I can think of so many times with my last class when I presented the class with a challenge, matched them up in groups, and let them start figuring things out. The productive hum that fell over the class told me that there was some good working and thinking going on.

Most teachers have some of those positive experiences of middle school group work and many of us are looking for ways to create that happy, social, and hard-working environment in our classrooms.

Unfortunately, we also have those experiences when group work didn’t quite work out. Because as great as social group work is, it can go horribly awry, as well. There are some pretty big challenges to overcome when creating a healthy group work environment. Let’s talk about some of those challenges and how the teacher can face them.

Are you up for it?

As satisfying as a group learning experience can be, it takes work to manage. And it’s loud. And, honestly, sometimes I just don’t have the patience for it.

And you know what? That’s okay! Far better for me to be honest with myself about my patience level and save the group activity for another day, than to set some great activity in motion, only to find myself annoyed and grumpy with my students (who are just doing what I asked them to do.)

I’ve definitely had days when I didn’t ask myself this question before getting rolling with the activity and I had to pep talk myself through it. I’ll find myself getting irritated with the noise and feeling ready to pump the brakes and tell everyone to just be quiet. When I have the wherewithal to do it, I try to stop myself and look around. Invariably, everyone is engaged and working productively. They’re just making a lot of noise while they do it. I try to take a deep breath and let it go.

Is everyone learning?

This was a big hangup for me for a long time. I mean, if they’re working in small groups, how do I know that everyone in the group really gets it? There are bound to be some kids who will happily sit back and let others do most of the work.

I worry about this most when we’re working on a hard skill — like a math concept. Everyone is responsible for understanding the concept, and it’s my job to make sure they do.

But having all students participate in the group is important no matter what the project is. The last thing I want is for one of my students to come away with the understanding that it’s just fine to sit back and let others do the hard work while they relax.

For awhile I rationalized it by thinking that the positive experiences they were getting by working together out-weighed the potential for missing out on that individual skill-building. I’m no longer so satisfied with this, though. Instead, I’m thinking that it IS possible for students to be individually responsible AND work in a group.

This is the question I’m currently grappling with as I put together a possible group project for my fifth graders. They’re a little young to be able to handle the responsibility of making sure they all participate equally, so I’m thinking about what kind of structure I can build into the project to make sure everyone participates.

I’m thinking I could have defined roles with clearly structured tasks. I know that this might frustrate some kids, who would be more than happy to complete all of the tasks themselves, so I guess it’s a good learning experience all around.

How much are we working and how much are we socializing?

When I was a new teacher, I remember getting my students ready for a group project and at the mere mention of the word “group” they were already looking at each other like, “Woohoo! Par-tay!” I hadn’t learned the importance of setting them up for success and making sure that those group project times were WORKING times. They just couldn’t help themselves and they got carried away with the social aspect of the experience.

In those days, when I stopped to look around to check that everyone was working, they definitely weren’t! And I didn’t really know what to do about it. (Oh how grateful I am to have some experience under my belt!)

Now, as I prepare my current students for their first real group project (possibly, this is still in the planning stage) I’m thinking about the ways I can build in checkpoints so I can be sure that they’re striking a good balance between socializing and working.

• We’ll start with a short group work session and build up to longer periods over time.
• At the end of each session, each group and each individual student will reflect and share what they accomplished.
• We’re starting when they’re young enough that pleasing the teacher and following instructions still wins out over having fun with classmates.

I’m hoping that by starting out with these things in mind, my students will establish some good habits about group work and we’ll have many successful years of group projects ahead of us.

Are you teaching middle school? You might consider checking out some of my curriculum guides. Many of them include instructions for projects that can be done in small groups, including my 6th/7th Grade Astronomy Guide and 8th Grade Physics and Meteorology.

The post Group Learning in Waldorf Middle School appeared first on A Waldorf Journey.

This week we’re going to talk about child development. We’ve all heard about thinking, feeling, and willing of Waldorf education. This episode is all about where you can find thinking, feeling, and willing in child development and which aspect you should be focusing on when.

