Parenting UnpluggedBy: Cat Greenstreet, Lower School Chair & Eileen Diskin, Director of Alumni Relations

BULLETINNovember-December 2010

Parenting Unplugged

Main Lessons through the grades

Social Inclusion

Sports at Steiner

Notes from Inside

Community Marketplace

1-4

5

6

7

8-11

12

Table of ContentsTelevision, movies, personal DVD players, computers, video games, cell phones, iPods – the world of technology is unendingly inviting and its place in the modern world continues to grow. For most of us, if we’re not plugged in, we feel disconnected from the world. When I was raising my son without television in the ’90s, my parents were alarmed that we were depriving him of all it could offer educationally. Now the demand for exposure to media and tech-nology has exponentially increased. It’s not enough to watch the news on televi-sion, many must have other simultaneous streams of communication and informa-tion, such as the CNN “live ticker” bring-ing the news on their computer desktop, while also checking twitter or facebook. When much of the world equates technol-ogy with connection, why do we at the Ru-dolf Steiner School ask you to unplug your children from media?

We want to foster human beings who are connected to the kingdoms of nature and the planet itself as well as to their fellow human beings. Here is a snapshot of what we are doing at each level of education and the effect the media has upon it. The cornerstone of an early Waldorf educa-tion is the cultivation of self-directed play. Rather than teaching our children colors and numbers in their nursery years or read-ing and arithmetic in the kindergarten, we

give them the opportunity to discover the world around them. Every item the child plays with encourages imaginative think-ing. Dolls with non-descript faces, wooden stoves, rocks and logs – the children trans-form these objects into something that feeds and helps form their imaginative play. Exposure to fast-paced, glitzy or shock-ing media images interferes with the child’s ability to experience the natural and the re-lational world in a free way. “Media” is a good term as it actually mediates or “serves as an intermediary” between the child and sense experiences. Young children learn through imitation and, therefore, take on the characters, actions and intentions be-hind what they see as if they were their own. In the classroom, not only do they have attention difficulties, they also act out everything they have seen; if this involves something on TV or on a DVD, it makes it difficult for the whole class to engage and express themselves freely in creative play. We are ultimately faced with a growing number of ways in which media interferes with what we expect the children in our school to be able to do and to be.

As the children enter the elementary school, they interact with a teacher who brings a rich imaginative curriculum, stories that have nurtured humanity throughout the centuries: fairy tales, fables, hero stories, myths. They meet the world of numbers

through pictures and the natural world through stories that stir awe and wonder. This is an education that asks children to be inwardly and outwardly active in both their imaginations and their physical bodies: they create their own books as they learn academics; they draw and paint; they model in beeswax and clay; they move together as a group in eurythmy; they create plays together. The teach-er leads them into learning about the world and about themselves through rich experiences that move their hearts and inspire their minds.

DVDs, television, or video games ask children to stare at often quickly moving and changing images they do not create out of themselves but that are thrust upon them. The content may even preempt the curriculum. For ex-ample, many children have seen “Hercules,” the Disney movie. When the teacher tells the story of the mighty Heracles in grade 5, study of Greek myths, images etched in the child’s mind from the Disney version will be the ones that prevail. The child will have a difficult time cre-ating his or her own pictures and sensing their own feel-ings about the story. You can be sure the teacher’s story telling, and the child’s imagining as the teacher tells it, will have a very different effect than the Disney version.

After puberty and especially in the high school, Waldorf education centers on the development of thinking. “Stu-dents need clear waking consciousness to take up this task, which includes understanding the value of human life and the dignity and worth of each human being.” (Rudolf Steiner Upper School handbook)

Teenagers’ capacities for logical, analytical, and creative thinking rest first on the foundation of physical health and well-being, cultivated in the Nursery and Kindergarten, and later in the Elementary School: a strong imagination; memory; the capacity to work hard; do difficult things; care about one’s work, and the ability to have respectful relationships. Though the media policy for the Upper School is more appropriate for teenagers, concerns about the quality of content and time spent viewing information over electronic media are at the forefront of our minds. Adolescents face new and thorny challenges presented by the onslaught of social networking sites alongside eas-ily accessible images displaying explicit sexuality and vio-lence. The term “social networking” alone proves to be oxymoronic; taking the individual away from meaningful, in-person communication and replacing it with virtual relationships that lack depth and understanding. When

teenagers show signs of angst and tension at school, they are encouraged to resolve conflicts face-to-face, to have respectful conversations rather than allowing negative feelings to fester. In the teenage years, and especially if there is already an online dependency, the adolescent may have a difficult time prioritizing what is important or car-rying on significant conversations with peers and adults. We prefer to encourage students to use electronic media appropriately as a tool and to explore its inherent artistic capabilities while asking them to limit and monitor their use as over-exposure and reliance remain concerns. Of course, having ongoing open, honest conversations about media use, both at home and at school, is critical for teen-agers to find a healthy relationship to electronic media.

