The Incredible Shrinking Class Teacher
A Streaming Online Course with Eugene Schwartz
The Course is Pre-recorded and Includes Over 7 Hours of Lectures
and a 40-minute Video
October 20 through October 22
Tuition: $150
Although our course title might sound like science fiction, rest assured that the issues this course addresses are not imaginary! Far more than any other issue facing the North American Waldorf movement, the role and mission of the Class Teacher will determine the future of Waldorf education on our continent and around the world. The twenty-first century has witnessed the steady diminution of the Class Teacher's status in many schools, a tendency that runs parallel with the many challenges being leveled at the Waldorf curriculum. In these lectures Eugene Schwartz contends that the eight-year term of the Class Teacher is an essential element in Steiner's vision of an education that would serve children, families, and teachers alike.
Note: The illustrations accompanying the lecture and video descriptions are plates from the eighth grade Geometry in Nature main lesson block.
Note: The illustrations accompanying the lecture and video descriptions are plates from the eighth grade Geometry in Nature main lesson block.
Lecture 1
The Class and the Curriculum:
A Continuity of Consciousness
Why was the role played by Class Teacher one of the first attributes of Waldorf education instituted by Rudolf Steiner? At a time when increasing specialization was the hallmark of modern industry and science, the Waldorf school presented generalization as its most salient point. With this question as our point of departure, we will explore the eight-year journey of the class teacher. We will begin our examination of the effects of contemporary challenges to both the tenure of the class teacher and the Waldorf curriculum itself.
[Running Time: 2 hours]
Lecture 2
The Class Teacher's Path:
The Pedagogical Law
Although Rudolf Steiner first presented the Pedagogical Law not to Waldorf practitioners but rather to a small group of curative educators, the revelatory quality of Steiner's discovery has powerful ramifications for the Class Teacher. In this lecture we not only describe the law and its effects in the classroom, but also offer practical advice on meeting the challenges it places before the teacher. We will also clarify why the Class Teacher, in particular, has a unique relationship to this Law and its effects.
[Running Time: 1 hour, 25 min]
Lecture 3
Class Teaching:
A Modern Path of Initiation
In the months following the end of the Great War, Rudolf Steiner came to recognize that the path of modern Initiation would no longer lead to a Mystery Temple but rather would be woven into the workplace. It was doubly appropriate, then, that a factory workplace would become the progenitor of a school that would be the setting for this new Initiation path. With the Waldorf curriculum as its map and the Class Teacher as its explorer, Waldorf students and their school will find renewal.
[Running Time: 2 hours, 30 min]
Lecture 4
Relationships:
The Alpha and the Omega
The forming of enduring relationships between students is a hallmark of Waldorf education. In this lecture we explore not only this "ur-relationship," but a host of parallel connections forged during the Class Teacher years: the relationships of teachers and children, teachers and parents, parents to parents, and teachers to teachers. It is the Class Teacher's task to help create and maintain this genuine and meaningful social network which, in turn, vivifies the child's classroom learning experiences.
[Running Time: 1 hour, 45 min]
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Video Presentation
Relationships:
The Core and the Source
"Relationships" is one of the Core Principles developed by the Pedagogical Section to form a bridge between private and public Waldorf schools in the United States. Although the word "relationships" is widely understood to be about connections formed by people with one another, in this video Eugene demonstrates that it actually underlies all the connections that children make, not least on the level of cognition and intellectual development. With this in mind, the role played by the Class Teacher cannot be overestimated.
[Running Time: 35 min]
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, sapien platea morbi dolor lacus nunc, nunc ullamcorper. Felis aliquet egestas vitae, nibh ante quis quis dolor sed mauris. Erat lectus sem ut lobortis, adipiscing ligula eleifend, sodales fringilla mattis dui nullam. Ac massa aliquet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, sapien platea morbi dolor lacus nunc, nunc ullamcorper. Felis aliquet egestas vitae, nibh ante quis quis dolor sed mauris. Erat lectus sem ut lobortis, adipiscing ligula eleifend, sodales fringilla mattis dui nullam. Ac massa aliquet.
