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Sophia Institute online Art of Teaching Waldorf Program

Art of Teaching Waldorf Grade 8

Lesson 5

HELP

Waldorf Curriculum

Introduction

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:
  • The curriculum unfolds over time, is wide and richly experiential: not merely designed towards narrowly-defined 'achievement', but intended to promote capability for the art of living
  • The curriculum is really only a series of 'indications', as Steiner described them, pointers inviting interpretation and free rendering, i.e. it calls on and encourages the creativity ( or artistry) of teachers
  • The importance of content is fully recognized (young people need certain skills and useful knowledge), but as a creative framework, the Steiner- Waldorf curriculum is embedded within a developing practice and method. The curriculum outline takes its cue from the development of the child: subject, or content, provides a medium for a meeting and collaboration of teacher and learner. Thus, since meaning and knowledge are built over  time, this is co-constructive learning in which understanding unfolds as a process of learning to learn encompassing both students and teacher
  • Subject content and necessary competence are always relative to the child: the curriculum is midwife to the emerging individuality, rather than suit of clothes into which the child must be made to fit
  • The shaping principles of the curriculum are extraordinarily robust and resilient. Many independent educators recognize this fundamental coherence, which has stood the test of time and many generations of children
  • The creative freedom within the Waldorf curriculum framework enables it to be successfully adapted for a variety of settings, languages and cultures. Schools founded on the principles and example of the first Waldorf School (Stuttgart 1919), can be found around the world, including every inhabited continent. What started as a central European curriculum has been modified by applying its essential principles to the education of children in -the Americas, many parts of Africa, the Middle East, India and the Far East, as well as most of the rest of Europe.

Course Outline

Sophia 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
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Tasks and Assignments for Art of Teaching Waldorf Grade 8 /AoT85

Please 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.

1. Study the material provided and look up other resources as needed and appropriate.
2. Create examples of curriculum that addresses the learning method and content appropriate for grade 8 as follows, Curriculum examples should include outlines and goals, activities, circle/games, stories, and illustrations/drawings:
2.1. Create 2 examples that relate to "Speaking and Listening" for grade 8.
2.2. Create 2 examples that relate to "Narrative Content and Reading Material" for grade 8.
2.3. Create 2 examples that relate to "Grammar" for grade 8.
2.4. Create 2 examples that relate to "Writing and Reading" for grade 8.
3. Additionally submit comments and questions, if any.

Please send your completed assignment via the online form or via email.

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Study Material for this Lesson

English Language and Literature/Class 7​ and 8

Class 7

Speaking and ListeningIn keeping with the pupils' awakening sense of their  own personality, it is now important in the lessons  that the teacher should begin to reveal something  of his or her own personal relationship to lyric  poetry, including modern lyric poetry. If some of  the pupils are also beginning to have preferences  for good poems and poets, these are also included  in the lessons as recitation material.

Narrative Content and Reading Material

Texts are chosen which widen the children's  horizons with regard to other peoples and cultures.  The history main -lessons provide an orientation for  text material, especially stories related to the Age  of Discovery and the Renaissance. The pupils are  encouraged to read around the subjects that relate  to the main -lesson and to do some independent  research into topics that support the classroom  work. They are also encouraged to read widely, both non - fiction and works of literature. Short book  summaries which the pupils either give as verbal or  written reports help stimulate interest and prompt  others in the class to extend their reading.

Grammar

By and large there is considerable flexibility within  the curriculum for Classes 7 and 8. Many of the  topics here described can be done in either class.  As usual in his Three Lectures on the Curriculum,  Steiner is direct and specific with his advice for this  class.

One must try to develop in the child, in  sentence building, a truly plastic capacity  for giving expression to wish, wonder and  surprise. The child should form sentences  which really do bear an inner relationship to  the form of the feeling itselfY

However, Steiner advised against 'mistreating  poems or other literature' for this purpose.  The children are asked to express 'a wish'  or 'something they admire' and then try to  formulate this in suitable sentences, 'Then, by  comparing the sentence expressing a wish with  one expressing wonder, one brings to light the  inner formative power in the language and  develops it further.'32

Grammatically you first draw attention to the  difference between a purely indicative statement  'J want ... ' and a subjunctive one 'If only I had ... "  'If only I could ... ', 'If only I were able ... ', 'If only  it would ... : You look at how you can intensify  the indicative statement by means of adverbs: 'J  so very much want ... : The interesting auxiliary  verbs 'to be able to', 'to have to', 'to want to' etc. are  brought to the fore. In expressions of astonishment or admiration the contrast between a statement-  clause and a feeling-clause initially worked with  in the first grammar main-lesson in Class 3 now  reappears, but at a much higher level.

