| Building Perspective in the Seventh Grade by Nicole Krauch, Class of 2006 Sitting in a classroom of adults, discussing Steiner's ideas about how the Waldorf curriculum is developmentally appropriate for the children is one thing. Sitting and participating in a Waldorf classroom and experiencing how the curriculum is meeting the children developmentally is quite a different thing. My time in the seventh grade classroom at the Marin Waldorf School has given me the "Aha!" experience that I needed. After a couple of days of keeping their distance from me, the students were very inquisitive about who I was. The kinds of questions they asked were different from the kinds of questions that the third graders had asked me in my practicum the year before. The seventh graders asked, "Do you really want to be a Waldorf teacher? What kind of music do you like? Are you married? Did you vote for Bush in the elections? Did you always want to be a teacher?" These kinds of questions gave me an idea of what was going on inside of these students. Also, they gave commentary to their questions; "Don't be a Waldorf teacher. It's too hard," or "I like rap and hip-hop music only." They also informed me about each of their peers. One girl announced, "Maria is the neatest girl in the class." Another girl told me in confidence that "Mark's mind is demented." These seventh graders had opinions and perspectives that I would never have heard in the third grade. The seventh graders' ideas were emerging more from their individuality than from the group or the teacher. In their questioning, they not only gave me a picture of what kind of person they were to ask that particular question, but they also showed me that they were beginning to form a larger world-picture in their head. In the forming of a broader world-view, they were also trying to see where they fit in. Steiner describes these middle years as a time when the individual can hold a memory of his past as well as have a sense about the future. I was overwhelmed with the truth of this statement in my practicum with the seventh grade. In order to meet the developmental needs of the seventh grader, the Waldorf curriculum is centered on perspective-building. For instance, the Age of Explorers is one of the main lesson blocks that I was able to experience. Even though some of the lectures were almost an hour long, the majority of students were completely absorbed with the topic. I was impressed with their ability to take the perspective of both the explorers and the natives of the various "discovered" lands. Their questions were rich. Agda asked, "How did the explorers know that they crossed the equator?" In order to ask this question Agda must have been able to visualize herself on an explorer's ship. On one of the days the students had a debate arguing whether or not the explorers benefited the world. They were able to argue both sides pretty well, backing up their statements with facts and even adding humor. In the middle of the debate, the teacher made the analogy between debating and perspective drawing (a class they have twice a week). She said that they could imagine themselves as the vertical line they use in their drawings, and that depending upon where that line is placed, the perspective will shift even though the landscape remains the same. On one of the days during the Age of Explorers block, I brought the biography of Magellan, the first person to circumnavigate the globe. It was my sixth day in the classroom and my first time in front of the children, so I was a bit nervous. As I tried to eloquently share with the students the picture of Magellan that I had formed in my head after researching, the lecture came out rough and disjointed. However, as I continued, the students started to ask questions. They were interested. The more questions they asked, the more I remembered and the easier it was to share with them. Soon, my lecture became more of a conversation with rhythm, flow, humor, and ease. Even though I was the "expert" on the subject in the room, it felt as though we were all learning together. I am convinced that the transformation of my lecture was brought about because the students were able to meet me in the middle space between them and me. They were able to reach out of themselves from within themselves in order to find the connection between what I was saying about Magellan and who they were as individuals. This ability shows the maturity of these seventh graders. It also reveals how the Waldorf curriculum works in a profound way to both nurture and draw out what is already desiring to grow outward from within the individual. |
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