Preparing for Life - the goal of a Waldorf education

The New York Times article can be found here.

Mindfulness in Education

I am interested to see the overlaps between this conversation about mindfulness in education and some of the things I find in Waldorf education -
joyous educational environments, educational communities, social emotional learning, inner resilience, integrated learning, grounding, active movement, nature, virtue, making the world a better place, transformation, peacefulness, self-realization and awakening, being present...


Talking about Mindfulness and Education from Mindful Videos on Vimeo.





Wake Up Schools - Cultivating Mindfulness in Education is an initiative of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and associated communities to share these ideas with educators, administrators and students.

Imagination

Is Active Play Extinct?

"Play comes in many forms, but it is generally freely chosen, spontaneous, self-directed and fun. The 2012 Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth reports that Canadian children and youth are not playing enough; assigning an “F” grade for Active Play and Leisure. Forty-six per cent of Canadian kids are getting a mere three hours or less of active play per week, including weekends. Additionally, kids spend 63 per cent of their free time after school and on weekends being sedentary. "  The report also says that children are getting more than 7 hours a day of screen time!!

read more here

Imagination

'I can't believe that!' said Alice.

'Can't you?' the Queen said in a pitying tone. 'Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.'

Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said 'one can't believe impossible things.'

'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.'

Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll, illustrations by John Tenniel

This morning we followed Tomten footprints in the snow all the way to school!  

My little guy excited pointed them out (and my heart melted).  
My big girl responded first with agreement and then caught herself and started coming up with plausible explanations (and my heart sank a little bit as I witnessed a piece of childhood wonder slip away). But with only a wink of the eye between us she was joyfully back on the Tomten trail.

The imagination of childhood is worthy of protection; for what we have once it is gone is Coleridge's "willing suspension of disbelief" which allows us to go back, but as tourists. We can also experience a new joy by witnessing imagination and wonder in our children - that requires no suspension of disbelief, only a belief in childhood.

Waldorf and Computers - More high-tech Low-tech

By Rehema Ellis

NBC News

From the moment you walk into the Waldorf School of the Peninsula there are clear signs that something different is happening.

Allysun Sokolowski, a third-grade teacher,  greets each one of her 29 students by name and shakes their hand as they enter the classroom. It's easy for her because she's known these kids at the Los Altos, Calif., school for a while.

"I've been teaching the same children from first grade, second grade and now we're in third grade. And I will teach these children all the way through eighth grade," she said.

It's the Waldorf way.

Teachers establish a strong bond with students. As a result, Waldorf teachers quickly point out there's no need for tests or grades.

"I don't need grades to know how well they're doing," said Sokolowski. "I know their strengths, I know their weaknesses. I know what will be hard for them and where they will shine. I'm their teacher with a capital 't.'"

The intense student-teacher connection might help explain why students from elementary to high school are thriving. The school boasts a nearly perfect graduation rate.

Despite being in the heart of Silicon Valley, Waldorf students are not caught up in the gadget frenzy that has consumed so many other school children nationwide. Computers are not used in the elementary school and they are used sparingly at the high school level. Teachers say they're not anti-technology, but, as they put it, they're just in favor of healthy education.

"I'm concerned that if we say we need technology to engage students we're missing the fact that what engages students is good teachers and good teaching," said Lisa Babinet, a Waldorf math teacher.

I asked a group of high school students if they misssed having computers and iPads as part of their lessons they all emphatically said "No."

The San Antonio Elementary School focuses on technology and feels it helps close the achievement gap in under-served communities by getting students ready for the digital age.

"I don't think we're gonna be left behind at all because it's not like we're not a part of technology at all," said sophomore Isabelle Senteno. "We are a part of it, we just don't incorporate it in the lessons."

Jack Pelose, a freshman who transferred to Waldorf from a school that used a lot of technology, said he noticed the benefits of not using computers in class. "My cursive has gotten a lot better since I've been here," he said.

"Everything about technology is so easy to pick up and use nowadays," added senior Zach Wurtz added. "The companies design it so anyone can use it when they choose to."

