Lecture and Presentation Topics
Participants will receive links to all of these lecture/presentations on the first day of the conference, along with a Password that will enable them to access the conference contents for the 14 days that they choose. They may listen to or view them in any order and as often as they wish during the 14-day conference period. Topics in black are audio sessions; topics in teal include video or slideshow sessions. Topics are subject to change.
Lectures
[Lectures are between 15 and 20 minutes long]
Part 1: The Nine Year Change 1
3.1: The central importance of understanding the fourfold human being. Third grade as a critical juncture in human life. the interrelationship of the physical and etheric body. The etheric body's contraction as a part of human incarnation. Life forces and memory forces. The etheric body as a foundation of the learning experience. [16:45]
3.2: The etheric body as the home of the guardian angel. The etheric body and its protective anabolic nature. The astral body. [13:40]
3.3: The interplay of the etheric and astral bodies. The anabolic, upbuilding, protective nature of the etheric body. Its connection with heredity and memory. Its need of rhythm. The catabolic, destructive quality of the astral body. The stresses it places on the adolescent’s physical body. The astral body’s need for variety and change. The interplay of the etheric and the astral and the birth of thinking. The meeting of the etheric and the astral and the onset of the nine year change. [16:30]
3.4: The four temperaments. The role of the etheric body in forming the temperaments. The four elements, rather than the four bodies, as a guide to a child's temperament. [22:30]
3.5: The interplay of the forces of antipathy and sympathy in relationship to the spiritual world. Antipathy felt for the physical/etheric past, and sympathy experienced towards the astral/ego future. Necessary steps for the child to go forward in life as a free being. Healthy preparation for the astral body’s incorporation given in N/K and primary grades. The progressive spiritual beings and hindering forces agreed to allow the astral body to come much too soon. This strengthening is very important. The prophetic gift vouchsafed to the third grader. [18:15]
Link to a video on the Fourfold Human Being
Part 2: The Nine Year Change 2
3.6: The importance of developing the perceptive life of the Waldorf teacher so that the nine-year change is really seen. The model body, and the child's need to transform it. The parents who do not want to see the nine-year change occurring. The “model child” and the danger of eating disorders in the future. The role of childhood illnesses in the past in transforming the model body for the child. In our time children parents and teachers must do this transformation more consciously. The role of the school doctor and the tragedy of his absence in many schools. [15:30]
3.7: The transformation of the child's rhythmic system during the nine year change. The nine year change is a breathing experience,filled with contractions and expansions. The child seems to vacillate between adolescence and early childhood. The need for “breathing space.” Waldorf teachers can warn parents of what is to come in third grade. Parents and children all get to rehearse what life will be like with an adolescent. These changes are, above all, matters of soul and spirit. Profound changes in the child's sleep life caused by the astral body's presence. The role of the bedtime prayer. [16:20]
3.8: When does a child need religious instruction? Before age nine, the physical/etheric is immersed in the divine world. After age nine, the astral body awakens the child to a duality of matter and spirit. The bedtime prayer provides security for life in sleep. This is an awakening to death. “Assurance of safety” is no longer a given, but must be requested. Death is flowing from the child's future. Life-threatening illnesses, marriage breakups, loss of a pet or home etc. are common in third grade.Yet schools are remarkably unprepared for this contingency. Separation anxiety. Fear of “robbers,”“kidnappers,” and “break–ins."The phenomenon of "astral reversal.” The teacher's path of development. All prayers are beneficial for the third grader; any type of religious instruction is helpful. [15:10]
3.9: Two real–life stories about third graders illustrating the nine–year change. [16:50]
3.10: Summary of the fundamentals of working with the nine–year change. [6:50]
Link to a video on the Nine Year change
Part 3: Parent work
3.11: The “century of the child” now becomes the century of the parent as well. Difficulty of helping children without active parent involvement. Differences between parents who enroll children in private Waldorf schools and public Waldorf schools. How to increase parent involvement, and increase our understanding of parent work. The four umbilical cords and the “other two thirds"of our class. Parents change along with their children. Parent education – more important now than ever. [14:40]
3.12: How to introduce the new grade every September. Saturday morning workshop. Emphasis on child development and teacher demonstrating how she will present subjects that year. Telling a story to the entire “class community.” [16:15]
3.13: Parent evenings. Mandatory attendance and its necessity. Taking parent meetings seriously. Parents can view their child's work in context. Beginning the meeting with a smile and humor. The tyranny of parents who make announcements, and a solution. [16:30]
3.14: Parent evenings, continued. How many parents does it take to fire a Waldorf teacher? Continuing the child development picture for the parents. Bringing the Waldorf curriculum into the living context of that development picture. Artistic activity in the middle, rather than at the beginning of the parent evening. Have parent announcements come towards the end, rather than the beginning of the parent evening. Questions and answers: a teacher's greatest anxiety. [15:40]
3.15: Parent communication – or parent communion? A sure-fire method to stay in touch with your parents - and leave no parent behind. Careful observation of small numbers of children. Careful notes and short sentences. Help in report writing. Help in the evening contemplation of students. The phone call to the parent. The telephone, NOT email. [16:10]
3.16: Parent communion, part two. A simulated phone call. Discussing the child from the teacher's perspective, school from the child's perspective, and life from the parents perspective. Letting parents know that you care about them as much as you care about the child. Our destiny with our parents. At a time when more and more class teachers are getting fired by Waldorf schools all over the continent, these phone calls can be a vital part of your survival as a class teacher. [17:30]
Part 4: The Hebrew Scriptures 1 - Introduction
3.17: The integrated nature of the odd-numbered grades as opposed to the fragmented quality of the even-numbered grades. Grade Three is particularly integrated, and everything the children learn flows directly out of the Hebrew Scriptures. The central and absolute importance of stories of the Old Testament. The most important document teachers will ever teach to their children in the eight (or even twelve) grades. [13:30]
3.18: Jewish families are finally rewarded with these stories, after two years of living with the Germanic Grimms' Fairy Tales and the Christian saints. They will want to make contributions to the life of the class. Teaching children Hebrew, sharing festivals, sharing foods. Remember that we are teaching about ancient Hebrew culture, which is not the same as modern Judaism. In Grade Two, even though the children were hearing about Saints, they were not brought into the world of the modern Catholic Church. The problem of the Jakob Streit books. Try to remain true to the actual Hebrew Scriptures, and not be swayed by the “improvements” of well–intentioned anthroposophists. [15:20]
3.19: Overemphasis on the Seven Days of Creation; what is essential for the third grader are the stories that begin with Abraham. Comparative religion course is not needed here. Working with the increasing ignorance of North Americans concerning these stories. Ways in which teachers can rectify gaps in their own education concerning the Hebrew Scriptures. Waldorf teachers must immerse themselves in the Hebrew Scriptures before teaching them, or the children will not derive their full benefit. [16:00]
3.20: The Hebrew Scriptures: Context and chronology. The challenge of assigning "dates” to the people and events. The context of the later stories, from 800 BCE on. [16:15]
