Painting Research
Painting in the Waldorf Schools is not an isolated class, but an integrated part of the whole curriculum. Students will choose and develop a theme from the curriculum to explore through painting. The process of deepening and enlivening themes from the curriculum offers an insight into how the Waldorf teacher address the child's changing consciousness as it unfolds, stage by stage. This course will also offer the student further insight into the nature of color and experience working through practical aspects of painting.
Curriculum Drawing 5 -8
Blackboard drawing, as well as further practice in the different techniques applied in Waldorf schools, will be our focus.
Recorder II
We will continue to develop the skills learned in Recorder I with an emphasis on the capacity to sight-read simple tunes with confidence and to explore more complicated key signatures and time signatures. In addition to recorder materials one would use in the classroom, we also play material for adult beginners to experience the joy of playing music together in class.
Handwork
Dexterity of hand often translates itself into practical classroom applications, and therefore is of the essence for prospective teachers.
Speech
The new art of creative speech seeks to involve language with the poetic element that naturally belongs to it. Healthy breathing techniques and fundamentals of poetry will be included. Individual instruction and independent practice will also be required. There is an emphasis on the three speech elements in order to establish style in recitation and storytelling.
TDII - Pedagogical Conceptual Courses
Man as a Symphony
Discussion of these lectures will provide the context for examining the study of zoology, botany, mineralogy, biology and geography in the context of ecology. Course work will include block and lesson planning.
Waldorf Administration for Teachers
This course will explore aspects of working administratively in a Waldorf School. Topics will include Rudolf Steiner's three-fold social order in society and its relationship to Waldorf education, leadership styles and decision making models, Waldorf School "self-administration," evaluation, mentoring and supervision, communication and working with conflict. Special attention will be given to the anthroposophical and spiritual task of administration in a Waldorf School. The course will not prescribe how to manage or administer a school; rather engage participants' thinking towards the question of how a school organization functions as a living organism.
Foundations of Educational Support
This course is intended to help future teachers to detect and deal with possible learning difficulties in students ranging from early childhood through high school, with the concentration on the early grades and solutions that can be done for the whole class. This will be done keeping in mind the development of the child according to Rudolf Steiner, via movement, reading, drawing and painting.
Science
In this course we will study the science blocks taught in Waldorf schools from grades 1-8, with emphasis on physics, chemistry, and the earth sciences in grades 6-8. Stress will be placed upon what is meant by "the phenomenological approach" to science, and how one practically unfolds this approach in class. Attention will be given to what is age-appropriate, and developmentally necessary. We will explore samples of lesson content from each block, teacher preparation, lesson structure, and appropriate expectations and evaluation of student work. Participants will be asked to prepare a sample three-fold lesson from one of the blocks covered in the course.
Block Rotation and Lesson Planning
This course is focused on deepening the student's understanding of principles of block and lesson planning. Each student will present a plan that they will use in their teaching practice. Key ideas from the Study of Man, Practical Advice to Teachers, Discussions with Teachers and the Child Development class will be referred to. Course work will be focused on presentation and discussion. Each student will be required to keep a binder detailing his or her plans and discussion notes.
Teacher Development II Observation
Additionally, 24 hours of classroom observation are required for teacher development II student. Six weeks of student teaching are also required to complete the training.
TEACHER DEVELOPMENT II