The students talked about being annoyed sometimes when they hang out with friends who are not Waldorf students, who spend a lot of time on social networking sites and texting.

One Waldorf student said he sometimes has to ask his friends to put down the gadgets so they can just talk.

And if you're wondering, like I did, how the Waldorf education translates in the outside world, Laila Waheed, a graduate now in her first year of college, offered some insight.

Waheed, 18, has a laptop but never takes it to lectures. She takes notes by hand -- like she did at Waldorf -- and she later transfers her notes into her computer. It's a form of studying, she said.

"If you stood at the back of the classroom and looked at every screen, at least half of them would be on Facebook," Waheed said of all the other students who are typing away on their laptops during lectures.

"A Waldorf education gives you a foundation to say, 'OK, I can put my phone in my bag. I can have a half-an-hour conversation with a person. I don't need to be totally connected all the time,'" Waheed said. "And that's more valuable for making personal connections that will last longer than the next text you're going to get."

It sounds like something a Waldorf student would say. But it’s also a sentiment echoed by her father, an engineer manager at Cisco.

"I don't think anyone is debating the value of technology and the use of computers," Muneer Waheed said. "There is no going back. This is the future."

But he and his wife have been clear about wanting the mostly technology-free zone that Waldorf provides for their two children.

"They need the environment and the foundation to develop and get their core values -- the love of education and their own passion," he said. "That's what's going to stay with them. The computer is just a tool."

all fo this from MSNBC

Nature's Classroom

Let Nature be your teacher. 

William Wordsworth

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. 

Rachel Carson

What do parents owe their young that is more important than a warm and trusting connection to the Earth…?

Theodore Roszak, The Voice of the Earth

Teaching children about the natural world should be treated as one of the most important events in their lives.

Thomas Berry

Yes, yes, yes and yes!
So what is happening in education to support this?  What is a forest school?  How close is Waldorf to some of these initiatives?   Below are some of the things I found while sitting inside trolling around looking for exciting things happening outside. There are lots of exiting things, things that can and should act as encouragement for us to spend more time outside - during school and away from school. How can we argue with that?

The Coombes School was covered in The Globe and Mail, November 12, 2010 and the article tells us: "Studies suggest that interacting with nature can help children pay attention, motivate them to learn and improve both classroom behaviour and scores on standardized tests. Neuroscientists and psychologists are investigating why nature is good for young brains and how being around trees and shrubs helps recharge the circuitry that children use to focus on a page of fractions or a spelling test." All of this makes sense to me, I have not yet found the research papers, but would love to see them for confirmation of what I already believe to be true!

But what of the actual 'forest schools', what are they?

"A forest kindergarten is a type of preschool education for children between the ages of three and six that is held almost exclusively outdoors. " Forest Kindergarten, (wikipedia).  This article gives a bit out background and arguments in favour of Forest Schools. There are also links to some existing programmes in Scotland, England, Germany and Scandanavian countries.  It sounds like a lot of the things I value at our school, and makes me wonder if we could push the amount of outdoor time even more.

Closer to home, CBC profiles a Forest Pre-school on the Carp Ridge outside Ottawa, at the Carp Ridge Learning Centre.

Outside Thunder Bay is The Forest School:

I'm a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here! is a blog from the perspective of a teacher and outdoor education consultant.

Outdoor play and learning, an online resource about just that.

All of this makes me wonder how we, as a family,  can spend more time outdoors and can help the school to move more education outdoors, to expand our definition of classroom.  May an awareness of variety and options be the beginning of this discussion!

"Must we always teach our children with books? Let them look at the mountains and

the stars up above. Let them look at the beauty of the waters and the trees and

flowers on earth. They will then begin to think, and to think is the beginning of a real

education.” 
David Polis

top of page quotes from Nature for Kids blog

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Walt-dorf - Crossing the Waldorf-Disney Divide

When my sister-in-law opened the conversation with "I know it's not your thing, but..."  I knew I was going to say yes to something that was going to stretch me.  I figured it was going to be about crossing a divide between my life and the world of popular culture.

