What activities could students say “yes” to and enter with their whole beings? How could each student be inspired to live with questions from main lesson all day long? What unique opportunities might our “sheltering in place” provide for learning?
These were questions that the high school faculty at Summerfield Waldorf School entertained in preparing a new schedule and lessons for April and May. What emerged were these goals: independence in planning a project the student chooses, deeper dives into core topics, time to experience nature as a teacher, practices for establishing rhythms, finding balance, and slowing down. All of these together would strengthen the individual student, and possibly open new avenues of growth.
To provide these experiences, we simplified the day. It begins with a greeting and nature observation followed by an expanded main lesson time. Midday classes are short, and potent, intended to build skills. In the afternoons, students engage in independent projects coordinated in small groups. Zoom video meetings are used to frame the day, provide social contact, to set assignments, and to share results. Lecture time is minimized on Zoom. We are constantly striving to balance screen time and student at-home work time.
Earlier, in mid-March, we had set a form in place for bringing meaningful closure to courses in the one week before spring break. We avoided screen time by choosing email as the vehicle of communication. We heard from parents, and we learned a lot: Students need help forming the daily school rhythm at home. Emails, with their linear nature are too inefficient and difficult to manage as a way to communicate. We realized that our preference for in-person communication would have to be relaxed, even for ninth graders, and we would need to choose a tool for online meetings. We soon learned that tutorial sessions online with a small group of students could be very helpful and that small Zoom meetings work better than large ones. These experiences informed our April planning.
Because of the computer time, at the beginning of April, we began recommending that students spend at least three hours outdoors with no technology throughout the day. This begins with the morning movement from 9:15-10am. Perhaps it continues with the Afternoon Project time. But students need still more time outdoors. As teachers using screens, we have found this time in nature to be essential for us. How can families help their student to achieve this?
After three weeks of working this way, we compiled some experiences from the classroom. These can be found in our April school newsletter, beginning on page 12: https://summerfieldwaldorf.org/wp-content/uploads/messenger/2019-20/Messenger_apr2020.pdf. Three Main Lesson teachers introduce courses where they found potent questions for each Zoom session, followed by student responses. Next, we have contributions from three “Afternoon Project” courses, where students from different grades meet daily to coordinate their independent efforts. With these teaching forms, we hope to ignite fires and to spark a feeling of agency in our students.
In a recent faculty meeting, a colleague shared this Rumi poem which frames the question we are living with: How can we stay awake?
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill,
Where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
—Rumi
by Beth Weisburn