Specialism Immersion Week- Reflective Log

Specialism Immersion Week- Reflective log

1) Summary of new experiences/learning

2) How this builds on previous experiences/learning

3) How this will inform my future practice

4) Possible follow up development activities

DISCLAIMER: Please note: My Week Log is purely a list of notes, ideas and questions I wanted to ask from my experience and so may come across as extremely generalised sweeping statements (they were jotted down quickly and moved on from!) - I have only experienced one classroom within Steiner and I have a completely balanced view on Steiner education as it stands - there were some very interesting and important messages to learn from this education system as well as some questions I would love to ask and find out more about if I had a second chance to visit a Steiner school. It was a wonderful experience.

Day 1:

This week I have the rare opportunity to experience life and teaching in a Steiner Waldorf school in Gloucester. I have been placed into class 2 (equivalent Year 4). These children have only been in school for 2 years and before went to ‘kindergarten’ (like nursery) until age 6. The philosophy of the school is to help children grow into emotionally stable children with a sense of inner pace and awareness and love for the world around them.

After speaking to a very passionate believer of Steiner education I learned that the importance of Steiner education is that everything that is taught has a reason for being taught at that age, for example, different History topics are taught in chronological order from when they start Class 1 and study Saints and Fables right up to 21st century history when students reach upper school. This way, small bits of information are given to the children to learn that supposedly matches with their psychological and physical development, when it is believed ready in development. This obviously suggests a belief that all children develop at the same speed regarding their age – something that I am unsure of my self. This idea was reflected in the rare differentiation seen in classes, as everybody does the same.

The teacher also explained that a lot of the philosophy behind Steiner education comes from Greek mythology, including the Greek temperaments - sanguine (pleasure-seeking and sociable), choleric (ambitious and leader- like), melancholic (analytical and quiet), and phlegmatic (relaxed and peaceful). Children are labelled as one of these temperaments and often treated in a way that reflects there temperament. For example, the teacher explained that some may believe that a ‘choleric’ child within their class may be a reincarnated pharaoh and for that reason they expect and strive for leadership and can be perceived as challenging or difficult. She suggests that by recognising their temperament and seeing them as another being will lead you to treat them differently but not see them as an issue or difficult but ‘just the way they are’. It is suggested then that these children are developed into more rounded individuals through being given freedom and choice to behave in different ways and that eventually they will settle into a behaviour where they experience inner calm and settle.

In terms of the layout of the school day and the routines and learning that goes on – I was shocked by how extremely removed their education is from mainstream.

Routine:

 Sing register – if someone is not in they chant ‘she/he isn’t here, we wish them well’

 Weekend stories – come to the front and describe their weekend activities.

Many children had interesting home lives with frequent visits from friends and family, short breaks away to the city or to country festivals such as the Maypole, attending conventions and going horse riding. Children were extremely confident in speaking aloud and used their initiative to ask other children to remind them of their activities. Explanations were quite basic with and then, and then, and then.

 Teacher plays a tune on the recorder and child comes to the front and lights a candle. All children stand behind their chairs and cross there arms across their chest. They continue by singing a spiritual chant which blesses the world and nature and thanks God for their strength and soul. Actions are included.

 Teacher stands at the front of the class and recites what verses children are going to sing from different traditional songs such as gypsy rover. Children sing these songs from memory and then play them from memory on their recorders. I was surprised to find that children could identify musical notes purely from hearing them – very in tune.

 Children then take it in turn to recite rhymes from memory about the seasons called ‘Birthday Verses’.

 Spelling – teacher reads out a list of words and children must write them down. I was surprised that there was no mention of phonics and that children were still unsure of what sounds each letter could make … for example, only just learning that ‘g’ can sound like ‘j’.  Heavy focus on how to hold their pencil and how to sit in their chair whilst writing, and on handwriting.

 Teacher gives a choice that children can put away their spelling books if they don’t want to carry on and that some children may want to leave them out as these words were for the ‘spellers’. This suggested that some children are not ‘spellers’ and created a segregation in the class. However, I was shocked to find the level of intrinsic motivation and need for challenge as very few children chose to put their books away. The heavy focus on the importance of trying the experience and it not mattering whether it is right or wrong meant that children were not affected or made to feel anxious for not being ‘spellers’ but gave it a go anyway – huge sense of trying anything and not being afraid or giving up!