I walked home for lunch for my first few years of elementary school and the Flintstones were as much a part of my day as grilled cheese. I can place my babysitting years by the shows on TV (Love Boat and Fantasy Island), I have the Partridge Family on my ipod (should I really admit that??). I am a product of my times.

We are not super orthodox Waldorfians, but we don't have a TV (somewhere around the time of my english degree TV left my life and I embraced my inner geek).  Dora has entered our home in book form, we have been to see theatre productions of Franklin and Sesame Street, we have read Winnie the Pooh - the pre-Disney Winnie.  I think of it as 'popular culture light'.

So when the topic of a family trip to Disney came up what was I to do?

I do what I always do - I made it more complicated and flooded my brain with questions and tried to look at it from a 1000 angles!

How to be of both worlds? 
How to take the best of one and not alienate oneself from the other?
To what extent has the school become the keeper of my values?  my moral compass?  the ideal against which I measure myself?
How can we not accept this invitation?
Will a week of Disney undo years of Waldorf?
How can I not give my parents the gift of us all being together?
Will my children come home with expectations that I cannot/don't want to meet?
Did I not go to Disney as a child - and like it?  I wonder if that Mickey Mouse t-shirt is still at my parents...
Will a week of rides and sensory overload ruin my children's ability to embrace the simple pleases of play at school?
What could be more fun that the 5 cousins together for a week?
Wouldn't it be nice to go without a coat for a bit before hunkering down to snowsuit season?
Why would I avoid something that could be beneficial for all of the relationships in the family?
Will we have to buy a TV when we got home?
Would it really be a form of deprivation to not take my children to Disney?
Why do I make everything so complicated?

My sister-in-law is familiar with the ins and outs of planning a trip to the BIG D and all I had to do was say yes and she would find the deals and tell us when to book and where to show up, it could not be easier.

So we went. We went to spend time with the cousins and grandparents, and it happened to be to Disney. Well that is what I told myself.  But as we made the plans I was looking forward to seeing the room stretch at the Haunted Mansion and was pretty sure I did not need to go on Space Mountain as an adult. I looked forward to my daughter going on the Small World world ride with her grandmother.  Even thinking that thought implanted that song in my head.

In my mind I joked about getting kicked out of the school. I told people our plans like it was a minor misdemeanor.  The issues were all mine. It turns out that lots of other people struggle with these issues and ask similar questions.  Questions about where to draw the line, how firm to make the line and when the line actually interferes with other aspects of life and extended family.  It would be nice to not get noisy plastic toys, but sometimes they come despite polite suggestions and you just have to smile and say thank you.

I didn't give the children much warning that we were going, there was no big hype lead up, it was pretty low key, the excitement was about spending a week with the cousins.

It was a fast education in Disney. My daughter did not know the names of the princesses so in true Waldorf fashion she made a song with all of the names (Ariel, Belle, Jasmin, Cinderella.....) and wandered around singing it to herself until she could rattle them off like an old pro!

And maybe the two, Disney and Waldorf,  fit together like two sides of a coin, both seeking to indulge the spirit and childhood and make a kind of magic.

Waldorf has - gnomes

Disney has - dwarfs

Waldorf has - golden silence

Disney has - a soundtrack

Waldorf has - rhythm

Disney has - beat

Waldorf has - a progression of learning
Disney has - serial peak experiences

Waldorf has - coherence
Disney has - cross marketing

Waldorf has - calm

Disney has - hype

Waldorf has - natural materials

Disney has - materials made to look natural

Waldorf has - a lantern walk
Disney has - an electric light parade

Waldorf is - authentic

Disney is - created reality

Waldorf is - grounded

Disney is - ready for lift-off

Waldorf has - knights

Disney has - princesses!

