My own attempt at an elevator speech to describe Waldorf education. Waddaya think?
Education inheres in the relationship of student and
teacher. A teacher’s job is to connect the student in a developmentally
appropriate way to the world—the world of nature and the world of culture
(human beings participate in and link these two worlds). To do this, given the
individuality of each student, teachers require insight. Through
self-development via a contemplative, meditative path, teachers may increase
their capacity to know their students and obtain the insights that will assist
them in their task. Rudolf Steiner outlined Waldorf education according to
these principles, and his method of inquiry, known as anthroposophy, describes
a path of self-development toward insight.
(Click for links to Elevator Speech and Elevator Speech, Part 2)
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2 comments:
I'm a fan of yours, but I would say this makes a much better teaching statement than an elevator speech. I looked back at Winslow Eliot's offering from pt. 2, and what you say here seems to fit with her point #3. For an elevator speech I think all the other parts are necessary.
If I were a prospective parent of one of your high schoolers, I would find this to be informative and I would want to hear more. I think inner work has to be done to be a good teacher, even if some might not call it "meditative." There are probably many ways of doing inner work that benefits the teaching process and teaching relationship. It would be nice if someday everyone recognized this and more could be done to support teachers (of all kinds) in their need to "renew their resources" so to speak. Seems to me that we are heading in the exact opposite direction as a country at the moment.
I hope you are having a great autumn and classes are going well. \
Thanks, and I agree. This is not actually an elevator speech, it's more of a pithy but too-dense statement of what I believe is essential to what we call Waldorf ed...
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