In our culture, it is customary to think of the 21 years landmark as coming of age — a time beyond which one focuses on life more as a full adult. As an institution dedicated to the education of adults, the Center for Anthroposophy, along with its affiliated program at Antioch University New England, is celebrating several landmarks of full adulthood this year. In this issue we focus on three of them:
- the 21st summer of the high school program
- the advent of a new option to earn a post-graduate Masters degree in Waldorf high school education
- the enlargement of the full-time faculty in the Waldorf Program at Antioch to a record size.
Join us as we celebrate these further steps along the path to maturity!
Douglas Gerwin, Director
Center for Anthroposophy
Dateline Keene NH: New Masters Program for High School Teachers
For the first time in their long collaboration, the Center for Anthroposophy and the Waldorf Program at Antioch University New England are offering the option of a Masters degree for Waldorf high school teachers. Douglas Gerwin, Director of the Center for Anthroposophy, reports on this new development.
Ever since the founding more than two decades ago of the Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP), we have been lobbied to create the option of a Masters degree for Waldorf high school teachers as part of their teacher training. Now we have found a way!
Starting in the Summer of 2016, students enrolling in the high school program sponsored by the Center for Anthroposophy (CfA) will be able to transfer into an Antioch graduate school stream leading to a fully-accredited Masters degree as well as a CfA certificate in Waldorf high school teaching. Under this arrangement, trainees will start out in CfA’s high school program, then apply to transfer after the first summer into Antioch’s “Summer Sequence” program in Waldorf education. Two more summer intensives will then follow, with a blend of courses offered by the Waldorf program at Antioch as well as subject-specific seminars offered by CfA in one or more of six specializations in arts/art history, biology/earth science, English language/literature, history/social studies, math/computer studies, or physics/chemistry.
In addition to these three summer sessions–all held on the adjacent campuses of two Waldorf schools in Wilton, New Hampshire–students accepted into this program will take an online course and undergo a 12-15-week internship in a Waldorf school as part of this program. Students who have successfully completed these courses will be eligible to apply to prepare and defend a supervised Masters thesis on a topic related to Waldorf high school teaching.
Prospective and practicing high school teachers interested in this option should contact me at douglas@centerforanthroposophy.org for further details.
Dateline Wilton NH: Renewal Courses for Summer 2016
Karine Munk Finser, Coordinator of CfA’s popular Renewal Courses, reports on the latest line up of star-studded seminars and workshops for the coming summer season.
In just a few months we will open the doors on our Renewal 2016 Courses, welcoming you once again to share time together on the beautiful hill in Wilton, New Hampshire. What we are able to offer in these two weeks of five-day courses are not only opportunities to learn from great teachers but also to enjoy precious meetings of kindred spirits, a gathering of friends.
In the first week, June 26th to July 1st, all 8 elementary grades will be featured. New this year is a slightly longer daily schedule to make space for science classes in the upper elementary grades with Roberto Trostli and music and singing classes with David Gable. Our seasoned faculty for these grade-specific courses include Christopher Sblendorio, Neal Kennerk, Darcy Drayton, Elizabeth Auer, Patrice Maynard, Helena Niiva, Alison Henry, and Signe Motter.
Christof Wiechert is offering a two-summer course for facilitators who guide the heart of the faculty meeting: The Child (and Student) Study. It is our intention to strengthen our schools by deepening an understanding of child development and the mysteries of the young unfolding human being. Christof will again offer four morning lectures on Anthroposophy to all the grade participants to support the work of individual Renewal. Also in this first week, Michaela Gloeckler returns with a course entitled “The Spiritual Laws of Reincarnation and Destiny and their Relevance for Health and Illness in Human Biography”. In the middle of the week we are looking forward to Michaela’s evening lecture to our entire community on the theme of “The Raphael Impulse: Rudolf Steiner and Ita Wegman in Collaboration”. Leonore Russell will offer tone eurythmy with Jeanette Resnick at the piano balancing the days, and bringing healing movement. Cezary Ciaglo, our eurythmist since the year 2000, will be teaching eurythmy to many of our participants during both weeks of Renewal. In the first week, Jeanette will support the opportunity for tone eurythmy.
