By David Barham

This is a profound time of year for teachers! The school year, itself an annual marathon, is winding down with its abundance (perhaps overabundance!) of class plays, curriculum-based trips, final projects, ceremonies, the honoring of graduates and parents finishing up and moving on. Perhaps there is a chance to look up from one’s work, get one’s head above water, clear at least a corner of one’s desk. 

At the same time, it is the beginning of the richest and most potent time of year for professional development and teacher education programs. Many of us will transform from being a teacher to being a student. Some will transform from teaching children and young people to teaching adults and peers. This is the time to imagine into the next school year and how we will deepen our teaching, striving to meet our  students at ever more profound levels. 

Center for Anthroposophy and our colleagues in the Waldorf programs of Antioch University continuously develop and refine programs to meet each stage of the teacher life cycle. Many of our programs offer summer intensives either as stand alone professional development, or part of a larger teacher education program. You can read more about these in this issue. 

In Center & Periphery, we will continue to focus on the amazing teachers who have graduated from our teacher education programs and are doing important work meeting human needs out in the world. In this issue, we meet Melissa Farrrell, high school humanities teacher and faculty chair at Green Meadow Waldorf School. Melissa will be presenting in our online seminar series, Starlight Rays in Darkened Times, on September 20. Her presentation, co-led with Daniel Baker from Pasadena Waldorf High School is titled, Dialogues on Curriculum Innovation: What Ails Thee, Malcolm X

Since it opened its doors in 2022, the Desert Sage Public Charter High School in Tucson, Arizona has boldly been a cell phone-free campus. Pedagogical Director Sarah Bromer writes an article about how this brave stance has been nothing but a success. This is a policy direction that supports young people’s learning and emotional health. Hang up and read on!

Finally, the extraordinary STEAM teachers in WHiSTEP, Marisha Plotnik, Michael Holdrege, and Cedar Oliver have all written powerful articles on aspects of climate change. These have been previously published in the Research Institute for Waldorf Education’s Bulletin. With tremendous thanks to the authors and to Research Bulletin itself, we are reprinting these important pieces as we teach in a world on fire. 

As always, thank you for exploring this issue of Center & Periphery and please drop a line with thoughts about the project. 

Welcome to summer. Time to learn & transform!

David Barham (david@centerforanthroposophy.org)
Executive Director, Center for Anthroposophy
Director of Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP)