Distance teaching and learning:
An uncurated list of ideas from Waldorf handwork teachers
An uncurated list of ideas from Waldorf handwork teachers
You’ll find quite a range of amazing suggestions and ideas and thoughts here. I have lightly edited for readability and to protect some measure of privacy.
I’m certain more will occur as you read through these. Send them along, see button at end of page.
Stay safe and sane!
Warmly,
Elizabeth
Maria R
I sent needles and two balls of yarn yesterday with each student at school and I’m expecting two squares by the end of the two initial weeks of closure! And we will make a big blanket in celebration of being well.
I’ll send casting on Drawings for 1st-4th and and a video for 5th and 8 Th. And knitting tutorials so the parents can help the children.
I hope it helps!
Much love and safety!
María
Karen
Hi Elizabeth!
We begin distance classes on i day and I teach 1st-6th grade. I'm really struggling with how to meet my first grade children. I'm planning to audio record my verses and finger games to share with parents, but I'm not sure sending 1st grade knitting home will work. I have 24 students with a broad range of skills. Some are quite confident with the knot stitch and changing colors, some are becoming more capable, but still drop or add stitches and need my check in, and a few are still struggling with the basic knot stitch. I'm concerned that if I send work home the children in the middle may struggle and my students who are already challenged will become very frustrated. I could have the children work on the a different project at home. Ugh! I'm really not sure what to do.
Thanks!
Karen
Jeremy
How timely! I just spent the day prepping handwork bags to send home with 120 students.
I'm certainly no expert, but I'm happy to answer any questions about what I've been doing for virtual.
If people were interested I could host a zoom meeting to experience the platform and talk.
marika
Thank you Elizabeth. We are starting virtual learning so I appreciate ideas of what to teach.
Blessings,
Marika
Jessica Lawson
My handwork from home ideas so far-
Felted soap bars. Good clean fun for about any age. Older kids can make fun designs on theirs with a bit of needle felting.
We just ordered some leather moccasins kits for my mixed 3/4 grade class. The plan was to sew them up as classroom slippers. If we suspend class I’m sending them home with the children as a homework assignment!
Best wishes,
Jessica
Nicole Fields
Hello Elizabeth,
So far, here are the things we are planning and I am doing at my school.
-Gathering supplies, instructions, and small projects or the work they are completing to send home with parents
-Setting up “class times” or “office hours” for help via Skype or FaceTime.
-Teaching classes via Zoom
-Offering YouTube videos with songs, poems, circle activities, and instructions for various projects
-Sending home recipes, daily rhythms, other supportive things for the parents to engage in so that it’s not entirely vacation mode all the time.
This is not an exhaustive list, but the first line of what we are planning at this point. We are having a faculty meeting on Monday morning and then going to our rooms to begin the process of gathering, planning, and producing things to send home to the families. We have committed to having learning materials for all families by next Friday, whether they be physical/hard copy or virtual/electronic. This will initially be a lot of work, and it will challenge us in exciting ways to be creative in ways we have never been before. I see this as a grand research project that may offer some really rich fruits for future education modalities and for access for more children. I think that it would be very interesting if, as a collection of Handwork teachers, we collaborated or gathered Informational/instructional YouTube videos in a common place. I bet we could produce a fabulous new Waldorf Handwork channel!
This is the first round of consideration for this topic, I’m sure other things will develop as the weeks go by.
Thanks for asking the question!
Nicole
TB
Hi Elizabeth, There is a cool new app I found called knots 3D. Never know when you need instructions for useful knots . Lol. BEE well
Xo terry
Lynzie
Hello!
One of the ideas that I woke up with was to move to community based projects - knitting squares to makes blankets, crocheting washcloths, mending clothing. Useful and necessary applications of our skills in service of others and the world, but also working together while apart to keep the thread of our community tightly woven. Also, having simple, achievable, straightforward project could help support the parents who are not so familiar with Handwork techniques.
Caty Petersilge
Today I’m stuffing brown paper bags (little bigger than a lunch bag) with materials and a greeting/instructions page for all my students to take home on Monday (our last day before closure). The assignment for all grades is: teach somebody in your household how to do the skill you’ve been working on this year, make a pair of small objects together over the course of the week, and bring in your finished pair of objects to share when we resume regular classes.
So, first graders will take home a bag with their knitting needles, two dowels, sandpaper, beeswax, buffing cloth, wooden needle caps, and two balls of yarn. First graders will teach their person to make the knitting needles, then how to use them to knit a square. I’ll include written/illustrated instructions for the parent re: how to cinch the middle of the square to make it into a butterfly.
Both parent and child will make at least one butterfly, and when we resume regular classes, our first handwork class back will be a butterfly “play date” where the kids can enjoy their creations all together (think “tomten party” vibes). The same will be true for class 2, who will be having a knitted kitty play date.
In the older grades, this return to school will be a more thoughtful show and tell type sharing, where they’ll present what their person made, talk about some of the challenges, what was fun, what surprised them etc.
