First Week in New Zealand

Hi! We made it to New Zealand. The school is really great. Taruna College is located on a small mountain call Te Mata and looks onto beautiful rolling hills and valleys below it. I can see the ocean off in the far distance (15 minute drive) from where I am emailing you. Everyone has been very friendly, talkative, and helpful.






We landed in Auckland Wednesday and spent four hours talking to our new banker. Four hours! Think drunk Dudley Moore except he was sober. Did I mention that New Zealanders are talkative? Neither of us have ever laughed so much while banking. 

Once our money was in order we went looking for a used car. On Thursday we bought a little Mazda Familia, transferred title info, registered it, and drove 
it across country. The scenery was spectacular. Rolling green hills that lead into dramatic mountains and ascend down to the ocean. It was a six hour ride and 
Jessica got to say hello to lots of cows, goats, horses, and sheep. Funny but there were actually more cows on the road than sheep. The cows have long skinny 
legs and were very busy eating grass. 

 

We arrived at the school around 11pm and crashed. We woke up early the next day and set off to find a home. We found one on the first try. It is a cute little 
cottage five minutes from the school and a minute drive to town. Havelock North is a quaint little village straight out of a Julia Roberts romantic comedy. 
Coffee and wine cafes, organic grocer, funky thrift store, a bike shop, and lots of wine stores selling for the local wineries. 

We are loving New Zealand. We had a meet and greet Sunday night (a traditional Maori welcoming followed by English tea) and classes began Monday. 


Sorry for the delay in posting. Thanks for reading. 

Honolulu Waldorf High School Visit

On Friday, we visited the Honolulu Waldorf High School. Van James, the art teacher, invited us to observe his class and check out the school.  Mr. James is a part-time instructor at Taruna College and will be teaching a two week visual art block while we are at Taruna. We had visited him at the school last summer but this was an opportunity to see the school in session.

Overall, the day was a very positive experience and got us excited to start studying Waldorf education in New Zealand. The general vibe of the school was friendly and engaging. The majority of students showed a genuine desire to learn, reflect and create.

We observed the 9^th grade Art History class and the 11^th grade painting and metal work classes.

Here is a basic outline of the class activities for the Art History class:

1.                    Class comes in and gets situated. Mr. James checks homework and waits for a student to get back from the restroom before starting. Some time to chit chat and socialize. (5 – 10 minutes)

2.                    Vocal warm up with tongue twisters and verses. Mr. James led the class in call and response. At some point, each student was prompted to try a tongue twister on their own until they said it clearly and loudly. (10 minutes)

3.                    Student reports on the Renaissance artists Fra Angelico and Luca Signonelli. Two students presented the life and work of each artist for about 5 minutes. The class took notes during the presentations and asked questions at the end. (20 minutes)

4.                    Review of famous art pieces from the Renaissance. This was a slide show. Mr. James would project famous works of art and ask the class who made it, what was depicted, and why it was note worthy. For example, The Deposition by Giotto was discussed. Students noted the use of blue sky, as opposed the more traditional gold, and the use of the compositional V to draw a focal point to Jesus, as he was surrounded by mourners after the crucifixion. (60 minutes)

5.                    Study time. Students were given time to work on whatever they chose. (15 minutes)

The 11^th grade art classes was much more free form. Students spent time creating art and the teachers circulated and provided individual suggestions. In the visual art class, led by Mr. James, students were completing oil pastel copies of famous impressionist art pieces. When they finished each student talked to Mr. James about their piece and then started on an original work of art of their own choosing. In the metal work class, led by Phil Dwyer, students were  making jewelry by cutting patterns into small pieces of copper. These were to be laminated onto to silver bands and shaped into rings in future classes.  It was very detailed work. The students showed strong concentration as they used saws and dremels to create their patterns.

We were blown away by the students’ artwork. Art is not an elective in Waldorf, and every student is extremely skillful and expressive. It is wonderful to see art as a core subject and not just something added after the fact. It would be interesting return and see how the students’ art skills translate to math, science, and humanities classes. 

Book Review of Educating Through Art by Agnes Nobel

Welcome to our first book review!  We just finished reading the book Educating Through Art by Agnes Nobel. It was recommended to us by Paul White, the Faculty Director at Taruna College. We hope to review more Waldorf related books as we finish reading them.