There is an educational concern that can be  recognised in all this. To wish, to be astonished,  to admire - these are expressions of feelings  familiar to pupils in Class 7. When such feelings  are raised into consciousness in the apparently  neutral realm of language, they begin to realise  how close wishing is to immoderate or unrealistic  desire, or how astonishment and admiration could  turn into fascination or being 'carried away: The  full palette of moods and their combinations can  be explored in their linguistic expression; wonder  and devotion; astonishment with a hint of fear or  with scepticism; shock leading to fear or shock  leading to humour; urges and desires as opposed to  longing; encouragement with a hint of challenge;  denial as renunciation or sacrifice or denial as  self-defence; resignation with acceptance, or  resignation with regret or even ill will. There are  many such examples of soul moods which can be  explored thus helping the young adolescents to  begin to map out the contours of their inner life  and given their feelings words.

Understanding sentence structure is important  for the same reasons as those just described. The  conventions of word order can be almost endlessly  modified to imply subtly different meanings."  The meta-level of meaning is deeply interesting to  pupils at this age. That is to say, they are interested  in individualising what they say, finding their own  voice and style and also being able to hide behind  the mask of language so as not to reveal their own  inner feelings.

One can show that in its moods (imperative,  indicative, and subjunctive) the sentence expresses  the standpoint of bodily-sense immediacy, of balanced inner action, and of ideal, spiritual  possibility and potential.

Another aspect of this exploration of the use of  language is to explore the realm of metaphor and  imagery in which pictures are used to represent  other implicit experiences. The progression  from concrete experience of words in relation to  concepts in the Lower School is transformed into  metaphorical meaning. The poetic expression  the moon was a ghostly galleon, can assume little  metaphorical significance if the listener has not  first learned to associate concrete images with  each of these words, moon, ghostly, galleon. The  same is true of poetic usage that relies more on  the sense impressions of the sound of the words,  such as where the wind's like a whetted knife. The  pupils first have to have been immersed in the  aural experience of the pure sounds, especially in  eurythmy before the full force of the poetry can  be experienced. Expressionist images such as Ted  Hughes' line, 'The wind flung a magpie away and a  black-backed gull bent like an iron bar slowly', rely  for their effectiveness on direct sensory experience  of wind, magpies and seagulls as well as the  metaphorical power of word sounds and images.

In Classes 7 and 8 such aspects of poetry can  be brought to expression through speaking and  listening. It is not necessary yet to analyse form  and function and aesthetic principles. That should  come in the Upper School. At this stage language as  a phenomenon needs to be experienced. The other  side of this is practising the craft of writing. That  means getting punctuation right. It means finding  the right formal techniques for different purposes,  be they letters to the bank manager, accurate eye-  witness accounts of real events, factual summaries,  commentaries, notes and so on.
Writing and Reading (and Essay Writing)There will be little change as far as essay writing is  concerned, but a new aspect can be introduced. In  answer to a question in one of his meetings with  teachers, Steiner suggested on the spur of the  moment:

Essays on subjects such as 'the steam engine,  a witness to human strength', immediately  followed by 'the steam engine, a witness to  human weakness'. Give them subjects like  this in quick succession,"

Though we would not necessarily take this  suggestion literally, the implication is clear. The  point is to look at issues of historical or social  relevance from contrasting angles, and perhaps  even weigh one against the other. The pupils need to  work on how to observe existing facts and consider  what can be said that directly relates to these. Both  in writing and orally the children need to give  accurate descriptions of processes, events and  other observations. The children should be given  guidance on essay writing style. 'Use their mistakes  to show them what is correct, also stylistlcally' was Steiner's advice.

Class 8

Speaking and Listening


On the whole what was suitable for Class 7 continues  to be in order for Class 8. The content is best prepared  in advance or brought in 'incidentally' while the  poem is being learnt, so that the recitation can be  effective through the poem's overall artistic form  rather than weighed down by questions of meaning.

Themes should relate to the other main-lessons  such as modern history and should contain a strong  biographical and emotional content. Examples include Survivors, by Alan Ross, Ghosts, Fire, Water,  by James Kirkup, Bayonet Charge, by Ted Hughes, I,  Too Sing America, by Langston Hughes.

Narrative Content and Reading Material

This follows the point mentioned above,  biographies, historical texts and novels portraying  aspects of modern history.