Caty
P.s. because of how our spring break lands, we actually need the children not to begin working on their remote learning materials until Monday the 30th - hence the brown paper bags, which I’m stapling shut and labeling with exciting-looking “do not open until March 30th!” tags, to build anticipation/discourage peeking
Etta Mae
Hi Elizabeth,
Thank you for reaching out. I teach grades 1, 2, 3 (90 students). Of course we are in the middle of all our projects and I feel unsure about sending home unfinished projects when I know so many parents don't know how to knit and many children are not able to work independently because so many new skills are being introduced and taught. It seems like the whole county is about to go into quarantine... Here is what I am thinking: it would be wonderful to encourage families to begin knitting together. One idea is to start an all school community knitting project. We could send each child home with 1 pair of knitting needles or supplies and instructions for families to make many pairs of needles for each member of the family. We could encourage parents to learn to knit and everyone could knit a square(s) together. A square could be made as simple or as complicated as one wants. We could give ideas of color patterns and more complicated stitch patterns for older children or parents and little ones could just use one color with the garter stitch. With each square made the maker could attach a piece of paper (using safety pin) with a prayer written on it. We could basically start a "Knit for Wellbeing" project for the Waldorf movement that people all around the world could participate in and mail their knitted squares to the Waldorf schools over the next couple of months. Then each Waldorf school could compile the squares into a piece of art, a blanket or something else (the creative ideas are endless). Maybe we could record a couple videos teaching how to cast-on, knit and cast-off using sweet verses in the Waldorf way.
With this virus spreading so quickly and the huge unknown this presents to the world, many people will potentially began experiencing extreme stress (if they have not all ready) and feel fight or flight symptoms. This would be a wonderful way for people to release stress and get out of their head and back into their body while at the same time create beautiful time for families to connect and focus with positivity on their wishes and prayers for their families or the world. Let me know your thoughts, I would be happy to help manifest a vision or something similar to help everyone right now.
Aloha,
Etta Mae
Elizabeth des Roches
What a great idea you've had...
I have several online offerings which are available on my site here -
www.handworkhomeschool.com/boutique
I created a 50% off coupon (good until April 30, 2020) - the coupon code is happymaking
If anyone has questions they can email me at [email protected]
Thanks & have a good weekend !
Elizabeth
Elizabeth (that’s me)
For the very young children, I'm personally leaning towards simpler things like twisted or braided friendship bracelets, etc - easy, manageable, keep the fingers moving, and a sense of success. Once I see how the families manage the technology, or not, I’ll probably put kits together for each student. (I have mixed ages and very mixed abilities in a range of homeschool classes right now).
This is a resource I will recommend to my embroidery group: https://www.25millionstitches.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/25millionstitches/
Becky
Resource shared by our German teacher: Fascinating and potentially helpful list:
https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-emergencies/coronavirus-school-closures/solutions
Here are some very quick notes from 2 zoom calls I participated in
The attachment simply lists the ideas I managed to jot down. I didn’t catch everything.
Again, this is a living document, please reply only to this email with further thoughts, and I’ll collate them again. There were some overall themes that I’ve drawn from both meetings.
Tech survey is important – can the family access what you are offering?
We need out-of-the-box-thinking for this to succeed
Weekly phone calls with parents to check in
What can we do for a week or two? Then re-evaluate
How much extra work are we asking subject teachers (some hourly-paid) to take on?
Up-cycle and repair
Repurpose – eg old T-shirts into yarn
Basket weaving from backyard materials
Barbara from WoolWoodWax.org is posting some interesting plans
Use household items
iPhone can flip images (avoiding left-right reversals)
Prepare ‘bingo cards’ to check off activities completed at home.
Puppetry
Knit a mood scarf/ weather scarf – where color stripes designate mood, or temperature/ weather
Mending, sashiko stitching
Offer a list of projects to choose from – fairy house, (more ideas for older students, missed them, sorry)
Use YouTube to share their projects, or take a photo and send it to the teacher
Combine classes – eg grades 1&2 will do the same project
Work with the ML teacher, eg Spanish in the Age of Exploration – giving a more holistic, far less fragmented experience
(mainly) from our handwork meeting:
Use a second ‘doc cam’ or web cam to demonstrate more clearly
Attach it to a boom for ‘top down’ video
Or cut a hole in the top of a box, light it, tape the phone/ camera pointing down
Record techniques and upload them to your YouTube channel
Split classes – ½ the class 2x / week or it could be unmanageable
Make a stitch journal
What skills do they need – doesn’t have to be the same as in a classroom
Kites, string games
Use a book or video as resource
several classes can do the same project – also good for siblings
soap carving
textile/ history resources – learn about fibers, etc UNESCO has made a world library available free
‘passion projects’ – show when they return to school
When demonstrating, use white yarn on a black background or vice versa
Good lighting
Have natural light on your face, definitely not behind you
Use this time to build relationships, learn about the students
********************************
From
We’re having a meeting tomorrow and so I will know more but my thoughts are to use handwork to generate a community project remotely. Each student will knit, crochet or sew/embroider a square that will be stitched into a ‘crazy quilt’ of sorts as a commemorative object and symbol of our community to be hung in the school. The longer our distance learning happens, the larger/more detailed the quilt will be. Thank you for compiling these ideas!
**************************
From Joanna
I am starting with nature mandalas across the board with my students-here's a copy of the lesson plan. I have almost 300 students across those grades and I plan on doing a few lessons/week across a couple grade clusters.
Nature Mandalas
Examples from https://www.morningaltars.com/altars (need to be printed)
This week we’ll focus on Mandalas. I’m sure you’ve seen PLENTY of them in nature and maybe even in a coloring book!
What do you think Mandala means?