Here is our quick review:  

Educating Through Art provides an interesting perspective on Waldorf -- that of an outsider looking in. We too are outsiders. Who are ready to dive in!

Here is our longer review for those with more time on your hands:

In Educating Through Art, Agnes Nobel investigates why Waldorf schools attach so much importance to art education. Nobel is an educational psychologist at Uppsala University in Sweden. She received a grant from the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences to study “art and knowledge with a particular reference to the theory of practice of Waldorf Education.” (Isn’t grant language a joy to read!) She got to study Waldorf Education for six years and was paid for it. Boy, are we jealous.

She states that the central theme of Waldorf education is to narrow the gap between theory and practice. She quotes Steiner as saying “No one can become a great philosopher if he cannot sew a button on his trousers.” (Bungling college professors of the early 1900’s were up in arms and demanded that their wives write a note of protest after they finished fixing their husband’s professorial gowns.)

Here is a taste of the book: “I have in mind [in writing this book] those who have seen for the themselves or who have read about anthroposophical activities – in education, health care, environmental care, architecture and so on -- and who have been impressed and wondered about it, but who at the same time feel a wavering skepticism about the theoretical background on which all this [Waldorf Education] is said to rest.” A long, possibly confusing statement that (we think) describes us very well!

 There is an interesting note in the book about the complexities of translation when considering Steiner’s ideas. Steiner termed his philosophy “Spiritual Science,” (also known as Anthroposophy -- say that 3 times fast!). The word “Spiritual” is translated from the Steiner’s native German word “geisteswissenschaft.” In English this word can mean both “spirit” and  “arts and humanities.” Is it possible that he meant to name his philosophy “Arts and Humanities Science? (Or as we call it, “Social Science”?) Or did he mean to include consideration of the spiritual along with the arts, humanities, and science. The idea to keep in mind, as presented in the book, is that you do not need to proceed in fear when you encounter the word “spiritual” in Anthroposophy.

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2 Stars and a Wish!

This method of critical analysis was taught to us by our mentor, Rae Takemoto.  It works like this – you state two things you like and one thing you would do differently, if you were to do it. It works great for reflective discussion in the classroom. 

Here are our 2 stars and a wish.

Star 1: By learning more about Steiner’s predecessors, Goethe and Schiller, we better understand Steiner’s concerns about our dependence on science and technology. Modern science has made amazing discoveries though methodical observation and objectification of our world. For example, scientists were able to reduce the material world into smaller and smaller components from compounds to elements to atoms. This knowledge gave us the ability to create energy through nuclear fission. But if we completely remove the subject-object relationship when learning about the world, it is possible to gain knowledge without wisdom. We applied our knowledge of the atom to create powerful reactions. We did not consider how it could be used. The horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are a result. Students who acquire information without relating it to their lives and the world at large are in danger of making the same types of mistakes.

Star 2: Nobel states that art is used in Waldorf education is to help students navigate in a dualistic world – right and wrong, light and dark, male and female, science and religion. Our understanding after reading the book is that by realizing we are part of a whole we can make better choices for ourselves and for the world around us. A scientist can be a moral being. A priest can be an objective observer. We can all be artists by expressing what is special with in each of us.  

One Wish: An editor. Her writing, although very informative, is lengthy and at times academic. Maybe she can get Dan Brown to make a page turning revision!

Thanks for reading!

Will and Jess

Click here to read about the book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Educating-Through-Art-Steiner-Approach/dp/0863151876/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1294801540&sr=8-1

Waiting on a Wire: Paying tuition

Last week we finally sent off our Student Visa application to New Zealand Immigration. It was a (s)nail biter! We had to wire our tuition to Taruna, then receive our Offer of Place documents from the college before we could submit our Visa applications to the NZ Consulate in Los Angeles. It took over 2 weeks for our money to travel the 4394 miles from Hawaii to New Zealand! That’s an average speed of 293 miles per day or about 12 miles per hour.

            Math question! If your life savings travels for 15 days at 12 miles per hour how long does it take to get stressed?

            As my dad says, “Well, you figured out how to do it… too bad you won’t ever be able to use what you learned again.” If you or anyone you know is attempting to get a Visa, here is what we learned:

1.     Do not try to get things done around Christmas. Everyone is on vacation, and when they return they have a stack of work waiting for them.

