12/12

http://vimeo.com/1535001

Dear Friends,

I have attached a link to a short video that attempts to show what a Steiner or Waldorf School is.  Some of the speakers and teachers were people that I worked with in my training in the UK.  I especially liked to see another "Roman Road" project.  It is interesting to hear a foreign perspective on these international schools.  At Olympia, we are gearing up for our own Curriculum Fair that will include a panel of Alumni and Waldorf graduates.  This is a very important opportunity for parents to come and get a first hand experience of our pedagogy, the thinking behind the approach and to hear from graduates who can give you a feeling for what students can gain from this education.  Check the bulletin for more information and mark Saturday the fifth of February, 10am on your calendars.  This will be an exciting event to take part in!   

In seventh grade, we are developing our sense of speech and writing.  As part of this study, we have been experiencing the difference between the statement, question, exclamation, and command.  While observing and writing to a plant each day, the students have been exercising their writing voices.  A bit of quiet observation in the natural setting can be very inspiring as a writer.  Some students have asked their plants if they are afraid of the storm.  Some pondered where the plant has come from and where it is going in the future.  All of this work in observation and thought have lent toward a strong foundational sense for speech.  A reflective mood and the power of words work together to allow the students to grow in confidence as writers. 

In addition to the creative approach to writing, we have also been looking at what an effective paragraph and essay structure can be.  The students have been revisiting their goals as they write letters to the parents in a well structured and thoughtful way.  The challenge for students at this age is to be able to stay with a thought for longer than a sentence or two.  The ability to open a topic, illustrate the theme in different ways and drive home the point, is an important skill that will help them in high school and beyond.   We are working on their ability to have the structural skill to express their wonderful ideas in a way that others can connect to or read with feeling and understanding.  "So, like, dude!" is an example of ways that some talk to their friends on the phone or on the playground.  We are striving for an elevated and respectful speech in school so that they can be heard and respected by a wide range of people. 

12/5

Dear Friends,

I would like to thank everyone who helped at the Enchanted Winter Fair; especially Jennifer Harner, Kim and John Gonczar.  All who I have spoken to about the event, agree: it was a great success.  I remember walking in the cool sunny weather, past the crackling campfire and the spry cookie elves, on the way to tell stories in the Kinderhaus.  There was warm encounters, beautiful music and a welcoming atmosphere.  These quiet moments of work and conversation seem to bring the feeling of community in a natural way.  I felt very happy to be connected to these people and this place. 

In seventh grade, we are rounding out our Geometry block.  The Geometry block included a test in which the students requested letter grades.  This brought a good opportunity to discuss what grades really reflect and what the positive/negative impact can be.  I reminded them that the subject material was still new and would be revisited.  I also mentioned that grades don't always show how much effort a student has put in and how much they have improved.   The beautiful projects that are on display in the Middle School Foyer show that they were able to focus and do something with the knowledge.  This ability is much more alive than simple facts and calculations.  The students also received a block report that should be signed and returned. 

From the objective nature of fractions and angles, we are entering the world of words and the English language.  We will develop our sense of style and poetry so that their writing can continue to grow.  We are relating different sentence types such as a statement, command, question and exclamation to the ancient understanding of the four elements.  We are also listening to poetry and learning about meter.  This time of writing will be a playful and reflective time to carry the Logos into this winter season.

11/21

Dear Friends,

        We in the seventh grade are in our last week of the Geometry main lesson block.  Ratios have been the new material that we have been covering.  It is difficult to understand conceptually that there are not units but rather relationships involved in ratios.  The parts may multiply, grow or diminish, but the relationship stays the same.  For example, a circle may expand to infinity or shrink to a thought, but its ratio of circumference to diameter is always "Pi" or approximately 3.14 to 1.  Unlike the consistency of numbers, relationships between humans can't help but change as we are in a state of becoming; unlike the consistency of numbers.  This lawful union highlights the sense of truth that math and numbers can give us. 
        The other elevated plane of existence that we have been experiencing is that of beauty.  The harmony of numbers is gracefully shown in nature.  The proportions of the human form as well as the spiral growth of plants exemplify the regenerative properties of Phi ("The Golden Ratio") and the Fibonacci Sequence.  The students should be working on a project to bring their own creative experience into these harmonious numbers.  Please ask the students about their projects.

11/14

Dear friends,
We are happy to welcome two new additions to the seventh grade!  They are not students, but rather two young Silkie chickens.  Their names are "Squeakers" and "Chicken Little Bilbo."  They have been a nice outlet for those students (of all ages) who are drawn to animals. 