3.21: Valentin Tomberg's threefold approach to the Hebrew Scriptures. Patriarchs, Priests, and Kings: the contraction of consciousness. The role of the Prophets. [15:00]
Links to Biblical Timelines and article about Jakob Streit stories
Part 5: The Hebrew Scriptures 2 - Creation to Noah
3.22: Genesis and the Patriarchs. The basic stories: Seven days of Creation. The Fall. Cain and Abel. Noah and the Flood. The Tower of Babel. Abraham. Isaac and Ishmael. Jacob and Esau. Joseph and his brothers. [19:40]
3.23: How do we tell Bible stories to our class? An example: The story of Cain and Abel. Three different ways of approaching this story. The first is the story as told in the King James version of Genesis. The second is the story narrated by a Sunday school teacher and writer. The third is a children's comic book of Bible stories. [15:20]
3.24: Cain and Abel, continued. Comparison of the Sunday school teacher's rendition and the comic book presentation of the story of Cain and Abel. Finally, the way in which a Waldorf teacher might approach this story. [17:45]
3.25: Noah and the Flood. The Biblical genealogies and their meaning. Introducing Noah to a class. The Tower of Babel. [15:49]
Part 6: The Hebrew Scriptures 3 - The Patriarchs from Abraham to Isaac
3.26: The significance of Abraham. Who is the God of the Hebrew Scriptures? Rudolf Steiner's cosmology and the uniqueness of Abraham and the “Chosen People."The role of the lower Hierarchies in the education of ancient people. The "Sons of God” and the Luciferic impulses of pre–Christian culture. [13:50]
3.27: The exile of Cain was a punishment, but the leave–taking of Abram from kith and kin is a mark of distinction – why? The intervention of the Elohim or Spirits of Form into earthly life as a means of counterbalancing the Luciferic impulse of ancient culture. The steep, dual learning curve as a distant spiritual being encounters human beings. The severance of Abraham and his descendants from the main stream of cultural life. [17:45]
3.28: The nomadic quality of the Israelites is personified by Abram who in his “homeless” nature is more like Cain than Abel. The challenge of presenting Abraham in just three days. The important themes: The Land of Canaan; Abram’s wealth; Abram and Lot; Hagar and Sarah; Ishmael; counting the stars – the promise of Isaac’s birth; The laughter of Abraham and Sarah (the only mention of laughter in the Hebrew Scriptures!); the three strangers; Sodom and Gomorrah; the sacrifice of Isaac. [18:40]
3.29: The destiny of Isaac is to be overshadowed by his father Abraham on the one hand and by his sons Jacob and Esau on the other hand. Another look at the sacrifice of Isaac. The important contribution that Isaac makes: the story of Rebekah at the well. Possibly the first use of the verb “to love” in ancient literature and certainly the first depiction of “love at first sight.” [14:20]
Part 7: The Hebrew Scriptures 3 - The Patriarchs from Jacob to Joseph
3.30: Jacob and Esau. Barrenness and fertility, an issue for biblical days and for our own time. The battle of the twins in the womb. The boy favored by his father, and the boy favored by his mother – who is more likely to succeed? The conflict between cleverness and brute force. Lies and promises. Archetypes for the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the future of Judaism. [17:00]
3.31: Jacob's ladder: the first revelation of the astral world in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jacob sees God and responds with fear. God is becoming a more distant presence. Jacob and Rachel. Jacob and Leah; now he is the victim of deception and mistaken identity. The meeting with Esau. Wrestling with God and the significance of the name Israel. The yawning gap between the cosmic intentions of God and the human frailty of the Israelites. [17:45]
3.32: Joseph and his brothers. The coat of many colors given to Joseph by his father. The carrying of the astral body. Joseph the dreamer. Dreams are recollections of the astral body's sojourn in the spiritual world. Joseph's brothers cannot have these experiences. Only Jacob and Joseph carry astral bodies. Joseph is given his coat when he is seventeen. The world's first astralized teenager. [16:00]
3:33: The wife of Potiphar; the allure of Joseph's astrality. Joseph is the first Israelite who can interpret dreams. Four millennia later, Sigmund Freud becomes the second great dream-interpreting Israelite. By interpreting the dreams of the servants and the Pharaoh, Joseph is prophetic, like the nine year-old. He introduces Egyptians to the notion of the future. He teaches them how to store grain so that it is available when it will be scarce. The astral body as our guide into the world of volume. Joseph the psychologist, who knows his brothers must feel their guilt from within. Expunging the guilt of his father and his grandmother: the sin of deception. [17:00]
Hebrew Scriptures 1: Student Work Slideshow [26:10]
Part 8: The Hebrew Scriptures 4 - Moses
3.34: Moses. Birth and initiation in the Egyptian Mysteries. Murder and the flight from Egypt. Moses’ life among the Midians, e.g. the Ishmaelites. The recurrent theme of deception in the Hebrew Scriptures. [13:30]
3.35: The relationship of the Israelites to the Egyptians. The Israelites’ pralaya, the loss of consciousness about their connection to Yahweh. Moses’ task to reawaken this link. The Egyptian initiations of Joseph and Moses, and the awakening of the inner Osiris Light. Moses and Jethro and his seven daughters. Awakening to the creative forces living within the Earth. [18:40]
3.36: Jethro and Moses, Cain and Abel redux. The archetype of the hero who is mistaken about his own identity. It will return in Grades 5 and 6. The I AM Name of God. Moses and Pharaoh. Moses rod and the Egyptian magicians. The Plagues of Egypt. The parting of the Red Sea. [18:10]
3.37: The first year in the Wilderness. Thirst and hunger. Springs, manna, and quail. The reappearance of Jethro, always signifying a new unfolding of Moses’ consciousness. The twelve-fold organization of Hebrew society. Joseph’s mummy and its coffin. Egyptian longings in Israelite bodies. The need for a new revelation of Yahweh. [12:30]
3.38: The Ten Commandments. Suggestions for presenting the story to a third grade class. [18:30]
3.39: The Tablets: first mention of writing in the Bible. What is the aim of the Commandments? The Ten Commandments and the Teacher’s Temptation. Writing in stone and writing in sand; the resonance from Old to New Testaments. [15:25]
3.40: The Epic nature of the 40 years in the Wilderness. Akin to the Ramayana and the Iliad. Great battles and heroes, internal conflicts, and many, many deaths. The severance of the Luciferic forces still evoked by memories of Egypt; only those born during the wandering period can go to the Promised Land. A new consciousness is fostered by a new generation. A new kind of Temple, portable and inhabited by a moving God. The geological and meteorological Yaweh is “domesticated” and concentrated in the Tabernacle. [14:30]
Part 9: The Hebrew Scriptures 5 - The Judges
3.41: Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. The vibratory power of sound. Yahweh’s “miracles” are actually extensions of the laws of nature, “scientific” rather than “religious” phenomena. Samson. The Bronze Age Israelites versus the Iron Age Philistines. [19:25]
3.42: Ruth. A “feminine,” lyrical interlude inserted in the otherwise spare and masculine world of the Hebrews. The Moabites and the Israelites. King David’s great grandmother. Samuel, the last of the Israelites to hear the voice of Yahweh. [11:55]
3.43: The transition from the theocratic stage of Hebrew society to the monarchial stage. Samuel’s prayer to Yahweh and Yaweh's surprising answer. Samuel's predictions about life under a king. The correspondence in the Waldorf grade school: the transition from theocratic kindergarten through the primary grades and the monarchial state of late grade three through the upper school years. The anointing. [15:00]
Part 10: The Hebrew Scriptures 6 - The Kings
3.44: Saul as King. The power and the failings of pure will. The darkness sent by the Lord to overcome Saul's nature. The healing power of music as manifested by David and his harp. In the culture of the Hebrews, devoid of imagistic art, music and later poetry become the dominant arts. Saul’s “darkness” is the first presentation of depression in literature. David's harp is the first representation of music therapy. [13:30]
3.45: Saul forgets David. The naïve realism of humanity at the time of the Hebrew Scriptures. David and Goliath. The meeting of the Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens streams of humanity. David's Stone Age weaponry. The last gasp of the epic battle. [16:30]