The Waldorf schools; however, are not the only voice calling for families to take a serious look at how the me-dia can impact their children. How can sitting in front of a television or computer, even if only for an hour, negatively impact a child’s early development or an ado-lescent’s ability to communicate? The answer is found in the science of how media affects brain function.

From the book The Brain that Changes Itself by Nor-man Doidge, M.D. (2007), we learn the following: “A recent study of more than twenty-six hundred toddlers shows that early exposure to the television between the ages of one and three correlates with problems paying at-tention and controlling impulses later in childhood.” For every hour of TV the toddlers watched each day, their chances of developing serious attentional [sic] difficulties at age seven increased by 10 percent.” The book fur-ther explains that, “When those children entered college, professors complained of having to ‘dumb down’ their courses each new year for students who were increasingly interested in ‘sound bites’ and intimidated by reading of any length.” (pg. 307) Inactivity is not the only concern surrounding lengthy television viewing. In day-to-day liv-ing, the brain processes information by re-orienting itself as new material is introduced. This re-orienting allows for split second decision making when faced with a challenge or threat of some kind. Doidge’s book ex-plains how electronic media takes advantage of this involuntary action: “It is the form of the television medium – cuts, edits, zooms, pans, and sudden noises – that alters the brain...Because typical music videos, action sequences, and commercials trigger orienting re-sponses at a rate of one per second, watching them puts

USEFUL RESOURCES

The Brain that Changes Itself

By: Norman Doidge, M.D.

Simplicity Parenting

By: Kim John Payne & Linda M. Ross

Endangered Minds:Why Children Don’t Thing - and What

We Can Do About It

By: Jane M. Healy, Ph.D.

“Your Brain on Computers”A New York Times Series

Click Here to view the full series online

us into continuous orienting response with no recovery.” (pg. 309, 310)

And what of over-stimulation? Scientists say the con-stant barrage of information incites excitement and can lead to a potentially addictive release of dopamine in the brain. When the T.V. is shut off, one feels bored. Re-cently, a team at the Hammersmith Hospital in London conducted an experiment to study addiction to electronic media. The team created a typical first person video game where the player shoots opponents while dodging enemy fire. “The experiment showed that dopamine – the re-ward neurotransmitter, also triggered by addictive drugs – is released in the brain during games. People who are addicted to computer games show all the signs of other addictions: cravings when they stop, neglect of other ac-tivities, euphoria when on the computer, and a tendency to deny or minimize their actual involvement.” (pg. 309)

These are simply a few relevant examples of how media exposure affects children and how that continues to sup-port the inherent wisdom in having a media policy for the benefit of their development. However, the teachers and staff are not the media police. We are all together, swim-ming upstream in a raging river of technological advances. We know that the undertow is powerful and pulls strongly and relentlessly on most of us. Children have no defenses against this force, except what we can create: a calm at-mosphere rich in the sense experiences of nature and the warmth of human relationship. Adolescents need ongo-ing conversations with the adults about how technology is affecting our lives and life today, both positively and negatively.

How can we support each other as a community striv-ing to allow for the healthy development of human be-ings? Hiding our struggles will not help. Let’s begin to have honest conversations with one another about our own struggles with the pressures of modern technology. The school invites conversations where we can share our own struggles and observations, where together we can set boundaries and offer time for experiences and experi-ments of being without the media. You may wish to consult class teachers for advice on maintaining a media free home. Returning parents; reach out to new parents and offer your stories of raising children without tech-nology. In this way and through what can grow from these conversations, we can support each other in our commitment to our children, to their education, and to childhood itself for the future of a healthier humanity.

What can your child do when they’re “disconnected?”

“Play games like Scrabble,

chess, cards, charades. Have tons of crafts at the ready...scrap boxes filled with materials, buttons, wool,

felt, yarn, needles.Go for ‘exploration’ walks in the city...or

museums...it’s NY after all! Cooking! Make new recipes or invented recipes!”

Jennifer Rosenstein, AWSNA Accreditation Coordinator &

former 8th class teacher

“Experiment with cooking, create a new recipe for

our kitchen to serve, ask Chef Li for ideas.”

Dale Bennett, 7th grade Class Teacher

“Baking/cooking togeth-er with their parents, read-

ing together, playing board and card games, using Fimo dough or

Sculpey clay to make fun art, write a letter to a faraway relative or friend...

just to name a few ideas.”

Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth, 5th grade class teacher

“I’m sure that the idea of practicing their musical instruments would be supported by the

music faculty. Along those lines, composing a piece of music by ear or by eventually learning to notate it would be

another idea.”

Jeff Venho, Jazz Band Instructor and private brass teacher

“Do your homework, read your book report book and practice your instrument for at least 45 minutes.”

Carol Bärtges, High School English

“They can take time to play in their room, or read with their parents. Listen or

dance to music together, do chores together, fix or build something in the house together. We love to play

Haba board games, rest and take naps...if possible”

Felicia Panepinto, LS Receptionist

1st GradeNovember: Writing & Reading II, VowelsDecember: Form Drawing

2nd GradeNovember: ArithmeticDecember: Language Arts

3rd GradeNovember: Measurement December: Old Testament

4th GradeNovember: FractionsDecember: Human and Animal Zoology

5th GradeNovember: North American GeographyDecember: Decimals

6th GradeNovember: Completing Roman HistoryDecember: Business Math

7th GradeNovember: Physics December: Creative Writing

8th GradeNovember: Platonic Solids GeometryDecember: Meteorology - Science

9th GradeNovember: Atlantic World 1December: History through Art

10th GradeNovember: TrigonometryDecember: History through Poetry

11th GradeNovember: Medieval HistoryDecember: Chemistry

12th GradeNovember: ZoologyDecember: Faust

Main Lessons

2nd grade chalk drawing 3rd grade chalk drawing

Soc al Inc lus ionThe Social Inclusion Committee (SICG) will begin bringing regular up-dates to our community through the Bulletins. Look here for conversa-tions about our work and the tools our committee uses to work with the children.

This year, we will continue working with students to bring social inclu-sion to life in our classrooms and school. We will finalize our social inclusion policy with the support of the College of Teachers.

We would like to take this opportunity to familiarize everyone with the Social Inclusion Approach as outlined in the Parent Handbook:

“The Social Inclusion Coordinating Group addresses the issues of bul-lying and teasing while simultaneously working to strengthen social re-lationships. Bullying is defined as persistent, deliberate and prolonged teasing, hurting, threatening or excluding someone. Any form of teas-ing becomes bullying when it “crosses the line” and goes too far.

Healthy social relationships are essential for the well-being of our com-munity. In support of deepening existing practices, the College of Teachers has mandated the adoption of a formalized Social Inclusion Approach. Given the complex nature of this topic, a more detailed de-scription of procedures, tools and actions will be forthcoming in early 2011.”

Standards of Conduct Policy:All students and families are expected to uphold the standards and policies of the School in support of the education. Students risk disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal from the School for violating these standards and policies.

• Bullying and harassment of any kind, including electronic, are not tolerated and will be addressed through the social inclusion approach.• Once it has been established that bullying or harassment has occurred, the social inclusion approach will be implemented.

Look here in each Bulletin for a discussion of Social Inclusion tools and issues that are alive in our community. If you have any questions about Social Inclusion or suggestions for future conversations, please contact one of our co-chairs or Cat Greenstreet. If you are concerned about a specific situation, please speak with your class teacher. You may contact us anytime at SocialInclusion@steiner.edu n

Committee Members

Faculty and Staff:Linda Ogden-Wolgmuth

(Co-chair)

Leslie Li (Co-chair)Dale BennettDenise CraneDelores Dean

Cat Greenstreet (Interim Lower School Chair)

Mary Lynn Lorinz Marina McGrew

Jennifer RosensteinKelly Weimer

Parents:Stacey Kelly

Iggy KeucheniusLuis Fernando Llosa

Carolina Smith

The 2010-2011 Rudolf Steiner School Athletic Season got off to an incredible start, with all 4 of our fall sports teams having wonderfully successful seasons. Both our Middle School Volleyball and Soccer teams were extremely competitive against some of the top independent schools throughout the city, with both teams nearly qualifying for playoff positions in the I.S.A.L. (In-dependent Schools Athletic League) Big Apple Conference. Both teams showed tremendous team spirit and togetherness and have so much to be proud of and look forward to for many seasons to come!