In our main lesson block, we have been entering the beautiful world of geometry.  Beauty in number relationships such as "Phi" or the "Golden Ratio" have brought about an active time of exploration and learning.  We have been recognising these proportions in artistic design, construction, nature and the human form.  The drawings in the middle school building will show you the fruits of this ability to compose a drawing that has a working understanding of proportion.  They actually look like people!  We were reminded of our attempts and frustrations of drawing people a year or two ago.  Now they have shown that they can observe, think and have the skill to render a beautiful work of art. 

This ability to pay attention has carried over into our constructions with tools such as a compass and a straight edge.  We are practicing precision as we create difficult forms such as a golden spiral from a pentagon and five pointed star.  The class will have a project to allow for personal interest to enter into their understanding of these relationships of numbers and nature.  They will create something inspired by the Fibonacci Sequence or the Golden Ratio and do a short writing to highlight the concepts they are working with. 

Ratios are also a big theme of the year in math and we are working with these ideas and then grounding the concepts in practice problems and projects.  The class observed three different rectangles with various height-width ratios.  With out knowing it, the class agreed upon the golden ratio rectangle as having a more harmonious construction.  They were able to have a lengthy and descriptive discussion about something as "simple" as three rectangles.  The class saw different personalities and potentials for these shapes.  To follow up on this lively thinking, we are going to create and write about three human characters who echo these differing geometric make-ups.  They will then think of a situation where all the characters will have drastically different perspectives of the same event.  They will exercise their ability to see life from different vantage points and have to think flexibly.  This is relating to the back and forth that we all experience between the subjective and objective nature of phenomena. 

I want to thank you for the conversation in the parent teacher conferences.  I am constantly amazed by how much I learn about the students through this form of meeting.  I also met individually with the students to let them know all the positive things we talked about in the conferences.  We revisited the goals that were set in the beginning of the year and what needs to be worked on.  Feel free to ask them about this.  Above all, I reminded the students that I see them as humans and that I see them doing good deeds in the future as their generation inherits the responsibility of the future of this planet.  We are in good hands.

10/17

Some memories from Hope Island...

10/9

Dear friends and families,

As the leaves are turning, the seventh grade class is turning toward the meat of the school year.  We will enter into this winter time with an adventurous field trip to Hope Island on Thursday the 14th and Fri. the 15th.  The class has been off to a healthy start and they deserve a trip together.  There will be learning opportunities as I ask them to be involved in the set up/take down and meals.  I also want them to come up with ways that they can practice being together consciously.  By this I will ask that they are inclusive of their classmates in their activities; not only their close friends.  I think this is also a good opportunity for the class to create memories together as a newly constituted group of individuals.  They still talk about how much they enjoyed the camping trip to Mt. St. Helens last year.

Our studies have taken us to the near east.  Constantinople and the Byzantine empire have rounded out an introduction to the middle ages when Christianity altered the cultural landscape of the empire.  We discussed the crusades and the idea of a religiously sanctioned war.  At this point, one student asked "why are we studying this stuff anyways?"  We discussed the fact that many religions have the same "holy land" and how we continue to try to recon conflicting religious and cultural wars.  A local woman who grew up in Egypt, Israel, and Istanbul came to talk about her first hand account of the beauty and strife that color these places.  For many of the students, this global awakening was very new and foreign. 

In our artistic works, we began drawing still lifes.  This was a challenging exercise in really looking at objects and drawing what we see, not what we think.  We all know what an egg looks like; right?  But how often do we stop to look at the shadow that it is casting and how the yolk glows on the bottom of the egg, or how beautiful grey tones can be?  These exercises can support their ability to be in touch with the "real" world which they often express a desire to be a part of.  I see the wonderful artistic work that they have been doing as signs of their growth and development.  Come to the class and see for yourself. 

effects of an egg toss

easy does it...

9/27

Dear Parents,

This week we will finish up our Astronomy block with the constellation poster-reports.  They will present them on Tuesday or Monday if they volunteered.  During this study, it has been a challenging task to visualize the apparent and true movements of the celestial spheres!

The students particularly impressed me when they were able to take three separate things (Stargirl, The Little Prince, and the change to a heliocentric understanding) and find many themes that wove them together.  The themes included; how we learn, imagination, what is reality and more.  Their ability to find connections to diverse subjects, shows that they are exercising their brain muscles to think flexibly and creatively.  This skill will help them in many aspects of life, including the workplace.

We also continued to clear the space in front of the middle school building.  Bill Brookreson brought us some native plants for the project.  He told us to come up with a strategic list of native plants that we want to incorporate into the garden and he would help us find them.  If you know of a material that we can use to line the garden, please contact me.

I look forward to seeing you at the Michaelmas festival on Saturday.  Please help by signing up for a short shift to help with the archery.  You don't need any experience and the list is on the class bulletin board.   Thank you.