Alex Peterson has taught at Madrona School since 2017, beginning in the early childhood program. Since then he has taught 1st grade, 4th grade, math and science to grades 5-7, and provided general educational support throughout the school.
Alex grew up in Tampa and St Petersburg, Florida, where he was homeschooled in the Waldorf approach before attending local public schools. He received a BA from University of South Florida with a major in geology and completed three years of Waldorf teacher training with Sound Circle in Seattle.
More about Alex:
Pastimes. Everything under the sun! I especially enjoy roller skating, painting miniature models, board games and tabletop games, reading, writing, storytelling, and camping.
Favorite teaching moment. Three years ago I taught main lessons in physics and organic chemistry. I know how fascinating these subjects can be, and love having the chance to teach them in a way that is not only interesting, but also useful for my students and fuels their hunger to investigate the world around them. In each lesson we would explore a new phenomenon. We would examine what was happening, and I’d ask them to figure it out. For example: you always hear that water and oils don’t mix. To demonstrate, we created rough puff pastry – a combination of butter and water in pastry dough – which separated and created a layer of pastry bubbles when it was baked. It was a perfect learning experience, and also a delicious one!
Path to teaching. I had a seminal realization when I was younger that there would be two major ways that I could affect the way the world was shaped: politics or teaching. In politics, you can force people to do things, but as a teacher you can inspire people to do things. I chose to take that path.
Madrona School. Having been to many Waldorf schools, I have to say there is something very special about Madrona. It has to do with the feeling of warmth and love here among the community, the faculty, the students. You feel so supported – it is just a lovely place to spend your time.
