Waldorf High School

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.

Participation

There is no doubt that the sense of community around the school appeals to me.

One of the things that builds a sense of belonging for me is the opportunity to participate, to be involved. Real involvement, not selling chocolate bars or cheese or magazine subscriptions - those are a special form of torture, just for parents.  They ask very little and mean about as much. Real involvement asks something of us - time, creativity, commitment and caring.  In return we receive a sense of connection, belonging, and ownership.

Involvement means many things - choosing to teach here, sharing gifts of music and art, helping with reading in the classroom, skating with the class, baking (and baking some more!), building and repairing things, being part of committees, attending the craft circles and making things for Winter Fair, going on field trips or worrying about the finances like they were your own.  The list is endless and it really starts with caring about the school and doing what one can. Participation changes over time - from each according to their ability. Time and financial constraints are a form of ability and the school seeks to make room for all abilities.  The is no pressure if now is not the time to participate, we all ride the ebb and flow of life with children.

The school is a labour of love that starts with the teachers and ripples out to include everyone. It is not a product to be purchased, it is an enterprise. Within the word enterprise are notions of  purpose, undertaking, adventure, complication, risk, scope and significance, effort and boldness. It feels good to be part of such an enterprise and I believe it is good for my children to see me participating in something larger than us, something with optimistic and altruistic goals. Just as the children benefit from meaningful work, so too do I.

Through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are,

buying and selling, and spending their lives like serfs.

Henry David Thoreau

Celebrating Light and Community

There are two events at school that mark "the holiday season". The first is Winter Fair, a community gathering of music and food, crafts for the kids to make and art and crafts for the adults to purchase. The silent auction represents the generosity of local businesses and often includes books written some or all of the writers who are part of the school community. Many of the vendors are parents or linked to the schools and the cast of musicians includes professional musicians from town, friends of the school and parents - some are all 3.

The school is decorated to the rafters and looks its best for the event.

The teachers of the youngest children prepare a puppet show that runs multiple times over the day. It is a lovely gift of time and attention.

The children make crafts to sell and prepare food to share in the cafe. During the event they are hosts and consumers and run and play as children do at large family gatherings.

Events at this time of year are always tied to some tradition or another but I feel that these events, Winter fair and the Spiral Walk, steer clear of Santa and overt Judeo-Christian imagery and no mention is made of Solstice, Saturnalia or Pagan anything but the event includes a strong infusion of greenery and candle light. The sense of festival, hope and sharing are tradition themselves. In my mind it is the best of the season.

The second event is the Spiral Walk.  The older children walk the spiral with their classes at a different time. Parents do not participate except with the youngest children.

From  a darkened gym drifts music - this year it is piano; other years it has been violin or woodwinds. Inside, taking up much of the floor lies a spiral of pine boughs, a table set with unlit candles and, not visible until fresh-from-outside eyes adjust, in the dark sit silently the parents and older siblings of my son's class.  Eventually we hear the shuffling of feet and hushed but familiar voices outside the door.  The children are led in by the teachers and as they pass the circle of families each joyfully slips onto the lap that belongs to them.  The teachers light the candles and tell us that the candles represent the earth, plants, animals and humans and they tell us an abbreviate summary of the story that has accompanied the lighting of the candles in the class in recent weeks. I am not doing this justice.

One teacher walks to the centre of the spiral and in turn each child walks the spiral of fragrant green boughs and is given a small lantern which they carefully carry on the path that leads out of the spiral. On the way they gently place their lantern on one of the gold stars within the spiral.  This boisterous group of high energy children, barely more than toddlers, are silent and participate with rapt attention.

The dark, the music, the light, the ritual, the coming together, the ceremony create a quietly uplifting meditation on hope and perseverance. I leave feeling more relaxed than I arrived and with renewed strength to continue to find and create pockets of light.

The children are excited to share with us the gingerbread cookies they have made and we all gather in the classroom for cider, cookies and an explosion of energy before the term ends for the holidays.

NOP

If you live in Kingston you know what this means.
It means that we are part of the vibrant community around Skeleton Park.

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

Lantern Walk 2011

The Story of St. Martin

Once upon a time there was a young man named Martin. He was kind and gentle. One day he was going to the city of Amien. As he walked along the country road he rejoiced at seeing the tall trees with their branches swaying in the breezes and flowers of many colours growing from the ground and at hearing birds chirping and singing.

He said, “The world is good” and felt happy to see the trees and flowers and hear the birds.

The sun shone down on him and he felt its warmth on his shoulders.

Soon he came to the gate of the city of Amien. He walked through a large archway. The sun was fading and it began to get dark so he lit his lantern. As he walked along he came upon a man crouched on the ground shivering and cold with hardly any clothes on. Martin took off his cloak, tore it in two and laid one half over the shivering man and gave him his lantern so he would have warmth and light.

Then he went on until he came to his place of rest and lay down on his bed and went to sleep. While he slept he had a dream. In his dream there was an angel who said, “Thank you for giving part of your coat to the shivering man and your lamp so he could have warmth and light. Your name shall be St. Martin.  Again and again St. Martin gave clothing to those who were cold and food to the hungry and light to those in need.