 A tune is played on the recorder by the teacher and all children immediately tidy up and push their desks and chairs in unison around the edges of the class – no fuss, no tears, great teamwork! Shock!

 Children get into a circle and hold hands and begin to sing familiar rhymes and tales from memory. A lot of the actions and singing was about coordination and listening and keeping rhythm, including a ‘foot orchestra’ led by one of the children that everyone had to imitate. They practised a lot of tongue twisters and used ‘playground hand clap’ games to keep the beat and practise them in pairs.

 Children then practise catching beanbags and place them on their heads. Children must skip and walk forwards/backwards around the room holding their posture well so the beanbag doesn’t fall off. They do the same balancing beanbags on different body parts such as their shoulders and get a sense of spacial awareness by practising catching and throwing games.

 Teacher plays a tune/rings bell/sings a song and all tables and chairs are moved back into rows.

 Children are given a maths card with a number on, they take it in turns to subtract 3 or 11 from their number and tell the rest of the class. They then order then numbers in their rows – very short, 3 minute maths? No resources to help them around the classroom, mental maths only. This very quick session didn’t work well for me, as no recording was taken and no assessment occurred as teacher wasn’t always listening to answers. There was also no discussion about how they worked out their answer. Some children who got -11 wrong, changed their mind to subtract 3 from their number as it was easier. This wasn’t an issue for the teacher and she didn’t pursue the sum that the child got wrong. I feel the child may have learned more being given the challenge to work it out and figure out how they did it rather than avoid the question. Another child was also considering fixing an ordering problem the row in front had, but decided against it saying ‘nah I’m not going to try and fix it as I can’t see the problem because I can’t see the cards’ wasn’t willing to go in blind and have a go – contradicts previous observation that children were not concerned about right or wrong answers. From what I saw of maths during the week, maybe a lack of maths in school had led to maths anxiety?

 Teacher tells story from memory as a way of teaching the definition of nouns through narrative. Children must listen carefully as there is nothing to read or no pictures to engage them. They recapped that nouns have capital letters.

 Main lesson: children copy picture from the board – Art skills are amazing – children have their own style at age 8 – some very abstract pieces! Beautiful presentation of work. Children only put best work in main lesson book. They first write in practise book and get all corrections made before copying it down. Although this is the way I worked in school and don’t believe it harmed me, I argue that although it is nice to have well-presented work…. It is more important to see the learning and the mistakes and corrections that have been made throughout their work to show their level of learning, not just copying.

 Morning tea – Snack and water, outside play in forest grounds.

 Handwork – Long session practising their knitting/crocheting: chain stitch, pearl stitch, crochet, finger stitching. Children make their own recorder cases, pencil cases, placemats etc. I observed one child teaching another – very effective, lots of questioning, not just telling him the answer or doing it for him – tendency for easy way out/short cut in NC.

 Lunch in their classrooms.

 German – lots of oral and visual pictures, speaking and listening, lessons taught in German language, very little English instruction – high levels of absorption and understanding. No reading or writing in English or in German today. Taught by a specialist – good accents.

 Free outdoor play – ‘gives teacher a break after a long day’.

 Children sing goodbye/end of day rhyme praising God and their peers for a wonderful world. Finish 2pm.

Observations:

 They draw their own lines in their books, only provided with plain paper. No rulers – independent

 They are still learning about the date – how to spell months etc. – behind NC?

 Beginning how to learn joined up hand writing – focus on holding pen properly – behind NC?

 Focus on posture and seating – no feet dangling, straight heads  Little use of hands up, calling out allowed and responded to – discussion or butting in?

 Children given time to set up their page each time they write, border and background – presentation very important.

 Children had their own china mugs to drink from – health and safety?

 Children wear bedroom slippers in the classroom – health and safety?

 Children each have their own set of knitting needles – health and safety?

 Very didactic teaching style

 Children very independent get on with things, no tell tales etc.

