A WALDORF DIARY – the classroom log that makes the art of Waldorf teaching visible
It is at once a curriculum resource, an authentic teaching journal, an illustrated class archive, a mentor’s commentary, and a year-by-year record of how a class of children with differing abilities develops together.
Every chapter opens the classroom door, inviting you to accompany an experienced teacher through each Main Lesson, day by day. It is, in effect, a seminar you can attend at home while preparing your next topic.
And you will feel confident that you are on the right path because …
- Presentation notes provide knowledge, insight and confidence.
- Mentoring comments explain the thinking behind key teaching decisions.
- Samples of children’s work show how abilities grow with time.
- Practical exercises encourage your creativity rather than plain copying.
What You Get
- 70 individual block guides
- Seven complete school years
- Detailed daily lesson plans
- Concise presentation notes
- Blackboard drawing examples
- Samples of children’s work
- Mentoring comments
- Classroom conversations
- Stories and exercises
- Letters to parents
How Does It Help?
Every Main Lesson begins long before the classroom with hours of reading, selecting, organising and condensing source material before a single lesson can be planned.
Carefully researched background material included in these block guides greatly reduces this work by bringing together the essential knowledge for each topic. These presentation notes are concise summaries, ready to be transformed into living lessons.
Save hours by beginning from this solid point of reference. Instead of reading several books to prepare each block, you can devote your time to shaping lessons with confidence and adapt them to the needs of your own class or child.
But A WALDORF DIARY offers more than carefully prepared lesson material. It also allows you to observe an experienced Waldorf teacher at work.
Rather than simply telling you what to teach, mentoring comments explain the thinking behind the teaching, helping to train your own judgement, confidence and skill as an educator.
Each Main Lesson block chapter is both a curriculum guide and a course in Waldorf teaching.
Its lesson plans teach the children – the DIARY teaches the teacher
A Supportive Companion
In revealing pedagogical thinking, artistic judgement, pacing, classroom atmosphere and long-term development, A WALDORF DIARY offers you the rare opportunity of a virtual apprenticeship with detailed guidance, and the clarity that comes from seeing good practice unfold.
Each Main Lesson chapter provides the context, detail and continuity needed to plan with peace of mind and teach with confidence.
Learn how to guide artistic work through vivid verbal description rather than demonstration, allowing children to create from their own inner picturing instead of copying an adult’s example.
Open any block guide to see tomorrow’s lesson unfold, how the work progresses from day to day, and how each lesson naturally prepares the next.
There is no better teacher than a good example
Each block guide comes with a free supplement of songs, poems, verses and exercises for the start of the day and the seasonal Morning Circle, complete with sheet music and source references.
Use the programme as it stands, or fill its structure with material from your own country’s traditions. These age-specific collections are also suitable for teaching English as a foreign language.
Because this is a classroom diary, the topics correspond to the months in which they were originally taught. However, every chapter can be adapted to a different season, cultural setting and teaching sequence.
A WALDORF DIARY provides the structure that gives creativity room to flourish
Each one of its block guide chapters …
- models authentic Waldorf teaching in daily classroom practice
- shows how routines of the early years evolve in the Middle School
- charts a continuous stream of purposeful lesson content
- shows how a Main Lesson is begun, developed and rounded off
- demonstrates how artistic learning leads to understanding
- helps non-artistic educators to present topics in an artistic way
- frees valuable preparation time while inviting your own creativity
- demonstrates how capacities are trained purposefully and without haste
Get Your Free Sample
To discover if this new teaching companion is right for you, download the first block guide here and explore its layout, structure, detail and approach:
I’ve learned so much here! 🌟 All the articles have given me plenty to think about. I make sure to write down everything we cover in class and collect all the worksheets, blackboard pictures, etc. I started doing this as a personal reflection because I need to wrap up each week before planning the next. Now, I’m learning to create a plan and gradually refine it day by day. 😊
I share my notes with new teachers as inspiration or for those days when they might feel stuck. When I discovered the Waldorf diary, I was so impressed by its level of professionalism. It’s a pity I can’t access all the content, as I teach in a non-English-speaking country, but I still gain a lot of inspiration and feel really grateful. 🙏
Thank you for your kind words, Natalija, I am very happy to hear that!
I was a teacher for 17 years in adult education. I taught primarily those who had learning disabilities/differences/difficulties. I wish I had had access to these brilliant “diaries/workbooks”! I retired from teaching in 2015. The detail in each is amazing and so much thought has gone into each one. Fabienne and I both attended Michael Hall School in the 70s, I was a year or two above her. Fabienne is so creative and her diaries accurately reflect what is really needed for great learning to take place. Yes, you need a dedicated and gifted teacher, and in the 70s there were plenty of them. You also need to embrace an holistic approach to learning. I think these diaries capture this well. Variety is the spice of life, and this immense volume of work, so well catalogued, is a tribute to Fabienne’s determination to spread the word. Thank you for all the years of hard work on this.
Thank you, David, for this beautiful response! Such appreciation validates this labour of love and puts a big smile on my face.
Hello Fabienne, I am really happy with your ‘Waldorf Diary’ for Class 4! I was wondering: you mention children writing and drawing in their Diary when they arrive. What do you mean by Diary in this context? Thanks in advance for your answer!
Dear Lucine, how delightful to learn that you are enjoying my work! I gave my group a blank book at the start of Class 3, explained the concept of a diary and let them write short entries that were then illustrated. This informal diary work was done off and on throughout the years: at the start of the morning in certain Main Lessons, when covering subject lessons, or as extra work for those who finished a task ahead of time. Everyone did diary work at their own speed and level of skill, and the outcome was never marked, assessed or discussed. But it gave me valuable insights into the current state of a child´s mind – for example at the death of a beloved pet, which alerted me to the need for special consideration that week, promptly relayed to our subject teachers. The children liked to look back on their previous entries from year to year, sharing memories while noticing and commenting on their visible progress in handwriting, spelling and syntax. And the parents found it a precious record of their child´s inner life across their time in the Lower School.
I am looking to see if there are other grade levels that will be coming out for the diary publications as well as pricing for these materials
Hi Brianne, thank you for your interest. My guide comprises the 70 topics I taught in seven years – no more and no less. You will find prices and other details at the SHOP page. To be notified when the next chapter is published, please hop on my email list under SUBSCRIBE.