Waldorf Education
Waldorf education provides an approach to teaching the whole child that is proving to be timeless. It continues to attract teachers and parents who want an education that is nurturing and fosters a classical understanding of the world. Waldorf schools make up the largest association of independent schools in the free world. Currently, there are many public charter and home school initiatives that are inspired by the Waldorf approach.
In this time of high stakes testing, do some of you feel that it is necessary to step back and reassess how we are doing business in the classroom and the school? Although I see the need for accountability in our nation’s schools, I fear we are losing the ability to meet the needs of students, as we endeavor to raise student achievement at all costs. Waldorf schools not only educate children, they become a center of the community within which they are housed. As in days of old, communities gathered for festivals and events. Waldorf schools are known for the strong rhythm they provide through festivals throughout the year.
Waldorf education is filled with storytelling and is integrated with the arts. Children explore their capacities as they learn to play the violin, perform plays based on main lesson content, paint and model with clay and beeswax. They are known to emerge from this education as individuals who are able to provide direction to their own lives, having learned to think, reason and write at high levels, as well as sing, paint and draw. Waldorf education is sensitive to the needs of each stage of the developing child kindergarten through grade 12.
The goal of Waldorf education is to light a fire in the child, not fill a bucket with information. If a child loves to learn, then, in this world of vast access to information, they will be able to find their way.
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Comments
Light a fire, not fill a bucket. This is so true and also so lacking in educational settings. Now how do we reignite the fire that brought us to education so we can be the spark for the child? What would reignite it for you? And who or what threw the water that put the flame out? I know the embers are still burning so reflecting on this could fan the flame.
What a great synopsis of Waldorf education, Principle Donna! I am a Waldorf teacher and I think you have covered the essentials of Waldorf on your web sight. Of course, if a person wants to know more, there is an amazing amount of thought and depth to this education.