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Student's Letter Wins Honor for ?Eccentric' Olympia Teacher: Instructor Makes Even Boiling Water Interesting, Kids Say

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 May 2006, 12:03 CDT

By Stephanie Mathieu, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

May 9--An Olympia Waldorf School teacher described as eccentric by her seventh-grade class was recognized in honor of National Teacher Day today.

Dawn Stratton -- called Dona Louise by her students -- received a $100 gift certificate when she was selected as one of the five runners-up in the nationwide OfficeMax Super Hero Teacher of the Year essay contest. One of Stratton's pupils, 13-year-old Isabella Neal, submitted a 200-word essay arguing that Stratton should be considered a super hero teacher.

"Today my teacher shaved her head," Neal's letter began. "Nobody was surprised."

Stratton didn't know Neal nominated her for the honor, and she said Neal's essay caught her off guard.

"When I put it all together, I hadn't realized I appeared so eccentric," she said. "I had to laugh at myself."

Stratton is from Vancouver, British Columbia, and came to teach at Olympia Waldorf School in 1999 after interviewing at several Waldorf schools along the West Coast. She said that once she met the group of students in Olympia, she knew it was where she wanted to teach.

"I knew they were my students," Stratton said. "It was a very deep, old connection -- as if I had known them before."

Waldorf schools take a holistic approach to education, Stratton said.

They teach a classical education in the arts and sciences while also addressing the social and emotional state of each child. Teachers at the school in Olympia start teaching a group of students beginning in the first grade, and they stay with those students until they graduate from the school after eighth grade.

"She is more than just an eccentric Waldorf teacher, though," Neal wrote in her essay.

Stratton works Saturday nights for the Done and Done homeless outreach program in Olympia. The group delivers food to homeless people after other services close for the day.

"We go to them rather than having them come to us," Stratton said.

Stratton also bought an old King County Metro transit bus and converted it to run on vegetable oil instead of diesel fuel. She hopes to take her class on a field trip next year in which her students can meet disenfranchised people.

She is directing the school play, "Joan of Arc," on June 5 and 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the school.

"She's very dramatic," seventh-grader Nate Thomas said. "It's funny but cool."

Gung-ho

Students said her gung-ho attitude makes learning exciting.

Stratton even made boiling water sound interesting, Neal said.

Seventh-grader Anne Anderle said Stratton takes time to understand the skill levels of each of her students and help the ones who need more help while challenging the students who need to be challenged.

Seventh-grader Tess Standaert said she likes Stratton's clothing.

"She wears interesting clothes," Standaert said, "sometimes clothes that look like she stepped out of the Old Testament."

She also used to have long hair, but she has since shaved it off to symbolize her detachment from materialism, Stratton said.

"It's a symbol of my commitment to practice nonattachment," Stratton said. "It wasn't about fashion."

More than 4,200 students from across the nation entered the essay contest. There was one grand-prize winner, five first-place winners and five runners-up. With her $100 gift certificate to OfficeMax, Stratton said, she plans on purchasing a digital camera to use in class next year.

The winners were judged by a committee based on the quality of the essay and the merit of the teachers.

"She really brought out Stratton's personality," company spokeswoman Erin Bomgaars said about Neal's essay.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

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Source: The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

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