2.     Turns out that you are usually positioned on the bottom of that stack.

3.     The New Zealand Consulate is awesome, and we hope they are reading this so that they put our application on the top of the stack!

What is Waldorf Education? (Take 2)

One of the first questions people ask after hearing about our upcoming adventure is "What is Waldorf education?" We usually reply that it is an alternative method of education that uses the arts to teach. Our friends and family nod their head and say "That sounds wonderful,"  but we never feel totally satisfied with our answer. The educator in us wants to make our reply clear, meaningful and memorable, but this is not an easy task. We plan on returning to the question of  “What is Waldorf Education?” several times over the course of this year and see how our understanding and explanation evolves. Here is what we have for you today. Thanks for reading!

Waldorf education is a holistic way of teaching children based on their developmental needs. Think about a little seed that will grow into an enormous tree. You do not prune the seed’s leaves to help it grow. You give the seed what it needs -- soil, sun, water and nutrients. In the same way, you don't treat children like little adults.  Children need comfort, consistency, understanding and appropriate/meaningful challenges. To provide this, Waldorf teaches to the head, heart, and hands. By thinking, feeling, and doing in equal measure students are able to grow in a balanced way.

Here is an example: To learn something you first need to care about it. Let’s say you enjoy cakes. “I like cake. Cake is good. I want to learn about it.“ You look at some pictures. Better yet, you get a cake and check it out. “Icing, layers. Smells sweet. Tastes good.” You like cake so much that after devouring the one you were studying and you want more (feeling). 

You get a recipe and read how to make it (thinking). “Flour, eggs, sugar, butter, flavoring, baking powder, baking pan, hot oven. Check!” 

Finally, you take what you know and you create a cake with the ingredients (doing). It may take several tries, but over time you get better and better until one day you make a cake as delicious as the that first tasty one.   

Often education focuses on one part of the learning process. For example, maybe you just like cake, and you eat and eat them (too much feeling -- and a stomach ache). Maybe you are fascinated by the ingredients and spend your life reading cake recipes from around the world (too much thinking -- and a head ache). Or maybe you just start mixing random things together in the kitchen and hope you would wind up with a cake (too much doing -- and a mess to clean up). 

Waldorf education attempts to provide learning experiences that are balanced in the hopes that children will grow up to be balanced individuals. 

(with happy, full bellies!) 

What is Waldorf Education?

What is Waldorf Education? It is many things to many people. The first time I went to a Waldorf school, I was part of a group that was on a tour. We began our visit on a beautiful deck overlooking the Maui valley. The leader of the tour was giving an overview of the school, and I was tuning in and out as I looked at the beautiful view.

Tour guide: Blah blah blah …. Waldorf education was developed to rid the world of war. Blah blah blah.”

Me: Huh? Sorry? Excuse me. What was that?

Tour guide: I was saying that we promote the healthy eating of organic products in order that our students…

Me: … no, the bit about war.

Tour guide: Rudolf Steiner started the school in Germany after World War I. He and his first teachers hoped to create a learning environment that promoted peace and understanding.

Me: Sign me up! 

WStack History Part 4: End and begin again

But I was exhausted. I could not find a healthy balance in my life. Even while working in a great school. Even after learning from an amazing mentor, I did not feel that I was achieving my original goals. I was not preparing my students to live satisfied lives. I was preparing them to pass a written test.

 When I packed up my meditation cushion and rode my bike home from the river on that blissful day years ago, I did not visualize a world filled with high stakes testing. I just wanted to help make things a little better for kids as they grew up.  Instead I found myself part of a system that I didn’t believe in.  It was a well-intentioned set of ideas practiced in a way that unintentionally made kids feel miserable. I felt miserable. I hoped my students didn’t notice how I felt. I hoped they would learn to live happy lives. Maybe I put my mediation cushion away to early. How can we expect kids to live happy, content lives when we can’t do it ourselves?

This question has led me to begin a new journey. Jessica and I are taking a year off from teaching to attend Waldorf training in New Zealand. Land of the Kiwi! Hopefully, we will learn some really great ideas for using the arts to teach students, but, mostly, I hope we learn to live the satisfied kind of lives that we all wish for our children. This blog will detail that adventure. Thanks for reading!