Mandala is the Sanskrit word for “circle” and is a form of art that stems from Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Mandalas were often used as a spiritual teaching tool to help strengthen meditation and increase focus.
Mandalas were traditionally made by monks using painted sand. This was purposeful because sand can be easily collected and then returned to nature after it is finished. There are TONS of ways to make mandalas, though. Pencil and paper, paint, sculpture, markers, buttons...the sky is the limit! This week, you’ll be making mandalas out of beautiful things you find in nature.
I’ve included some gorgeous pictures from an artist named Day Shildkret. He’s a friend of one of my friends and I have his calendar in my kitchen. I hope you enjoy looking at his artwork as much as I do.
As you create your mandala (circle), I want you to focus on a few things.
Your mandala should be symmetrical. That means, if you fold it in half, it will be the same on both sides.
Cool Websites for Mandala Extensions:
Younger Grade Nature Mandalas:
https://www.outdoor-classrooms.com/2017/10/create-mandala-using-natural-materials/
https://artfulparent.com/mandalas-in-nature-mandala-art/
Older Grade Mixed Media Mandalas:
https://juliannakunstler.com/art2_mandala.html
Adapted from:
https://www.brighthubeducation.com/middle-school-lesson-plans-the-arts/79898-mandala-art-lesson-and-activity/
Quick summary of zoom meeting April 4, 2020 gathered by Elizabeth Seward
We began with a few thoughts gathered from previous handwork teachers’ meetings:
Successes
Challenges
Questions
Self-care
After the zoom meeting, I remembered a truly excellent book:
Educating Traumatized Children by Bernd Ruf
It’s about how our everyday pedagogical practices support children in traumatic situations. It’s not therapy, but he carefully describes how the basics of Waldorf pedagogy can work in a healing way. I’m sharing the Amazon link, because honestly, it’s easy to search, but it’s available from other booksellers as well. Highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Educating-Traumatized-Children-Bernd-Ruf-ebook/dp/B00I47OLS8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=bernd+ruf&qid=1586053484&s=books&sr=1-1
I’m certain more will occur as you read through these. Send them along, see button at end of page.
Stay safe and sane!
Warmly,
Elizabeth
Maria R
I sent needles and two balls of yarn yesterday with each student at school and I’m expecting two squares by the end of the two initial weeks of closure! And we will make a big blanket in celebration of being well.
I’ll send casting on Drawings for 1st-4th and and a video for 5th and 8 Th. And knitting tutorials so the parents can help the children.
I hope it helps!
Much love and safety!
María
Karen
Hi Elizabeth!
We begin distance classes on i day and I teach 1st-6th grade. I'm really struggling with how to meet my first grade children. I'm planning to audio record my verses and finger games to share with parents, but I'm not sure sending 1st grade knitting home will work. I have 24 students with a broad range of skills. Some are quite confident with the knot stitch and changing colors, some are becoming more capable, but still drop or add stitches and need my check in, and a few are still struggling with the basic knot stitch. I'm concerned that if I send work home the children in the middle may struggle and my students who are already challenged will become very frustrated. I could have the children work on the a different project at home. Ugh! I'm really not sure what to do.
Thanks!
Karen
Jeremy
How timely! I just spent the day prepping handwork bags to send home with 120 students.
I'm certainly no expert, but I'm happy to answer any questions about what I've been doing for virtual.
If people were interested I could host a zoom meeting to experience the platform and talk.
marika
Thank you Elizabeth. We are starting virtual learning so I appreciate ideas of what to teach.
Blessings,
Marika
Jessica Lawson
My handwork from home ideas so far-
Felted soap bars. Good clean fun for about any age. Older kids can make fun designs on theirs with a bit of needle felting.
We just ordered some leather moccasins kits for my mixed 3/4 grade class. The plan was to sew them up as classroom slippers. If we suspend class I’m sending them home with the children as a homework assignment!
Best wishes,
Jessica
Nicole Fields
Hello Elizabeth,
So far, here are the things we are planning and I am doing at my school.
-Gathering supplies, instructions, and small projects or the work they are completing to send home with parents
-Setting up “class times” or “office hours” for help via Skype or FaceTime.
-Teaching classes via Zoom
-Offering YouTube videos with songs, poems, circle activities, and instructions for various projects
-Sending home recipes, daily rhythms, other supportive things for the parents to engage in so that it’s not entirely vacation mode all the time.
This is not an exhaustive list, but the first line of what we are planning at this point. We are having a faculty meeting on Monday morning and then going to our rooms to begin the process of gathering, planning, and producing things to send home to the families. We have committed to having learning materials for all families by next Friday, whether they be physical/hard copy or virtual/electronic. This will initially be a lot of work, and it will challenge us in exciting ways to be creative in ways we have never been before. I see this as a grand research project that may offer some really rich fruits for future education modalities and for access for more children. I think that it would be very interesting if, as a collection of Handwork teachers, we collaborated or gathered Informational/instructional YouTube videos in a common place. I bet we could produce a fabulous new Waldorf Handwork channel!
This is the first round of consideration for this topic, I’m sure other things will develop as the weeks go by.
Thanks for asking the question!
Nicole
TB
Hi Elizabeth, There is a cool new app I found called knots 3D. Never know when you need instructions for useful knots . Lol. BEE well
Xo terry
Lynzie
Hello!
