The Director's Activies

[Ed. During the past year, Dorit Winter has given lectures and worksliops at a variety of venues including the Mciriii WaldorfSchool, the Sandpoint Waldorf School, the Cliicago Christian Fellowship Seminary and the Seattle Waldorf School. The following articles provide accounts of some of these events.]

Marin Waldorf School, by Beth Nelson, Co-Chair Parent Association of the Marin Waldorf School
In the past few months, I was fortunate to attend two lectures given by Dorit at the Marin Waldorf school. They are (highly!) summarized below. I am old enough to remember the game of "gossip" often played at birthday parties in my childhood. Whispering a sentence from one child's ear to another, down the row, until the sentence would be revealed at the end, to peals of laughter. Always absurd, always distorted. Never close to the original.

I was reminded of this game when Dorit gave her provocative and informative lecture on "The Phenomenon of Gossip." What is the true nature of gossip? Where does it come from? How does it live in a community? What does it feed on? And how does gossip impact our Waldorf School communities?

My first Waldorf school was drowning in gossip. We were told to "move it out of the Great Hall," so we took up residence in the car park. On being expelled from there, we congregated in the local cafe, and on cellphones late at night. It fed on itself, and on us, and on our children, and eventually it ate our school alive.

Dorit's lecture reminded me of the fear behind most gossip, the darker place within ourselves where criticism and judgment hold sway. I was reminded of my responsibility to myself, and to my child's school, and of my capacity to shift that impulse from one of despair to enlivening dialogue. For it is through seeing our human-ness, and our connectedness, that we strip gossip of its power over us. I was extremely grateful for the depth and insight Dorit brought to a phenomenon of our times.

Equally intriguing was the topic of "Authority in the Classroom," the subject of the second lecture. The Oxford Universal Dictionary yields "Author: the person who originates or gives existence to anything", and "Authority: the power to influence the conduct and actions of others." I reflected that in today's world the word "authority" often carries a negative connotation of hostile power.

Author, the root word, gives us a glimpse into a far more appropriate way of thinking about the term "authority in the classroom." When one has authority over one's subject, when one has the skill, artistry and temperament to bring a classroom to understand, and in fact become enlivened, this is the sort of authority that allows a different sort of classroom management, and a different sort of learning.

The mastery of a skill or subject brings with it a kind of enlightenment. We have all experienced this while watching an artist or musician and marveling at his expertise. "Authority" over a subject or skill leaves us humbled, and gives us something to which we can aspire.

When a teacher strives to have authority over something, he strives to experience it first-hand, which is the way to "know" something. From this he can impart lessons and elicit feelings from his own inner experience of the thing.

Dorit's lecture was a reminder of our obligation to bring subject matter to children in such a way that the teacher "knows it." or has authority over it, so it can then be skillfully, artistically, and joyfully shared in the classroom, and can connect with and enliven the child at a deep level.

Marin Waldorf School, by Michael Seifert, Class of 2003, second grade teacher at Sandpoint Waldorf School
Sandpoint Waldorf School faculty invited Dorit Winter to give talks to the faculty and public on the topic of "Language." For parents, there can be an element of fear attached to this issue. Since Waldorf schools do not push the children to read in the early grades, as is the custom in public schools, some parents worry that their child may not learn to read when they should, or will not read at a level commensurate with the public schools.

Fear is often the result of a lack of understanding and experience. We as teachers wanted Dorit to give to the parents of our community a picture of how a child learns to read. It was our hope that in this one evening she could plant the seed of understanding. On a chilly March night Dorit spoke to a full house of eager listeners. Those attending were mostly parents of our school, mixed with some folks who wanted to learn more about us.