Becoming a More Effective Teacher by Tapping the Wisdom of Waldorf Education

In September 1920, Rudolf Steiner gave a series of four lectures to the teachers of the Stuttgart Waldorf School.

Among the messages conveyed in these Balance in Teaching lectures was the admonition for teachers to consider:

• Polarities that exist within students
• Inherent dynamics that exist within subjects, and
• The importance to work intentionally with both

This wisdom, which lies behind the art of teaching and is essential in order to achieve balance in teaching, is the subject of Sunbridge Institute’s first East Coast Teachers Conference. Through lecture, discussion, and experiential activities, we’ll examine, investigate, and work directly with Steiner’s pedagogical insights, as revealed in Balance in Teaching Lecture IV.

There will be opportunities to come together with your colleagues to explore balance in teaching concepts in both large group settings and small group activities. In addition to multi-session workshops in geometry or clay, all participants will attend the keynote lecture, faculty panel, and sessions in singing and eurythmy.

Designed for teachers with a background in Waldorf Education, our conference will help you unlock and translate Steiner’s ideas into practical classroom application. We will explore Steiner’s lecture to better understand the effects of one’s teaching on the incarnating child and share and practice techniques for applying these concepts to your work with your students, giving you insight and inspiration that will enlighten and strengthen your teaching.

Subject teachers, as well as class teachers, are encouraged to attend.

We are accepting walk-ins on the day of the conference; walk-in fee is $230, payable at the door through check or credit card. If possible, kindly contact our registrar, Tamara Photiadis ([email protected] / 845-425-0055 x16) by 3pm Friday if you plan on registering at the door so we know how many to expect. Thank you.

Workshop Information and Descriptions

Through a focus in one of two multi-session workshops, conference participants will investigate and learn how to apply the wisdom of Steiner’s lecture to their teaching. Each workshop is appropriate for teachers of any subject and any grade level. You will be asked to indicate your workshop choice on our registration form; feel free to make your selection based on personal or professional preference. Space in each workshop is limited and will be filled on a first come-first served basis.

Clay with Marina McGrew
Inspired by content from the lower, middle, and high school curricula, participants will use the medium of clay to explore mental pictures as they are translated into form through the activities of the will and the guidance of feeling. By creating forms that are related to spatial qualities—such as double bent curves, lines, and planes—we will look at the ways that working with sculptural form meets different types of students and will use these explorations as a pathway of uncovering the wisdom of Balance in Teaching.

Marina McGrew is the Upper School Crafts teacher at the Rudolf Steiner School (NYC), where she has taught classes in clay modeling, Platonic Solids, bookbinding, printmaking, photography, and the History through Art main lesson; she also sits on the School’s College of Teachers and Board of Trustees. Prior joining the Steiner School faculty 11 years ago, she taught at Kimberton Waldorf School (PA) and the Lansdowne Friends School (PA), among other places. Marina has also  led workshops for various AWSNA conferences, as well as at the Nashville Waldorf School, in Platonic solids and faculty work. She studied art in college and art education in graduate school, and holds a certificate Applied Arts from Sunbridge College, where she worked with her most significant mentor, Michael Hoard. When she is not teaching, Marina sculpts stone and clay and makes pottery.

Geometry with Marisha Plotnik
Using content from the upper elementary grades, participants will experience different activities highlighting the contrasting effects of forming mental images of number and space, and drawing geometrical forms on paper. Through this exploration, we will consider how these two poles can help us create lively, imaginative, content-rich lessons for the students we teach.

Marisha Plotnik has been teaching physics and mathematics at the Rudolf Steiner School (NYC) since 1995. She has mentored math teachers at Waldorf schools across the country and also serves as a board member for The Nature Institute. A graduate of the Toronto Waldorf School, Marisha earned her Honours BSc (Physics) from Trent University (Ontario), her BEd from the University of Western Ontario, and her MA (Education Leadership) as a Klingenstein Fellow at Columbia University; she received her Waldorf High School Teaching Certificate (Mathematics) from the Center for Anthroposophy.

Please note, we regret that Speech with Helen Lubin will not be offered this year.

Artistic Faculty

Jana Hawley (New! Singing Faculty) directs Sunbridge Institute’s Elementary Teacher Education program, in which she teaches music and inner development, among other subjects; she also directs and teaches in Sunbridge’s specialized intensive in Elementary Music Teacher Education. Jana’s “other” job is lower school music teacher at Green Meadow Waldorf School (NY), where she is especially renowned for the eighth grade musical productions she directs; she has also served as class teacher at Green Meadow and is on that school’s Teacher Development Committee and Collegium. Prior to joining the Green Meadow faculty 8 years ago, she spent 14 years on the faculty of the Whidbey Island (WA) Waldorf School, teaching music and main lessons. Jana has been a visiting faculty member at several Waldorf teacher training institutes in the US as well as abroad. She has led workshops in movement, singing, and composition, and is a contributor to The Mood of the Fifth: A Musical Approach to Early Childhood, a WECAN publication. She earned her BFA in Music from Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA, and her MSEd in Waldorf Elementary Teacher Education from Sunbridge College.

Laura Radefeld (Eurythmy) teaches eurythmy to high schoolers at Green Meadow Waldorf School (NY), where she has been a member of the faculty since 2010. Laura is also on the faculty of Eurythmy Spring Valley’s Pedagogical Eurythmy program, Antioch University New England, and the Center for Anthroposophy and has taught in Waldorf schools throughout North America. She is a graduate of Eurythmy Spring Valley’s four-year artistic eurythmy training and received her pedagogical eurythmy diploma from Emerson College, UK.

Keynote Speaker

Elizabeth Hall is class teacher for grade seven at Green Meadow Waldorf School (NY) where she has been a class teacher since 2006; she also serves on the School’s Collegium and Teacher Development Committee. Prior to joining the Green Meadow faculty, Liz was a class teacher and lower school chair at the Waldorf School of Baltimore (MD).  She is also an adjunct faculty member in Sunbridge’s Elementary Teacher Education program and, in April 2015, was a keynote speaker at the International Transitions in Childhood Conference at the Goetheanum. Liz holds a BA from Earlham College, where she double-majored in English and Spanish and minored in Art History; an MA in Education and Waldorf Certificate 1-8 from Antioch New England Graduate School; NH certification 1-6; and a Certificate of Curative Education from Camphill Special Schools, Inc.

Schedule

Friday, February 26

6:30-7:00pm:
Registration

7:00-9:00pm:
Conference

Saturday, February 27

9:00am-5:30pm:
Conference

Preparation
Balance in Teaching is available through Meadowlark Toys & Sunbridge Books (845-290-1572, [email protected]) or click here to access a pdf. Please read Lecture IV before you arrive.

Fee/Registration
Conference fee is $215 through online registration. Cost includes snacks, lunch, and a non-refundable $25 registration fee.
Discount available for students and graduates of Sunbridge teacher education programs.
Schools registering four teachers may register a fifth teacher for free.
Contact Registrar Tamara Photiadis for details ([email protected] / 845-425-0055 x16)

Click here to register.

Questions?
Contact Ayla Dunn, Admissions and Summer Series Coordinator, [email protected]/845-425-0055 x20

Sunbridge Institute reserves the right to cancel any offering at any time. If Sunbridge cancels, all registrants will be notified and will receive a full refund. If the registrant cancels, he or she will receive a full refund less the non-refundable registration fee.  Sunbridge reserves the right to make faculty substitutions when necessary.