One of the ideas that I woke up with was to move to community based projects - knitting squares to makes blankets, crocheting washcloths, mending clothing. Useful and necessary applications of our skills in service of others and the world, but also working together while apart to keep the thread of our community tightly woven. Also, having simple, achievable, straightforward project could help support the parents who are not so familiar with Handwork techniques.
Caty Petersilge
Today I’m stuffing brown paper bags (little bigger than a lunch bag) with materials and a greeting/instructions page for all my students to take home on Monday (our last day before closure). The assignment for all grades is: teach somebody in your household how to do the skill you’ve been working on this year, make a pair of small objects together over the course of the week, and bring in your finished pair of objects to share when we resume regular classes.
So, first graders will take home a bag with their knitting needles, two dowels, sandpaper, beeswax, buffing cloth, wooden needle caps, and two balls of yarn. First graders will teach their person to make the knitting needles, then how to use them to knit a square. I’ll include written/illustrated instructions for the parent re: how to cinch the middle of the square to make it into a butterfly.
Both parent and child will make at least one butterfly, and when we resume regular classes, our first handwork class back will be a butterfly “play date” where the kids can enjoy their creations all together (think “tomten party” vibes). The same will be true for class 2, who will be having a knitted kitty play date.
In the older grades, this return to school will be a more thoughtful show and tell type sharing, where they’ll present what their person made, talk about some of the challenges, what was fun, what surprised them etc.
Caty
P.s. because of how our spring break lands, we actually need the children not to begin working on their remote learning materials until Monday the 30th - hence the brown paper bags, which I’m stapling shut and labeling with exciting-looking “do not open until March 30th!” tags, to build anticipation/discourage peeking
Etta Mae
Hi Elizabeth,
Thank you for reaching out. I teach grades 1, 2, 3 (90 students). Of course we are in the middle of all our projects and I feel unsure about sending home unfinished projects when I know so many parents don't know how to knit and many children are not able to work independently because so many new skills are being introduced and taught. It seems like the whole county is about to go into quarantine... Here is what I am thinking: it would be wonderful to encourage families to begin knitting together. One idea is to start an all school community knitting project. We could send each child home with 1 pair of knitting needles or supplies and instructions for families to make many pairs of needles for each member of the family. We could encourage parents to learn to knit and everyone could knit a square(s) together. A square could be made as simple or as complicated as one wants. We could give ideas of color patterns and more complicated stitch patterns for older children or parents and little ones could just use one color with the garter stitch. With each square made the maker could attach a piece of paper (using safety pin) with a prayer written on it. We could basically start a "Knit for Wellbeing" project for the Waldorf movement that people all around the world could participate in and mail their knitted squares to the Waldorf schools over the next couple of months. Then each Waldorf school could compile the squares into a piece of art, a blanket or something else (the creative ideas are endless). Maybe we could record a couple videos teaching how to cast-on, knit and cast-off using sweet verses in the Waldorf way.
With this virus spreading so quickly and the huge unknown this presents to the world, many people will potentially began experiencing extreme stress (if they have not all ready) and feel fight or flight symptoms. This would be a wonderful way for people to release stress and get out of their head and back into their body while at the same time create beautiful time for families to connect and focus with positivity on their wishes and prayers for their families or the world. Let me know your thoughts, I would be happy to help manifest a vision or something similar to help everyone right now.
Aloha,
Etta Mae
Elizabeth des Roches
What a great idea you've had...
I have several online offerings which are available on my site here -
www.handworkhomeschool.com/boutique
I created a 50% off coupon (good until April 30, 2020) - the coupon code is happymaking
If anyone has questions they can email me at [email protected]
Thanks & have a good weekend !
Elizabeth
Elizabeth (that’s me)
For the very young children, I'm personally leaning towards simpler things like twisted or braided friendship bracelets, etc - easy, manageable, keep the fingers moving, and a sense of success. Once I see how the families manage the technology, or not, I’ll probably put kits together for each student. (I have mixed ages and very mixed abilities in a range of homeschool classes right now).
This is a resource I will recommend to my embroidery group: https://www.25millionstitches.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/25millionstitches/
Becky
Resource shared by our German teacher: Fascinating and potentially helpful list:
https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-emergencies/coronavirus-school-closures/solutions
Here are some very quick notes from 2 zoom calls I participated in
The attachment simply lists the ideas I managed to jot down. I didn’t catch everything.
Again, this is a living document, please reply only to this email with further thoughts, and I’ll collate them again. There were some overall themes that I’ve drawn from both meetings.
- Whether modern technology is a good match for Waldorf education
- Plan for a week or two, then re-evaluate how things are going
- Concern about how available parents may be (time and skills); desire to avoid overstressing parents. Send a survey to ask about available materials, time and skills at home.
- Questioning whether sticking to the planned curriculum is best, or whether to steer towards ‘passion projects’/ developing underlying skills, fine finger movement/ the will/ seasonal crafts would be more appropriate
Tech survey is important – can the family access what you are offering?
We need out-of-the-box-thinking for this to succeed
Weekly phone calls with parents to check in
What can we do for a week or two? Then re-evaluate
How much extra work are we asking subject teachers (some hourly-paid) to take on?
Up-cycle and repair
Repurpose – eg old T-shirts into yarn
Basket weaving from backyard materials
Barbara from WoolWoodWax.org is posting some interesting plans
Use household items
iPhone can flip images (avoiding left-right reversals)
Prepare ‘bingo cards’ to check off activities completed at home.
