding of this work, I completed the Waldorf High School Teacher Training program at Sunbridge Institute, an experience that profoundly shaped my practice. Today, I strive to weave together this language of the universe with my passion for environmental and social justice, empowering students to become thoughtful leaders and creative problem-solvers in a complex world.

As a multi-ethnic educator, I also celebrate the diverse cultural lineages that have shaped the mathematics and physics we know today. I aim to honor these many translations of universal ideas, helping students see themselves reflected in the rich tapestry of human knowledge."