Creative Speech: A healing art in the classroom

with Debra Spitulnik

Traumas  live within the stories  we tell. Yet it is not merely the stories that keep these traumas alive–trauma is held in the words and sounds themselves.  The  inner gestures and pictures, and the meaning of those gestures, that we form can either keep those sounds and words captive within our souls and bodies, or set them free.

Speech lies at the core of everything we do as human beings. Understanding language through the practice of creative speech provides insights into our students’ learning,  their social and emotional life, and their health. 

Creative Speech is a course designed for students who want to develop their capacity for listening and speaking as an art form and hone their ability to use Speech as a tool for healing.

 Students will 

• use their voice to express different states of the human soul 
• gain understanding of consciousness through hearing the voices of others
• study the effects of sympathy and antipathy in speaking 
• create objective, imaginative pictures 
• understand how enlivened speech brings about physical and emotional health
• learn exercises for immediate practical application and share resources for curriculum development 

This specialized week-long course serves both as a stand-alone workshop as well as the first portion of a year-long series for those seeking more extensive speech education. 

For more information on this program, contact Debbie Spitulnik.

Debra Spitulnik was a class teacher at the Washington Waldorf School for twenty-one years and received her Goetheanum diploma as a speech artist from Performinternational in 2016. She now combines these two loves, bringing creative speech to the children and faculty of WWS and to teachers and students nationwide; her unique perspective from her years as a class teacher enlivens plays, poetry, and story in grades 1-12. Debbie is also an adjunct instructor teaching speech, drama, storytelling, and curriculum to graduate students at Antioch University New England and the Center for Anthroposophy. Education: Diploma in the arts of Speech and Drama., PerformInternational. M.Ed., Waldorf Education, Antioch University New England. B.S. Elementary and Special Education, Syracuse University