Puppetry
Knit a mood scarf/ weather scarf – where color stripes designate mood, or temperature/ weather
Mending, sashiko stitching
Offer a list of projects to choose from – fairy house, (more ideas for older students, missed them, sorry)
Use YouTube to share their projects, or take a photo and send it to the teacher
Combine classes – eg grades 1&2 will do the same project
Work with the ML teacher, eg Spanish in the Age of Exploration – giving a more holistic, far less fragmented experience
(mainly) from our handwork meeting:
Use a second ‘doc cam’ or web cam to demonstrate more clearly
Attach it to a boom for ‘top down’ video
Or cut a hole in the top of a box, light it, tape the phone/ camera pointing down
Record techniques and upload them to your YouTube channel
Split classes – ½ the class 2x / week or it could be unmanageable
Make a stitch journal
What skills do they need – doesn’t have to be the same as in a classroom
Kites, string games
Use a book or video as resource
several classes can do the same project – also good for siblings
soap carving
textile/ history resources – learn about fibers, etc UNESCO has made a world library available free
‘passion projects’ – show when they return to school
When demonstrating, use white yarn on a black background or vice versa
Good lighting
Have natural light on your face, definitely not behind you
Use this time to build relationships, learn about the students
********************************
From
We’re having a meeting tomorrow and so I will know more but my thoughts are to use handwork to generate a community project remotely. Each student will knit, crochet or sew/embroider a square that will be stitched into a ‘crazy quilt’ of sorts as a commemorative object and symbol of our community to be hung in the school. The longer our distance learning happens, the larger/more detailed the quilt will be. Thank you for compiling these ideas!
**************************
From Joanna
I am starting with nature mandalas across the board with my students-here's a copy of the lesson plan. I have almost 300 students across those grades and I plan on doing a few lessons/week across a couple grade clusters.
Nature Mandalas
Examples from https://www.morningaltars.com/altars (need to be printed)
This week we’ll focus on Mandalas. I’m sure you’ve seen PLENTY of them in nature and maybe even in a coloring book!
What do you think Mandala means?
Mandala is the Sanskrit word for “circle” and is a form of art that stems from Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Mandalas were often used as a spiritual teaching tool to help strengthen meditation and increase focus.
Mandalas were traditionally made by monks using painted sand. This was purposeful because sand can be easily collected and then returned to nature after it is finished. There are TONS of ways to make mandalas, though. Pencil and paper, paint, sculpture, markers, buttons...the sky is the limit! This week, you’ll be making mandalas out of beautiful things you find in nature.
I’ve included some gorgeous pictures from an artist named Day Shildkret. He’s a friend of one of my friends and I have his calendar in my kitchen. I hope you enjoy looking at his artwork as much as I do.
As you create your mandala (circle), I want you to focus on a few things.
Your mandala should be symmetrical. That means, if you fold it in half, it will be the same on both sides.
- Your mandala should be a little piece of you. This is a way for you to meditate (think) on a positive feeling. Choose materials that make your body feel happy, or peaceful, or restful.
- Your mandala should be a circle (ish)! You will see that some of Day’s aren’t perfect circles. That’s ok!
- Make a new one every few days. Mandalas are supposed to be impermanent. That means they don’t last forever. You can reuse your materials in a different pattern or return them to nature and gather new materials.
- HAVE FUN AND MAKE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL!
Cool Websites for Mandala Extensions:
Younger Grade Nature Mandalas:
https://www.outdoor-classrooms.com/2017/10/create-mandala-using-natural-materials/
https://artfulparent.com/mandalas-in-nature-mandala-art/
Older Grade Mixed Media Mandalas:
https://juliannakunstler.com/art2_mandala.html
Adapted from:
https://www.brighthubeducation.com/middle-school-lesson-plans-the-arts/79898-mandala-art-lesson-and-activity/
Quick summary of zoom meeting April 4, 2020 gathered by Elizabeth Seward
We began with a few thoughts gathered from previous handwork teachers’ meetings:
- Look for what’s behind the work we do; it’s not about cute little bunnies or finishing the pj pants.
- Connect with nature
- Remember and remind children of the season – renewal re-birth out of apparent death; look to emerging life and beauty
- We educate the will – perseverance and rhythm
- Handwork is hands-on, we grapple and grasp what is around us; it’s where the material/ physical world meets the individual’s unseen inspiration
- Transformation
Successes
- Weaving with paper – even junk mail (went well in grades 2-5), see the book “The Weaving Experience” by Jarchow and Steege
- Nature mandalas, see morningaltars.com
- Think of a one-room schoolhouse, and try to find projects children can do together (also lessens the parents’ stress of juggling and managing multiple projects)
- Children thrive on a sense of normalcy – even just seeing their classmates and teacher (“virtual proximity”)
- Seeing the children and parents through a window when they pick up supplies –personal but safely distanced contact
- Teach how to fold clothes; challenge older students to find other ways to fold
- Send a kit home for wet-felting beads with instructions
- Game with parents: Use cards and a dice to challenge each other to e.g. close eyes and knit; stand on one foot and finger crochet …. Challenges chosen by the child
- Set up a time to meet with parents one night/ week
- Join class teacher, even briefly, when they meet with parents
- School sets aside a time to check in and see each other regularly in the morning
- Virtual ‘Town Hall’ meeting using slid-o between parents and teachers, admin, etc keeps communication open. Feelings of gratitude.