3.46: Saul and David. The arising of jealousy towards David in Saul’s soul. David as a member of the royal household, and his love for Saul's son Jonathan. The first true depiction of friendship in the Hebrew Scriptures, perhaps in all literature. The seven year love/hate relationship of Saul with David. David's life of feeling allows him to forgive. It also makes him Israel's great poet. The death of Saul and Jonathan. The end of the Epic Age of Israel, and the beginning of the Age of Drama, particularly tragedy. [10:50]
3.47: David the King. David's rule brings joy and a sense of permanence to the Israelites. The city of Jerusalem is now the center of a great kingdom that David rules by force but also in love. But he, too, suffers from the absence of the Judges. The rule of priests over marriage begins to give way to the rule of love and desire. David and Bathsheba. [21:00]
3.48: The 51st Psalm. David learns how to put the quintessentially human into words. Rather than sacrificing animals to the Lord, David offers up his life of feeling. There is a great deal in the Hebrew Scriptures that is completely foreign to us, that cannot touch us in the same way it once touched the Israelites. David's psalms, however, can speak to us with tremendous in immediacy in a very contemporary way. The death of the firstborn; the birth of “Peaceableness” - Solomon. [16:35]
Part 11: The Hebrew Scriptures 7 - Kings and Prophets
3.49: Solomon the king. The temple as a physical manifestation of world wisdom. David consolidated; Solomon expanded. But the expansion led to a weakening of the Yaweh impulse among the Israelites. Solomon's wives introduce other gods into the land of Israel. The division of the kingdoms after Solomon's death. To the north, Israel: to the south, Judah. Solomon's wisdom: a story of Solomon and Sheba. [16:05]
3.50: Divided kingdoms Israel and Judah lead to a weakening of the Yaweh impulse. The mediocre Kings who follow Saul, David, and Solomon are true archetypes for the challenges of temporal rule. How many good kings have there been in all the kingdoms on earth? Just as the kings of Israel were the equivalent of the Greek drama/tragedy, the prophets serve as the Hebrew equivalent of Greek philosophers. Arab, Jezebel, and Elijah. Elijah's challenge to the priests of Baal. [16:00]
3.51: Elijah's many escapes and wanderings. His journey to the Mount of Horeb where Moses had received divine revelation. The search for Yaweh. The Divine principle is no longer in the elements outside of the human being, but will now to be found within the human being. Elijah’s fiery chariot and his persistent presence in Jewish tradition. The Transfiguration. [15:25]
Hebrew Scriptures 2: Student Work Slideshow [29:00]
Part 12: Shelters and Dwellings
3.52: Shelters and Dwellings. The dramatic change and delete between grade two and grade 3. Now a whole range of subjects suddenly must be mastered and presented to the children. Pace yourself and be sure to give yourself enough time to work on each subject during the summer. The subjects like colors on a pallet, can be arranged in many different ways. Be sure that the alternating subjects breathe so that there's contraction and expansion. How to do research as a Waldorf grade teacher. [14:40]
3.53: Shelters, part two. The first question: why do we teach about shelters and dwellings? As the model body falls away the child feels vulnerable and naked. Both the study of fibers and closing and the study of shelters and dwellings help give the child a sense of security that there is something around them to protect them. Generally, the first law in the subject involves teaching children about space and Time: how people build houses in the past, and how people around the world build shelters that fit their particular geographical and meteorological circumstances. [14:50]
3.54: The second building block: how to build a building today. We can marvel at the complexity of a modern home. The child can begin to realize that the modern dweller is building a complicated image of his own body. Masonry, plumbing, electrical system, the windows and walls – all of these reflect three lower and higher members of the human being. [14:45]
3.55: Two questions: should children build little models of dwellings from around the world? Should children participate in the building of a structure on the school grounds? The importance of modeling for the third grader. The importance of third-graders working on their own projects without parental help. The difficulty, in fact near impossibility, of reversing a tradition once it has begun in the Waldorf school. [13:30]
3.56: The school grounds building project. A good way for parents, particularly fathers, to participate in the life of third grade. A good chance for children to see and learn how to use tools, particularly circular saws and other electrical devices. What was Steiner’s intention in suggesting that the children build something themselves? The answer is a surprising one. [14:45]
Shelters & Dwellings: Student Work Slideshow [11:40]
Part 13: Language Arts
3.57: Language arts, part one. Examples of short essays written on such questions as what is good? What is beautiful? What is true? Our work is to help the child express what lives deeply with in him through the medium of language. How can we clear the path so that even today's child can write and speak with a good vocabulary good grammar and an elegance of speech? [16:00]
3.58: Reading in Grade Three. The optimum grades for reading. The excessive pressures placed on teachers to get all of the children reading. Three aspects of reading in the class: How the individual child reads. Reading together as a class. Reading groups. Bringing in parents as co-leaders of reading groups. The need for courage in the proper approach to reading. [15:40]
3.59: The structure and timing of the reading group. [14:45]
3.60: The counter-intuitive nature of the reading group. Children of mixed abilities read together. Parents, rather than teachers, are used as leaders of the reading group. These innovative aspects of the reading group can be terrifying for many teachers, who will tell you in advance that it could not possibly work. Once again, the willingness to take a risk and the courage to swim against the current are what is needed to teach children in our time. [16:50]
3.61: Teaching writing. Important changes in form (cursive) and content (non-imitative) this year.(We will look at cursive writing more fully in our Form Drawing instructional video.) As teachers we must be increasingly aware how what we write on the board becomes a model not only of content but also of grammar and style for our children. Although most of what third-graders write continues to be copied from the teacher’s writing on the blackboard, today's child may need more opportunity to express him or herself. [17:10]
3.62: Why teach Grammar in Grade 3? Just as the inherited “model body” must be reconstructed by the child, so must the imitatively assimilated “mother tongue” be consciously recreated by the child. Importance of world (foreign) language in the Waldorf setting. Grammar in Grades 3 and 4. Grade 3 Grammar is more of a kinesthetic than a written subject. The class teacher’s own speech habits and her relationship to English Grammar is the most important factor. [17:50]
Language Arts: Student Work Slideshow [12:00]
Part 14: Farming and Gardening, Fibers
3.63: Current interest in the greening of America has helped the educational world catch up with Waldorf schools. Steiner had hoped that farming and gardening would be subjects in every grade, but for a long time there was little interest in this subject in the Waldorf world. Suggestions for organizing the first block. Teaching children basic gardening skills, and developing a narrative imagination of a farming family and their lives through the year. [15:10]
3.64: The farm trip. Its pedagogical value: children will keep a diary which allows them to do a lot of original writing, and children will be drawing scenes from the farm – some of the first drawings that they do without the teachers model. Prepare the parents well in advance for this trip. For some families this is the first time that the children have been away from home. The children generally are looking forward to it, but there are parents with great separation anxieties. This separation from the home and hearth can actually stimulate the nine-year change in children who have not experienced it yet. [17:15]
