Articles

by David Mitchell
AWSNA lecture given at the AWSNA Teachers’ Conference, Kimberton Waldorf School, Monday, June 24, 2002, Session A
Download the lecture: Developmental Signposts of Adolescence

We are traveling through a landscape—our life is like a wonderful river that flows 
through this landscape. We, as teachers, are fortunate to be able to study and know the
developmental stages of the children we teach.

When we look at the young child we see the magnificent presence of a cosmic sun
when a baby looks at you and begins to smile. All a baby’s consciousness, all his or her
soul attributes come to expression, initially, in the face, and then this consciousness
descends to the hands, the legs, and finally to the feet. We can observe this as we watch
the stages of locomotion and increased coordination of the digits and the limbs. The
limbs are in constant movement and this movement is a requirement for speech. Without
movement, speech would not develop.

by Eileen Hutchins
Published in Child and Man, 1949 (England)
Download the article: Discipline in a Rudolf Steiner School

One of the favorite accusations against a Rudolf Steiner School is that there is no discipline, and one of the greatest difficulties for a new teacher is to establish orderly habits of behavior in his class.

It is natural that in any work where the old conventions are laid aside, the new forms of life take some while to develop. Yet everyone will agree that some kind of law and order is desirable. We cannot approve if children destroy beautiful materials, or if they are cruel to those weaker than themselves. We can hardly allow deliberate disobedience or pass unchallenged rude and disrespectful behavior. Punishment in itself, however rarely improves anyone, and it is well known that the child who is always being punished is bound to be always in mischief. We can condemn misbehavior, but can we inspire the culprit to do better?

by Frederick Amrine
Download the article: Discovering a Genius: Rudolf Steiner at 150

Willi Brandt (who won the Nobel Peace Prize, and knew whereof he spoke) credits Rudolf Steiner with having made the greatest contribution to world peace of the twentieth century.  The long-time editor of The Nation, Victor Navasky, described him in his memoir of 2005 as “light-years ahead of the curve,” and others such as Joseph Beuys have found in Steiner’s deep insights into human nature the possibility of a thoroughgoing renewal of culture.   Owen Barfield argued that Steiner is perhaps the key thinker of modern times, and abandons his usual British reserve to assert: “By comparison, not only with his contemporaries but with the general history of the Western mind, his stature is almost too excessive to be borne.”   Those of us fortunate enough to have discovered Rudolf Steiner understand that our seemingly hyperbolic assessments will elicit skepticism.  If Rudolf Steiner was really such a towering genius, how can he remain widely unknown nearly a century after his death?

            It has happened before.  Aristotle was lost to the West for a millennium.  The Catholic Church placed Thomas Aquinas on its Index of proscribed writings for half a century after his death.  By the early nineteenth century, J. S. Bach’s greatness needed to be rediscovered and reasserted by Mendelssohn.  Van Gogh sold one painting during his lifetime.  In retrospect, we shake our heads and wonder how such neglect can have happened.  Yet it did.  And in the same way, future generations will shake their heads and wonder at us.

by Craig Holdrege
The Nature Institute
Download the article: Doing Goethean Science


Practicing the Goethean approach to science involves heightened methodological awareness and sensitivity to the way we engage in the phenomenal world. We need to overcome our habit of viewing the world in terms of objects and leave behind the scientific propensity to explain via reification and reductive models. I describe science as a conversation with nature and how this perspective can inform a new scientific frame of mind. I then present the Goethean approach via a practical example (a study of a plant, skunk cabbage) and discuss some of the essential features of Goethean methodology and insight: the riddle; into the phenomenon; exact picture building; and seeing the whole. (27 pages)

Keywords: botany, environment, observation, science, phenomenology

by Eric G. Müller
AWSNA Waldorf High School Research Project 
Download the article: Drama and the Education of Youth

CONTENTS
Introduction
Role of the Director
Choice of Play
Casting
Language
Gesture
Drama as a Support to the Curriculum Drama Club 9th, 10th, 11th,12th Grade
Musicals
Student Experiences
Conclusion
Bibliography

ABSTRACT
A deepening and broadening of dramatic work with adolescents is essential in our time, because experience and investigation shows that the positive transformative effects on high school students through drama is tremendous, and that without the implementation of a well rounded drama program they will have missed out on an integral part of their education – an education that purports to lay down firm foundations for life. This study covers and examines the most essential aspects that will help facilitate such deepening.

by Van James
Download the article: Drawing with Hand, Head and Heart:Beyond the Right Side of the Brain

Please download the full article to see the illustrations.

The following is an excerpt from the forthcoming book ‘Drawing with Hand, Head and Heart: A Natural Approach to Learning the Art of Drawing’ by Van James. Available September 2013.

The laborer works with his hands, the craftsman works with his hands and his head, the artist works with his hands, his head and his heart. —Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)

Over the past few decades, the theory that postulates dual operations of the brain has become a popular and practical model for understanding the contrasting cognitive functions of the brain and resulting human behavior. The widespread acceptance of this theory has in no small way occurred with the help of mainstream work such as Betty Edwards’ book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.*1 This workbook approach helped to popularize the idea of lateral brain function because it demonstrated the theory by means of observable, practical applications in drawing. If one recognizes right brain activity (artistic, holistic, imagistic, intuitive, simultaneous, present-future oriented) and left brain functions (logical, analytical, verbal, literal, sequential, present-past oriented), one can begin to utilize the appropriate brain operations for specific tasks at hand—in this case, the right brain activity for the purpose of visual thinking to improve one’s drawing. According to this theory, various exercises, such as drawing from a picture that is placed upside-down, can shift the brain (that is one’s perception) into a more artistic, imagistic way of seeing, thus making drawing easier. This theory makes the great mysteries of consciousness, cognition, perception and creativity a bit more accessible and understandable. It is helpful as a starting point for understanding aspects of brain activity and the rich nature of our learning process.

However, twofold, lateral brain functions occur within the wider context of the trifold brain – the so-called reptilian hindbrain (Rhombencephalon—made up of brainstem and cerebellum that deals with involuntary actions and survival mechanisms), limbic midbrain (Mesencephalon—thalamus, hypothalamus, and other brain centers which control emotion, sexuality and memory), and neocortex forebrain or cerebral cortex (Prosencephalon—neomammalian brain involved with muscle function, sense perception, and thought processes).

According to contemporary neurology, up to age three, children learn by way of imitation with the engagement of the reptilian and limbic brains. After age three, there is a growth spurt activating the right hemisphere of the neocortex. The right hemisphere brings intuitive, imaginative, non-linear thinking into action as well as an integrated functioning between the three brain regions. This integrative functioning is responsible for what Joseph Chilton Pearce calls the “magical” relationship a child has to her world, expressed in simple play and untutored creativity.*2 Around eight years of age, children develop foveal focus; the ability to visually scan two-dimensional space. About the age of nine, the left hemisphere of the neocortex begins to function more actively. This hemisphere of the brain gives us abilities for abstraction, objectivity, and linear thought. These latter two events allow a momentous leap in learning as they open the possibility for reading and writing to organically take place, not to mention, continued creative activity.