Colloquium on English - Research Institute for Waldorf Education

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120 quy and a sonnet, and to recite these to the class. Occasionally these are performed in a school-wide or public setting. Most teachers use poetry or great speeches as opening exercises in both tracks and blocks. Leonore Russell reminded us that Waldorf schools have curricula rich in poetry and drama not often considered important in current educational philosophy. We may be the only schools to carry the rich stream of the past into the future. Betsy Barricklow described how the Tara School for the Performing Arts works. Each grade has a four-week intense work on a play every afternoon. All are performed. During the English class, students write back stories or other assignments for their characters. Performances also follow the block on Ancient History through Eurythmy, developed by Leonore Russell, and the block on History through Poetry. In addition, there is an all-school play for eight performances. During the rehearsal period, all other classes are suspended. During the February break, the 11 th graders go to Vail to see Hamlet and work with the teachers on the play. As part of the English curriculum, students see as many plays as they can, including twelve plays each year at the Denver Center. The 9 th and 11 th grades go to New York to see plays and the 12 th experiences theatre in London as part of a month long trip to Europe. The first graduating class had seen 78 plays during their high school years. The school has had to give up most traditional main lesson blocks in subjects other than English and Drama to have this performance focus. Students, parents, and teachers consider the trade-off to be well worth it and continue to be inspired. Betsy feels that the research that was done for this program could be used by other schools, perhaps with a focus on something other than performance. Media Education: While there was considerable debate about whether English teachers should also consider media education part of our job, we all recognized that it was necessary to “serve the word” by contrasting the uplifting language of literature with the language of advertising and political manipulation while being careful not to make cynics of the students. Many of us include in our curriculum George Orwell’s Politics and the English Language, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves To Death. Some teachers show media awareness films. Showing films in class: Some participants felt very strongly that film doesn’t belong in the English curriculum because film gives pictures rather than letting students create their own. We certainly cannot assume that all films are worthwhile. Nevertheless, many English teachers do use film versions of novels or plays in class after the students have experienced the text, for example The Miracle Worker, Of Mice and Men, or Romeo and Juliet. One teacher had the class read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and then showed the first version (1931) of the filming to see how the story was changed. There are many Shakespeare films, for example, some better than others. One teacher collected as many versions of Hamlet as possible and selected the “get thee to the nunnery” scene. Showing the students the same scene with Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Nicol Williamson, Mel Gibson, Kenneth Branagh and Ethan Hawke helped free up interpretations. Robert MacNeil’s series of videos on The Story of English was seen as useful, although somewhat dated. He has produced a new documentary called Do You Speak American? Many of us realized that we often talk about films in class, but don’t have time to show them. Recommended films included Winged Migration, Baraka, and Koyanisquaatsi. Often a film can give a flavor of an era or a country. While Tom Jones is too long a novel to read, the film gives a perfect picture of 18 th century England. Room With a View does the same for the Edwardian age. For Russian literature, Alexander Nevsky and Doctor Zhivago, Dersu Uzala by Kurasawa, or the Yul Brynner version of Brothers Karamazov are useful examples. Some teachers use films to discuss the screenplay, lighting, use of music and other aspects of cinematography.
Films were also seen as useful to encourage discussion on social issues. And the Band Played On was recommended as an effective way to begin a conversation about AIDS. Several schools have either shown or recommended Bowling for Columbine. For the Symptomatology block, films can be extremely helpful: Jung on Film is a remarkable resource, and the films of Jane Elliott, including Blue-Eyed, are excellent for discussions of prejudice. Martin Luther King’s speech on film is more exciting than on the printed page. We all agreed that whenever films are used, the students need to be brought back to conversation and writing. — compiled by Anne Greer Leonore Russell and Joan Caldarera converse in front of the new Dr. Bruce Barstow Science and Technology Building at High Mowing School, host of the English <strong>Colloquium</strong>. 121
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Research Project #9 Colloqu
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4 Title: Proceedings of the <strong
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6 Additional Articles: Recommended
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8 WHSRP Mission Statement Formed in
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10 MONDAY 13 OCTOBER 8:00 A.M. - -
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12 From the Left: Patricia Ryan and
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14 We left feeling that we had much
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16 Secondly, it discloses the world
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18 Student Response: In our lives t
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20 Benchmarks: Transition from Midd
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22 Thus the center of the red spira
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24 attention to the composition of
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26 “What have they been doing in
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28 more accurate than our senses, t
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30 and bring their free thinking to
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32 POETRY EXERCISE Mary uses this f
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34 novels Shane, The Adventures of
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36 Poetry is the path because it pr
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38 In the10 th grade, we begin to m
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40 Why do we teach literature? Some
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42 We always have to work with the
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44 The analytical process becomes a
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46 Keeping The Curriculum Timely by
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48 Steiner on the High School Liter
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50 Dr. Steiner: … it would depend
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52 Historically, Wolfram is an inte
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54 plane, need to strew pictures an
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56 of German literary history in re
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58 Children’s Receptivity to the
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60 however clumsy the children’s
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62 Discussion: Teaching Reading Our
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64 specifics from the text in discu
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66 Steiner On Reading The Effects o
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68 the school subjects demanded by
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Page 76 and 77: 76 The writing experience begins wi
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Page 82 and 83: 82 I Am I am: yet what I am none ca
Page 84 and 85: 84 I-Search Projects The purpose of
Page 86 and 87: 86 Annotated Bibliography Breindel,
Page 88 and 89: 88 Steiner on Writing and Spelling
Page 90 and 91: 90 Understanding Spelling Difficult
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Page 94 and 95: 94 7. careless: the first “as”
Page 96 and 97: 96 in this Colloquium</stro
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Page 100 and 101: 100 of your lesson; at times it can
Page 102 and 103: 102 the students’ perception of a
Page 104 and 105: 104 Through eurythmy people can lea
Page 106 and 107: 106 Introduction to Grammar Grammar
Page 108 and 109: 108 authority, and thus to form tho
Page 110 and 111: 110 That should be an unconscious p
Page 112 and 113: 112 you do not let them do what is
Page 114 and 115: 114 period. If you have caused them
Page 116 and 117: 116 “substantiating” verbs. In
Page 118 and 119: 118 Grammar in the Ninth Grade In G
Page 122 and 123: 122 Enlivening English Teaching thr
Page 124 and 125: 124 Recommended Books For Waldorf E
Page 126 and 127: 126 Also Recommended: Bly, Robert.
Page 128 and 129: 128 reward for the first person to
Page 130 and 131: 130 1) Tenth graders may wish to re
Page 132 and 133: 132 Solzhenitsyn’s A Day in the L
Page 134 and 135: 134 How in the act of writing itsel
Page 136 and 137: 136 The Wholeness Of Imagination by
Page 138 and 139: 138 Coleridge was an exact thinker
Page 140 and 141: 140 ception of the universe into wh
Page 142 and 143: 142 The theories must indeed come.
Page 144 and 145: 144 Disturbances in Speech Developm
Page 146 and 147: 146 ment then the development of th
Page 148 and 149: 148 which the forms are continually
Page 150 and 151: 150 Acquisition of Speech and the D
Page 152 and 153: 152 on the musical and rhythmic qua
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Colloquium on English - Research Institute for Waldorf Education

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