3.65: Fibers. Reflection of the higher members in the fibers that we use for clothing. Helping the child, once again, to find a replacement for the model body. Handwork teachers and class parents can be extremely helpful in this block. The fiber fair. [20:00]
Farming & Gardening: Student Work Slideshow [31:50]
Fibers: Student Work Slideshow [9:30]
Part 15: Arithmetic
3.66: Arithmetic, The weakest link in the Waldorf chain. A good deal has to be accomplished in the primary grades before arithmetic metamorphoses into mathematics. Waldorf schools actually no longer believe that Waldorf methods are good for teaching math. The rise of the math specialist teacher. Weaning the child from rhythmical exercises to master the multiplication tables. [16:25]
3.67: A general review of the four operations. Mental arithmetic and word problems are essential at this age. They should be done daily. Be sure that you hear from everyone in the class in the mental arithmetic exercises. Be sure that not only the children who raise their hands quickly or those who call out get to answer the questions. Sometimes shyness and slowness appear to be a lack of understanding. Grade 3 is your last chance to bring the world of numbers into the child's etheric body. After this it becomes the law of diminishing returns. Makes it very best use of your time and the children's time in this domain. [17:10]
Arithmetic: Instructional Video
Part 16: Measurement
3.68: This block most deeply accompanies the child's experiences of the Hebrew Scriptures. Measurement classes are a huge support to you in your math work. As children learn to compute various types of measurements they are actually working with different number bases. In this way the measurement block becomes a tremendous support for the mobility and flexibility that the children need to be good and arithmetic and math. The four stages of Earth evolution and their manifestation in the various forms of measurement. [14:25]
3.69: The intimate and personal connection of the human being to weight. How we are incarnating and our relationship to earthly density. Working up to that over the course of the year. A description of aspects of the time telling clock. Time and temperament. The measurement block in which cooperation is necessary for accuracy of measurements. [15:50]
3.70: The historical dimension of ways of measuring. Importance of cooking and baking. Relating measurement skills to Biblical stories, e.g. Abraham, Joseph, Solomon. Awakening the child’s “inner scale.” The blindfolded figure of Justice. [13:00]
Measurement: Student Work Slideshow [19:10]
Part 17: Teacher Development
3.71: The Path of the Teacher, Part 1. Rudolf Steiner’s First Pedagogical Law. “Degrees” in modern education and their antecedents in the Mystery Schools. Working with the higher members of the teacher to advance the child’s development. [13:55]
3.72: The Path of the Teacher, Part 2. Developing the Etheric Body, the task of the N/K teacher and the Primary Grades teacher. [12:30]
3.73: The Path of the Teacher, Part 3. Developing the Astral Body, the task of the Middle Grades teacher. [16:40]
3.74: The Path of the Teacher, Part 4. Developing the Ego, the task of the Upper Grades/High School teacher. [13:50]
3.75: The Path of the Teacher, Part 5. What do we need to develop to work with class parents, and to engage in “adult education”? The mediocre results of most anthroposophical adult education. [14:15]
3.76: The Path of the Teacher, Part 6. Developing interest in the Waldorf Curriculum. [15:10]
Slideshows and Instructional Videos
(Also listed above with the relevant lectures)
Instructional Video: Songs, Games, and Dances [55:00]
Instructional Video: Third Grade Form Drawing [50:00]
Instructional Video: Teaching Arithmetic [1:36:00]
Form Drawing: Student Work Slideshow [14:00]
Hebrew Scriptures 1: Student Work Slideshow [26:10]
Hebrew Scriptures 2: Student Work Slideshow [29:00]
Farming & Gardening: Student Work Slideshow [31:50]
Fibers: Student Work Slideshow [9:30]
Shelters & Dwellings: Student Work Slideshow [11:40]
Measurement: Student Work Slideshow [19:10]
Language Arts: Student Work Slideshow [12:00]
Painting with Patience in the Primary Grades Instructional Video part 1 [54:15]
The Beeswax Challenge: A Comparison of Stockmar & Filana Crayons [41:00]
Resources and PDF Hand-Outs
Participants will receive links to all of these lecture/presentations on the first day of the conference, along with a Password that will enable them to access the conference contents for the 14 days that they choose. They may listen to or view them in any order and as often as they wish during the 14-day conference period. Topics in black are audio sessions; topics in teal include video or slideshow sessions. Topics are subject to change.
Lectures
[Lectures are between 15 and 20 minutes long]
Part 1: The Nine Year Change 1
3.1: The central importance of understanding the fourfold human being. Third grade as a critical juncture in human life. the interrelationship of the physical and etheric body. The etheric body's contraction as a part of human incarnation. Life forces and memory forces. The etheric body as a foundation of the learning experience. [16:45]
3.2: The etheric body as the home of the guardian angel. The etheric body and its protective anabolic nature. The astral body. [13:40]
3.3: The interplay of the etheric and astral bodies. The anabolic, upbuilding, protective nature of the etheric body. Its connection with heredity and memory. Its need of rhythm. The catabolic, destructive quality of the astral body. The stresses it places on the adolescent’s physical body. The astral body’s need for variety and change. The interplay of the etheric and the astral and the birth of thinking. The meeting of the etheric and the astral and the onset of the nine year change. [16:30]
3.4: The four temperaments. The role of the etheric body in forming the temperaments. The four elements, rather than the four bodies, as a guide to a child's temperament. [22:30]
3.5: The interplay of the forces of antipathy and sympathy in relationship to the spiritual world. Antipathy felt for the physical/etheric past, and sympathy experienced towards the astral/ego future. Necessary steps for the child to go forward in life as a free being. Healthy preparation for the astral body’s incorporation given in N/K and primary grades. The progressive spiritual beings and hindering forces agreed to allow the astral body to come much too soon. This strengthening is very important. The prophetic gift vouchsafed to the third grader. [18:15]
Link to a video on the Fourfold Human Being
Part 2: The Nine Year Change 2
3.6: The importance of developing the perceptive life of the Waldorf teacher so that the nine-year change is really seen. The model body, and the child's need to transform it. The parents who do not want to see the nine-year change occurring. The “model child” and the danger of eating disorders in the future. The role of childhood illnesses in the past in transforming the model body for the child. In our time children parents and teachers must do this transformation more consciously. The role of the school doctor and the tragedy of his absence in many schools. [15:30]
3.7: The transformation of the child's rhythmic system during the nine year change. The nine year change is a breathing experience,filled with contractions and expansions. The child seems to vacillate between adolescence and early childhood. The need for “breathing space.” Waldorf teachers can warn parents of what is to come in third grade. Parents and children all get to rehearse what life will be like with an adolescent. These changes are, above all, matters of soul and spirit. Profound changes in the child's sleep life caused by the astral body's presence. The role of the bedtime prayer. [16:20]
3.8: When does a child need religious instruction? Before age nine, the physical/etheric is immersed in the divine world. After age nine, the astral body awakens the child to a duality of matter and spirit. The bedtime prayer provides security for life in sleep. This is an awakening to death. “Assurance of safety” is no longer a given, but must be requested. Death is flowing from the child's future. Life-threatening illnesses, marriage breakups, loss of a pet or home etc. are common in third grade.Yet schools are remarkably unprepared for this contingency. Separation anxiety. Fear of “robbers,”“kidnappers,” and “break–ins."The phenomenon of "astral reversal.” The teacher's path of development. All prayers are beneficial for the third grader; any type of religious instruction is helpful. [15:10]
3.9: Two real–life stories about third graders illustrating the nine–year change. [16:50]
