Waldorf CurriculumIntroduction
A curriculum could be compared to the list of ingredients
for a recipe. However good the recipe, the quality of the ingredients is crucial
but to make a start the components also need to be available. When they are to
hand, the next question is whether the cook is skilled enough to combine and
adjust flavors so that each item plays its part without overwhelming the others.
An experienced cook may be able to substitute one ingredient for another, even
to improvise in such a way that something new is created. But we should not
forget that emotion, even love, goes into the preparation of food and this will
influence how it is received. And, of course, the expectations, health and
culinary experience of the diners also makes a difference.
A curriculum guides an entire learning process. It should not, like a dish into which a chef has thrown every possible taste, explode in an overwhelming, sensation-bursting blowout; it should bring to the table ingredients that are well- balanced, digestible and nutritious, that promote health and stimulate, not stupefy, the senses. Over time, as with diet, a curriculum can introduce items that may not be immediately appealing, stronger tastes or more subtle and complex ones: intellectual chillis, subjects initially sour or astringent, as well as flavors, textures and scents that help to educate the palate. A primary school curriculum, in particular, sets out ingredients for the hors d'oeuvres of lifelong learning. Of course, many school curriculums share common ingredients, but the distinctive qualities of the Steiner-Waldorf curriculum framework are, we believe, unique:
Course OutlineSophia Institute Waldorf Courses: The Art of Teaching Waldorf Grade 8
Lesson 1 / Waldorf Curriculum / Introduction Lesson 2 / Waldorf Curriculum / Grades 7 and 8 (Part 1) Lesson 3 / Waldorf Curriculum / Grades 7 and 8 (Part 2) Lesson 4 / Waldorf Methods / Reading and Math / Introduction Lesson 5 / Waldorf Methods / Reading and Math / Reading / Grade 7 and 8 Lesson 6 / Waldorf Methods / Reading and Math / Math / Grade 7 and 8 Lesson 7 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Chemistry / Introduction Lesson 8 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Physics / Introduction Lesson 9 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Life Sciences / Introduction Lesson 10 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Geography / Introduction Lesson 11 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Geography / Grades 1 - 8 Lesson 12 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Gardening and Sustainable Living Lesson 13 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Technology |
Tasks and Assignments for Art of Teaching Waldorf Grade 8 /AoT82Please study and work with the study material provided for this lesson. Use additional study material as wanted/needed. Then please turn to the following tasks and assignments listed below.
Summarize the study material in your own words and add comments and questions with focus and emphasis on grade 8. Use the following format: A. Class 8/Developmental Profile B. Class 8/Aims and Objectives Please send your completed assignment via the online form or via email. 
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Study Material for this Lesson
The Lower School: Classes 7 and 8
Class 7 (age twelve to thirteen)
Developmental profile
In Class 7 the pupils turn thirteen and become teenagers. Two fundamental gestures characterise this phase of life: an outer, active principle and the stirring of a dynamic, inner, psychological state. An appetite for knowledge of, and about, world phenomena, mingles with a budding capacity for reflection and the first promptings of self- reflection. In this picture of emerging forces, the physical changes which establish sexual identity and capacity begin to manifest more clearly. The physical changes tend to be somewhat in advance of the psychological development. While a feeling and yearning for independence and solitude may be experienced, a certain anxiety, emotional sensitivity and embarrassment can run alongside. Sporadic bursts of energy and an appetite for expanding outer horizons vie with periods of lethargic heaviness and subdued introspection.
Generally, there are significant differences in the manner in which boys and girls face up to and deal with the challenges of this age. Curriculum themes which mirror the pupils' outer exploration of the world and the inner journey include: the journeys of exploration in history, the focus on mood and style in English, the areas of combustion and mechanics in chemistry and physics and the health, nutrition and hygiene main lesson block. However, Class 8 today continues to represent a certain 'completion' of a picture of the world and humanity's place within it.
Aims and objectives
Teachers should provide adolescents with new perspectives, particularly by directing their attention into the world. Pupils should be encouraged to take initiative and to appreciate ideas which have an abstract and logical character. They should be encouraged to challenge attitudes and assumptions which formerly they accepted on authority and be shown how to formulate their own points of view as well as accepting that others may see the world differently. The teacher should increasingly appeal to the individual judgement of the children and should lead them gradually to the exercise of social responsibility within the context of their class community. At this age it is important for the class to experience themselves both as world citizens but also as individuals who have social responsibilities.
Class 8 (age thirteen to fourteen)
Developmental profile
Class 8, during which the pupils pass their fourteenth birthday, signals the end of the class teacher period. Historically, this used to be the school-leaving age for many pupils and the entry point for an apprenticeship in a trade or craft. As such, Class 8 was seen as a 'rounding off' of the child's schooling. With the establishment of Upper Schools and the raising of the school-leaving age throughout Europe over the last fifty years, it is no longer the case that children leave school at 14. At fourteen, the pupils are in the midst of adolescence; bodily and psychological changes are well under way, so that in general, the young person seems more robust and the tenderness of the previous two years has lessened somewhat. Growth in height and sexual development are clearly established, with the onset of the 'breaking voice' in boys and the establishing of the menstrual cycle in girls. At this age, the world of ideas begins to take on meaning for the young adolescent and the critical faculties of the fourteen year old are noticeably sharper. Parts of the accepted framework - particular rules for example - are subject to questioning scrutiny. Counter-balancing this critical tendency is the emergence of a reasoning or 'reasonable' side in the child.
