AWS Awareness - Oct. 2013

AWS Awareness 2013-14, October Page 1

AWS Awareness

Alabama Waldorf School1220 50th Street SouthBirmingham, AL 35222

On the web at AlabamaWaldorf.orgBlog: AlabamaWaldorf.wordpress.com

Technology as Teacherby AWS Administrator, Lisa Grupe, Ph.D.

“They don’t have textbooks this year; everyone gets an ipad,” said my friend at lunch last week speaking about her 6th grade son’s current public school experience.

“They do all their work on it. In a way, it’s great, but he already has a hard time reading hand-writing…what if this moves towards non paper and pencil completely eliminates that ability?”

A good question, but to take a step back and look at the whole picture, we need to be asking, What is the impact of this technol-ogy on learning? Is a personalized learning environment (PLE) on a tablet computer more effective than a human teacher? Is collecting data from cur-riculum units and creating an electronic lesson plan to speak to that particular student better than teaching one lesson to an entire class?

As a former Waldorf teacher and current Waldorf school administrator, I’m going to ar-gue that it’s not better. My view is that it takes a good teacher to both deliver a single lesson to a class and to review data from electronic test-ing in order to create a unique lesson plan for one student. The common denominator here is the teacher. A Waldorf teacher is trained to look at

the temperaments displayed by the students in his/her class. The four basic temperaments from ancient Greek philosophy are sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic. With its impulse toward a healthy social life both in the small society of the classroom and in the larger society as a whole, a quality lesson will contain components that appeal to each of the four temperaments. The sanguine chil-dren are looking for the presence of hope or love in a story, while the melancholic students love a sad ending. The choleric kids appreci-ate a fiery quality to a quest or tale, while the phlegmatic students want to hear what the characters ate, what the climate was like, and what kind of house the main character had. A lesson built to engage all four tem-peraments is a surefire path to learning. Once engaged by the feelings engendered by the fairy tale or the historical story or the biogra-phy, a student’s learning naturally follows. In the thinking portion of the lesson, the teacher must then draw out of the student an act of the student’s will. What is the student supposed to DO with the knowledge imparted? In Waldorf schools, we feel strongly that art medi-ates learning. Thus, an artistic endeavor such as drawing, painting, or map-making cements the learning. Through the artistic rendering of the lesson, the brain assimilates infor-mation and accommodates it into existing scaffolding or creates new structure for it.

The mediator of art also brings opportunity for creative expression and the develop-ment of imaginative capacity...(cont’d on p.3)

October 2013


Every August, AWS faculty and staff come together for workshops to share what they have learned in Waldorf training. This year Hand-

work teacher Sarah Gurganus brought a yarn-dyeing activity. Ms. Gurganus studied for three weeks at Sunbridge College in New York as part of her Handwork Teaching Certification.

Michelle Lucas brought a geometri-cal drawing activity, the results of which are pictured below and at right.

At the end of the week teachers felt re-freshed and renewed and ready to tackle an-other school year. The day before the school year began, Administrator Lisa Grupe sent AWS staff a letter of en-couragement and gratifude (at right).***

Faculty Workshops Renew and Prepare

AWS to sponsor upcoming Environmental EventsFor the third consecutive year, Alabama Waldorf School will be participating in the Wild & Scenic Film Festival as a movie sponsor for the film, “How the Kids Saved the Parks.” We hope you’ll join us on Thursday, Oct. 17th for an evening of films dedicated to something we advocate: responsible world citizenship.

AWS is also a proud event sponsor of EcoFest 15 on Oct. 3rd at Bir-mingham-Southern College. We’re excited to partner with this organi-zation, directed by former AWS parent Roald Hazelhoff, whose values of ecological awareness the school shares.***

Dearest colleagues,

On this eve of the 2013-14 school year, I want to con-gratulate you and wish you the great-est good fortune! You have, once again, turned our desolate building into a rich, inviting space; you have endured and em-braced change; and you have transformed yourselves for the betterment of human evolution. No small task.

I really enjoyed the workshop for both con-tent and camaraderie. We are a strong and noble group of teachers (and people) who understand their task. I don’t think more can be said of any group. We are a shining beacon. And we are there for those who are ready to find us.

Wishing you a year of wonder, delight, awe, inspiration, and joy,Lisa


...and problem-solving skills. Let’s say the lesson is about King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain and the assignment is an artistic rendering of one of them. In a Waldorf School, the student won’t use Wikipedia to look up pictures; instead s/he draws from his/her imagination and memory of the stories that have been told in the History lessons leading up to the assignment. A teacher can evaluate the student’s creativity and critical processing in this case. What kind of tablet is able to grade creativity and beauty? For me, what the tablets also miss is the social element of learning. Waldorf education is inherently social, having arisen out of a post WWI effort to strengthen soci-etal bonds in a hygienic way. The health of a class cannot, in my opinion, be gauged by how well each student is doing on his

individual iPad assessments. Instead, the dynamic of the class must be observed. Stu-dents must also notice the feeling imparted by the classroom decoration; if they are absorbed in a screen that is inches from their faces, they will notice little beyond that. Above all, the health of the class can be based on whether the students are animat-ed and actively attentive instead of passively entertained or engaged, as is likely to happen with the use of a tablet.***

This article was inspired by a NY Times article, No Child Left Untableted by Carlo Rotella.