3.10: Summary of the fundamentals of working with the nine–year change. [6:50]
Link to a video on the Nine Year change
Part 3: Parent work
3.11: The “century of the child” now becomes the century of the parent as well. Difficulty of helping children without active parent involvement. Differences between parents who enroll children in private Waldorf schools and public Waldorf schools. How to increase parent involvement, and increase our understanding of parent work. The four umbilical cords and the “other two thirds"of our class. Parents change along with their children. Parent education – more important now than ever. [14:40]
3.12: How to introduce the new grade every September. Saturday morning workshop. Emphasis on child development and teacher demonstrating how she will present subjects that year. Telling a story to the entire “class community.” [16:15]
3.13: Parent evenings. Mandatory attendance and its necessity. Taking parent meetings seriously. Parents can view their child's work in context. Beginning the meeting with a smile and humor. The tyranny of parents who make announcements, and a solution. [16:30]
3.14: Parent evenings, continued. How many parents does it take to fire a Waldorf teacher? Continuing the child development picture for the parents. Bringing the Waldorf curriculum into the living context of that development picture. Artistic activity in the middle, rather than at the beginning of the parent evening. Have parent announcements come towards the end, rather than the beginning of the parent evening. Questions and answers: a teacher's greatest anxiety. [15:40]
3.15: Parent communication – or parent communion? A sure-fire method to stay in touch with your parents - and leave no parent behind. Careful observation of small numbers of children. Careful notes and short sentences. Help in report writing. Help in the evening contemplation of students. The phone call to the parent. The telephone, NOT email. [16:10]
3.16: Parent communion, part two. A simulated phone call. Discussing the child from the teacher's perspective, school from the child's perspective, and life from the parents perspective. Letting parents know that you care about them as much as you care about the child. Our destiny with our parents. At a time when more and more class teachers are getting fired by Waldorf schools all over the continent, these phone calls can be a vital part of your survival as a class teacher. [17:30]
Part 4: The Hebrew Scriptures 1 - Introduction
3.17: The integrated nature of the odd-numbered grades as opposed to the fragmented quality of the even-numbered grades. Grade Three is particularly integrated, and everything the children learn flows directly out of the Hebrew Scriptures. The central and absolute importance of stories of the Old Testament. The most important document teachers will ever teach to their children in the eight (or even twelve) grades. [13:30]
3.18: Jewish families are finally rewarded with these stories, after two years of living with the Germanic Grimms' Fairy Tales and the Christian saints. They will want to make contributions to the life of the class. Teaching children Hebrew, sharing festivals, sharing foods. Remember that we are teaching about ancient Hebrew culture, which is not the same as modern Judaism. In Grade Two, even though the children were hearing about Saints, they were not brought into the world of the modern Catholic Church. The problem of the Jakob Streit books. Try to remain true to the actual Hebrew Scriptures, and not be swayed by the “improvements” of well–intentioned anthroposophists. [15:20]
3.19: Overemphasis on the Seven Days of Creation; what is essential for the third grader are the stories that begin with Abraham. Comparative religion course is not needed here. Working with the increasing ignorance of North Americans concerning these stories. Ways in which teachers can rectify gaps in their own education concerning the Hebrew Scriptures. Waldorf teachers must immerse themselves in the Hebrew Scriptures before teaching them, or the children will not derive their full benefit. [16:00]
3.20: The Hebrew Scriptures: Context and chronology. The challenge of assigning "dates” to the people and events. The context of the later stories, from 800 BCE on. [16:15]
3.21: Valentin Tomberg's threefold approach to the Hebrew Scriptures. Patriarchs, Priests, and Kings: the contraction of consciousness. The role of the Prophets. [15:00]
Links to Biblical Timelines and article about Jakob Streit stories
Part 5: The Hebrew Scriptures 2 - Creation to Noah
3.22: Genesis and the Patriarchs. The basic stories: Seven days of Creation. The Fall. Cain and Abel. Noah and the Flood. The Tower of Babel. Abraham. Isaac and Ishmael. Jacob and Esau. Joseph and his brothers. [19:40]
3.23: How do we tell Bible stories to our class? An example: The story of Cain and Abel. Three different ways of approaching this story. The first is the story as told in the King James version of Genesis. The second is the story narrated by a Sunday school teacher and writer. The third is a children's comic book of Bible stories. [15:20]
3.24: Cain and Abel, continued. Comparison of the Sunday school teacher's rendition and the comic book presentation of the story of Cain and Abel. Finally, the way in which a Waldorf teacher might approach this story. [17:45]
3.25: Noah and the Flood. The Biblical genealogies and their meaning. Introducing Noah to a class. The Tower of Babel. [15:49]
Part 6: The Hebrew Scriptures 3 - The Patriarchs from Abraham to Isaac
3.26: The significance of Abraham. Who is the God of the Hebrew Scriptures? Rudolf Steiner's cosmology and the uniqueness of Abraham and the “Chosen People."The role of the lower Hierarchies in the education of ancient people. The "Sons of God” and the Luciferic impulses of pre–Christian culture. [13:50]
3.27: The exile of Cain was a punishment, but the leave–taking of Abram from kith and kin is a mark of distinction – why? The intervention of the Elohim or Spirits of Form into earthly life as a means of counterbalancing the Luciferic impulse of ancient culture. The steep, dual learning curve as a distant spiritual being encounters human beings. The severance of Abraham and his descendants from the main stream of cultural life. [17:45]
3.28: The nomadic quality of the Israelites is personified by Abram who in his “homeless” nature is more like Cain than Abel. The challenge of presenting Abraham in just three days. The important themes: The Land of Canaan; Abram’s wealth; Abram and Lot; Hagar and Sarah; Ishmael; counting the stars – the promise of Isaac’s birth; The laughter of Abraham and Sarah (the only mention of laughter in the Hebrew Scriptures!); the three strangers; Sodom and Gomorrah; the sacrifice of Isaac. [18:40]
3.29: The destiny of Isaac is to be overshadowed by his father Abraham on the one hand and by his sons Jacob and Esau on the other hand. Another look at the sacrifice of Isaac. The important contribution that Isaac makes: the story of Rebekah at the well. Possibly the first use of the verb “to love” in ancient literature and certainly the first depiction of “love at first sight.” [14:20]
Part 7: The Hebrew Scriptures 3 - The Patriarchs from Jacob to Joseph
3.30: Jacob and Esau. Barrenness and fertility, an issue for biblical days and for our own time. The battle of the twins in the womb. The boy favored by his father, and the boy favored by his mother – who is more likely to succeed? The conflict between cleverness and brute force. Lies and promises. Archetypes for the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the future of Judaism. [17:00]
3.31: Jacob's ladder: the first revelation of the astral world in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jacob sees God and responds with fear. God is becoming a more distant presence. Jacob and Rachel. Jacob and Leah; now he is the victim of deception and mistaken identity. The meeting with Esau. Wrestling with God and the significance of the name Israel. The yawning gap between the cosmic intentions of God and the human frailty of the Israelites. [17:45]
3.32: Joseph and his brothers. The coat of many colors given to Joseph by his father. The carrying of the astral body. Joseph the dreamer. Dreams are recollections of the astral body's sojourn in the spiritual world. Joseph's brothers cannot have these experiences. Only Jacob and Joseph carry astral bodies. Joseph is given his coat when he is seventeen. The world's first astralized teenager. [16:00]
