NOTE: This course has reached maximum enrollment and is now full. If you wish to be notified in case of cancellation, please fill out this wait list form.

This course will be taught remotely in real-time. Details here. 

Professional development for Waldorf teachers and home school parents

This course offers you an invaluable opportunity to focus entirely on your upcoming fourth grade school year in five days brimming with discussions, presentations, practical activities, and the arts.

With the insights of anthroposophy, gleaned through a daily look at child development focusing on your class’s age group, you will get to know the fourth grade child in depth as they step into a more objective relationship to learning. Under the guidance of a master class teacher, you’ll discover ways to enliven your teaching and how to approach the blocks so that they may meet the fourth grader in a deep and meaningful way. There will be time and space to consider and hone your skills in such practical matters as main lesson books, block planning, projects and activities, and classroom management.

In addition to inspiration and guidance which will support your teaching throughout the year, you’ll gain many invaluable opportunities for building connections among a community of parallel colleagues from across the country, to carry with you into your teaching.

Your week will be chock-full of such key fourth grade topics as:

• Working with mythological story content for fourth grade literature
• Building skills in language arts
• Teaching local geography
• Discovering the world of fractions

These subjects will be supported by explorations in art and music, giving you practical tools to take into your school year.

Grade-specific resource materials useful for your year, including poems, songs, stories, and main lesson book ideas, will be provided to you electronically.

 

NOTE: This course is taught with the expectation that you have a background in Waldorf Education.

 

Lead Instructor 

Karen Crandall is a class teacher at the Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs, where she currently teaches fourth grade. This is Karen’s third class cycle; she led her first class, grades one through eight, from 1993-2001, and her second class from 2007-2012. Karen has chaired her school’s Teacher Development Committee since 2010, and is a part of their mentoring support. She also sits on her school’s Collegium. A seasoned Sunbridge Summer Grades instructor, Karen holds a BFA from Penn State University and an MSEd from Sunbridge College.

Summer Series 2020 participants left us these evaluations of Karen:

• Karen was amazing! She was always engaging, prepared and compassionate.
• It is clear Karen is an intentional, joyful, curious, reflective, intelligent teacher of children and adults. Her singing was beautiful, and provided a lovely opening to the class time together.
• There was a nice mix of pedagogy and practical classroom applications. It’s always inspiring to have someone who really knows what they’re doing lead the teaching, and teachers who want to be doing their best engaging in the content.
• Karen Crandall has a deep knowledge of the subject, but also allowed flexibility when we came to new ways of thinking to include that in discussions. The breakout rooms and then coming back to recap was a good format for this.
• The quality of this course was high. Small group discussions on Steiner readings was very helpful. Time for students to offer thoughts, ideas, and resources was very helpful. Having assignments posted online for easy and long-term reference was extremely helpful.
• The quality was excellent and I am grateful to Karen for making it so inspiring. The morning study and overviews of the blocks were especially helpful.
• She is superb–thoughtful, insightful, rich background of experience, well organized, clear communicator.
• Through her magical presence, Karen was able to provide a warm, rich, personal feeling experience for the week. She is a true master of her subject knowledge, embodies Waldorf ideals, and offers suggestions without insisting there is only the “Steiner way” to approach teaching. She was well prepared and offered numerous resources for our use.
• It was a lovely course, Karen is amazingly gifted at teaching, and all the handouts are extremely helpful.

Your course also includes music with Patti Regan of Berkshire Waldorf School and art with Kelly Beekman of The Waldorf School of Philadelphia

 

Schedule

This course takes place July 18-23 in a synchronous online classroom

Sunday evening: 7-7:30pm technical check-in; first session starts promptly at 7:30 and ends at 9
Monday-Thursday: About 4.25 hours of formal instruction delivered between 10-4:30
Friday morning: Last session runs 10-12
ALL TIMES LISTED ARE EASTERN (NY) TIME ZONE

NOTE: Participants should be prepared to work on course-related assignments outside of their regularly scheduled instructional sessions (including some that may be assigned in advance), as well as to be available to attend late afternoon and/or evening facilitator-led discussions on topics that may arise during the course of the week.

 

Cost
$570 includes all resource materials and a $25 non-refundable deposit. See main summer page for discount options. 

NOTE: Participants will be expected to procure some materials to use during their course. A materials list will be sent out three weeks prior to your course start date.

 

This course has reached maximum enrollment and is now full. If you wish to be notified in case of cancellation, please fill out this wait list form.

 

Questions?
Please contact Barbara Vitale, admissions and summer coordinator, at [email protected] or 845-425-0055 x20

 

Sunbridge reserves the right to make faculty substitutions when necessary.