- Reach out to parents for mask making or the bee project; offer a virtual class to parents for the bee project (contact Dahlia or see Wonder and Wisdom fb page for more info)
Challenges
- Balancing a sense of overwhelm with self-care
- Feeling of disconnect with colleagues
- Main Lesson/ class teacher’s expectations with subject teachers’
- How can we imbue tech with ‘heart’?
Questions
- how can we keep the materials safe that we and the children handle?
- The virus does not seem to stay on soft surfaces for very long, according to current research. Prep the night before, or allow enough time between assembling materials and pick up. Wash hands well before and after preparing eg balls of wool. Wear a mask.
- Dyeing at home – avocado pits and skins, peppermint leaves, marigolds, coreopsis, copper piping, onion skins, red cabbage (gives pink in acid environment; turquoise in alkaline), eucalyptus leaves, turmeric (from spice cabinet). Try nature print, resist dyeing, or with older students, lots of nails give a deep black. Mail out mordanted wool or mix in alum pickling spice with the dye stuff.
Self-care
- Form drawing, check out LauraEmbry.com, and for a verse re. corona virus
- RS verse: A verse for our time re eradicating fear ….
- Cynthia Hoven or others offering Eurythmy
- Planting, gardening,
- Cooking
- Knitting
- Nature walks (and encourage children)
- Look to the future
- Labyrinth
- Connect with family
- Remember to move
- Deep, reflective silence; council practice
- Make face masks, put prayers, hopes, and love into every stitch.
After the zoom meeting, I remembered a truly excellent book:
Educating Traumatized Children by Bernd Ruf
It’s about how our everyday pedagogical practices support children in traumatic situations. It’s not therapy, but he carefully describes how the basics of Waldorf pedagogy can work in a healing way. I’m sharing the Amazon link, because honestly, it’s easy to search, but it’s available from other booksellers as well. Highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Educating-Traumatized-Children-Bernd-Ruf-ebook/dp/B00I47OLS8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=bernd+ruf&qid=1586053484&s=books&sr=1-1
Brief notes from the zoom call April 18:
Waldorf education was founded in crisis times, as people were divided and isolated from each by national, ethnic, and other distinctions. 100 years later, we find ourselves isolated from each other again. What is the essence of Waldorf Education that we can still bring to the children? How do we 'stand' before them with the necessary connection and support for them to weather these distressing times? Hope? Security? Acknowledgment of their individual strengths? How can we 're-invigorate' their souls? We may need to reimagine our 'delivery systems' going forward, but retain the essence? How do we do that? Do we need new blocks/ themes to meet the current need? There is a potential (necessity) for more conscious collaboration between teachers, and between teachers and parents. Can we teach 'through' each others' subjects as Steiner advocated (in Education for Adolescence, as it used to be called).
There is a growing general awareness of the effect of screens - we are the researchers leading the field in this.
We find ourselves forced into consciously maintaining connection. 'Output'/ results take a back seat.
Many teachers are reducing expectations of parents; providing 'offerings', not requirements, also sometimes offering adult projects, we know the balancing, calming effect of handwork.
Brief discussion of vimeo vs. YouTube. Vimeo seems more secure, fewer ads.
Blueblocker glasses (amazon) can help to lessen eye strain.
I was asked to share about my overhead camera:
When I was looking, cameras were selling out in front of my eyes, and I would not necessarily recommend mine. It does not have a good autofocus, and can't get as close as I'd like (it's a lower end model, around $60). I also can't record on it - I don't know how to record a feed that's shown on the laptop, maybe there is a possibility. I'd have liked to make some quick short 'reminder' videos.
Here are the criteria I learned about, though:
I searched for microsoft webcam. A friend suggested 'microsoft', it narrows the field a LOT. I just don't know about other makes/ models.
Avoid a security cam (my first mistake - much cheaper, but only feeds to an app on my phone with a substantial delay)
Hope this helps
There is a growing general awareness of the effect of screens - we are the researchers leading the field in this.
We find ourselves forced into consciously maintaining connection. 'Output'/ results take a back seat.
Many teachers are reducing expectations of parents; providing 'offerings', not requirements, also sometimes offering adult projects, we know the balancing, calming effect of handwork.
Brief discussion of vimeo vs. YouTube. Vimeo seems more secure, fewer ads.
Blueblocker glasses (amazon) can help to lessen eye strain.
I was asked to share about my overhead camera:
When I was looking, cameras were selling out in front of my eyes, and I would not necessarily recommend mine. It does not have a good autofocus, and can't get as close as I'd like (it's a lower end model, around $60). I also can't record on it - I don't know how to record a feed that's shown on the laptop, maybe there is a possibility. I'd have liked to make some quick short 'reminder' videos.
Here are the criteria I learned about, though:
I searched for microsoft webcam. A friend suggested 'microsoft', it narrows the field a LOT. I just don't know about other makes/ models.
- plug and play, - so easy!! it came with a usb lead, it just plugged in. I went to heaven and back
- autofocus, ideally to a range of 4"
- select compatibility with PC or mac
- I bought a separate 'boom' for $20 ish - that attaches to a nearby shelf. Tripods' legs can get in the way
Avoid a security cam (my first mistake - much cheaper, but only feeds to an app on my phone with a substantial delay)
Hope this helps
April 25, 2020
We acknowledged how good it is to see each other's faces, and that the students also crave seeing and interacting with each other.