Our second Renewal week, July 3rd to July 8th, is Renewal at its best: Virginia Sease returns after many years with a course on “The Great Spiritual Teachers: Scythianous, Gautama Buddha, Manes, Master Jesus, and Christian Rosenkreutz”. She will offer a mid-week lecture on “The Difficulty of Incarnation”. From Holland we have invited Jaap van der Wal who will share with us his knowledge and passion for embryology. Jaap says: “With humility I can find in the embryo cautious answers to questions as to the meaning of human existence.” Jaap challenges the reductionist view that we are merely “walking brains and surviving genomes.” We are fortunate to welcome Dennis Klocek with a course he has developed over many years. The fruit of this work is his dynamic course on “The Nine Subtle Bodies”. Dennis will share timeless images that merge the work of Rudolf Steiner with contemporary discoveries in science and soul healing. He will offer a fresh basis for teaching and learning strategies. We are incredibly fortunate that a master painter from the Assenza school of painting will be joining us this year. Donald Hall, who for many years led the painting school in Harlemville, NY, spent many years teaching alongside Assenza himself and carried that school in Dornach after Beppe’s passing. Painters of all levels will be delighted to learn from Donald. He will be supported by Sylvie Richard, a fellow painter and eurythmist. Jamie York is back with his popular course on Projective Geometry. This course will not only deepen your skills if you’re a teacher but will change the way you see the world, pushing the boundaries of your imagination.
We would like to introduce you to a great opportunity: Lisa Edge and Helena Hurrell, who have been recognized by the Medical Section in Dornach for their work with Metal Color Light Therapy, will offer their first course in our Renewal program. Participants will experience the effect of a living colored light–a therapeutic encounter which represents work into the future–as well as engaging in nurturing arts to replenish and bring health and healing. This is a great course for color therapists but also for parents, administrators, and those who wish to experience healing and exploratory aspects of art in a very conscious color environment.
Our last course is the annual “Self Education through Intuitive Thinking and Artistic Perception”. We offer this course each year to help strengthen and deepen the foundation of Anthroposophy for our present and future grade and high school teachers, but we also welcome parents and others to engage in studies with Signe Motter, Douglas Gerwin (for the high school teachers), Hugh Renwick, Elizabeth Auer, and Cezary Ciaglo (who, together with Elizabeth, will serve as supportive faculty to many of our classes in this second week). Finally we would like to share that Glen Williamson will come to Renewal during the second week with his one-man performance of “Kaspar Hauser: The Open Secret of the Founding Prince”.
I hope to see many of you in just a few months!
Warm Wishes,
Karine
Dateline Wilton, NH:Waldorf High School Program Comes of Age
Each summer for more than two decades, the Center for Anthroposophy has launched a new cycle of the Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP). Here a brief preview of the subjects being featured during this landmark summer.
The Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program–affectionately known as “WHiSTEP”–turns 21 this year with the startup of its latest summer program.
Launched by the Center for Anthroposophy (CfA) in July of 1996, the program has been graduating high school teachers with certificates in Waldorf high school teaching since 1998. Since its inception, more than 160 students have completed this part-time three-summers program. As of this year, WHiSTEP students or graduates are active in 38 of the 43 Waldorf high schools extant in North America, from the Hawaiian islands and the Pacific Northwest to the sultry Southeast and the rocky Atlantic coastline of Maine. Overall, around 65% of current and graduated students are working full or part-time at some 60 Waldorf schools in the English-speaking world.
Sometimes we are asked: How many teachers does it take to constitute a full high school faculty? At the Center for Anthroposophy, we calculate that number as approaching 12 (give or take a few, depending on the size of the school): 3-4 for humanities including languages; 3-4 for sciences and math; 3-4 for arts and crafts, as well as athletics. These numbers do not include administrative and non-classroom positions such as college and guidance counselors, after-school coaches, and office staff.
Each summer, the Center’s high school program admits a new class of around 15 students–in other words, the equivalent of a full high school faculty–ranging across the subject specializations. This year we are offering specialized “subject seminars” in Arts and Art History, English and Literature, History and Social Science, Life Science and Earth Science, Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry.
About a dozen teachers from across the country have already been accepted into the latest cycle of this month-long summer program, which includes seminars, artistic ateliers, and subject-specific workshops. The latest group of teachers–most of them already active in the classroom–will be studying with close to a hundred trainees in the Waldorf elementary teacher education program of Antioch University New England. A few are joining with the intention of securing a fully-accredited Masters degree in Waldorf high school teaching from Antioch (as part of a new option described separately in this issue of Center & Periphery). All of these summer programs are held on the adjacent campuses of Pine Hill Waldorf School and High Mowing School in Southeastern New Hampshire.
