Towards the end of the Lower School years, Waldorf reports usually change format. Whereas those of the first years describe disposition, temperament, attitude, talents and challenges, Middle School reports focus more on charting specific achievements. After all, the individual situation is well known by now and has been described in detail. My experience as a …
This part looks at Waldorf reports for older children who are in some way outside the norm, and so these samples of descriptive summaries reflect diverse aspects of individual learning. The first example is for a child from a family of dyslexic learners: CLASS 4 Lettie applied herself with dedication, beginning with our block on …
Writing a class set of descriptive Waldorf reports is the school year’s ultimate challenge for class and subject teachers. Already exhausted, they undertake this magnificent task in their supposedly ‘free’ time to get everything ready by the last day of the academic year, or else in the first weeks of the holidays. As families depart …
Waldorf students not only create curriculum workbooks, but also maps. What is the purpose of drawing maps in geography lessons? What are the pitfalls and possible solutions? Drawing maps creates a much more intimate connection than looking at printed ones. This creative approach deepens the knowledge of geography on a level that is not purely …
“Skills need showing and testing. The Main Lesson Review is a celebration of making progress, with increasing consciousness,” stated the late and great Georg Locher on his advisory visit to our school, dispelling the notion that there ought to be no testing in a Waldorf School’s Main Lessons. Naturally, such testing needs to be in …
There can be no progress in arithmetic without a sound grasp of the basic multiplication facts. Waldorf methods enliven their teaching, help learners at every level of ability, and can make regular practice quite enjoyable. REGULAR PRACTICE Much repetition is necessary to learn essential multiplication facts successfully. This is done in brief, focused practice sessions …
School reports record performance with letters or numbers, though it has long been recognised that this reductive system is unable to do justice to the complexity of learning. As ever, Waldorf Schools take a wholly different approach with their distinctive Report Verses. This innovation began a hundred years ago with Rudolf Steiner’s indications. In his …
For the first seven years, the young child lives its life as an extremely perceptive sense organ. Whatever it sees and hears, feels, tastes and smells affects the development of its brain and its entire organism. The environment leaves its mark on every child, either in a health-giving or a detrimental way. Imitation is the …
Read more “Waldorf Education: In Step with Child Development”
Whenever we see paintings displayed in Waldorf classrooms, at first sight we are struck by their uniformity. The often-heard title quote is a likely response, and its undertone of reproach makes class teachers bristle defensively. But is it an expression of ignorance, or justified criticism? Well, as usual that depends on a range of factors …
There is nothing about Waldorf Education that does not raise questions, not even the simple matter of Class 1’s first set of personal wax crayons: Should they get stick and block crayons at the same time? Just the primary colours, or the full range from the start? What were they using in Kindergarten? Are there …