This episode is being brought to you by my curriculum guides, which you can find at my website awaldorfjourney.com/shop. I’ve got a variety of guides throughout the grades — Whether you’re teaching botany, rocks and minerals, physics or astronomy in the middle school; or consonants and vowels in first grade, I’ve got a guide that can help you out. Homeschoolers and classroom teachers in a variety of settings have found my guides to be helpful, so I hope you’ll check them out. And if you’re just wondering about how to go about setting up your main lesson structure, every guide includes my Main Lesson 101 material, which will break it all down for you. Just this information alone is really valuable, so you might consider purchasing a guide, just to help you get started with your planning. I really recommend either my Astronomy or my Rocks and Minerals guides — those subjects are just so fascinating and both of those guides give a really good picture of what it’s like to plan a Waldorf main lesson.

Again, you can find all of my guides at my website, www.awaldorfjourney.com/shop

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Content
0-7 — the willing phase
7-14 — the feeling phase
14-21 — the thinking phase

More information about my course The Practical Art of the Waldorf Classroom.

An image of the Waldorf approach to human development, sometimes called “the cosmic bathtub.”

The post Thinking, Feeling and Willing Through Child Development appeared first on A Waldorf Journey.

We never thought we’d be teaching our students online, and despite the fact that we may have been the least tech-savvy teachers on the planet, we’re doing it anyway. It’s a good thing we’re pretty good at thinking outside the box.

But I know what you’re thinking. Even though you don’t have in-person classroom management to worry about, and you can teach in yoga pants without anyone knowing, I know that you’re still up at night worrying. And I know those worries are not about yourself.

Like you, every now and then, when I lift my head out of the online sea, I think about what things will look like when the pandemic is over. Because yes, it may be hard to believe, but one day it will be over.

Of course, I think about the skills we’re currently working on via Zoom and I consider the learning gaps that may be opening up as we learn in that less-than-ideal format. And I think about the healthy classroom habits that will have had a VERY long break. I think about my students’ habit of striving to do their very best, a value that I’ve worked so hard to cultivate every day in the classroom. How much of that work will need to be repeated, reinforced, and reestablished?

But ultimately, I know that the work will be waiting for us. We’ll do all of that reviewing and rehashing. And I know that when we get back in the classroom, it will all come back like riding a bicycle.

But what about those kids who just don’t stick with us long enough to get there? As I’m sure you know, independent Waldorf schools are struggling. Across the country, enrollment is down, and schools that were once thriving communities are being forced to close their doors. Of course, this means teachers, administrators and staff lose their jobs. (By the way, if you are one of those teachers, my heart goes out to you. Let me know if you’re interested in substitute teaching via Zoom!)

But schools are just macrocosms that magnify the huge challenges that individual families are enduring. Every day I’m filled with gratitude for the families that have remained a part of our school community. This mama hen is quite pleased that all of her little chicks came back to the roost for this year. But I know it is at tremendous sacrifice, and I wonder how long it will last.

I just cross my fingers that they’ll all be there on that day when we do finally return to the in-person classroom. And when we get there, of course, the catch-up work will begin, but I have no doubt that we’ll also realize the blessings that came with this remarkable experiment. Here’s what I think a few of them will be.

Parent participation and involvement.

Waldorf parents are incredibly involved and active participants in their children’s education — and I mean that in the very best way. This spring, they were so involved that they delivered the lessons that I prepared. Now that we’re meeting on Zoom and I’m doing the teaching and supervising student progress, I’ve heard from more than a few parents who are adjusting to not being as connected with their child’s learning. I mean, many of them are very glad that they have time to get their own work done, but they’re also grateful for the opportunity to understand and help guide their child’s learning. How can we hold onto this golden nugget of parental engagement and involvement when we return to school?

Growing independence.

When we returned to school this year on Zoom, I was prepared to see that my students’ skills may have taken a step backward. I was pretty sure that some pretty unfortunate habits may have developed. And though there is some of that, the more optimistic side of that coin is that they are remarkably independent. These 9-year-olds have figured out how to navigate Google Classroom so that they can find their lessons, locate Zoom links and include attachments when they turn in assignments. They’ve figured out all of the super-fun intricacies of Zoom (profile photos, virtual backgrounds, and, of course, the chat feature.) And though I am definitely a teacher who likes to guide my students with authority, I have to appreciate the benefits of this independence. How much independence is appropriate for them to maintain when we return to school? I’m curious to explore that idea.

“All education is self-education.”

