Dear Nursery Families,
In past school years, a standard form went to all families to provide feedback to your child's teacher(s). Because a nursery teacher is very different from a Spanish teacher from a 6th grade teacher, we are looking at making this feedback process more flexible with the goal of improving teaching and the experience for your children. Some teachers may give you forms; others may seek feedback during a parent meeting. All teachers will be summarizing what they have received to present to our college of teachers (our group of teachers which oversees professional development).
In our meeting in March, many of you already gave me feedback about home visits, start time, the transition to kindergarten. Some of you also provided written feedback at this time. Please do not take your time to write about these thoughts again, but if you have a new inspiration to share with me to include in my summary, feel free to email me. If you want to remain anonymous, you could submit any thoughts in writing in the "Dolde" parent folder.
If you do have time before next Wednesday, I would value your observations and insights about the following 2 topics.
A) I have devoted a lot of attention to integrating music and early childhood teaching this year, toward making music into meaningful work to nourish the children; playing far more music than I have in past years while your children play, dance, watch, and work. I've played a much wider range of instruments (e.g., cello and viola, too) and many styles beyond traditional early childhood songs. At school, I have observed children making orchestras and bands in the woods, using sticks to create magical instruments. Please share if you have any observations at home--whether your child seems to play imaginatively with music or not; my goal is not necessarily to inspire all children to be musicians, but rather to surround them with joyful work so that they can play and work with attention, engagement, and joy.
B) Next year I am considering devoting a good deal of time, professional development funds, and perhaps my money into taking singing lessons with the goal of making my singing voice more worthy of imitation by the young children. Here I am not seeking your feedback or reassurance or condemnation about my singing voice, but rather what you may have observed this year about the way your child sings at home. Although comparisons among teachers can be really dangerous (we all have our strengths, and I would be a poor teacher if I tried to be exactly like Kim or Dyanne or Vanessa or Karol White or Eckhart Tolle or Kim John Payne rather than witnessing the children and trying to call forth in myself that which can meet the children in my care each day), if you have children (older siblings) who have had experiences with teachers with beautiful singing voices (such as my colleagues) and you notice a difference in the way your child(ren) sings and think you can relate it to the quality (or perhaps gender) of your child's teacher's singing voice, those observations would be helpful in my professional development planning.
Do feel free but not obligated to share feedback about any other observations you might have. Specific insights, appreciations, or recommendations tend to be more helpful to me than global statements of praise or criticism (though I do appreciate the literary value of really stinging insults if you want to throw one my way).
With thanks,
William Geoffrey Dolde
p.s. below are the topics I solicited your thoughts about in March
1) Your thoughts on home visits.
2) Your thoughts on the morning ritual and our expeditious departure to the teepee.
3) Your thoughts about next year, the transition to kindergarten, the 4 and 5 day options, and looking forward, your thoughts on how my nursery class might evolve.
4) Your thoughts on start time--does it work for me to be outside at 8:15am? Would it be better for me to come out at 8:30?
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Captains, Tantrums, Pirates, festival reminder
Dear Nursery Families,
As I was preparing the post below for parent & child families, it occurred to me that some of you may have received them more than once and others not at all. Even if you choose not to reread the articles below, please read the reminder about our parent & child and nursery festival on Friday, June 4, from 9 to 10:30 to which all of you are invited.
Dear Families,
I had a request last week for support for parents about supporting a child through tantrums. I will likely touch on this next Wednesday, May 26, during my talk weaving together Tolle and Steiner and Waldorf Education. For myself, I find the image of a captain at sea useful when teaching or parenting; while I cannot control every element (or I would be like monomaniacal Ahab or a captain doomed for mutiny), I can still be in charge and work with the wind and elements to keep the ship on course. If a captain is too stern, he is likely to be thrown overboard; too weak, he is likely to be thrown overboard, I seek just the right balance.
Here are 3 articles I have written in the past couple of years relating parenting and being a captain.
1) This article helps us plan our day's journey with our children to make the storms of tantrums less likely or severe (while we should always abandon hope of living tantrum free; there is great beauty and power in making peace with this aspect of development, too).
2) When the storm of a tantrum does occur, here are some ideas to help you and your child pass through the storm with resilience.
