Waldorf Education Works
Waldorf Schools offer a distinctive pedagogy that often garners national and local media attention for its unique and innovative characteristics. At the core of Waldorf education are principles of child development that have inspired many commentators' attention in the national discussion on how we learn and how to best teach our children. Waldorf schools demonstrate the effectiveness of teaching that focuses on learning through the body, through movement, storytelling, observation and in social interactions at a simpler, awe-inspiring, and care-filled pace that focuses the child's attention on excellence, beauty, intuitiveness and discipline. These characteristics instill rigor, confidence, motivation, independence, and a lifelong love of learning in our students.
Articles on Education Supporting Waldorf Principles:
Kids in Nature
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How We LearnThe October 6th New York Times ran an article entitled "Better Ways To Learn." The article goes in-depth to explore How We Learn, and the author summed up many primary principles that mirror the way that Waldorf curriculum and classroom experiences approach learning. Learning is an actively engaging process of repetition, interpretation and reiterations. Here are excerpted concepts from the article that are ALSO foundational principles in Waldorf education:
Read the full NYTimes article here. Written by Tara Parker-Pope for the New York Times / the "Well Column" / Illustration by Stuart Bradford PLAY http://aeon.co/magazine/culture/children-today-are-suffering-a-severe-deficit-of-play/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/01/19/letting-kids-move-in-class-isnt-a-break-from-learning-it-is-learning/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg-GEzM7iTk |
Service Threets is a core learning experience at all Waldorf schools that students practice penmanship, they learn cursive, and use their handwriting skills to create their own curriculum Block Books (rather than using pre-printed textbooks). The benefit of MANUAL LEARNING is also taken up in traditional Waldorf handwork classes where students learn woodworking, knitting, hand felting and many other processes of manipulating natural forms and materials. Many contemporary studies in education and science, reports from neuroscscientists, academics, child psychologists and child development experts have been promoting the benefits of physical movement and kinesthetic learning (that is, learning through the body & making with your hands). http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?emc=eta1&_r=2 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/memory-medic/201303/why-writing-hand-could-make-you-smarter http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/opinion/sunday/architecture-and-the-lost-art-of-drawing.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1346673671-YdvnVwsDCrtegESubC36+w |