I’ve heard this quote attributed to Rudolf Steiner, Charlotte Mason and even Louis L’Amour. I don’t know who really said it first, but whoever it was had the right idea. Learning doesn’t really happen unless students are actively engaged, and the truth is, it is a whole lot harder to engage when you’re learning online. At the same time, once you’re engaged, it’s a whole lot easier to create your own path and explore your own interests. I have a feeling that some of my students are developing a habit of following their curiosities and taking their education in their own hands. Just today, after I left today’s story off at a cliff-hanger, a student said, “Ms. Floyd-Preston, that’s such a cliffhanger I want to go look it up and read the rest of the story.” Gotta love that enthusiasm, even though it means I won’t always be the keeper of the magic.

There is no replacement for human connection.

I think my biggest question as an educator is about the social learning that my students are missing during the pandemic. I consider this to be a huge aspect of my work, and it is SO strange not to spend SO much time every day helping students work out their difficulties.

After so many years in the classroom, I’ve seen a whole lot of growth come about because of those social difficulties. They may be hard in the moment, but I know those struggles serve my students.

But when we finally come back, will they have become so accustomed to social harmony that they won’t see the benefit of all of that challenging togetherness? Will they long for the days when they could comfortably laze about in their bedrooms, without worrying about interacting with others?

I think not. I actually think that this is the single most important lesson that the entire world is learning as we move through this pandemic. So I’ll say it again.

There is no replacement for human connection.

I mean, think of it. Not long ago, we all felt so satisfied with our human interactions that we took them for granted. We may have even argued that our virtual interactions, on Facebook and Instagram, were a pretty decent substitute for connecting in person.

Now, after months of meetings, happy hours, and birthday parties on Zoom, I can’t think of a single person who would say that those experiences are just as good as being together in person.

And now that our kids are a part of this digital world — much earlier than we ever thought they would be, we might worry that they’ll be just as seduced as we have been. Will they be so captivated by technology that it will replace their in-person lives?

Again, I think not. All of us, but these kids especially, are getting a real tough-love lesson about the value of human connection. No one knows better than these kids that on-screen interactions just can’t compete with the real thing.

I’m honestly curious to see how this phenomenon impacts their futures. Maybe we’ll see a big downturn in social media engagement when this whole thing is over.

What does this mean for learning?

As we explore new territory and find new ways of working, it’s no surprise that many people are starting to think about the possibilities that delivering curriculum online can create. I’ve had families connect to my Zoom classes while they’re vacationing on the coast or road-tripping in the national parks. Who’s to say I couldn’t deliver my lessons to a much wider audience all over the country, or the world?

And as exciting as these ideas are, we need to recognize that teaching is very different than delivering curriculum.

Teaching is about human interaction and understanding. Teaching is an art that requires connection, give and take. We need to recognize that our teachers are not just delivering curriculum, and this is what makes Waldorf Education so remarkable.

We Waldorf teachers pride ourselves on being masters of human understanding. We may not know all the intricacies of the content (we’re teaching a new subject every year, after all), but we are experts when it comes to the individual students who are in our classes.

It is this connection that keeps our families coming back year after year. And it is this connection that makes our students such willing, lively participants. You can bet that I tap into the knowledge that I have of my students any time I tell a story or teach a new phonics lesson. This job would be SO much harder without that understanding.

So, as exciting as it is to think about all of the children out there who could benefit from a Waldorf Education if we were to make it more widely available online, I don’t think we should fool ourselves that it would be the same.

You can deliver curriculum to students you don’t know. But teaching requires connection.

And thank goodness we’re all getting an opportunity to realize just how important it truly is.

The post Personal Connection | It’s What We’re All About appeared first on A Waldorf Journey.

There were a few things that made it hugely successful (and super fun!)

There was room for everyone.

On middle school overnight trips, I’ve always been pretty careful about the number of adult chaperones. Having lots of parents around can really diminish the sense of independence that is one of the greatest benefits of trips like this. On our backpacking trip in 6th grade, for example, we had about 6 adults leading our class of 24. It was just right.

But this trip was completely different. This was our first overnight trip — our first chance to spend the night with our classmates, away from our parents. A lot of students felt nervous about this, so for this trip only, any parent who wanted to come was welcome.