3) As Eckhart Tolle reminds us (and many Waldorf teachers and others already put into practice with grace and effectiveness), there is incredible power in saying yes to what is, into accepting what is now rather than resisting the present moment (this does not mean caving into a toddler's demands to get a tantrum to stop; we still are the parents; we accept our need to parent through what might seem a trial with the same surrender and equanimity--even as we may be need to be firm in holding limits--as we would during an ostensibly easy time with our child). Related to the sea, here are some reflections about my own journey toward acceptance of the now that I wrote last year to my nursery families. It is called Falling Cradles, Pirates, and Sewing Up the Wolf's Belly.
It may be that after next week's talk, I will need to create a new series of metaphors about Zen captains.
Although our final classes are next week, May 27 and 28, all families, whether currently enrolled or not, are invited to our Rosebud/Dewdrop/Nursery summer festival on Friday, June 4, from 9 to 10:30am. We will share our traditional feast of soup and bread, dance our farewell dances to the Maypole, see a puppet show about the Mossy Men, felt, and welcome our bonfire cloth for summer dances.
With warmth and light and thoughts of summer fire,
William Geoffrey Dolde
As I was preparing the post below for parent & child families, it occurred to me that some of you may have received them more than once and others not at all. Even if you choose not to reread the articles below, please read the reminder about our parent & child and nursery festival on Friday, June 4, from 9 to 10:30 to which all of you are invited.
Dear Families,
I had a request last week for support for parents about supporting a child through tantrums. I will likely touch on this next Wednesday, May 26, during my talk weaving together Tolle and Steiner and Waldorf Education. For myself, I find the image of a captain at sea useful when teaching or parenting; while I cannot control every element (or I would be like monomaniacal Ahab or a captain doomed for mutiny), I can still be in charge and work with the wind and elements to keep the ship on course. If a captain is too stern, he is likely to be thrown overboard; too weak, he is likely to be thrown overboard, I seek just the right balance.
Here are 3 articles I have written in the past couple of years relating parenting and being a captain.
1) This article helps us plan our day's journey with our children to make the storms of tantrums less likely or severe (while we should always abandon hope of living tantrum free; there is great beauty and power in making peace with this aspect of development, too).
2) When the storm of a tantrum does occur, here are some ideas to help you and your child pass through the storm with resilience.
3) As Eckhart Tolle reminds us (and many Waldorf teachers and others already put into practice with grace and effectiveness), there is incredible power in saying yes to what is, into accepting what is now rather than resisting the present moment (this does not mean caving into a toddler's demands to get a tantrum to stop; we still are the parents; we accept our need to parent through what might seem a trial with the same surrender and equanimity--even as we may be need to be firm in holding limits--as we would during an ostensibly easy time with our child). Related to the sea, here are some reflections about my own journey toward acceptance of the now that I wrote last year to my nursery families. It is called Falling Cradles, Pirates, and Sewing Up the Wolf's Belly.
It may be that after next week's talk, I will need to create a new series of metaphors about Zen captains.
Although our final classes are next week, May 27 and 28, all families, whether currently enrolled or not, are invited to our Rosebud/Dewdrop/Nursery summer festival on Friday, June 4, from 9 to 10:30am. We will share our traditional feast of soup and bread, dance our farewell dances to the Maypole, see a puppet show about the Mossy Men, felt, and welcome our bonfire cloth for summer dances.
With warmth and light and thoughts of summer fire,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Friday, May 14, 2010
A Walk Through the Grades Invitation
A Walk Through the Grades
Whidbey Island Waldorf School
Thursday, May 27th
Whidbey Island Waldorf School
Thursday, May 27th
8:30 – 10:30 a.m
9:00 Grades’ Classroom visits begin in sequence
10:00 Gather for Q & A
For more information or to sign up for our tour of the Grades,
please contact our Enrollment Director, Sheila Weidendorf
(enrollment@whidby.com or 360-341-5686 x 12).
At Whidbey Island Waldorf School we meet the children
where they are, challenging them intellectually,
inspiring them creatively, and gently guiding them socially.
Whidbey Island Waldorf School
6335 Old Pietila Road
Clinton, WA 98236
and here is a web link to the flyer
http://www.wiws.org/docs/Walk%
Friday, May 7, 2010
Music as Meaningful Work, Vegetables
On Wednesday, 9 middle school students and I performed songs on voice and guitar for our nursery students. Some of our nursery children built a dance stage and created a new dance for each song. Others played elsewhere in the room with their focus seeming to be there.
When the middle school students left, almost all of our nursery children gathered around their music stands and created an orchestra using pieces of wood and other play objects from our classroom. The nursery children were engaged and focused in this re-creation. This opportunity to imitate out of freedom real and purposeful work is an important part of what we provide in Waldorf Early Childhood education. Over the years, and this year in particular, I have been exploring the ways in which being a musician or music teacher can be a meaningful occupation worthy of imitation by the young child; just as there is the archetype of the cobbler or baker or weaver, my vision of a traditional village includes the town musician (think of the Donkey from "The Bremen Town Musicians" or piano teacher--with all its joy and sternness). J.S. Bach's father, for example, was a violinist who played in an orchestra twice a day every day in the town square in a village in what was to become Germany. Without compelling students to take up formal music instruction too soon (avoiding another archetype, the child prodigy who burns out at a young age), I hope to permeate the children's surroundings with music, not so much that they become inspired to find their own musical gifts later (great though that is), but so that they grow up with the concept that joy and work and work with joy can coexist harmoniously.
Thank you for bringing vegetables and fruit all year. More and more children eat a great deal of soup, bread, and rice. As such, we do not need many pieces of fruit at all. In recent weeks, we have had a great deal of apples and few vegetables come in; like the Union and Confederate armies, I have been making apple soup with the children. While this has its merits, my hope is to allow children chances to taste and eat a variety of vegetables. If possible, please concentrate on bringing vegetables for our snack for the remaining weeks of the school year.
Thank you,
William Geoffrey Dolde
When the middle school students left, almost all of our nursery children gathered around their music stands and created an orchestra using pieces of wood and other play objects from our classroom. The nursery children were engaged and focused in this re-creation. This opportunity to imitate out of freedom real and purposeful work is an important part of what we provide in Waldorf Early Childhood education. Over the years, and this year in particular, I have been exploring the ways in which being a musician or music teacher can be a meaningful occupation worthy of imitation by the young child; just as there is the archetype of the cobbler or baker or weaver, my vision of a traditional village includes the town musician (think of the Donkey from "The Bremen Town Musicians" or piano teacher--with all its joy and sternness). J.S. Bach's father, for example, was a violinist who played in an orchestra twice a day every day in the town square in a village in what was to become Germany. Without compelling students to take up formal music instruction too soon (avoiding another archetype, the child prodigy who burns out at a young age), I hope to permeate the children's surroundings with music, not so much that they become inspired to find their own musical gifts later (great though that is), but so that they grow up with the concept that joy and work and work with joy can coexist harmoniously.
Thank you for bringing vegetables and fruit all year. More and more children eat a great deal of soup, bread, and rice. As such, we do not need many pieces of fruit at all. In recent weeks, we have had a great deal of apples and few vegetables come in; like the Union and Confederate armies, I have been making apple soup with the children. While this has its merits, my hope is to allow children chances to taste and eat a variety of vegetables. If possible, please concentrate on bringing vegetables for our snack for the remaining weeks of the school year.
Thank you,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Friday, April 30, 2010
In praise of space
Dear Families,
Thank you for cleaning out the cubby area. The sense of calm from the space created reminds me of one of my favorite articles from the Waldorf Early Childhood Association. I have distributed "Chaos in Everyday Life: On Cleaning and Caring Before," I know, but I find it inspiring to read it again. I had the good fortune to hear the author, Linda Thomas, speak in 2004; 500 kindergarten and nursery teachers spent a weekend with intense focus, almost rapture, as she talked about vacuuming and scrubbing toilets.
As I prepare to speak about Eckhart Tolle and Waldorf education on May 26, I think a lot about the word space, which is an important word or signpost for Tolle. When we accept the present moment rather than worrying about stories of past or future, our presence helps recognize and create space and spaciousness. I have already appreciated simplifying my environment and the environment in which young children play (there is such a thing as too many lovely, handmade, natural fiber Waldorf toys), but Tolle inspires me to explore further.
There was a spaciousness to the play of the children last week. They are so comfortable in the woods and on our playground. I feel a strong connection with them. Because of this, I feel I can let them spread out a bit. There was a lot of harmonious play last week with children in groups of 3 or 4; sometimes groups clashed or came into conflict, but the more usual gesture was one of groups of children imagining and exploring and building and role playing without worry or concern what other groups were doing. They often seemed fully in the present moment rather, free from feat that a more fun game might be going on somewhere else in the woods or playground.
William Geoffrey Dolde
Thank you for cleaning out the cubby area. The sense of calm from the space created reminds me of one of my favorite articles from the Waldorf Early Childhood Association. I have distributed "Chaos in Everyday Life: On Cleaning and Caring Before," I know, but I find it inspiring to read it again. I had the good fortune to hear the author, Linda Thomas, speak in 2004; 500 kindergarten and nursery teachers spent a weekend with intense focus, almost rapture, as she talked about vacuuming and scrubbing toilets.
