The Waldorf Main Lesson Book’s blank pages naturally raise the question: Why should children write without guidelines? What is the point of this challenge that is, at first sight, such a hindrance? As usual in Waldorf Education, there are several aspects to consider and understand. Otherwise, this too becomes a bullet point on the list …
Before Rudolf Steiner’s curriculum, pupils were always made to learn from written texts. This historic tradition began with clay tablets and papyrus scrolls, moved to illuminated parchments and continues to this day with printed books. The Waldorf School’s Main Lesson Books break with this tradition, as with so many others. Instead of learning from books …
Morning Circle activities centre children in themselves: mind, body and soul. Wholehearted recitation in chorus feeds their imagination through poetry’s word-pictures. Acting out a poem’s characters together engages the class in moral activity, and miming actions with purposeful gestures naturally trains dramatic expression. Singing songs about the seasons, and topics that range from practical to …
A nice thing to prepare for Class 1 is a Growth Chart poster. It will accompany your group’s journey through their school years and record the children’s progress in growing up. This is how I went about it, as described in the free first chapter of A WALDORF DIARY: In Britain, the academic year is …
Seating plans are a pedagogical tool that needs careful consideration. And creating a new seating order is one of many essential tasks when class teachers prepare for a new academic year. In the classroom, a seating plan brings order and stability to the social dynamics of the peer group. And yet such a plan ought …
Every year, teams of experienced experts put their heads together to compose their school’s annual timetable. But a Waldorf timetable is more than just a master plan that juggles subjects and teachers, classes and available rooms. It also reflects our overarching aim to do justice to the threefold human nature of mind, body and soul. …
My comprehensive Main Lesson guide A WALDORF DIARY – DAY BY DAY THROUGH SEVEN YEARS is designed to make life easier for class teachers, Waldorf or not, seasoned or beginner. Home educators may find its editable daily lesson plans useful as well. By now you probably have some (or all) of the following questions: To …
Is there a Waldorf class teacher anywhere who does not feel mildly anxious or seriously panicked when faced with a new academic year? To scout out its uncharted territory, good planning helps. Here I will show you how to draft a reassuring year plan as an effective tool to combat anxiety, so read on. When …
In Waldorf circles, we find several pervasive myths about the creation of Main Lesson blocks. And these myths are overtaxing many a class teacher, for they imply that getting help is somehow incompatible with our ideal of individual and creative teaching. These myths contribute to questionable outcomes in the classroom, and they lower the expected …
Oberufer Christmas plays are a cherished tradition in Waldorf/Steiner settings. But are they really a Waldorf thing? How many plays are there? The Oberufer Paradise Play depicts Adam and Eve’s original sin of disobedience to God, their fall from grace and exile from Paradise. The Shepherds Play tells of Christ the Redeemer, born to save …