3:33: The wife of Potiphar; the allure of Joseph's astrality. Joseph is the first Israelite who can interpret dreams. Four millennia later, Sigmund Freud becomes the second great dream-interpreting Israelite. By interpreting the dreams of the servants and the Pharaoh, Joseph is prophetic, like the nine year-old. He introduces Egyptians to the notion of the future. He teaches them how to store grain so that it is available when it will be scarce. The astral body as our guide into the world of volume. Joseph the psychologist, who knows his brothers must feel their guilt from within. Expunging the guilt of his father and his grandmother: the sin of deception. [17:00]
Hebrew Scriptures 1: Student Work Slideshow [26:10]
Part 8: The Hebrew Scriptures 4 - Moses
3.34: Moses. Birth and initiation in the Egyptian Mysteries. Murder and the flight from Egypt. Moses’ life among the Midians, e.g. the Ishmaelites. The recurrent theme of deception in the Hebrew Scriptures. [13:30]
3.35: The relationship of the Israelites to the Egyptians. The Israelites’ pralaya, the loss of consciousness about their connection to Yahweh. Moses’ task to reawaken this link. The Egyptian initiations of Joseph and Moses, and the awakening of the inner Osiris Light. Moses and Jethro and his seven daughters. Awakening to the creative forces living within the Earth. [18:40]
3.36: Jethro and Moses, Cain and Abel redux. The archetype of the hero who is mistaken about his own identity. It will return in Grades 5 and 6. The I AM Name of God. Moses and Pharaoh. Moses rod and the Egyptian magicians. The Plagues of Egypt. The parting of the Red Sea. [18:10]
3.37: The first year in the Wilderness. Thirst and hunger. Springs, manna, and quail. The reappearance of Jethro, always signifying a new unfolding of Moses’ consciousness. The twelve-fold organization of Hebrew society. Joseph’s mummy and its coffin. Egyptian longings in Israelite bodies. The need for a new revelation of Yahweh. [12:30]
3.38: The Ten Commandments. Suggestions for presenting the story to a third grade class. [18:30]
3.39: The Tablets: first mention of writing in the Bible. What is the aim of the Commandments? The Ten Commandments and the Teacher’s Temptation. Writing in stone and writing in sand; the resonance from Old to New Testaments. [15:25]
3.40: The Epic nature of the 40 years in the Wilderness. Akin to the Ramayana and the Iliad. Great battles and heroes, internal conflicts, and many, many deaths. The severance of the Luciferic forces still evoked by memories of Egypt; only those born during the wandering period can go to the Promised Land. A new consciousness is fostered by a new generation. A new kind of Temple, portable and inhabited by a moving God. The geological and meteorological Yaweh is “domesticated” and concentrated in the Tabernacle. [14:30]
Part 9: The Hebrew Scriptures 5 - The Judges
3.41: Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. The vibratory power of sound. Yahweh’s “miracles” are actually extensions of the laws of nature, “scientific” rather than “religious” phenomena. Samson. The Bronze Age Israelites versus the Iron Age Philistines. [19:25]
3.42: Ruth. A “feminine,” lyrical interlude inserted in the otherwise spare and masculine world of the Hebrews. The Moabites and the Israelites. King David’s great grandmother. Samuel, the last of the Israelites to hear the voice of Yahweh. [11:55]
3.43: The transition from the theocratic stage of Hebrew society to the monarchial stage. Samuel’s prayer to Yahweh and Yaweh's surprising answer. Samuel's predictions about life under a king. The correspondence in the Waldorf grade school: the transition from theocratic kindergarten through the primary grades and the monarchial state of late grade three through the upper school years. The anointing. [15:00]
Part 10: The Hebrew Scriptures 6 - The Kings
3.44: Saul as King. The power and the failings of pure will. The darkness sent by the Lord to overcome Saul's nature. The healing power of music as manifested by David and his harp. In the culture of the Hebrews, devoid of imagistic art, music and later poetry become the dominant arts. Saul’s “darkness” is the first presentation of depression in literature. David's harp is the first representation of music therapy. [13:30]
3.45: Saul forgets David. The naïve realism of humanity at the time of the Hebrew Scriptures. David and Goliath. The meeting of the Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens streams of humanity. David's Stone Age weaponry. The last gasp of the epic battle. [16:30]
3.46: Saul and David. The arising of jealousy towards David in Saul’s soul. David as a member of the royal household, and his love for Saul's son Jonathan. The first true depiction of friendship in the Hebrew Scriptures, perhaps in all literature. The seven year love/hate relationship of Saul with David. David's life of feeling allows him to forgive. It also makes him Israel's great poet. The death of Saul and Jonathan. The end of the Epic Age of Israel, and the beginning of the Age of Drama, particularly tragedy. [10:50]
3.47: David the King. David's rule brings joy and a sense of permanence to the Israelites. The city of Jerusalem is now the center of a great kingdom that David rules by force but also in love. But he, too, suffers from the absence of the Judges. The rule of priests over marriage begins to give way to the rule of love and desire. David and Bathsheba. [21:00]
3.48: The 51st Psalm. David learns how to put the quintessentially human into words. Rather than sacrificing animals to the Lord, David offers up his life of feeling. There is a great deal in the Hebrew Scriptures that is completely foreign to us, that cannot touch us in the same way it once touched the Israelites. David's psalms, however, can speak to us with tremendous in immediacy in a very contemporary way. The death of the firstborn; the birth of “Peaceableness” - Solomon. [16:35]
Part 11: The Hebrew Scriptures 7 - Kings and Prophets
3.49: Solomon the king. The temple as a physical manifestation of world wisdom. David consolidated; Solomon expanded. But the expansion led to a weakening of the Yaweh impulse among the Israelites. Solomon's wives introduce other gods into the land of Israel. The division of the kingdoms after Solomon's death. To the north, Israel: to the south, Judah. Solomon's wisdom: a story of Solomon and Sheba. [16:05]
3.50: Divided kingdoms Israel and Judah lead to a weakening of the Yaweh impulse. The mediocre Kings who follow Saul, David, and Solomon are true archetypes for the challenges of temporal rule. How many good kings have there been in all the kingdoms on earth? Just as the kings of Israel were the equivalent of the Greek drama/tragedy, the prophets serve as the Hebrew equivalent of Greek philosophers. Arab, Jezebel, and Elijah. Elijah's challenge to the priests of Baal. [16:00]
3.51: Elijah's many escapes and wanderings. His journey to the Mount of Horeb where Moses had received divine revelation. The search for Yaweh. The Divine principle is no longer in the elements outside of the human being, but will now to be found within the human being. Elijah’s fiery chariot and his persistent presence in Jewish tradition. The Transfiguration. [15:25]
Hebrew Scriptures 2: Student Work Slideshow [29:00]
Part 12: Shelters and Dwellings
3.52: Shelters and Dwellings. The dramatic change and delete between grade two and grade 3. Now a whole range of subjects suddenly must be mastered and presented to the children. Pace yourself and be sure to give yourself enough time to work on each subject during the summer. The subjects like colors on a pallet, can be arranged in many different ways. Be sure that the alternating subjects breathe so that there's contraction and expansion. How to do research as a Waldorf grade teacher. [14:40]
3.53: Shelters, part two. The first question: why do we teach about shelters and dwellings? As the model body falls away the child feels vulnerable and naked. Both the study of fibers and closing and the study of shelters and dwellings help give the child a sense of security that there is something around them to protect them. Generally, the first law in the subject involves teaching children about space and Time: how people build houses in the past, and how people around the world build shelters that fit their particular geographical and meteorological circumstances. [14:50]
3.54: The second building block: how to build a building today. We can marvel at the complexity of a modern home. The child can begin to realize that the modern dweller is building a complicated image of his own body. Masonry, plumbing, electrical system, the windows and walls – all of these reflect three lower and higher members of the human being. [14:45]
