Waldorf Methods/Reading and Math 3
Introduction
Language is our most important means of mutual understanding and is therefore the primary medium of education. It is also a highly significant formative influence in the child’s psychological and spiritual development and its cultivation is central to the educational tasks of Steiner/Waldorf education. It is the aim of the curriculum to cultivate language skills and awareness in all subjects and teaching settings. Clearly the teaching of the mother tongue has a pivotal role within the whole education.
Mathematics in the Waldorf school is divided into stages. In the first stage, which covers the first five classes, mathematics is developed as an activity intimately connected to the life process of the child, and progresses from the internal towards the external. In the second stage, covering classes 6 to 8, the main emphasis is on the practical. Course Outlines
Waldorf Methods/Reading and Math 1
Lesson 1: Introduction Lesson 2: Reading/1st Grade Lesson 3: Reading/2nd Grade Lesson 4: Reading/3rd Grade Lesson 5: Math/1st Grade Waldorf Methods/Reading and Math 2 Lesson 1: Math/2nd Grade Lesson 2: Math/3rd Grade Lesson 3: Reading/4th Grade Lesson 4: Reading/5th Grade Lesson 5: Reading/6th Grade Waldorf Methods/Reading and Math 3 Lesson 1: Math/4th Grade Lesson 2: Math/5th Grade Lesson 3: Math/6th Grade Lesson 4: Reading/7th and 8th Grade Lesson 5: Math/7th and 8th Grade |
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Tasks and Assignments for Waldorf Methods/Reading and Math 3.4.
Please study and work with the study material provided for this lesson. 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 the age group in question 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 this age group.
2.2. Create 2 examples that relate to "Narrative Content and Reading Material" for this age group.
2.3. Create 2 examples that relate to "Grammar" for this age group.
2.4. Create 2 examples that relate to "Writing and Reading" for this age group.
3. Additionally submit comments and questions, if any.
Please send your completed assignment via the online form or via email.
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 the age group in question 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 this age group.
2.2. Create 2 examples that relate to "Narrative Content and Reading Material" for this age group.
2.3. Create 2 examples that relate to "Grammar" for this age group.
2.4. Create 2 examples that relate to "Writing and Reading" for this age group.
3. Additionally submit comments and questions, if any.
Please send your completed assignment via the online form or via email.
Study Material for Waldorf Methods/Reading and Math Lesson 3.4.
English Language and Literature/Class 7 and 8
Class 7
Speaking and Listening
In 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.