12.3.24 - Cupcake wars and being a Steiner Teacher

There are many myths in Steiner Education about Steiner Education. I won't go into them, but what I will do is the whole best practise thing. For posterity.

Read as many books by Steiner and containing Steiner lectures as you can. 

This is to REALLY try your best to understand Steiner's view of not just the human being, but also the philosophy behind anthropology. There are no perfect views, and Steiner's view is just ONE view, but I find it particularly useful given the crises facing humanity now and it has many ways in which we can try and make the world a better, more authentic place. Namely, in education, by allowing our children to be who they are, while equipping them with basic skills such as literacy and numeracy. To discover the wonder and privilege of being a human being. And the responsibility which comes along with that.

Books which are very important are Occult Science, Knowledge of Higher Worlds, Man the Symphony, Education of Teachers and The Study of Man.

If you can, you should also read around the Festivals.

Rhythm

Rhythm is EVERYTHING. If you set it right in Class 1 you will be riding it for the rest of the seven years.

This including clapping games, bean bags, skipping, and the rhythm of the day. The rhythm carries the children, it helps them to feel safe, to know what comes next, to develop a sense of time and space.

I began clapping and bean bag games in Class 1 and they now use those games to learn the tables and develop their cognative skills.

Main Lesson

The whole Main Lesson vs Practice Lesson thing is no longer practicable after Class 2. By the time the children are in Class 3, the Main Lesson bit should be about an hour to 45 minutes a day. In Class 3, the ABSOLUTE priority in maths is the learning of time tables. This MUST be done every day. The other ABSOLUTE priority is the nailing down of the Four Operations. Especially addition and subtraction up to 5 places, and multiplication up to 3 places. Long division needs to be introduced and then practised, especially in the last term.

I feel like I have so much I have understood and really grown as a teacher about. I am like a captain who has now sailed in these waters before and I know the maps. It's pretty cool.