Our Varsity Sports teams were re-markably successful this year. The Varsity Volleyball team qualified for the I.S.A.L. Big Apple Conference playoffs for the first time in several seasons. Led by Coach Mitch Mar-tin and with a total of 8 members on the team, the Varsity Volleyball team had one singular goal: to make the playoffs! They accomplished their goal, finishing in 4th place out of the 8 Conference teams partici-pating, and went on to play the #1 seed, Brooklyn Friends School, in the semi-finals of the I.S.A.L: Big Apple Conference Playoffs. Un-fortunately the team came up a bit short, losing to BFS in straight sets: 13-25 & 15-25. The Varsity Soc-cer team, led excellently by both coaches Perry & Plowden, had an incredible season with one of their best seasons in many years. The team finished in 2nd place overall in the I.S.A.L. Big Apple Confer-ence, losing only to the Lycée Fran-çais School in regular season league

play. The team proudly went on the semi-finals of the I.S.A.L. playoffs to compete against the consistent powerhouse Columbia Prep School on Monday October 25th on Ran-dalls Island. In one of the most ex-citing games played in many years, the Varsity Soccer team held their own with total confidence and team unity, and played to a 1-1 draw at the end of both regulation & overtime play. The final ending of this great game came down to deciding penal-ties shots. Sadly the team lost in a heart breaker 3-2 after 5 shots taken.

Both the Varsity Soccer and Vol-leyball teams illustrated the true es-sence of what our school proudly stands for: team spirit, togetherness, school pride, and an unbelievable will to succeed and accomplish their goals! The entire school is incredibly proud of the fantastic achievements of all our student-athletes and coaches, and we gratefully appreci-ate their tireless commitment and sacrifices to both the school and the Athletic Program. We thank every-one who came out to support and encourage all of our sports teams throughout their seasons!

"Go Dragons!!!..Fight with Fire Power!!!" n

Ging VannAthletic Director

Sports at Steiner

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How many apples did the Steiner community pick this weekend? “Maybe a billion” said Noah from the Downstairs Kindergarten.

There they were again, two buses in front of the RSS ready to drive families to the Outhouse Or-chards apple-picking site. Unlike previous years, apple picking came at a real fall atmosphere with a cold autumn wind. Little by little, the buzz of tiny children’s voices greeting their friends emerged beyond their parents’ complaints of being under dressed for the weather: “Nicholas!” “Helena!” “David!” “Hi Daniel!” “Hey guys, come to our bus!”

The activity started immediately; in our bus, little Willow from the back nursery firmly announced, “We are going out of New York City now!” and then started a song with her friend Iliana, also from the back nursery, about orchards and apple trees. Both proudly and loudly sang “The orchards of the greenest trees… with the finest apples you’ve ever seen….” engaging everybody in the unfolding adventure.

Once in the orchard, people hurried - pushed by the crisp wind - to the line where they could buy the orange bags that would be filled with the “finest apples you’ve ever seen,” and borrow those heavy poles to reach the apples at the top. “Look Dan-iel, it looks like a sword,” said my son Gabriel to his brother. Grown-ups worried the cold weather would keep them from enjoying the experience

with their kids but, minutes later, kids were run-ning, laughing, pretending to be horses, sheep, and competing to get the most apples.

The result was a fabulous nature walk, despite the cold. After experiencing apple overdose, some kids wanted to change gears toward pears and other deli-cious items. Though the pear trees played a short game of hide and seek, the kids eventually found them and filled their bags with the grainy green fruit, all kinds of apples, and even peppers from the big bins at the end of the road. After some lovely apple picking work, we all had lunch. Kids hurried to finish the food in front of them in order to earn the famous hot donuts.

At the end of the day, the kids were asked what they liked best about the day. Helena, from first grade, said they saw a goat eating flowers! Surina, from the Downstairs Kindergarten, said some apples were falling on kids’ heads while others said they liked bumping into each other. My son, Daniel Heller, said he liked eating the donuts!

Finally on the way back, kids asked permission to sit with their friends instead of parents. Adults were relaxed, warm and half napping. The sun hinted a couple of smiles and everybody left with red apples printed on their cheeks and hot donuts in their belly. n

Apple PickingBy: Sylvia Heller, Parent Council Member

Notes from

Inside

On the evenings of October 13th and 14th, The Rudolf Steiner School hosted its first ever Donor Thank-a-Thon. Members of our Board, faculty, staff, and parent volunteers gave their time to make “thank you” phone calls to every person who made a gift to the 2009-2010 Annual Fund. As Board Chair Mark Reed succinctly put it, we were “Smilin’ and Dialin’!” After last year’s unprecedented suc-cess, the school felt spending a few hours to personally thank our over 400 generous community mem-bers was the least we could do to show our gratitude.

Thank you to those who gave their time and participated in this year’s Thank-a-thon. We honestly couldn’t have done it without your help! n

Donor Thank-A-Thon

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eI am thrilled to join this wonderful community as the Business Manager and to be a part of Waldorf education. I want to thank Marina Lopatukhin for the time she took to acclimate me to this institu-tion. I know that she will be missed by many of you.

