our teachers
joyce olson-kapell
Joyce is an experienced and highly trained Waldorf teacher with a passion for providing children with a nature-based and Waldorf-inspired approach to learning. She has over two decades of experience teaching in Waldorf schools and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota, with a major in Art History and Women’s Studies. She also completed her teacher training at Sunbridge College in New York, where she developed a deep understanding of the Waldorf approach to education.
Joyce is convinced that a nature-based and Waldorf-inspired approach to learning is what best serves the children growing up in this changing world. Fact-based learning is quickly becoming outdated. What she loves about the Waldorf curriculum is the focus on the arts, painting, music, movement, poetry, and storytelling. She is committed to offering a curriculum that nurtures flexibility, creativity, moral reasoning, and independent thinking. She is also passionate about adapting and evolving the traditional Waldorf curriculum in terms of gender and racial equity and will be participating in a course on decolonizing the Waldorf curriculum over the summer.
Joyce’s belief in the importance of nature-based education has been strengthened by her love of the outdoors. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, kayaking, running with her dog, biking, and gardening. Her love of nature and passion for teaching has inspired her to create a learning environment that is both engaging and meaningful for children. She is excited to help the students foster a connection to the natural world that will develop into a sense a stewardship toward the Earth.
Joyce’s dedication to education and her commitment to providing children with a nature-based and Waldorf-inspired approach to learning makes her an exceptional teacher and mentor. Her life experience and career path have led her to this very moment. She is thrilled to be the founding teacher of this inspiring initiative.
Grades teacher (class of 2035)
will watson
During my first visit to Meadowlark, as I watched the children work and play together, it became clear to me that this community has come together with so much intention to create a uniquely kind and caring community, built with the respect and trust that allows children to live and learn joyfully. I wholeheartedly believe that an arts and nature-based education allows children, families, and teachers to learn about themselves, while fostering the ability to build healthy relationships with each other and the natural world. Meadowlark strives for a balance in education to harness the wisdom of lessons learned from the past while leaning into the important questions of our time in developmentally appropriate ways. We learn from nature, community, gardening, singing, and making art together – and these most important lessons guide us in how to live our values of social justice. I am filled with excitement to find a community that lives their values so clearly in the classroom and community. I am inspired by the opportunity to teach and learn at Meadowlark because I believe it will give me the space to continue to grow and develop myself. In the words of our late Senator Paul Wellstone, “We all do better when we all do better.”
A little more about me and my background:
As a child, I attended a Waldorf early childhood program and continued in Waldorf education throughout elementary school, graduating 8th grade from City of Lakes Waldorf School in Minneapolis. My experience as a child in Waldorf education instilled in me a lifelong love of learning and a sense of the importance of trust between teachers and students in the classroom. It also was my inspiration to become a teacher.
I started college at Carleton College and graduated from the University of Minnesota with majors in Elementary Education and Sociology. I then earned my teaching license and Master’s in Elementary Education at the University of Minnesota. I received my Waldorf teacher training from the West Coast Institute for Studies in Anthroposophy and the Sacramento Waldorf School. I have been teaching in early childhood and elementary education for eleven years, with seven years in Minneapolis Public Schools and four years at Waldorf schools as a grades teacher at City of Lakes Waldorf School and the Sacramento Waldorf School.
Outside of school, I have many hobbies and interests. I love to bike and work on bicycles. I find joy in building and tinkering with bicycles, woodworking, carving and most recently, learning to blacksmith with a coal forge. I also enjoy reading -both to learn and for pleasure. I live in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood of Minneapolis with my wife, Loren, and our Australian shepherd, Max. We love to hike and bike through Theodore Wirth Park. Loren and I both enjoy knitting, with a particular affinity for making wool sweaters.
Grades teacher (class of 2037)
