Rainbow Mountain Fourth & Fifth Grades
Lauren Rosenfeld, 4/5th Grade Co-Teacher
This is Lauren’s first year teaching at Rainbow Mountain, but she has nearly 20 years experience teaching students of all ages from preschool through adulthood. Lauren holds several advanced degrees including a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities, a Master of Education in Child Development, and a Master’s degree in Judaic Studies with an emphasis on Kabbalah teachings.
A master teacher, Lauren has taught in public schools as well as both secular and religious private schools. She has led numerous teacher trainings on holistic education and has coached families privately on how to parent from a spiritual perspective. Lauren also teaches adult classes on mysticism, spirituality and meditation.
Although Lauren has a gift for supporting the developmental and academic needs of children in the “between years,” her teaching approach has more to do with attitude than content. “I want every child to walk away from my class with the feeling, ‘I love learning!,’” Lauren shares. She cultivates this attitude by helping students discover the richness and wonder of learning as a gratifying lifelong process.
Lauren was drawn to Rainbow Mountain because it teaches to the whole child and a myriad of intelligences. She appreciates that Rainbow addresses spiritual intelligence and that it does so with a unique multicultural and multifaith approach. Lauren enjoys helping her students develop this dimension by exploring the lives of people across the world and throughout time; this exploration helps connect children with the universal human experience and with their own capacity for compassion.
When Lauren is not exploring, creating and reflecting with her students, she enjoys life closer to home with her husband and four children. She also supports her inner growth through contemplative practices and through participation in Wisdomology.com, an interfaith spiritual community she founded with her husband.
Julie Ludvigsen, 4/5th Grade Co-Teacher
This is Julie’s first year teaching at Rainbow Mountain and her fifth year working with alternative teaching approaches including ESL, service learning and Waldorf methods. Julie has a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in language arts and music. She also holds a Master’s Degree in teaching English as a second language.
Julie has taught students across a broad range of ages and abilities. She started out as a Title I English teacher at the elementary level working with students for whom English was a second language. She went on to become an Americorps VISTA volunteer coordinating service-learning projects for middle school students. For the last two years, Julie taught at a Waldorf methods charter school, first in 8th grade and then in 4th grade.
Julie is a strong advocate for alternative teaching methods and has studied Multiple Intelligences theory extensively. When she moved to Asheville in December of 2007, Julie was immediately drawn to Rainbow Mountain’s philosophy and emphasis on teaching the whole child: body, mind and spirit. Julie believes her calling is to “recognize what sparks students individually and connect them on that level so they can be their best selves.” Our school’s small class sizes, spiritual approach and flexible curriculum allow her to do just that.
Julie loves to share her passion for reading and music, something she has in common with many of her students. She also loves teaching children in the upper primary grades because they are capable of working independently and taking on big ideas and projects, but they still have young hearts and an enthusiasm for learning.
When Julie is not reciting poetry, singing, and learning alongside her students, she enjoys spending time with her son Cian, hiking with her family, and developing her physical strength. She is currently training for a summer triathlon.
Michael Neal, 4/5th Grade Co-Teacher
Michael Neal has taught at Rainbow Mountain for the past 9 years and has taught 4th and 5th graders for 12 years altogether. Michael has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in psychology from Appalachian State University. He also has an Associate’s degree in Business.
Michael was inspired by his high school biology teacher to become an educator. It is not surprising, then, that this is one of Michael’s favorite subjects. He inspires his own students with “real science” projects that involve lots of open-ended and mind-bending experiments.
Working with 4th and 5th graders can be challenging as they begin asserting their independence and testing limits; however, Michael loves teaching this age group. He gives his students lots of opportunities to make decisions and to develop critical thinking skills. This process can look clumsy at times, but the payoff is children who learn to take healthy risks, make reasoned assumptions, and take responsibility for their actions.
Michael’s favorite part of the school day is sharing good books during daily read alouds and in student-led literature circles. He is especially delighted when they reach for the one of these books during silent reading or select another title by the same author. While his students love reading, they also relish class trips that can include skiing, spelunking, camping overnight in a cave, and a 3-day environmental education camp on St. Simon’s Island.
When Michael is not inspiring children in our community to grow and learn, he is enjoying his other lifelong loves of cooking, reading, hiking, teaching Sunday School, and spending time with his wife and two children. Michael is also the Online Chair for the Weaverville Relay for Life. |