One teacher does the instruction ahead of time in small groups, then the class time is an opportunity to work, catch up on each other's progress, and spend time with their peers, centered on handwork.
Some teachers follow the lead of their students, for instance cooking together; or send students on a scavenger hunt around the house, for example looking for something they can knit with. Some offer challenges such as "stand on one foot and knit" or "knit with your eyes closed".
Some offer one-to-one meetings with students if they request or need specific help, even with younger students. Several teachers confirmed that (young) students just liked spending time with the teacher, touching base.
One student had said "When I knit all the bad things go away"
To zoom or not to zoom - still under discussion in several schools for the younger grades.
Some middle schools assign the students to break out rooms, sometimes with the assistance of the class teacher.
Charter school teachers pointed out they cannot require parents to provide materials.
Assessment? Reports? - several schools will assess up to the time that they had to close campuses. Logistics seem too inconsistent to assess the later part of the year. Some families/ parents have had no contact with the handwork teacher. Teachers appreciate hearing 'how it all lands'.
One teacher found zoom beneficial, as she can have the students see more clearly what she wants to demonstrate (6th grade).
Several are using this time to build a reference 'library' of resources and videos for the future.
Questions came up about next school year: how can we address the needs of students (especially in the earliest grades, and especially in 'forming' the first grade class)?? How could we manage the transition from K to 1st grade virtually?
This will be our opening topic on May 2nd, 5pm Pacific.
One teacher does the instruction ahead of time in small groups, then the class time is an opportunity to work, catch up on each other's progress, and spend time with their peers, centered on handwork.
Some teachers follow the lead of their students, for instance cooking together; or send students on a scavenger hunt around the house, for example looking for something they can knit with. Some offer challenges such as "stand on one foot and knit" or "knit with your eyes closed".
Some offer one-to-one meetings with students if they request or need specific help, even with younger students. Several teachers confirmed that (young) students just liked spending time with the teacher, touching base.
One student had said "When I knit all the bad things go away"
To zoom or not to zoom - still under discussion in several schools for the younger grades.
Some middle schools assign the students to break out rooms, sometimes with the assistance of the class teacher.
Charter school teachers pointed out they cannot require parents to provide materials.
Assessment? Reports? - several schools will assess up to the time that they had to close campuses. Logistics seem too inconsistent to assess the later part of the year. Some families/ parents have had no contact with the handwork teacher. Teachers appreciate hearing 'how it all lands'.
One teacher found zoom beneficial, as she can have the students see more clearly what she wants to demonstrate (6th grade).
Several are using this time to build a reference 'library' of resources and videos for the future.
Questions came up about next school year: how can we address the needs of students (especially in the earliest grades, and especially in 'forming' the first grade class)?? How could we manage the transition from K to 1st grade virtually?
This will be our opening topic on May 2nd, 5pm Pacific.
May 2, 2020
Main focus was on how to manage the beginning of the year, and sharing suggestions, and 'best practices' especially for 1st grade.
Please remember I am simply reporting from individual teachers, not advocating for any particular way of doing things; sharing these as helpful suggestions to prompt your own decisions.
Please remember I am simply reporting from individual teachers, not advocating for any particular way of doing things; sharing these as helpful suggestions to prompt your own decisions.
- build a culture - expectations, rhythm, share clear parameters
- finger games, songs, puppet shows,
- 'meet face to face' at least occasionally one-to-one to build warm, humanized, relationship.
- The children don't know you yet, you're just a moving picture on screen. Find a way to 'round out' the relationship.
- consider actual snail mail letters, invite pictures from the children
- maybe meet the first time with parents, and with students
- more contact with parents (to support them as well as the children) will be beneficial. Perhaps schedule time to teach parents to knit first.
- consider uploading short videos/photos/ basic tutorials to Instagram, so parents can view at their leisure.
- model teaching with 2 teachers (one as teacher, one as 'child'), so parents have an idea how we want them to support/ interact with children in the learning environment
- in the upper grades, social connection is crucial - 'teach' in smaller, skill-centered groups; use class time for 'show and tell' and more peer interaction
- attention span of children in grades 1,2,3 is always shorter, and even shorter on screen.
- grades 6 and up seem to be very comfortable on screen, 5 can get more easily motivated, 4 and below are foreign to onscreen interaction.
- use warmth, consider shorter times, smaller groups, and just plan on taking longer.
- see this as an interesting exploration - a research project!
- incorporate some therapeutic movement, thus also re-connecting in another way
- is there another way to actually see the children? Through a window as supplies are delivered/picked up?
- virtual schooling relies really heavily on parents - be clear about expectations (and maybe ratchet down on parent involvement). Choosing a homeschool situation is radically different.
- prepare a couple of projects - maybe 2 'blocks' worth for online teaching. Schedule them for the end of the year, then if we need to default to online teaching mid-year, temporarily drop the in-person projects and use the ready-prepared online projects. Like snow-day planning (I think)
- consider finger work - paper cutting/ folding; wet felting;....
- REMEMBER: right now, we are doing so many things we thought were impossible a year ago.
- accountability is unreasonable
- long-term suggestion: adjust the school calendar so there are longer breaks mid-year/mid-season
- plan basic projects that keep students involved for a while with simple repetitive skills (like weaving a pouch). Set it up for them to start.
- 1st grade students weave colored perle cotton into burlap - like rainbow fairies weaving the colors of sunshine into grass mats. Clothe with a story.