3.55: Two questions: should children build little models of dwellings from around the world? Should children participate in the building of a structure on the school grounds? The importance of modeling for the third grader. The importance of third-graders working on their own projects without parental help. The difficulty, in fact near impossibility, of reversing a tradition once it has begun in the Waldorf school. [13:30]
3.56: The school grounds building project. A good way for parents, particularly fathers, to participate in the life of third grade. A good chance for children to see and learn how to use tools, particularly circular saws and other electrical devices. What was Steiner’s intention in suggesting that the children build something themselves? The answer is a surprising one. [14:45]
Shelters & Dwellings: Student Work Slideshow [11:40]
Part 13: Language Arts
3.57: Language arts, part one. Examples of short essays written on such questions as what is good? What is beautiful? What is true? Our work is to help the child express what lives deeply with in him through the medium of language. How can we clear the path so that even today's child can write and speak with a good vocabulary good grammar and an elegance of speech? [16:00]
3.58: Reading in Grade Three. The optimum grades for reading. The excessive pressures placed on teachers to get all of the children reading. Three aspects of reading in the class: How the individual child reads. Reading together as a class. Reading groups. Bringing in parents as co-leaders of reading groups. The need for courage in the proper approach to reading. [15:40]
3.59: The structure and timing of the reading group. [14:45]
3.60: The counter-intuitive nature of the reading group. Children of mixed abilities read together. Parents, rather than teachers, are used as leaders of the reading group. These innovative aspects of the reading group can be terrifying for many teachers, who will tell you in advance that it could not possibly work. Once again, the willingness to take a risk and the courage to swim against the current are what is needed to teach children in our time. [16:50]
3.61: Teaching writing. Important changes in form (cursive) and content (non-imitative) this year.(We will look at cursive writing more fully in our Form Drawing instructional video.) As teachers we must be increasingly aware how what we write on the board becomes a model not only of content but also of grammar and style for our children. Although most of what third-graders write continues to be copied from the teacher’s writing on the blackboard, today's child may need more opportunity to express him or herself. [17:10]
3.62: Why teach Grammar in Grade 3? Just as the inherited “model body” must be reconstructed by the child, so must the imitatively assimilated “mother tongue” be consciously recreated by the child. Importance of world (foreign) language in the Waldorf setting. Grammar in Grades 3 and 4. Grade 3 Grammar is more of a kinesthetic than a written subject. The class teacher’s own speech habits and her relationship to English Grammar is the most important factor. [17:50]
Language Arts: Student Work Slideshow [12:00]
Part 14: Farming and Gardening, Fibers
3.63: Current interest in the greening of America has helped the educational world catch up with Waldorf schools. Steiner had hoped that farming and gardening would be subjects in every grade, but for a long time there was little interest in this subject in the Waldorf world. Suggestions for organizing the first block. Teaching children basic gardening skills, and developing a narrative imagination of a farming family and their lives through the year. [15:10]
3.64: The farm trip. Its pedagogical value: children will keep a diary which allows them to do a lot of original writing, and children will be drawing scenes from the farm – some of the first drawings that they do without the teachers model. Prepare the parents well in advance for this trip. For some families this is the first time that the children have been away from home. The children generally are looking forward to it, but there are parents with great separation anxieties. This separation from the home and hearth can actually stimulate the nine-year change in children who have not experienced it yet. [17:15]
3.65: Fibers. Reflection of the higher members in the fibers that we use for clothing. Helping the child, once again, to find a replacement for the model body. Handwork teachers and class parents can be extremely helpful in this block. The fiber fair. [20:00]
Farming & Gardening: Student Work Slideshow [31:50]
Fibers: Student Work Slideshow [9:30]
Part 15: Arithmetic
3.66: Arithmetic, The weakest link in the Waldorf chain. A good deal has to be accomplished in the primary grades before arithmetic metamorphoses into mathematics. Waldorf schools actually no longer believe that Waldorf methods are good for teaching math. The rise of the math specialist teacher. Weaning the child from rhythmical exercises to master the multiplication tables. [16:25]
3.67: A general review of the four operations. Mental arithmetic and word problems are essential at this age. They should be done daily. Be sure that you hear from everyone in the class in the mental arithmetic exercises. Be sure that not only the children who raise their hands quickly or those who call out get to answer the questions. Sometimes shyness and slowness appear to be a lack of understanding. Grade 3 is your last chance to bring the world of numbers into the child's etheric body. After this it becomes the law of diminishing returns. Makes it very best use of your time and the children's time in this domain. [17:10]
Arithmetic: Instructional Video
Part 16: Measurement
3.68: This block most deeply accompanies the child's experiences of the Hebrew Scriptures. Measurement classes are a huge support to you in your math work. As children learn to compute various types of measurements they are actually working with different number bases. In this way the measurement block becomes a tremendous support for the mobility and flexibility that the children need to be good and arithmetic and math. The four stages of Earth evolution and their manifestation in the various forms of measurement. [14:25]
3.69: The intimate and personal connection of the human being to weight. How we are incarnating and our relationship to earthly density. Working up to that over the course of the year. A description of aspects of the time telling clock. Time and temperament. The measurement block in which cooperation is necessary for accuracy of measurements. [15:50]
3.70: The historical dimension of ways of measuring. Importance of cooking and baking. Relating measurement skills to Biblical stories, e.g. Abraham, Joseph, Solomon. Awakening the child’s “inner scale.” The blindfolded figure of Justice. [13:00]
Measurement: Student Work Slideshow [19:10]
Part 17: Teacher Development
3.71: The Path of the Teacher, Part 1. Rudolf Steiner’s First Pedagogical Law. “Degrees” in modern education and their antecedents in the Mystery Schools. Working with the higher members of the teacher to advance the child’s development. [13:55]
3.72: The Path of the Teacher, Part 2. Developing the Etheric Body, the task of the N/K teacher and the Primary Grades teacher. [12:30]
3.73: The Path of the Teacher, Part 3. Developing the Astral Body, the task of the Middle Grades teacher. [16:40]
3.74: The Path of the Teacher, Part 4. Developing the Ego, the task of the Upper Grades/High School teacher. [13:50]
3.75: The Path of the Teacher, Part 5. What do we need to develop to work with class parents, and to engage in “adult education”? The mediocre results of most anthroposophical adult education. [14:15]
3.76: The Path of the Teacher, Part 6. Developing interest in the Waldorf Curriculum. [15:10]
Slideshows and Instructional Videos
(Also listed above with the relevant lectures)
Instructional Video: Songs, Games, and Dances [55:00]
Instructional Video: Third Grade Form Drawing [50:00]
Instructional Video: Teaching Arithmetic [1:36:00]
Form Drawing: Student Work Slideshow [14:00]
Hebrew Scriptures 1: Student Work Slideshow [26:10]
Hebrew Scriptures 2: Student Work Slideshow [29:00]
Farming & Gardening: Student Work Slideshow [31:50]
Fibers: Student Work Slideshow [9:30]
Shelters & Dwellings: Student Work Slideshow [11:40]
Measurement: Student Work Slideshow [19:10]
Language Arts: Student Work Slideshow [12:00]
Painting with Patience in the Primary Grades Instructional Video part 1 [54:15]
The Beeswax Challenge: A Comparison of Stockmar & Filana Crayons [41:00]
Resources and PDF Hand-Outs
Click on the links to view or download these helpful materials.