 No differentiation of work

 Self-discipline was amazing – no behaviour management needed, all children at ease and settled – ‘found inner peace’, solved social problems between them, no falling out, different opinions valued.

 Children allowed to express themselves through non uniform clothes and jewellery. No boys had short hair!!

 All children were very astonished to have visitors in their room – staring for the entire morning, many not smiling at us. Reflected a very close community and the feeling of being an outsider that doesn’t belong there. However, teachers and staff were extremely welcoming!

 Use initiative, not many manners, not many questions asked.

 All children had to give answers to the whole class even if they were unconfident with answer etc. – however no one was judged or commented on.

 Children had very good memories – remembered stories from previous year and could keep up with numerous narratives at a time.

 Few links made between work. Child: this is like we did the other lesson. Teacher: Yes but we aren’t doing that today. Learning opportunities missed.

 Very little recording/assessment and planning for future (AfL) one sheet of A4 for the year for some children.

 A lot of practise, recitation and repetition going on, no new learning from what I could see? Not much challenge or extension, no differentiation. – Would have liked to see how they acquired these skills, Purely through experience and coincidence? Or had there been explicit teaching? For example with knitting and their writing.  Children very enthusiastic, engaged, at peace, no behaviour issues, no worries about time or breaks, no stress or upset about wrong answers. Children very happy. One child was taken out for 5 minutes by another teacher (maybe for ‘sensory integration’ – from what I can gather is their solution to SEN) and when he came back he was gutted he had missed story time!

This is totally different to any experiences I have had in teaching before and my observations and evaluations above demonstrate what I have learned and how it links to my previous practise. I have definitely seen the importance of emotional wellbeing and would like to incorporate certain aspects of this along with creativity into the National Curriculum. However, I question the integrity of their academic content – in my current opinion, it is very fluid, not very challenging and children seem very behind in comparison to equivalent age mainstream students. I think many children are desperate to be challenged further as some seemed a little fed up with the repetition and I think they would enjoy a bigger challenge. They are still seen as very young children and are denied access to certain learning as they ‘are not humanly ready’. I question whether this is correct for all children and whether development occurs at different rates.

Day 2:

This morning followed in a similar fashion to yesterday, with slight differences to the main lesson. Today they focused on ‘dictation’ – where children had to listen to a passage read by the teacher and fill in the blanks on a copy of the story. There was differentiation of resources in this activity with some children being given more blanks than others and some expected to write the whole thing by themselves. The differentiation was made very explicit and children were named who were able to do the task with no help and those who had the easier sheet. This could have led to segregation, however, none of the children seemed effected by this or were worried or interested in where they stood intellectually amongst their peers – happy as individual.

Observations:

 Teacher says whole point of dictation is ‘spelling’ … no focus on being able to read it themselves or understand the content.

 Children were allowed to scribble on their worksheets – including blocking out mistakes with chunks of colour – can’t use for AfL or see where they went wrong!?

 Very easy dictation and activity for year 4 – although most struggled.

 Haven’t learned what a comma is yet – teacher explained that they hadn’t learned them but used them in the passage and said ‘you all probably know what they are anyway’ – assumption, missed learning opportunity.  Just learning about where capital letters and full stops go.

 Learning how to use ‘and’ next year as a conjunction.

 Some children got confused when identifying nouns, often picking out verbs – however, when a child said ‘dropped’ was a noun, there was no correction or new learning that that was a doing word or verb. Missed learning opportunity. Had no previous knowledge of ‘doing words’ or verbs.

 Teacher read over it with the children but didn’t discuss mistakes or correct answers, I questioned what have they learned?

 Lots of rote learning, what are they actually understanding?

 Had a tour in the afternoon of the grounds and resources and areas within the school. There are so many resources to enhance the children’s learning – woodwork/pottery/blacksmith workshops, theatres, choir rooms, science labs, sports halls, vast amounts of outdoor space... however very little resources in their daily classroom – just some books and a blackboard and chalk.

 See pictures for examples of work and school facilities.

