Summer 2024 Waldorf Deepening Offerings

introduction to Waldorf education

This is an excellent opportunity for new teachers, assistants and part-time staff at Waldorf schools, Waldorf school board members, Waldorf parents or others who are interested in Waldorf education. The Introduction to Waldorf Education Course is an immersive experience in which participants experience both learning about the philosophy behind Waldorf teaching methods and experience Waldorf instruction as if they were journeying through the grades as students.

This course includes an experiential, participatory introduction to music, eurythmy, games, curative movement, storytelling, Waldorf curriculum, human development, and anthroposophy.

Each class is offered with an engaging and lively approach.

deepening Waldorf teaching practice

This course is intended to build your personal experience and skills for your own development and enhancement of teaching practice. These courses are not an overview of curriculum, but about building personal capacities in specific areas. All sessions will be geared towards increasing a sense of teachers’ confidence in bringing experiences to their class teaching or other work with students.

These classes are appropriate for individuals who have completed our Introduction to Waldorf Education Course or Waldorf teacher training previously. Those who are new to Waldorf education or teaching are encouraged to sign up for the Introduction to Waldorf Education Course.

The two weeks will include daily music, eurythmy, and anthroposophical study and learning for all participants. In addition, participants will choose two of the following enriching activities:

• Mornings:Music / Curative Movement / Teaching History through the Waldorf Main Lesson
• Afternoons:Speech / Visual Arts / Leadership in Waldorf Schools (this is intended for those serving in leadership roles in their school communities)

Through singing and instrument exploration we will deepen our experience with music, both as a method of self-expression and as a way to form meaningful connection to community. We will work to establish comfort, appreciation, and basic understanding of the workings of our individual voices. We will spend time exploring pentatonic flutes and recorders, as well as percussion instruments. We will also look at strategies for song preparation, whether for your class or your own enjoyment. Come explore, sing, and play your way to a richer musical experience in the classroom and beyond.

Misti Moberly has been a voice and music teacher for 15 years. She is currently a class teacher at Wasatch Charter School, and will be graduating her 8th grade class this spring. Misti also enjoys spending time with her family, being outside, and singing with the Utah Chamber Artists.

Robert Macdonald has been playing instruments, writing songs, and performing music for over 25 years. A folk musician at heart, over the years Robert has unexpectedly succumbed to multi-instrumentalist madness, playing several types of flutes and banjos, bagpipes, and guitar. In his seven years as a Waldorf class teacher this variety has served him well. He is passionate about music-making and finds incredible fulfillment in singing songs with his students.

How does our speech instrument become instrumental for the journey into self and world?
Person in NYC stops someone to ask the way to Carnegie Hall. The reply: “Practice, practice, practice.”

There are several dozen speech exercises from Rudolf Steiner for teachers. All are ‘task-specific’: articulation, fluency, breath, voice placement, for the different poetic styles (epic, lyric, dramatic), recitation, declamation, and more. We will get to know some of these exercises as they become user-friendly for us. This will also be an exploration of ‘speech exercises’ for the classroom: How do we ‘liberate’ them from being just ‘tongue-twisters’? We’ll do a little journey of goals and methods for each of them. – These sessions will also be a chance to prepare poetry pieces for your daily speech practice during the first few weeks of the new school year. – And we will turn to some inspiring insights that Steiner shared with teachers for this educational movement for cultural renewal – i.e. for us today.

Helen Lubin has been working with Waldorf schools, adult education and therapeutic speech arts for 35 years. Founded Speech Arts in Waldorf Schools in North America to further this integral component of Waldorf education. Helen has done some 250 ‘speech visits’ to over 55 North American Waldorf schools, working with classes, teachers, individual students, office staff and parents. Camphill Seminar in Curative Education, and 10 years’ experience in this field, also as class teacher. BA Special Educational Studies; BS Speech Pathology and Audiology; 
MA Human Development; certified TESOL instructor; freelance editor/translator.

This will be an exploration of visual arts through multiple mediums. It will include exercises designed to improve your own capacity to draw and engage artistically, as well as activities that may be done with students.

Alexa Buchanan is an artist and potter as well as a class teacher at Wasatch. She has been creating art for decades, personally and professionally. She teaches pottery and eighth grade.

If you are looking for a one-size-fits-all recipe for using curative movement in your classroom, then you will need to look elsewhere! But, if instead you are curious about how to use curative education to bring healing through your teaching, or you've already brought some curative movement to your students and want to hone your ability to meet their needs, or perhaps you need help "making curative work" in a large class, then you are in the right place. This class will be highly participatory and active, so bring your stories of children and teaching, and come dressed to move.

Annemarie Goslow is a Waldorf and Curative-trained teacher, with over a decade of experience with Curative Education both in large mainstream Waldorf classes, and in smaller environments for children needing something more. She was a teacher at Mulberry Classroom for four years before coming to Wasatch Waldorf to join the Lotus Classroom, and continues to work closely with Robyn Brown and the Mulberry Center in her work as a class teacher.

This course will explore the approach to bring history and social studies through Waldorf pedagogy. This will include an emphasis on story-telling and the mood of each grade, main lesson books, and a developmental approach. This course will satisfy the requirements for the Wasaatch APPEL program

This will be an exploration of key aspects of collaborative leadership in Waldorf schools. It is intended for those actively working in school administration, mentoring, or other leadership roles in their school

Raven Garland has many years of Waldorf experience. She trained in eurythmy at the Eurythmy School of Spring Valley in NY and at the Therapeutic Eurythmy Training in North America, NY. She taught as a class teacher and eurythmy teacher at the Wasatch Waldorf Charter School for six years. She is currently working at the Lakota Waldorf School on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

Emily is the founder and director at Wasatch Charter School. She has completed a Masters in Education, Waldorf teachers training, and is presently completing an EdD in Waldorf education and studying eurythmy in Holland. Whenever she can, amid these other responsibilities, she finds opportunities to work with children, including teaching games and literacy, substituting in a class, and, presently, teaching second grade part-time at the International Waldorf School in The Hague.