As our school’s finances enter a new era of man-agement, I look forward to working closely with our Board Treasurer, Dawn Trachtenberg, our Finance Committee and the rest of our board. During my first few weeks here Dawn and I have worked vigorously and transparently to help main-tain the financial stability of our school. We are well tuned in to the level of financial unrest that exists globally and how it impacts all of us. With this in mind, we have good blueprints in place to have a successful year and are already hard at work planning the budget for 2011-2012. We have been very busy meeting with many school departments

and committees, including the Parent Council. We look forward to continued and future conversa-tions with these different areas of the school.

We recognize the importance of the Business Office in providing services and support for the community at large and to that end we will con-tinue improving our business processes. We will also collaborate with all of you as we address the needs of our school and community.

It has been a pleasant experience thus far to be here. I have met many of you already and look forward to getting to know everyone else. You are welcome to contact or visit the Business Of-fice for any assistance that you require. See you around! n

Victor Catano

DRAMA IN THE HIGH SCHOOL! The High School Drama Club will present the classic courtroom drama Twelve Angry Jurors, November 4th, 5th and 6th at 7:00P.M. in the Upper School Assembly Room. This dynamic play by Reginald Rose (originally Twelve Angry Men) explores the power of “reasonable doubt” in the minds of twelve individuals charged with the fate of a young man accused of capital murder. Is he innocent or is he guilty? Weigh the evidence for yourself! Adults $10 and students $5. This play is suitable for fourth

grade and above.

from the Business Office

Ninth Grade Black and White Drawing:

Last year’s ninth grade students (class of 2013) took up a challenging artistic assignment during their Black and White Drawing block in the Upper School. The project was inspired by imagery of the interiors of French Cistercian Abbeys.

In Waldorf Schools, we often refer to an age-appro-priate curriculum. It is a meaningful experience for ninth grade students to work in charcoal and black pastel on relatively large sheets of paper. The medi-um itself is endlessly flexible and possesses genuine aesthetic quality. The growing ninth grade student is by nature a young person capable of intense feel-ing; the strong contrasts of light and shadow that emerges through the use of charcoal and black pas-tel naturally compliment the emotional personality of the freshman pupil. Through careful observation and personal interpretation, the students were able to render atmospheric architectural spaces in their projects with graphic boldness as well as a full range of tone.

Artwork withRallou Hamshaw

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Community

First Street Gallery presents Mari Lyons’ (alumni parent) most recent paintings, pastels, and water colors in an exhibit entitled Sunsets/Hillsides. Ms. Lyon’s work has been previously reviewed by The New York Times, The New York Sun, and The New Republic. This exhib-it marks her fourteenth one-person show at the First Street Gallery and is available for viewing from November 2 – December 4, 2010. All are invited to attend a special opening reception on Thursday, November 4 from 5-8pm.

First Street Gallery526 West 26th Street, Ste 915New York, NY 10001

Pamper the lady in your life with handmade & revamped vintage jewelry by Lady Three. Unique pieces made from mixed met-als, vintage remnants and semi-pre-cious materials are the perfect com-plement to her unique style and are sure to make her smile. Customiza-tions and special requests accepted.

www.LadyThree.Etsy.com LadyThreeVintage@gmail.com

ATTENTION PARENTS!

Do you have a pedagogical question you’ve been dying to ask? - a parenting topic you’ve wanted to discuss? - a “thank-you” you’ve been meaning to write to an instruc-tor or staff member? If so, we want to hear from you! We were delighted to include letters from many of you last year and look forward to doing so again. Submissions should be 300 words or less and emailed no later than the assigned deadline date. Deadlines will be announced via email following publication of the most current issue. If you are interested in making a submission to the Bulletin, contact Eileen Diskin, Director of Alumni and Community Relations, at 212-535-2130 ext. 204 or via email at ediskin@steiner.edu.

We look forward to hearing from you!

AN ENCHANTED FORESTRUDOLF STEINER SCHOOL FALL FAIR NOVEMBER 20TH, 201010AM -4PM

Handmade Dolls & Gifts, Fine Woodwork, Beeswax Candles, Puppet Shows, Candle Dipping, Silent Auction, Games & Crafts for Children of All Ages, Crystals, Waldorf Play Materials and Books, Pocket Fairy, Student & Faculty Performances, Hawthorne Valley Farm, Delicious Food, the Alumni Café, and much, much more!

15 East 79th Street 212.535.2130 www.steiner.edu

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