The emergence of an independent life of feeling enters the 'labour and delivery' phase and the emotional turbulence which may attend this birth presents an important challenge to parents and teachers - how to accompany this birth or beginning of the emancipation of an individualised and independent inner life of thinking, feeling and intention without either being overwhelmed or swamped by the waves and tides of emotions, while being able to recognise that the state of crisis is part of a development.
While girls may spend much time and energy discussing and sharing their feelings and the social and emotional aspects of life in small, cohesive groups, boys generally tend to respond rather differently to the hormonal and soul changes. Seemingly rather behind their female counterparts in terms of social behaviour and emotional maturity, boys can appear uncommunicative, emotionally illiterate and tend towards the brash or the sullen. Regardless of the outer manifestations, both genders now stand before new and unknown vistas with sharpening minds, tender hearts and limbs that struggle to reach an accommodation with gravity. By the end of this class, the pupils are already searching for new authorities and role models.
Aims and objectives
Children should be led to bring together all that they have learnt into a meaningful world-picture in which the human being as a striving ethical individual has central Significance.
Independence of working should be brought to a certain culmination in the Class 8 projects in which each pupil chooses a theme, researches it throughout the year and then makes a public presentation. The pupils should be prepared for the different style of teaching they will encounter in the Upper School.
Developmental profile
In Class 7 the pupils turn thirteen and become teenagers. Two fundamental gestures characterise this phase of life: an outer, active principle and the stirring of a dynamic, inner, psychological state. An appetite for knowledge of, and about, world phenomena, mingles with a budding capacity for reflection and the first promptings of self- reflection. In this picture of emerging forces, the physical changes which establish sexual identity and capacity begin to manifest more clearly. The physical changes tend to be somewhat in advance of the psychological development. While a feeling and yearning for independence and solitude may be experienced, a certain anxiety, emotional sensitivity and embarrassment can run alongside. Sporadic bursts of energy and an appetite for expanding outer horizons vie with periods of lethargic heaviness and subdued introspection.
Generally, there are significant differences in the manner in which boys and girls face up to and deal with the challenges of this age. Curriculum themes which mirror the pupils' outer exploration of the world and the inner journey include: the journeys of exploration in history, the focus on mood and style in English, the areas of combustion and mechanics in chemistry and physics and the health, nutrition and hygiene main lesson block. However, Class 8 today continues to represent a certain 'completion' of a picture of the world and humanity's place within it.
Aims and objectives
Teachers should provide adolescents with new perspectives, particularly by directing their attention into the world. Pupils should be encouraged to take initiative and to appreciate ideas which have an abstract and logical character. They should be encouraged to challenge attitudes and assumptions which formerly they accepted on authority and be shown how to formulate their own points of view as well as accepting that others may see the world differently. The teacher should increasingly appeal to the individual judgement of the children and should lead them gradually to the exercise of social responsibility within the context of their class community. At this age it is important for the class to experience themselves both as world citizens but also as individuals who have social responsibilities.
Class 8 (age thirteen to fourteen)
Developmental profile
Class 8, during which the pupils pass their fourteenth birthday, signals the end of the class teacher period. Historically, this used to be the school-leaving age for many pupils and the entry point for an apprenticeship in a trade or craft. As such, Class 8 was seen as a 'rounding off' of the child's schooling. With the establishment of Upper Schools and the raising of the school-leaving age throughout Europe over the last fifty years, it is no longer the case that children leave school at 14. At fourteen, the pupils are in the midst of adolescence; bodily and psychological changes are well under way, so that in general, the young person seems more robust and the tenderness of the previous two years has lessened somewhat. Growth in height and sexual development are clearly established, with the onset of the 'breaking voice' in boys and the establishing of the menstrual cycle in girls. At this age, the world of ideas begins to take on meaning for the young adolescent and the critical faculties of the fourteen year old are noticeably sharper. Parts of the accepted framework - particular rules for example - are subject to questioning scrutiny. Counter-balancing this critical tendency is the emergence of a reasoning or 'reasonable' side in the child.
The emergence of an independent life of feeling enters the 'labour and delivery' phase and the emotional turbulence which may attend this birth presents an important challenge to parents and teachers - how to accompany this birth or beginning of the emancipation of an individualised and independent inner life of thinking, feeling and intention without either being overwhelmed or swamped by the waves and tides of emotions, while being able to recognise that the state of crisis is part of a development.
While girls may spend much time and energy discussing and sharing their feelings and the social and emotional aspects of life in small, cohesive groups, boys generally tend to respond rather differently to the hormonal and soul changes. Seemingly rather behind their female counterparts in terms of social behaviour and emotional maturity, boys can appear uncommunicative, emotionally illiterate and tend towards the brash or the sullen. Regardless of the outer manifestations, both genders now stand before new and unknown vistas with sharpening minds, tender hearts and limbs that struggle to reach an accommodation with gravity. By the end of this class, the pupils are already searching for new authorities and role models.
Aims and objectives
Children should be led to bring together all that they have learnt into a meaningful world-picture in which the human being as a striving ethical individual has central Significance.
Independence of working should be brought to a certain culmination in the Class 8 projects in which each pupil chooses a theme, researches it throughout the year and then makes a public presentation. The pupils should be prepared for the different style of teaching they will encounter in the Upper School.