DISCUSSIONS WITH TEACHERS [III] FOU NDAT IONS OF WALDORF EDU C AT ION R U D O L F S T E I N E R Discussions with Teachers FIFTEEN DISCUSSIONS WITH THE TEACHERS OF THE STUTTGART WALDORF SCHOOL AUGUST 21– SEPTEMBER 6, 1919 THREE LECTURES ON THE CURRICULUM SEPTEMBER 6, 1919 Anthroposophic Press The publisher wishes to acknowledge the inspiration and support of Connie and Robert Dulaney ❖ ❖ ❖ Translated from shorthand reports unrevised by the lecturer from the German text: Erziehungskunst. Seminarbesprechungen und Lehrplanvorträge. (Vol. No. 295 in the Bibliographical Survey) published by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland, 1961. The fifteen discussions were translated by Helen Fox and revised by the publisher for this edition. English versions of the speech exercises, rendered by Maisie Jones, are from Creative Speech: The Nature of Speech Formation, published by Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1978. The three lectures on the curriculum were translated by Katherine E. Creeger for this edition. Copyright © 1997 Anthroposophic Press Published by Anthroposophic Press 3390 Route 9, Hudson, NY 12534 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Steiner, Rudolf, 1861–1925. Discussions with teachers : fifteen discussions with the teachers of the Stuttgart Waldorf School from August 21 to September 6, 1919 : three lectures on the curriculum given on September 6, 1919 / Rudolf Steiner. p. cm. — (Foundations of Waldorf education ; 3) Translations of unrevised shorthand reports that were published in 1959 as part of Erziehungskunst, Seminarbesprechungen und Lehrplanvorträge. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-88010-408-2 (paper) 1. Teaching. 2. Waldorf method of education. 3. Educational psychology. I. Steiner, Rudolf, 1861–1925. Erziehungskunst, Seminarbesprechungen und Lehrplanvorträge. II. Title. III. Series. LB1025.S834 1997 371.3—dc21 97-8901 CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publishers, except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Printed in the United States of America Contents Introduction by Craig Giddens ............................................. page 9 DISCUSSION 1 August 21, 1919.................................................................... page 13 The four temperaments, and the nature of the I, astral, etheric, and physical principles as their origin. Some characteristics of each and how to treat them. Polarity in the temperaments. Placement of children in the classroom. The “main” lesson. Sequence of fairy tales, fables, and Bible stories. A question about melancholics. Examinations better omitted. DISCUSSION 2 August 22, 1919..................................................................... page 27 The sanguine child. Attention. Temperaments in the Bible and in teaching music. Phlegmatic children and diet. Melancholics and their illusions. Treatment of cholerics. The temperament of different ages. Creative powers depend on preserving youth. Temperaments and occupations. DISCUSSION 3 August 24, 1919..................................................................... page 39 Telling stories and drawing for different temperaments. Describing animals. The question of so-called “Cinderellas” in the class. DISCUSSION 4 August 25, 1919..................................................................... page 47 Posture and mathematics. The four rules of arithmetic in relation to temperaments. Plane geometry before solid. Designs and stories for different temperaments. Abnormalities of the temperaments. Response to the “Cinderellas.” A case of bad behavior. DISCUSSION 5 August 26, 1919.......................................................................... page 58 Speech exercises begun. Temperaments and karma. Influence of father and mother. Change of temperaments through life. Temperaments in languages. Addressing improper behavior and “ringleaders.” The problem of “goody-goodies.” DISCUSSION 6 August 27, 1919.......................................................................... page 69 Preparing children for poems and stories. Talks about dogs and about violets. How to deal with the “goody-goody” children. Children who have a “crush” on a teacher. DISCUSSION 7 August 28, 1919.......................................................................... page 81 The fable of the boy, the horse, and the bull. History of Europe from eleventh to seventeenth centuries. The Crusades and their unexpected results. Quarrels between Greeks and Franks. Impact of superior civilizations of the East and of Greek Christianity on Europe. Some historians considered. The “goody-goody” children. DISCUSSION 8 August 29, 1919.......................................................................... page 99 Fable of the oak and the fox. Children with no apparent talent for specific subjects. Diet for poor readers and writers. Cocoa. Eurythmy for children who are poor in arithmetic. Geography. Ambition should not be fostered. Children with poor observation skills and those who resent eurythmy. Effects of tea and coffee. Dull and bright children. Remembering forms through caricatures. DISCUSSION 9 August 30, 1919........................................................................ page 114 Botany. The nature of growth. Fertilization process not to be stressed for younger children. The plant’s relation to water (root), air (leaves), and warmth (blossom). Plants to be compared to soul, not to the body. DISCUSSION 10 September 1, 1919..................................................................... page 126 Human soul qualities revealed in plants. Sleeping, dreaming, and waking in the relation between Earth and plants. Polarity of tree and fungus. The theorem of Pythagoras. DISCUSSION 11 September 2, 1919..................................................................... page 135 Phrenology discounted. Plants are not the senses of the Earth. Medical plant lore of medieval mystics. Plants classified by development of root, stalk, leaf, etc. Plants related to different ages of childhood. DISCUSSION 12 September 3, 1919..................................................................... page 147 Sex education. Maps and geography. Angles and areas. DISCUSSION 13 September 4, 1919..................................................................... page 151 Algebra to precede the teaching of areas. Introduction of algebra by calculating rates of interest. A shop for the second grade. Rates of movement. Copernicus and Bessel. DISCUSSION 14 September 5, 1919..................................................................... page 158 More about rates of interest and algebra. Negative numbers, powers, and roots. Formulas. The building of towns in Europe. Concrete chronology through demonstrating the generations. Towns originated as markets, later fortified. Change of consciousness in fifteenth century. Historians Buckle and Lecky recommended. Lamprecht. Freytag. H.S. Chamberlain. Socialist historians good for facts. Observing the movements of Sun and planets. Egyptian drawing. Animal-headed men. Physical strength of Egyptians; their mythology. DISCUSSION 15 September 6, 1919..................................................................... page 171 Lemniscate and human organs. Invasions of Roman Empire by Celts, etc., due to desire for gold. Invasion in relation to cultivated and undeveloped land (Goths and Franks). Christianity and pagan cults. Overcoming difference of ability. Foreign and classical languages. Reports and grades. Closing remarks: what the teacher should be. FIRST LECTURE ON THE CURRICULUM September 6, 1919, A.M. .......................................................... page 183 SECOND LECTURE ON THE CURRICULUM September 6, 1919, A.M. .......................................................... page 194 THIRD LECTURE ON THE CURRICULUM September 6, 1919, P.M. ........................................................... page 202 Appendix: Speech exercises in German ............................... page 205 Further Reading .............................................................. page 209 About this Series............................................................... page 212 Index ............................................................................. page 215 Introduction Introduction These discussions are part of the first Waldorf Teacher Training. They took place along with two other courses that Rudolf Steiner gave to prepare the individuals he had chosen as teachers for the first Waldorf school, which opened in Stuttgart on September 7, 1919. Emil Molt, the managing director of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory, had requested that Rudolf Steiner help found a school for the children of the factory employees. From that request has grown what is now a worldwide educational movement. But the questions can be asked: Is an educational impulse more than seventy-five years old relevant today? How do teachers keep themselves up-to-date? Can the Waldorf curriculum be effective for children in the twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries? This original Waldorf teacher training was brief: it lasted only two weeks. It was understood by those who attended, however, that Waldorf education was to be based upon the continuing training or self-education of the teacher, and that this was only the beginning of that process. These fifteen discussions—along with three lectures on the curriculum, translated for the first time into English—can give the teachers