Published September 12, 2013.

Technology as Teacher (cont’d from front page)

An opportunity for interested students to participate in the Waldorf school day!Email [email protected] or call 205.592.0541

to reserve your child’s space in the classroom.Participants will receive $50 off any future Application Fee.

Classroom Participation Days!

Wednesday, September 18th, 2013Wednesday, October 16th, 2013

Kindergarten (ages 3 to 6) -- 8:30am-12:30pmGrades (1st through 8th) -- 8:15am-3pm


Grandparents’ Day at

Alabama Waldorf School!

Please RSVP by calling 205.592.0541 or emailing [email protected].

We hope to see you there!

Friday, October 25th, 2013Scheduled Events:

9-10am, Kindergarten Classroom visit 10-11am, Nursery Classroom visit

10:45-11am, Guest Speaker, AWS Founder, Sheila Rubin

11am-Noon, Grades Classroom visit

The school’s auditorium will serve as a reception area between 9am and noon. Grandparents may stop by to

peruse student-created textbooks, see artwork on display, and visit with AWS

Administrative staff and other grandparents.

Light refreshments, including fresh coffee and tea, will be served.

Author Kim John Payne to visit AWSAWS is pleased to host so-

cial inclusion expert Kim John Payne on February 21-22, 2014 for a weekend of lec-tures and workshops. He has authored two books, Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids, and Games

Children Play: How Games and Sports Help Chil-dren Develop.

“A consultant and trainer to over 110 U.S. in-dependent and public schools, Kim John Payne, M.ED, has been a school counselor, adult edu-cator, consultant, researcher, educator and a private family counselor for twenty seven years. He regularly gives key note addresses at inter-

national conferences for educators, parents, and therapists and runs workshops and trainings around the world. In each role, he has been help-ing children, adolescents and families explore is-sues such as social difficulties with siblings and classmates, attention and behavioral issues at home and school, emotional issues such as defi-ance, aggression, addiction and self-esteem and the vital role living a balanced simple life brings.” (quoted from simplicityparenting.com)

During his visit, Payne will present a lectue and workshop on his latest projects around the topic of Social Inclusion.

Registration for the free Friday night 2/21 lec-ture and a Saturday 2/22 workshop will open in January.***


AWS Calendar of Events - Fall 2013

Holiday/No School * Indicates optional early dismissal at 12:30p. Free Grades XC til 3pm. Some grades classes will offer Parent-Teacher Conferences.Parent Attendance expected. Free

Childcare provided by AWS.

September1

2 Labor Day3

4

5

...

9

10 F.A. Mtg 5:30p11

12

...

16

17 Board Mtg 5:30p

18 Free Obs. Day19 Morning Garden

9am

20

21

22

23

24 Skills Survey25 Grades 4-526 Skills Survey /

Morning Garden 9am/ Grs 1-5 Par. Eve. 5:30pm

27

28

29

30

31

October1

2

3 ECO-Fest @ BSC 6p Morning Gar. 9a

4 Assembly 2:30p5 Playground

Workday 8a/Pre-school Parent Conf’s

6

7 Gr.’s 4-8 Par. Eve. 5:30p

8 F.A. Mtg 5:309 Indiv. Student

Photos; Marketing Mtg 11:30-12:30

10 Morning Gar. 9a / Indiv. Student Photos / KG Par. Eve. 5:30p

11

12 Art in Avondale Park

13

14 Nurs. Par. Eve. 6p

15 Board Mtg 5:30p

16 Free Obs. Day17 Morning Gar. 9a

...

23 Marketing Mtg 11:30-12:30

24 Morning Gar. 9a

25 Grandparents’ Day 9a-Noon

...

30

31 Morning Gar. 9a / Trunk or Treat 5:30p, KG-3rd graders

November1 *Opt. early Dis-

missal 12:30p2 Moss Rock3 Fest. Hoover4 *Opt. early Dis-

missal 12:30p5


7 Morning Garden 9a / Gr’s 6-8 Sec-ondary School Eve.

8 Assembly 2:30p9

10

11 Veteran’s Day12 F.A. Mtg 5:3013

14 Morning Gar. 9a

15

16 Playground Workday 8a

17

18

19 Board Mtg 5:30p


21 Morning Gar. 9a

...

25

26

27 Thanksgiving28 Holidays29 No School30

December1

2

3 F.A. Mtg 5:304 Marketing Mtg

11:30-12:305

6 Assembly 2:30p7 Holiday

Faire 10a-3p8

9

10

11

12 Garden of Light 5:30p

13

14

15

16 Gr. 6-8 Prog-ress Reports due

17 Board Mtg 5:30p

18 Early Dismissal 12:30. No XC.

19 Winter20 Holidays21 No22 School23

24

25

26

27

28


Handwork in 1st and 2nd Gradesfrom Ms. Gurganus

In Handwork class this year, students will begin to build a foundation of skills upon which they will draw for the rest of their Handwork classes and beyond. In the fall, they will begin by fluffing wool and exploring its natural qualities, and making knitting needles (sharpening, sanding, and wax-ing) to help them develop reverence for materials and tools. We use only natural materials—wool, cotton, and wood—because of the warmth and life that they possess. They will make slipknots, learn finger knitting, and wind a ball of yarn. Then they will learn to cast on and knit.