Steiner repeatedly emphasised the suitability of  certain works for thirteen to fourteen year olds by  Schiller, Herder or Goethe. Of course only brief  extracts were suggested. In English one might draw  on quality literature from the nineteenth century,  Dickens, Melville, Hardy, or passages from non-  fiction works such as Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle,  Thoreau's The Natural Man, extracts from Chief  Seattle's Speech, the opening lines of Jefferson's  Declaration of Independence, passages from Tom  Pain's Rights of Man, or Martin Luther King's  speeches. When the pupils are carefully introduced  to the language of those times without any pressure  or hurry, they feel they are being taken seriously.  They sense that their thoughts can gain wider  dimensions on the basis of these unaccustomed  modes of expression and that new fields are  becoming accessible to them. They can then  approach other prose literature more critically with  the powers and skills they have thus developed.  The pupils are encouraged to research their own  individual interests and this can become a project  for the whole year, culminating in a written and  verbal presentation.

Class 8 can also now make its first acquaintance  with a major drama production. They will of  course have performed plays as a class throughout the class teacher period. The difference in Class  8 is the level of 'professionalism' that should be  striven for. The way must be paved with a lot  of preparation if this is to be a full theatrical  experience. It is important for the teacher to  first tell the story of the action before getting the  children to take different parts and reading the  scenes. If a piece of classical drama is chosen,  the unaccustomed style of the language will be  more easily assimilated in the overall story and  the characters are already living in the pupils'  imaginations. It is still possible at this age for the  class teacher to write or adapt their own play, with  parts and themes tailored to the class' needs and  abilities. Though perhaps lacking in high literary  merit such ventures have the major advantage  of being suited to a particular group of pupils.  In terms of casting, it is also still appropriate  to cast pupils in roles through which they will  have a positive challenge to develop aspects  of their personality. Giving the leading roles  to those most theatrically gifted may lead to a  more polished performance but may miss many  opportunities for pedagogical development. In  the Upper School it is more appropriate to cast  plays according to ability in the service of the play.  In the Middle School the play serves the cast as a  social community.

Grammar

Sentence structure can be analysed from the  perspective of style and sample sentences can  be written in different styles to emphasise  various elements or create a range of moods, e.g.  epic, descriptive, lyric, dramatic, questioning,  commanding, legal, nonsense, satirical, obscure.  Meter, rhythm and rhyme can be studied and  applied to the pupil's own poetic efforts.

Conditional sentences and if clauses can  be introduced to describe chance situations,  expectations, possibilities, theoretical or impossible  situations or putting oneself in another person's  situation. All of which help the self-preoccupied  adolescent to see other perspectives, empathise or  even speculate about others. The work in Class 7  on figures of speech such as metaphor, analogy,  simile, proverb can be continued and discussed  in connection with style. Each of these forms  expresses a complex situation in the form of a  picture. Qualities familiar in one area of life can  shed light on other, apparently unrelated, areas.  Apart from deepening a sense for language quality  and extending vocabulary at a time when young  people are losing their connection to the language,  of their environment, such figures of speech open  up the meta-levels of ideals and ideas as realities.  Of course the abuse of words equally belongs here  in the discussion of cliche, jargon, euphemism,  slang and swear words. At this age one can discuss  the brutal, sexist and racist attitudes that common  swear words imply.

Idiomatic speech forms can be studied, using  extracts from literature to exemplify them. The  richness of phrasal verbs, in particular can be  explored (turn in, turn up, turn on, turn out, turn  down, etc.).

There is another very attractive aspect of  language and literature that is also connected with  'interest in other people', one that has not been  touched on by many other education writers.  Steiner pointed to this in 1922 when he suggested  that one might enter into the 'characteristic, moral images in the style. This  can take you a long way. For example look at  a reading passage from the point of view of  the temperaments. I do not mean the content, but the style. You can speak of a melancholic  style or a choleric style. Take no notice of the  content or even the poetic content and look  solely at sentence structure.'

This poses a double task for the teacher. First  you have to awaken the pupils' sense for the four  temperaments by means of simple descriptions or  examples. Then it is a matter of finding reading  material in which one or other of the temperaments  really does show up in the sentence structure. These  are to be found, though not easily (Edward Lear's  Limericks provide some examples). By questioning  and testing what are the style elements that make a  text phlegmatic, choleric, sanguine or melancholic,  the pupils are led to yet another angle from which  to look at sentence structure. In our experience this  is a relatively unresearched field.

Writing and Reading (and Essay Writing)

​The pupils can now be encouraged to research  topics and give short talks to the class. The teacher  can advise them about sources and literature.  Among many other possibilities, the discussions  on the temperaments can provide stimulating  ideas for essays. Such discussions can take the  form of formal debates where a topic is chosen and  individuals argue for or against a given position.  Such topics should have a close relation to reality,  yet leave the pupils open to argue a case they do not  necessarily support. This is an aspect of advocacy  that has important moral and social functions.  The ability to represent someone else's situation or  view to the best of your ability is an important skill.  Drama exercises are also fertile ground at this age  for practising self-expression.

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