Publisher Zukunftsstiftung Entwicklung
Teachers can use the themes in this manual for preparing their lessons. This manual does not only provide the content of what is to be taught, but also suggestions such as getting the children to participate in class discussions, allowing them to contribute their own information, ideas and experiences. The teacher can arrange outside observations, which will also be discussed in terms of how to prepare a class for these.
Teaching a main lesson is not just the imparting of knowledge: we need the children to experience the nature and ‘being’ of plants. In order to do this, we need to use the arts to deepen children’s experience of what they are learning. This manual gives suggestions of how this can be done. Every time we prepare to teach an aspect of plant study, we need to ask ourselves, “what artistic activity can I involve the children in, to make this aspect of knowledge have deeper meaning and so the children can experience a connection with what they are learning?”
This manual is written to assist teachers new to Waldorf Education to see examples of how the educational principles given by Rudolf Steiner can be applied in daily teaching. Everything written here needs to be seen as possible examples, rather than “this is the way we teach the Plant Study curriculum in Waldorf Schools.” Every teacher needs to adapt the suggestions given here according to the children in his or her class, their cultural background, the local environment, etc., so that the needs of the children are served, rather than following an imported curriculum.
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