It is with great pleasure that we present to you today another member of the Steiner school family: Moritz Schertler - English teacher, French and German and head of the Steiner theater group. After several years at the German School in Nigeria, he has now been bringing for some years his enthusiasm, diverse experiences, and his great commitment daily to Schloss Stein and is quickly an an indispensable part of our community become.
You went to Africa after your studies. What prompted you to do this and how did your stay there affect your personal and professional development?
After my studies, I was planning a fundamental change of scenery. Together with my wife, we went to Africa for this purpose. The official German school abroad in Nigeria was our destination and the originally planned two years turned into a total of six. The pandemic and the associated travel restrictions, which could have had an immediate impact, or more directly, a danger for our twins, who were already one year old at the time, was ultimately our fateful call to return to Europe. After a gap year at Max-Rill Gymnasium Schloss Reichersbeuern and parental leave, I finally applied to Stein.
What are the biggest differences between schools in Germany and Nigeria?
To be honest, one would sometimes wish for greater differences. The setting is of course enticingly exotic. The German curriculum, however, is familiar. One exciting difference to Germany is certainly the volatile nature of African conditions. As a German school, we were of course the home school of German diplomatic families, as well as many international embassies and some Nigerian families with an international background. This high degree of internationality has been the basic ingredient of our school community in Nigeria, so to speak. The second, and certainly the spiciest ingredient, to stay with the image, was flexibility and creativity, the imperative to create a moment and not rigidly follow an annual plan. This existed, of course, but the practical implementation always followed the current circumstances, the repertoire of which consisted of fuel supply bottlenecks resulting from political tensions, local floods or periods of heat that turned a sports festival into a challenge in the morning, the annual breeding season of the green mamba and so on. It was an exciting time for me, which also put my view of some of the aches and pains of everyday school life in Germany into perspective.
How did you manage to revive the theater tradition at Schloss Stein and what experiences did you have while working with the first Steiner theater ensemble?
When I came to Stein , there was no longer a theater there. It was only in personal conversations that I learned about the rich past of successful theater projects and self-referential references, such as the German director Percy Adlon, who, along with other illustrious names, could be named as the people responsible for the Steiner theater success in the past. At Mr. Ziegler's personal request, I took up the cause and last year drummed up a troupe of interested students to revive the theatrical tradition at Schloss Stein . In theory, I was well aware of the positive effects of drama on living together and interacting with our students. I also knew that there might be a talent for the stage hidden in some of our quieter contemporaries. But to see how much this came to life in the work with the newly formed first Steiner theater ensemble was very impressive and an important experience for me too. The planning and assessment of the right material, the lean period of learning the text, the second major task of bringing a learned text to life scenically, and that in concert with what felt like a hundred other matters surrounding a theater production, were major challenges that, I may say, were very successfully exhausted at the 2024 summer festival in the performance of Antigone in Slavoj Žižek's adaptation; and made both students and myself want to build on this in the coming year. We are already in the process of reading the new roles. But we won't be revealing any more yet.
Where is your favorite place in Stein?
Actually, it only exists for me insofar as Stein has become a favorite place for me as a whole, along with a few others around the world. Not so much as a vacation destination, of course, but I can tell by the fact that I don't talk about going to work in the morning, but rather to Stein. This may be a subtle way of reading the same thing on the surface, but for me I recognize a certain attraction in such things. Analogous perhaps, as others feel, to having either a job or a profession.
What is your favorite food on Schloss Stein ?
Where should I start? Temptations lurk around every corner at Stein. However, the beef stew with spaetzle and cranberries is definitely at the top of my list.
Sebastian Ziegler about Moritz Schertler:
"With Moritz Schertler, who joined Stein in September 2022, you could tell right from the start that he came to Stein with an interesting background. Both his international as well as his boarding school experience are noticeable in his actions. In addition to a high level of professional expertise, we always expect teachers to think outside the box, i.e. to look at the child and young person in terms of their personality and their academic and extracurricular activities. You can only experience all of this if, like Mr. Schertler, you are also responsible for exciting extracurricular activities such as the theater group, which is so important for us at Stein . His assessments of the children are always accurate and emphatic. He has quickly become part of the core of the Steiner team team."
Since 2011, he has been a permanent member of the teaching staff at Schule Schloss Stein - Stein proudly presents: Daniel Glotz. As a dedicated teacher of chemistry, geography and physics as well as sixth form coordinator, he guides our students through the mysteries of science with expertise, humor and a great deal of personal commitment.
The two day pupils tell us what they particularly like about Stein , who their superhero is - and how they would describe our school in three words.
Stein proudly presents: Lucas Hunold, who as a 2nd generation Altsteiner is already deeply rooted in our school.
When you think of Schule Schloss Stein , you can't help but think of his name. Stein proudly presents: Markus Koch.
Schlosshof 1
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