It did mean that plenty of kids had an adult pack up their belongings and carry them as we hiked to and from the lodge, but having all that parent help meant that kids were less stressed and could enjoy the trip more. We also just really needed that much support for this first trip. There’s plenty of time to work on independence.

In the end, there was a handful of students who did not have a parent along on the trip and they were just fine. Their parents knew they would be because they’re the kids who have had plenty of overnights and feel pretty comfortable on their own.

We got right to work.

We took a bus up the mountain and as soon as we got there we changed into snow gear and met the igloo workshop leader. There wasn’t time for kids to mess around and run around the lodge. We got right out into the snow. It was great.

The workshop leader was one of those fantastic, kid-friendly people who really knows their stuff. He’s worked with kids enough to know how to direct them in activities, when to give a little extra motivation and when to just let kids have fun in the snow.

My students listened really well because they knew he had a lot to teach them.

Then, once their igloos were built, they were full of ideas for improvements. They dug tunnels between igloos. Some students built walls and decorations around the igloos and when they were all done, we pulled out the sleds and had a great time.

Children slept.

One of my fellow teachers, who took the trip a few years ago, recommended a failsafe bedtime routine and it worked beautifully. Here’s how it went:

• The parents went downstairs to the dining room for some social time.
• All the children gathered in one room upstairs and got cozy.
• They laid down and I read to them.
• After the story was over, they tiptoed to their beds and snuck right in.
• I began playing the flute and walking around from room to room.
• After some time I stopped playing flute and just walked around, tucking kids in, rubbing backs and whispering to remind kids to rest.

It took about an hour, but after I read the story, kids were quiet and in their beds. Just a couple of times a couple of kids tried to snicker with their friends, but they were met with a firm NO, and rolled over and went to sleep.

I happen to have quite a few students who really love their sleep, and they were tired after a full day in the snow, so it all worked beautifully.

It also meant that the parents got to socialize, which was another really wonderful benefit of this trip.

The trip ended on a Friday.

I honestly don’t know what I would have done if we’d had school the next day. I’m fairly certain that many of my students wouldn’t have come anyway.

Ever since I once scheduled our 7th grade sailing trip to end on a Tuesday, I learned my lesson. Everyone needs a little bit of time to recover from a big trip like that and the last thing I want to do when I get home that night is plan a lesson!

On the whole, it was a fantastic trip, and one I highly recommend. And if you’re in Portland and want the contact info for the workshop leader, hit me up and I’ll send it your way.

The post Waldorf Grade Three Field Trip | Building Igloos appeared first on A Waldorf Journey.

How much screen time is okay?

What about educational shows?

Is it really that bad?

Will the Waldorf police come after me?

Making decisions about media use for your children is one of the most charged issues in Waldorf Education. There are so many shoulds that parents can feel completely unsupported in their decisions. That’s what this episode is all about.

This episode is being brought to you by my new course The Practical Art of the Waldorf Classroom. My Summer Productivity Course is winding down and I’m getting ready to lead a new group through a whole new set of topics all about the tasks Waldorf teachers need to think about while they’re in the classroom. Topics for my Practical Art course include:

• Rhythms and Routines
• Classroom Management, part 1 — engagement
• Classroom Management, part 2 — discipline
• Imagination in the Classroom
• Working with Parents
• Working with Students

You can also sign up for my free classroom management workshop, which goes live September 10. Just put y0ur email address below and you’ll be on the notification list.

Resources in this Episode

• Ben Klocek’s Website
• AWJ 12 | Managing Media and Screentime

The post AWJ 46 | Screen Time Reality Check: How to Make the Right Decision for Your Family appeared first on A Waldorf Journey.

Interested in knowing more about my evaluation and mentoring services? Click here.

One of the things I’ve been noticing in both my own and others’ classrooms is the importance of rhythm.

I remember when I first started teaching I felt like the two-hour-long main lesson was an absolute eternity! I thought, “How can I possibly fill two hours with meaningful content?!”

In those first few years, I certainly did fill the time with meaningful content, but I worked HARD to create those lessons. See, back in those days I didn’t understand the value of rhythm. Every two-hour lesson was brand new and created entirely from scratch. This took a TON of time every night!

It didn’t take me long to realize how much a healthy rhythm can help.

Why is rhythm important?

Now that rhythm is such a strong part of my teaching, I’ve realized why it is so valuable.

