A promotional video made for the Steiner Fellowship in the UK. It explains some of the educational approaches of Rudolph Steiner (also known as Waldorf) schools. Directed and shot by Saskia Anley McCallum, edited by Simon Fildes.
Playnig to Learn (2/1/2010 New York Times Op-ed)
THE Obama administration is planning some big changes to how we measure the success or failure of schools and how we apportion federal money based on those assessments. It’s great that the administration is trying to undertake reforms, but if we want to make sure all children learn, we will need to overhaul the curriculum itself. Our current educational approach — and the testing that is driving it — is completely at odds with what scientists understand about how children develop during the elementary school years and has led to a curriculum that is strangling children and teachers alike. Read the story
The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting (11/20/2009 Time)
The insanity crept up on us slowly; we just wanted what was best for our kids. We bought macrobiotic cupcakes and hypoallergenic socks, hired tutors to correct a 5-year-old's "pencil-holding deficiency," hooked up broadband connections in the treehouse but took down the swing set after the second skinned knee. We hovered over every school, playground and practice field — "helicopter parents," teachers christened us, a phenomenon that spread to parents of all ages, races and regions. Stores began marketing stove-knob covers and "Kinderkords" (also known as leashes; they allow "three full feet of freedom for both you and your child") and Baby Kneepads (as if babies don't come prepadded).
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Race to Nowhere Movie Trailer (A film by Vicki H. Abeles)
Race to Nowhere is a close up look at education and childhood in America. It asks the question, Are we preparing youth for healthy, productive lives? Please sign up for our Newsletter for viewing opportunities in Miami?
Link to RaceToNowhere.com
EARNING A's IN ENVIRONMENT (April 16, 2009 Miami Herald)
Being green is part of the curriculum at the Sunrise School of Miami.
Children at the Waldorf school near Pinecrest not only recycle, they also grow organic vegetables, compost leftover food, utilize organic crayons made from beeswax and write on paper created from green processing, among other practices.
"Everything we use in our classrooms is made from natural materials," administrator Patricia Russell said. "The goal is to educate students early on about recycling and other green efforts so they are more apt to develop a lifelong love and reverence for the environment."?
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SCANDINAVIAN SCHOOL SYSTEMS
"Is it possible that the greater emphasis in Finnish early education on social, moral and physical development, mutual support and positive attitudes produces not only well-adjusted, sociable, altruistic and civically minded adults bus successful readers?
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A Ford Foundation report shows the academic value of integrating arts within the school curriculum.
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What is a Steiner School (by Simon Fildes)