Knitting uses a long, continuous thread, which is analogous to the child embarking on the grade school journey and learning to knit or weave coherent thoughts together. Knitting supports all of their learning by developing manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and crossing the midline with a balanced use of both hands engages both hemispheres of the brain.

They begin to develop an unconscious reverence for the human hand and its potential. The first knitting projects are simple squares or rectangles that are then folded, sewn, and formed into toys or other useful objects. The students are involved from start to finish in each project, so they are

empowered to create the project again on their own. They are offered harmonious colors so they can choose freely for their projects with no difficult color combina-tions. This is a first step toward learning to work with color that will continue through all their handwork projects through the grades.

In the early grades, the students need to develop their ability to sit, work steadily, wait patiently for assistance, focus on the activity and apply care-fully what they have learned.

Second graders will further their knitting skill this year. The first and second graders will start the year with the same project, as a way to refresh the memory, then the second graders will move on to a more challenging project as the first grad-ers continue to learn the basic knit stitch. As the year progresses, second graders will experience different techniques of manipulating the stitches to create a multitude of shapes.

Classroom Clips

1st and 2nd Graders sanding their knitting needles on the breezeway

From left: Chalkboard drawing from the 4th/5th grade Zoology block, during which they com-pared and contrasted qualities from the human and animal kingdoms, including the octopus vs. the limbs of the human being; Mr. Lucas’ chalkboard drawing during the first Language Arts Block of 3rd grade; Kindergarten students enjoying their new playground thanks to the herculean efforts of AWS parents to lay new sod (thanks again to Ray Linder)!


Fundraisers practice Business Math in Grade 6

It’s now AWS tradition that each year the 6th grade class takes on the sale of potatoes as a fundraiser for the 8th grade class trip. Ms. Lucas’ 6th graders are taking orders for potatoes each week, learning about business math and economics as they do so. Concepts as-sociated with a start-up business, including start-up costs, net and gross profits and income, and skills such as basic accounting come to life with the fundraising activity.

Physiology & Anatomy

Oct. 28 - Nov. 22

7th/8th Grade - from Ms. Powell

Both classes began their introduction to the study of the living human body and its complex systems last year. We will continue physiology through the study of the excretory system and the lymph system. In anatomy, the class studies the muscular and skeletal systems as the framework for the human body. The block seeks to balance solid, fun-damental scientific understanding with an ap-preciation for the artistry of form and move-ment within the body of man. Understanding of pulleys, etc. from seventh and sixth grade physics is now applied to the workings of the human being’s physical form. I am looking for a sculptor who can come during this block to lead students in modelling forms in clay re-lated to the skeleton. I will work with them to understand the Golden Mean and the divine proportions within man.

Week 1: Excretory and Lymph Systems. The human eye and the human ear, form and function.

Week 2: Bones of the skeleton. The curve and straight line, the “sphere” and the “col-umn” as basic prin-ciples of form in our bones. Bone growth, damage and healing. The functions of the bones and their interplay. Comparisons be-tween some animal and human bones.

Week 3: The human muscular system. Mus-cles and blood; different types of muscles. Tendons and ligaments. Joints and different types of “levers” in human movement.

Week 4: Health and Nutrition, Coordination of the skeleton, muscles and sensory organs. Self-portraits, focusing on skeletal system, and sculpting.

Classroom Clips (cont’d)


If you would like a sponsorship

in the Awareness, call 205-592-0541 or

email [email protected]

The AWS Awareness is brought to you by these proud sponsors...


c o l l a b o r at i o n o f a rt i sts : k at r i n a t u r n b ac h | s h e l l e i g h b u c k i n g h a m | l es l i e h i c k e r s o n

Paintings & art collages, up-cycled fabric purses & sachets, handmade soap, teacup bird feeders, silver & glass jewelry, and much more!

Visit the Artsy Chicks booth in the pavilion atArt On r MOuntAin

at ruffner Mountain nature Preserveon Saturday, April 6, 9am – 5pm

~ NEW LOOK, SAME CHICKS...AS SEEN AT AWS HOLIDAY FAIRE ~

www.facebook.com/BhamArtsyChicks

The AWS Awareness is brought to you by these proud sponsors...

Susie Strauss, co-ownerNancee Neel, co-owner

Keri Lane HontzasBackyard Movie Parties

FLIX, Inc.Keri Lane PromotionsPh: 205-595-3549Cell: 205-223-3549Email:[email protected]


...with Special Thanks to our Title Sponsor...

2700 Rogers Drive • Suite 102Homewood, AL 35209

205.380.8820www.robspiegelmd.com

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AWS Awareness - Oct. 2013