We had character meals, lunch at The Castle with The Princesses, sparkly shoes, late nights, carousel rides, spinning tea cups, soarin', turtle talk with crush, 3-d sensorama movies, a 2 week safari in under 1/2 hour, parades and more parades, magic wands and wishing stars, fireworks, multiple rides in the doom buggies of the haunted mansion, and roller coaster rides.  We came home with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse tucked under our arms and thousands of pictures on the hard drive.

The first day back at school my son and some of his friends took the lid off the sand table in the Morning Garden - they made a slide and played with absolute concentration and abandon for 45 minutes.

It was all fine!

I still kinda want to see the Harry Potter park.....

Grade One Readiness

Grade one entry might be considered one of the markers that differentiates a Waldorf education from other schools - the somewhat delayed timing of it, the unique assessment of readiness and the commitment to a curriculum that is different from other schools. It is also a source of mystery and confusion for parents new to Waldorf.

I am one of those parents.

My daughter has a birthday just after the age cut off for our school and in some ways could jump over the line if I pushed.  The issue of whether to push her ahead first occurred when she was still in Morning Garden. When her cohort split and the bulk of them moved ahead from Morning Garden to Kindergarten I was surprised to find myself feeling uneasy and that maybe nobody had bothered to tell us that we had failed Morning Garden. An inner hockey mom was unleashed and I was feeling like the ref had made a bad call against my child.  My rational sane self was well aware the it was not in my daughter's best interest to be rushed into Kindergarten and I was as surprised by this inner hockey mom as anyone could be.  I sat with it and thought about it and talked with the teacher about it, not about her decision but, about my response to the situation.  It made me realize how many issues about school are deep within me and need to be brought to consciousness so as not to cloud my thinking when it comes to what is best for my child/ren.

The situation repeated itself around the transition between the first and second year in Kindergarten. This time it was a bit easier because she clearly did not meet the 'turning 7 in grade one' criteria. The teachers were very willing to consider her grade one readiness if I had wished.  I made jokes about cramming for grade one readiness at home, doing crossing the mid-line drills and checking for deciduous teeth, but the jokes were just a veneer over my uncertainty about whether to push her forward or not.  I was pressured, actually I pressured myself, by thinking about cousins who had started reading at 4 and others who were the same age but already a grade ahead. It was my fear of her falling behind some externally created measure that was getting in the way.  But really it came down to thinking about whether it was better for her to struggle to keep up as the youngest in a 1/2 split or to enjoy another year in Kindergarten and to reap the benefits in terms of sense of self, responsibility and pride by being one of the older children in the class.

When I led myself back to what matters to me educationally I reaffirmed that all I really want is for her to feel good about herself, to be able to enjoy herself at school and to continue to love learning. I am convinced the rest will take care of itself.

I have not regretted not pushing her.

Half way through grade one I am so pleased that I was able to listen to the wisdom of the teachers and other parents. It involved quieting that competitive hockey mom and being aware of my sideways glances to other children of similar age to make sure we were keeping up.  It takes a conscious effort to stay focused on what is best for my daughter and our family, so programmed are we as a culture to compete and think about getting ahead. I am not proud of this aspect of my character, of that hockey mom within, but as an over-educated professional I guess I should not be surprised.

Watching my daughter embrace grade one and absorb the whole experience has been enriching, heart warming and wonderful.  She loves school and does not want to miss anything.  She loves all of it and is ready for it.  She has been playing at writing letters for a couple of years now and I understand what the teachers meant when they said that this was not real readiness, but a stop on the way. Indeed it was merely preparation for where she is now in terms of her ability to write and thirst to read.  She is excited to repeat aspects of her day and make mini main lessons for her younger brother, who is now convinced that he, too, is in grade one.

I cannot speak to the specifics of the readiness assessment though I think of it as a developmental screening test. It is not something that can be prepared for, it just is.  Any maybe this is where my hockey mom was right to put her bum back on the seat and take a deep breath, this is not about skill, or a prediction of future performance it is about children being ready for their next step, as they were for their first step - each at their own time when THEY were ready.

This segues into a  whole other discussion about why we are so intent on rushing things. Life is short, childhood shorter, let us all savour the magic while we can.