- center activities around seasonal themes for multiple grades (cuts down a bit on prep!), such as butterflies, ....
- talk w/ class teacher, especially (but not only) in grades 6,7,8 - how can we weave our work together? (pun intended!!)
- connect beyond zoom - via kits; write notes/ personal instructions; use color/ stickers; request pictures of their work; comment individually -
Give students the message "I see you" "I know you" "I care for you"
May 9
- The Pedagogical Section Council has apparently been considering the question of developing initiative in our students. How do we do this? Are we doing enough of this? Can we see this in students' willingness to sort out their own mistakes/ to improvise with the skills we have taught? Does handwork offer a unique opportunity to make this visible?
- several teachers choose themes for the week, bridging several grades - such as Kumihimo/ 'mind the gap' braiding; or flower pressing, leading to making pictures from the pressed flowers; or making a 'knitting turret' from items around the house; scavenger hunts; perhaps the point of zoom handwork is to offer an outbreath; don't forget to be light-hearted. Students can be excited about their accomplishments.
- some frustration was expressed about handwork being mistaken for 'busy work' and not recognized as important. we need to articulate and share (aka do PR) for our valuable profession. Colleagues/ the College may well simply not understand the value of handwork.
- when helping individual students in a group session, mute everybody, unmute the individual
- questions came up:
- what are we striving to achieve in the long term? In the short term?
- what is the difference between 'crafts' and handwork?
- what CAN we achieve within these limitations?
- parent contact:
- many schools schedule a regular supply pick-up - which affords an opportunity to see students/ parents
- some schools hold parent evenings online
- some schools offer a weekly online check-in with or without their child(ren)
- some/ many parents or families have become quite invisible
- perhaps we need to share skills/ teach parents over the summer/ before school starts, so they can better support their children (or at least understand/ appreciate what they are learning)
- several teachers are disappointed that supplies are not picked up, or are lost, and there is minimal contact with parents
- children:
- are often thrilled by individual teacher contact time, even pre-recorded videos are valuable - they can be re-run, and the teacher's voice and phrasing are recognized
- some teachers schedule drop-in office hours for individual help or just to say hi
- middle schoolers may be more comfortable if the camera is angled down, so their hands/ work are more visible than their faces on the screen
- A.M. Winn has a link (with 2 other local schools) to family projects to do at home, see website: amwwaldorf.org/families
May 16
successes:
- making fruit leather - and using scissor skills
- making God's eyes; using plant material
- edible knitting: thin licorice strips
- offering optional knitting for parents
- making papier mache bowls, grades 6,7,8, or beads/ jewelry in younger grades; make theater props
- assessment:
- schools have different requirements: some not expecting reports from subject teachers, some expecting reports to include the distance learning time; some to exclude this time
- in general, give an overview, describe what was offered, be factual, and 'tell it like it is', don't try to make things up.
- be aware home life is probably stressful, there may be multiple factors of which you are unaware
- although we write narrative reports, at least scaffold in your mind what is expected, and to what degree the students meet these expectations (it helps for next year's planning too)
- if a student never showed up for distance learning, say that
- planning curriculum for next year's middle grades:
- investigate what the curriculum actually says
- be sure you base the curriculum on developmental needs
- educate your colleagues how handwork supports these
- given time/ scheduling/ staffing constraints, you may need to balance quality and the necessity to simplify the curriculum
- consider the numbers/ whether the class is split/ what can realistically be accomplished well, and meet their needs
- project completion is invaluable
- be aware of parental and school expectations. You may need to articulate your reasoning, and you may need to keep this consistent and repetitive
- handwork/ woodwork provide a crucial avenue to work on will development at this age, as well as the much needed outbreath, and balance.
- be creative - now, in distance learning, even more so
- scale back or scale up?
May 23
successes:
one positive of the online format: heightened cooperative work with the class teacher
brief brainstorming for summer (teacher) conference:
- dried flowers, making bookmarks with wax paper
- one teacher made a video montage (with the help of a 6th grader) to show the work of 2nd to 5th graders. Intensive work, but very well received.
- making plarn from materials at home, finger crocheting/ finger knitting it and sewing it into 'sit-upons' ready for the return to school (and distancing)
- prepared videos of up to 10 minutes will become a 'library' for the future
- many are working 7 days / week, some seeing little return/ contact from parents
- what do students learn from parent 'apathy' / lack of engagement?
- unsure about subject teacher hours/ employment next year
- should we spend the summer making kits for next year?
- consider supplies - and adapt one project for multiple grades next year
- prepare 'back-up' projects in case we are out of school for a number of weeks; leave uncompleted in-person projects until we return; switch to prepared projects while at home
one positive of the online format: heightened cooperative work with the class teacher
brief brainstorming for summer (teacher) conference:
- main (not exclusive) focus: the developmentally appropriate representation of the human form in the various grades - proportions, doll-making, sewing/ tailoring/ pattern-making 'at the kitchen table'
- perhaps find an oversize garment in a thrift store and re-fashion it to fit
- referencing Study of Man/ Foundations of Human Experience
- combination of recorded videos, live chats, potentially interviews with leading teachers, learning something new, making something for ourselves (restorative)
- schedule - maybe not all day every day (!), maybe a day or two per week .....
- potential for small groups?
May 30
How will you achieve balance? Prepare inwardly for next year?