As I prepare to speak about Eckhart Tolle and Waldorf education on May 26, I think a lot about the word space, which is an important word or signpost for Tolle. When we accept the present moment rather than worrying about stories of past or future, our presence helps recognize and create space and spaciousness. I have already appreciated simplifying my environment and the environment in which young children play (there is such a thing as too many lovely, handmade, natural fiber Waldorf toys), but Tolle inspires me to explore further.
There was a spaciousness to the play of the children last week. They are so comfortable in the woods and on our playground. I feel a strong connection with them. Because of this, I feel I can let them spread out a bit. There was a lot of harmonious play last week with children in groups of 3 or 4; sometimes groups clashed or came into conflict, but the more usual gesture was one of groups of children imagining and exploring and building and role playing without worry or concern what other groups were doing. They often seemed fully in the present moment rather, free from feat that a more fun game might be going on somewhere else in the woods or playground.
William Geoffrey Dolde
Monday, April 26, 2010
Ending Outside Tuesday and Wednesday
Because we will be watching the Mayfaire rehearsals, we will end class outside on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Here are 2 clothing reminders:
The children are getting really competent in hanging up their own outdoor clothes. Please, please do clear out your child's cubby this Wednesday. When a child has many sets of clothes on her or his cubby, it can make it hard for her or him and even neighbors to find an empty hook to hang things. I'll go out on a limb; I would rather have a clean cubby area in which children can feel really effective at caring for their things with the risk that we'll be caught without the right gear in the foul weather May and June can bring us than the alternative--having gear for all sorts of weather at school but having children feel unable to find their things and help themselves.
As we get warm and disrobe, please remember to save clothing with righting, cartoon characters, media images, and the like for non-school days. Please also remember to save the temporary tattoos, nail polish, and the like for home as well. The more we can simplify the clothing of our children in school, the more we can free their imaginations.
With warmth and light,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Here are 2 clothing reminders:
The children are getting really competent in hanging up their own outdoor clothes. Please, please do clear out your child's cubby this Wednesday. When a child has many sets of clothes on her or his cubby, it can make it hard for her or him and even neighbors to find an empty hook to hang things. I'll go out on a limb; I would rather have a clean cubby area in which children can feel really effective at caring for their things with the risk that we'll be caught without the right gear in the foul weather May and June can bring us than the alternative--having gear for all sorts of weather at school but having children feel unable to find their things and help themselves.
As we get warm and disrobe, please remember to save clothing with righting, cartoon characters, media images, and the like for non-school days. Please also remember to save the temporary tattoos, nail polish, and the like for home as well. The more we can simplify the clothing of our children in school, the more we can free their imaginations.
With warmth and light,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Sunday, April 25, 2010
May and Rainpants
Dear Families,
As some of you know, after May 1, children may wear outdoor clothes other than rain pants and boots if the weather allows it. Because our 8:30 boat departs swiftly, I honor you for making the decision about how to dress your child. We will have many visitors to our school for Mayfaire, and I encourage you to take home all or many of your child's extra clothes this weekend to
1) free up cubby space for visitors
2) make it more likely you'll know where boots or other gear are the Monday after Mayfaire
3) give you a chance to restock your child's bag with clothes right for the season
That being said, we know that it can be cold and rainy in May; please don't pack away the winter gear quite yet.
On Tuesday at 11am and Wednesday at 11:45am, our children will watch the whole school Mayfaire rehearsal. As I've written before, my idea is that our nursery children will feel inspired by observing their teacher in the role of music teacher.
As some of you know, after May 1, children may wear outdoor clothes other than rain pants and boots if the weather allows it. Because our 8:30 boat departs swiftly, I honor you for making the decision about how to dress your child. We will have many visitors to our school for Mayfaire, and I encourage you to take home all or many of your child's extra clothes this weekend to
1) free up cubby space for visitors
2) make it more likely you'll know where boots or other gear are the Monday after Mayfaire
3) give you a chance to restock your child's bag with clothes right for the season
That being said, we know that it can be cold and rainy in May; please don't pack away the winter gear quite yet.
On Tuesday at 11am and Wednesday at 11:45am, our children will watch the whole school Mayfaire rehearsal. As I've written before, my idea is that our nursery children will feel inspired by observing their teacher in the role of music teacher.
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