This is both a theoretical and practical book giving a complete pathway to teaching children how to write and read in Classes 1 and 2. This book provides teachers with appealing, easy-to-use plans and practical activities for immediate use. It also sets out fundamental principles of Steiner Waldorf pedagogy. It shows how this dovetails with the best of both mainstream primary approaches and specialist dyslexia-friendly methods. Teachers can use these principles to become confident in creating their own activities and resources. The book showcases the holistic, creative aspects of the Steiner Waldorf literacy approach. The teaching of writing before reading is prioritized so as to engage children's creativity in learning. Developing the child's own voice through writing and storytelling, to lead over into reading, is highly effective for motivation and success.
An internationally acknowledged authority in Steiner education, Brien Masters has worked for decades as a teacher in both public and Waldorf schools, and has served as a teacher trainer, consultant, writer and lecturer. In Adventures in Steiner Education, he draws on his rich and varied experience to paint a vivid picture of Waldorf education in practice. Spicing the text with many personal stories and anecdotes, he brings to life the theory behind this increasingly popular educational approach, from the early years through to the Lower and Upper Schools. This lively book serves not only as an informative and entertaining introduction, but also as a helpful refresher course for those seeking to become fully acquainted with the basic principles of Steiner Education.
A seer "sees' more than meets the eye, using the eyes of the soul along with the physical eyes. As all seeing is a form of cognition, higher seeing is the key to higher cognition or knowing. For human beings the spiritual world is hidden deep within the disguise of the world available to the senses and deep within the human psyche, and human consciousness, enmeshed as it usually is in the physical senses, cannot easily be aware of both worlds. The human soul is the link between the physical sense-imbued body and direct experience of the spirit, because it has the latent ability to focus consciousness into any number of levels. The ability to determine the focus of awareness is our great gift and our great challenge. In this practical and accessible guidebook, Dennis Klocek, building on the alchemical tradition and the Western path of initiation developed by Rudolf Steiner, shows how the soul's latent ability can be awakened by conscious acts of will and rhythmical practices. The practices begin wherever we are in our everyday lives and take the seeker through the levels of concentration--the ability to create and hold an inner image; contemplation--the ability to transform the image and make it dynamic; and meditation--the ability to reverse the image, or think it backward into inner silence. After presenting the practical exercises, along with commentary, that identify and lay out the steps, Klocek shows us how the path can be followed through to an understanding of a seemingly impenetrable alchemical image of the soul's journey as he guides us up the Alchemical Mountain to heartfelt thinking. Through such a journey, it becomes possible for human beings to live as spiritual beings among other spiritual beings. For those who are serious about developing faculties of higher knowing and seeing, The Seer's Handbook is a unique, practical, and friendly handbook of exercises, meditations, and insightful commentary that will guide both beginners and more advanced students along the path to higher worlds.
(From the forward) We are confronted by demands for social reconstruction. These pose grave problems with far-reaching implications. This books is written with the conviction that their solution must be looked for along lines not yet considered. Its aim is to show what has to be done in order that social demands coming from a larger part of mankind may be turned in the direction of conscious social purpose. Welcome or unwelcome, the facts of social life are present and must be reckoned with. Those who may object to the author's way of discussing proletarian demands should bear this in mind. He wants to present life as it really is. He is aware of the fatal consequences that will result if people refused to look at the facts. These facts have arisen out of the life of modern mankind.
This second edition describes the key principles of the Steiner Waldorf approach to early childhood supported with examples and case studies. Exploring all areas of the curriculum, the book has been updated to take into account curriculum changes and the relationship of media and technology to the Steiner Wardorf approach.
Time tested for over 100 years by Waldorf teachers, this resource draws number work from everyday life to stimulate children’s interest, and shows how children can easily grasp math principles, so that educators are relieved of endless worksheets.
This research work is an account of the assessment methods of Waldorf elementary school teachers. It also offers a full discussion Waldorf programs for teacher education, teacher evaluation systems, and requirements for school accreditation--these are what the Waldorf community submits as assurance that Waldorf teachers' classroom assessments are valid, fair, and reliable. Its audience is mainly a readership of education professionals; to facilitate their better understanding of Waldorf methods the authors translate Waldorf conceptions into the terms and concepts that are standard in the education profession for discussions of student assessment. Ciborski and Ireland begin by locating Waldorf education in past and current trends of education philosophy and practice in the U.S. and suggesting its potential important contribution to several issues in today's debate on education reform. They then present the foundations of the Waldorf approach: its view of the purpose of education, the Waldorf understanding of the stages of childhood, and pedagogical fundamentals based on that understanding. The authors then offer case researched documentation of how nine teachers, teaching grades three through seven in three different independent Waldorf schools, taught main lesson (core curriculum) subjects over five months from September 2010 through January 2011: how they set learning goals, carried out instruction, and assessed student progress toward those goals in both classroom assessments and formal written reports. Ciborski and Ireland have added here a new content: examples of the student learning standards that have been formalized by most Waldorf schools. These standards illustrate the Waldorf developmental approach wherein teachers of lower grades are concerned mainly with non-cognitive areas of development, with gradually increasing focus on traditional academic skills as the grades progress.