Day 3:

The days are quite repetitive in terms of rituals and routines. Today the main lesson focused on maths. First the children had to practise subtracting 2, 12 or 22 from a number card. This seemed very easy for age 8 year olds as all they had to do was subtract 1 or 2 from the tens/units column. Some children still struggled. The main maths lesson was filling in a times tables grid up to 6x6 by using 2 dice to decide the numbers that they needed to multiply together. A third of the children were unable to do these times tables and so had to use visual representations to create ‘groups of’ by putting groups of gemstones into chalk bags. I was surprised by the low level of understanding in this lesson and was unsure of the objective or what the teacher wanted them to learn. Again, everything seems to be practise on previous knowledge and not so much new learning.

Children also had English as another main lesson where they continued with the country mouse and town mouse fable. They had to copy the sentence The mouse is ______and fill in the blank with a verb, a term that they only learned yesterday. This seemed extremely low level work for the age and I began to question the academic integrity and progress within the class. Despite a heavy focus on handwriting, some children were still struggling to write cursively and children were very behind when it came to understanding how to spell words – due to a lack of phonics they were unsure of what graphemes represented different phonemes and had only just started looking at alternative GPC’s. There was also a French lesson which was very engaging where all the children joined in with songs and dances to learn familiar French phrases and words. They read stories in French and the teacher only spoke French which meant the children had to learn to understand him and it also improved their accents. I am surprised by how much the children absorbed despite having no English instruction, they were able to calculate using French numbers, talk about animals and what they eat in French, and speak full sentences about themselves.

They had a discrete Art lesson in the afternoon which showed off their Artistic talents – it really shows that regular practise makes a difference. I tried wet on wet painting to create a colourful learning experience. The teacher modelled it first and scaffolded it with a story about the different colours playing together, before the children imitated their own similar version. I found this a really interesting way of teaching colour to children and would like to teach children it myself. What I find most effective within this class is the constant celebration and evaluation of children’s art work and drawings – discussing together what works well in the picture and thinking of lots of different ideas for what the picture could be to get their imagination working and artistic flare into practise.

Day 4:

Today I had the chance to see what the Steiner schools are famous for – eurhythmy. The gestures in the eurythmist's movement repertoire relate to the sounds and rhythms of speech, to the tones and rhythms of music and to soul experiences, such as joy and sorrow. Once these fundamental repertoire elements are learned, they can be composed into free artistic expressions. The eurythmist also cultivates a feeling for the qualities of straight lines and curves, the directions of movement in space (forward, backward, up, down, left, right), contraction and expansion, and colour. The element of colour is also emphasized both through the costuming, usually given characteristic colours for a piece or part and formed of long, loose fabrics that accentuate the movements rather than the bodily form, and through the lighting, which saturates the space and changes with the moods of the piece. However, despite its apparent importance in Steiner education – I didn’t really understand its importance. Children were just running around, back and forth in and out and were quite often talking/laughing or not concentrating – it didn’t seem very spiritual. I don’t know whether this is maybe because the children were so young and so didn’t realise the full potential of eurhythmy in silence and with graceful steps. So from this experience, I have not been able to see eurhythmy as a useful part of education in my current opinion.

On the other hand, I went to see Suzanne Cataldo carry out her psychological ideas on children with dyslexia. She is one of the 2 part time SEN workers in the school and is creating her own thesis and published books on phonology. She is very passionate about Steiner and connects all of her experiments and work and activities to creating new pathways and strong connections in the brain to improve long term and short term memory and recall. She has shown us in her opinion the one and only way to teach reading and spelling to children using her own devised system which is not yet copyrighted – so I have been asked not to share this information.

However, it involved the importance of stretching words before segmenting them which I really do see as very important, before segmenting the sounds – an artificial way of thinking for the brain as suggested by Suzanne. She also expressed the importance of using Elkonin’s box theory as a way of learning to write and blend and adapted this to physical activities such as throwing balls in the boxes to represent phonemes and then using group ball games to practise spelling using rhymes. A lot of this was not dissimilar to the phonics taught in Primary schools, but is just taken on a slightly different angle. I have definitely learned a lot from this lady and she has given me her email address so I can contact her in the future about educational and child psychology and to learn and experience Art therapy and psychotherapy for my dissertation next year. Psychology has recently become a huge area of interest to me and I would like to devote my dissertation time to improving and extending my limited knowledge of child psychology.