Waldorf School. What is it?
The first independent Waldorf school was opened in 1919. It was based on studies of Rudolf Steiner about Anthroposophy. He developed his ideas after the turning point in World War I. This year Waldorf schools celebrate 100 years.
You enter a schoolyard and see a building with contours reminding the wind. Windows frames reproduce such lines. And it seems that all the building is like a sail waving in the wind. That is organic architecture. The most vivid example of such style is Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, that was constructed by Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf schools.
Idea of Colour
You enter the classrooms and feel freedom because there is space to breathe and to play interactive games for little students. The walls are colored in different shades according to the age of students. The theory of color influence on our soul’s state was first described by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Studies upon which such schools were introduced consider that our life has 7-years cycles. If we consider the second 7-year cycle when a child in Russia starts education, we can find the following colors. For example, red color can be compared with the first years of schooling, when the child gradually leaves the warm atmosphere of the children's room and develops the ability to live in a team. Orange and yellow tones are cheerful and perfect for a nine-to-ten-year-old child.
Of course, it is something superficial. Something that makes our first impression. However, even this approach to a child disposes to further immersion into this education.
Arts
In modern society these schools have to correspond to the state’s curriculum, However, they still have some possibilities to follow own direction. For example, clay modeling. How often do children model using clay? Usually, they use plasticine but it can cause allergies and it is too soft, there is no tension in a child's hands. Clay is solid. That is why when children model something using clay, they work with their will and feeling. No doubt, fine motor skill develops children’s brain. It brings harmony between the body and the brain.
Foreign Languages
What about studying foreign languages? In Russia, most schools teach English as a foreign language. But how many graduate students can really communicate using the language? Not many because they have to study plenty of rules and tables. Latin letters are new for the students. Every letter should go through all your body and brain. That is why Latin letters have their own images and stories. For example, K is the King, Q is the Queen. All the letters make up one story that can be told during a long period. In most Waldorf schools educational process from the first grade until the fourth is based on an oral approach of teaching. Children learn little poems, sing songs, make small conversations. This way they open their “ear” to the language.
Always a Student
That is just a little part of what a Waldorf school is. This world is new to me too as I became a Waldorf teacher recently. However, I am inspired to keep on working to help our students to become a Person within the world full of temptation.
The headmistress of our school told me: “Waldorf pedagogics is space that we need to explore step by step. You cannot become a professor because you are always a student. It is important to always be in a search. First of all, you study from your students. That is why you keep on learning.”
About the Author
Nadezhda Kamasheva is a Waldorf teacher and Ph.D. student at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The original article was published on Medium.com