Rhythm is comforting for children.

When you have a consistent rhythm, your students know what is coming next. This puts them at ease as they move through the day. They like knowing when different activities will come up and they even begin to anticipate them.

Of course, I notice this most on the days that are out of rhythm. Whenever there is an assembly or a field trip, my students are thrown off and require a lot more of my attention and direction. Inevitably there are more squabbles, more boundary-pushing and more mistakes. (Or should I say “growth opportunities”?)

Rhythm makes classroom management easier.

When students can anticipate activities, they don’t need you to instruct and remind. For example, every day my students play flute after circle. It has become such a consistent part of our routine that as soon as they return to their desks after circle, they begin taking out their flutes and getting ready to play. I don’t have to say a word!

As a parent, I have used rhythm for those tasks that my children find tedious or unpleasant. There were lots of examples from when they were little, but these days I have teenagers and I’ve found rhythm just as useful. For awhile my son was avoiding working on his SAT prep materials. We realized we needed to establish a rhythm around it so it would consistently happen. We tied the rhythm to dinner (which has to happen every night) to make it even easier.

Rhythm makes lesson prep SO much easier.

Now that rhythm is such a strong part of my lessons, they are so much easier to plan! In fact, all but about 20 minutes of every 2-hour lesson is held by a rhythm. Those 20 minutes are my daily story or new content time. There’s no way around preparing that every night. But luckily, it’s the part of the lesson that I find most interesting. (Want to read more about my block prep? Click through to read this post.)

The rest of the lesson is filled with rhythm that follows a consistent pattern. The specifics need refreshing now and then, and I usually give my attention to this weekly.

Here’s a look at my current rhythm, as an example.

Opening/Warm-Up — 20 minutes

• Outside jump-rope (same all year)
• Handshake, greeting songs, verse (same all year)
• Housekeeping — attendance, schedule (same all year)

Artistic Work — 15 minutes

• Circle Activities — folk dance, seasonal poem, beanbags, movement exercises (refreshed with a new activity approximately weekly)
• Flute (a new song once/month or so)

Practice Activities — 20 minutes

• New phonics rule or math concept refreshed weekly, activities vary according to the day of the week. Sometimes daily prep is necessary to create the practice activity (if written). I usually only do a written activity if we are not doing a main lesson page that day.

Review/Bookwork — 20 minutes

• Remember the previous day’s new material. Work with that material in some way, usually a main lesson page (drawing or writing). Daily prep required to create the page.

New Content — 20 minutes

This is the part of the lesson that requires the most daily prep, but as I mentioned, it is my favorite. I love figuring out the story I’m going to tell, taking notes on it and preparing to tell it to the class.

Now, if you’re counting up the minutes, you’ll see this totals about an hour and a half. These times are definitely estimates. Usually it is the warm-up that takes us a little bit longer. I also really love doing artistic work with my students, so that sometimes goes long, as well. And if I don’t go long that just means we get a little extra time for snack and recess. Yay!

I go into a lot more detail about lesson prep in my Curriculum Planning E-Course. If you feel overwhelmed about planning that 2 hour lesson and want a little more handholding, this course is for you.

So how much do I prep?

So, because of this strong daily rhythm, my prep rhythm looks like this.

• Monthly — map out the block, decide which stories to tell, which phonics to focus on, etc. A lot of this work is figured out in the summer.
• Weekly — Bring one new artistic/movement activity; consider phonics rule for the week, map out activities, sample words, etc. This takes me about two hours on a Sunday afternoon. I sit at the piano and figure out melodies, create clapping rhythms, etc.
• Daily — Prepare new content and bookwork or practice activity. This takes 1-2 hours/day. I often do this at home in the morning before school. I like to get up early and linger over my coffee.

The other thing to mention, of course, is that because I have built such a nice rhythm around this work in my own life, I enjoy it more and it doesn’t feel like work. See, rhythm is good for grown-ups, too.

I share a lot more specifics about the rhythms and content I use in my block-by-block curriculum guides. I currently have guides available for 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades. Lots of good information there!

Where is rhythm really strong in your life? What are the moments that could be made easier by the power of rhythm? Let’s chat in the comments!

The post Rhythm: The Waldorf Teacher’s Secret Weapon appeared first on A Waldorf Journey.