What is Waldorf High School Teacher Education?
Dateline Freeport ME: Foundation Studies — Where Next?
With three clusters of Foundation Studies celebrating the completion of their two-year programs, a further string of clusters along the East Coast is already forming for the next school year. Barbara Richardson, Coordinator of CfA’s Foundation Studies program, reports.
News from Foundation Studies in Anthroposophy and the Arts is that we have graduated three groups this spring at Desert Marigold Waldorf School in Phoenix, AZ; Heart Pine School & Morning Meadow in Gainesville, FL; and Mountain Phoenix Community School in Wheat Ridge, CO. These lively young groups were happy to do eurythmy, painting, projective geometry, and to hear more about the work of Rudolf Steiner and how his work forms the basis of Waldorf Education. They have a lot to digest now, but agree that they have bonded with their fellow participants and their schools are all better because of these programs.
Comment from a graduate:
Even though I had been working in a Waldorf School for two years, I still did not have much of any experience or exposure to the work of Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy, or the philosophy that makes up Waldorf Education. Going through this Foundation Studies class has been one of the most enlightening experiences of my life. It has helped me to expose and deal with problems and issues in my own personal inner world, and that is in itself the best and most powerful thing anyone can experience. But beyond that, I also have a much broader worldview, especially in the aspects of Spirituality and what it truly means to be human. I’m very excited for the future.
— Christopher Harrison (who drove over the mountain pass from Aspen to Denver every month for two years)
The news from closer to the Center is that we had our first annual gathering of Foundation Studies faculty members from all over the Northeast. We spent a whole day together sharing our striving, namely, “How do we weave the study, conversation and the arts together in a meaningful, transformation way in our Foundation Studies sessions?” Faculty members shared that it is wonderful to see the interest and commitment growing both to Waldorf Education and to Anthroposophy.
Next fall we are holding Year Two programs in
- Emerson Waldorf School, Chapel Hill, NC
- Waldorf School at Moraine Farm, Beverly, MA
- Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork, Carbondale, CO
- Washington Waldorf School, Bethesda, MD.
Communities showing interest in Year One include:
- Lake Champlain Waldorf School, Burlington, VT
- Maine Coast Waldorf School, Freeport, ME
- Santa Fe Waldorf School, Santa Fe, NM
- Seacoast Waldorf School, Eliot, ME
- Waldorf School of Lexington, Lexington, MA
- Tucson Waldorf School, Tucson, AZ
Dateline Keene NH: New Waldorf Faculty Appointment at Antioch University
Thanks to steady growth in enrollment, the Waldorf Program at Antioch University New England is expanding its faculty to include another full-time appointment. Arthur Auer, Director of this program, outlines the coming summer with its newly enlarged team.
Carla Comey combines an unusual set of credentials as class teacher, administrator, and trained eurythmist. Now she can add yet one more feather to her cap as the newly appointed faculty member to the Waldorf Teacher Education
Program at Antioch University New England.
Herself a graduate of Antioch’s Waldorf program, Carla has served most recently as school administrator at the Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork in Carbondale, CO, where she has also taken various classes through the grades as well as teaching eurythmy.
Carla’s appointment brings to five–a record size–the number of full-time faculty working at Antioch’s Waldorf program in Keene, NH. In addition, about a dozen adjunct faculty members join the Antioch program for the summer session, which is held on the conjoint campuses of High Mowing and Pine Hill Waldorf School in Wilton, NH.
This July the new academic year will open with approximately 100 students in six separate groups. They include participants from Canada, China, Mexico, and the Pine Ridge Reservation (Lakota Waldorf School). A second “Healing Education” cohort of experienced Waldorf teachers and anthroposophical professionals will be starting a new 2 summer/5 semester cycle. The summer session will open with a keynote address on “Farms of Tomorrow and Education” by Lincoln Geiger, a founder of the “Community Supported Agriculture” (CSA) movement.Three weeks later at graduation Carrie Schuchardt, Director of the House of Peace in Ipswich, MA, will speak on “Caring for Refugees” who find their way to our country.
For a third of a century, the Waldorf Program at Antioch has been meeting the growing need for trained Waldorf teachers across North America. The special collaboration between the Waldorf movement and Antioch was inaugurated 33 years ago in 1983 by the faculty of the Pine Hill Waldorf School and David Sobel of Antioch New England’s graduate school.