Biblical History Timeline 1
Biblical History Timeline 2
The Creation Story from a Bible Comic Book
Click here to download the PDF
The Seven Days of Creation:
Panoramic Photo of a Mural drawn by Third Graders
Click here to download the Panoramic Photo
Hanukkah and Advent: An Essay by Eugene Schwartz
Click here to download the PDF
Hanukkah and Advent: A Lecture by Eugene Schwartz
Click here to download the lecture
Michaelmas and the Jewish New Year: A Lecture by Eugene Schwartz
Click here to download the lecture
A “Nonobservant” Approach to Passover
Click here to read the article
The Grade Three Curriculum
Descriptions of the rationale underlying the subjects, and a week-by-week guide of suggested approaches to each block.
Click here to access the curriculum.
Birthday Verses
Class Teacher Shannon O’Laughlin wrote these for her third grade class.
Click here to download the verses.
Need some help enlivening your Bible stories? Try this:
Click here for a link to a sample video
Class Play: Noah and the Flood
You can download several versions of this popular third grade play.
Click here to download the original play
Click here to download a Spanish translation
Click here to download an operatic version
Jewish Thought by Pamela Lutz
An insightful and comprehensive guide to understanding the Hebrew Scriptures from a modern Jewish perspective.
Click here to download the article.
The “Model Body” by Broder von Laue, M.D.
The only in-depth study of this important aspect of child development. In German, with an abstract in English.
Click here to download the article.
Playing Steiner Says by Stephan Sagarin
An outspoken and humorous look at the shaky foundation on which so much of Waldorf tradition is based.
Click here to download the article.
A Provocative Article on Math
Click here to read the article
. . . . And what about those building models that the Third Graders create all by themselves?
One of the homework projects described in this article sounds suspiciously like a Waldorf school assignment.
Click here to download the article.
What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades
An article from the New York Times about the cursive controversy.
Click here to read the article.
And What to Do When Handwriting Fades
A new look at an old language.
Click here to read the article
Religious Elements in Waldorf Education
Along with Judaism, Buddhism is the other important non-Christian stream flowing into modern Waldorf schools.
Click here to download the article.
The Hierarchies, a Guide for the Perplexed
A chart that may be helpful in understanding the nature of the Elohim/Spirits of Form.
Click here to download the chart.
Another Perspective on ADHD
Why are so few French children diagnosed with ADHD?
Click here to view the article.
The Nine-Year Change - from Within
It is often impossible for a nine-year old to express the pain and intensity that comes at that age.
Here, however, is an example of a child who has found the artistic medium through which she can
embody her stage of life.
Click here to watch and listen.
If you wish to go more deeply into some of the themes addressed in the Grade Six lectures, we invite you to listen to some lectures given by Eugene Schwartz in his course, Rudolf Steiner: The Man, The Age, The Path. If you want to go really deeply, we urge you to listen to the entire course, available from www.iwaldorf.com.
The Spiritual Hierarchies
Although the Hierarchies are a mainstay of Christian theology and iconography, Steiner spoke of them as active in all world religions. His expansive picture of the activities of the hierarchical beings portrays their intimate and dynamic relationship to human life and evolution.
SC10 The Third Hierarchy – The Angels, part 1 [16:17]
SC11 The Third Hierarchy – The Angels, part 2 [15:47]
SC12 The Third Hierarchy – Archangels & Archai [15:01]
SC13 The Second Hierarchy – Spirits of Form, Movement, & Wisdom [18:28]
SC14 The First Hierarchy – Thrones, Cherubim, & Seraphim, part 1 [17:21]
SC15 The First Hierarchy, part 2 [14:11]
SC16 The First Hierarchy, part 3 [15:06]
Life After Death
Steiner noted more than once that Anthroposophy came into being so that the dead could communicate with the living. Eschewing the sensationalistic “spiritualism” and séances of his day, Steiner lectured frequently on the journey of the soul and spirit through the spiritual world, and the ways in which the living could help throw light on their path.
SC25 Links Between the Living and Dead [13:36]
SC26 The “Tableau” Experience and Kamaloka [31:34]
SC27 Shelley and Keats - Forming the Afterlife [12:27]
SC28 The Astral Body and the Inner Planets [17:00]
SC29 The Sphere of the Sun and the Outer Planets [18:48]
SC30 The “Cosmic Midnight” and Janus Experience [21:49]
SC31 Creation of the Hereditary Stream [15:42]
SC32 Thomas Traherne – Pre-Birth Experiences [22:11]
SC33 We Form the World We Need [23:02]
SC34 Sleep and Death [22:45]
Evolution of the Earth and Humanity
Rudolf Steiner’s penetration of the concept of evolution lays the foundation for his teachings about history, Christology, and the genesis of evil. His metamorphosis of the evolutionary picture presented by Darwin and Ernst Haeckel led Steiner to a unique formulation of the way in which species, humanity, and the earth itself undergo ceaseless development and progress.
SC35 Introduction to Steiner’s Evolutionary Picture [13:32]
SC36 Perfection and Change; Saturn and Sun Evolution [23:22]
SC37 Light and Darkness [12:49]
SC38 Moon Evolution; Angels and Dragons [15:24]
SC39 Earth Evolution; Hindrance and Evil [18:57]
SC40 Densification, Lucifer & Ahriman [18:42]
SC41 Lemuria and Atlantis [29:28]
SC42 Darwin, Haeckel, Ontogeny & Phylogeny [14:24]
SC43 The Cultural Epochs [23:23]
SC44 Ancient Initiation Rites [29:46]
SC45 The Mission of the Israelites [23:10]
SC46 The Christ Principle in Evolution, part 1 [29:13]
SC47 The Christ Principle in Evolution, part 2 [33:26]
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