Articles

by A. Weihs
Originally published in The Cresset, Vol.16 No. 3 (Journal of the Camphill Movement, UK)
Download the article: Adolescence

The word adolescence derives from the Latin “adolescere” meaning ‘to grow into manhood”. The term pertains roughly to the period between the 14th and 21st years, which is the third seven-year period of life. The first period ending at the seventh year marks the end of infancy and young childhood, the second ending at 14 sees a child into puberty, and the third which ends at the 21st year marks the beginning of adulthood.

by Alexander Strakosch
Published in Anthroposophical News Sheet, Vol.7, 1939 (England)
Download the article: Advent- Memories of a Waldorf School Teacher

For many of our contemporaries the year is nothing more than a sequence of 365 days. Every seventh day is a Sunday, when instead of going to the factory or to the office, one goes to a football-match and is provoked at the decision of umpire instead of at one's overseer. Furthermore there are certain times of year when one perspires, because it is very hot outside, and others when one grumbles over the size of the coal-bills. Otherwise one day is like another and the whole calendar is there merely in order that one may divide up the year for personal and business purposes.
For such people the seasons of the year have a purely outer significance only, and the festivals are a purely human device, the last remnants of a time of ancient superstition.
We encounter such signs of the impoverishment of the life of the human soul at every step. And we learn to estimate how difficult it really is today for so many to find access to the realities which seek to speak to us through the seasons and the festivals of the year.

Concerning Concrete Experiments

By Wilhelm Ernst Barkhoff
Translated from the German by Joseph Wetzl
First published in Biodynamics, Spring, 1980
Download the article: Agriculture: The Foundation of all Economy

All members of the Anthroposophical Society are concerned about economic processes being initiated and structured out of what we call the life of the spirit. Humanity as a whole — not only single individuals — should strive unitedly from spiritual impulses to change nature. Although it is extraordinarily difficult to imagine a society wherein this has become a habitual attitude, it is nevertheless true that people do appear before this members’ meeting to present their respective insights and deeds, and the rest of us try to follow it up. Thus an Anthroposophical Society can be created in which the interaction of spiritual life and economic life becomes possible. The attitude of our Society can become the foundation for a modern agriculture.

 by Gary Lamb
This article was originally published in Renewal, A Journal for Waldorf Education, Fall/Winter 2010. Volume 19, Number 2
Download the article: Aligning Pedagogy and Tuition in a Waldorf School

One of the challenges facing many independent Waldorf schools is how to view and work with finances. Specifically, many people devoted to Waldorf Education are asking the question: Is it possible for schools to work with finances by drawing upon the soul/spiritual understanding of the human being that is the basis of the Waldorf curriculum and pedagogy?

The Waldorf curriculum helps children develop social sensitivity, compassion, and cooperative skills. The students can readily sense discrepancies between what they learn and experience in the classroom and what the adults in the school community—teachers, staff, and parents—are saying and doing. For this reason, if for no other, schools should strive to bring the way they work with finances into harmony with the ideas and ideals of Waldorf Education.

 by Craig Holdrege
Published in In Context, The Nature Institute
click here for a pdf of the article including all  images

Introduction

In the fall and winter of 2010/2011 I participated in the development of an environmental science curriculum for the middle school (grades 6 through 8) for the Detroit Waldorf School. The school’s question was: Could a curriculum be developed that weaves together a phenomenological approach to science, environmental and social justice awareness, and service learning opportunities. The school felt that such a curriculum—which could be modified for other learning settings, such as urban summer camps—would be “an essential contribution that we could make to our community, especially to demonstrate to our young people how they can be instrumental in understanding and acting upon locally significant environmental issues. The central approach is to study topics around which the students can become passionate and can also fit into their understanding of the world at their age.”

Fashioning the temperament through story telling so that it becomes a useful tool
by Anne Tandree

Economy in teaching
Balancing my attention between the individual children and the whole class was one of the first challenges that I met in my first teaching experience. I found myself sucked into situations with one child and then another, and I would spend endless time in preparation at night thinking of these particular children. The more I tried to concentrate on the individuals and tried to 'solve' problems, the more little individuals reared their heads and demanded my undivided attention. I was losing the class. I needed to find a way to address the class as a whole while giving each individual child the sense that they were being recognized. A colleague suggested that I look at the children's temperaments and that I consciously address each temperament group in some individual way every day, even better every lesson.