Emily is a healthy, sociable third-grade girl. She tends to have moist hands and easily sweats. She is sensitive to everything around her, can take things personally, and does not seem to have any natural boundaries. Consequently, she does not know where she ends and others begin. She enjoys telling elaborate articulate stories, many of which are not actually true. Now her classmates are beginning to tease her, making her feel excluded and unhappy. Emily is not a true melancholic; she has constitutional hysteria. How do we understand who she is and how can we effectively meet her needs in school and at home?
At each stage of childhood we can observe the birth or unfolding of new abilities as other elements fade into the background. Each stage of human development lays the foundation for the next. As teachers, parents, and therapists, it is important that we continually strive to come to a deeper understanding of these human elements and find practical ways to assist and educate children on their path of evolving. One of the important stages of development is when children enter school during the second stage of childhood 7 to 14 years of age. New forces for learning are now available in the child. This is the period of the birth of the child’s individualized etheric body and with this event the temperaments and constitutional types appear. How can we rightly observe and work in school and at home with these powerful elements? How do we bring balance and help children through this phase of life? How do we work upon our own nature too?
This course will explore the pedagogical and curative/medical constitutional polarities, which come to birth during the second stage of childhood covering the period from age 7 to 14. We will review the threefold archetype of the nerve sense system, rhythmic system, and metabolic limb system in relation to the constitutional types and the process of remembering and forgetting. We will experience and practice activities and strategies to meet and harmonize the temperamental and constitutional issues that various children present in the classroom.
MATERIALS FEE: $15
Suggested Readings: The Four Temperaments, Rudolf Steiner Education of Children with Special Needs (Curative Education Course), Rudolf Steiner, Chapters 3, 4, 5 (Lecture 2 covers the Pedagogical Law) Education as Preventative Medicine, Michaela Glockler MD, et al, pp. 76-87 Children with a Difference, Walter Holtzappel, MD, Chapters 9-12
RACHEL ROSS has studied and taught eurythmy for over 30 years. A graduate of the London School of Eurythmy (1974) and Emerson College (1967), England, she received her Therapeutic Eurythmy diploma and certification from the Medical Section of the Goetheanum, Switzerland (1989). She earned a Master’s degree from Sunbridge College, N.Y. and holds Massachusetts State Teacher’s certification in Elementary Education Grades 1-6, and Moderate Special Needs certification Pre K-12. Rachel is a consultant and mentor to many Waldorf and private schools nationwide. She is a faculty member of the AHE Waldorf Remedial Teacher Trainings in the US and Brazil and co-directs trainings in Spain, Ireland, and Canada. She is the author of Adventures in Parenting: A Practical Guide for Parents, published by AWSNA.
CONNIE HELMS works in private practice as an education consultant, parent educator, and Extra Lesson teacher in Williston, VT. From working with all ages of clients, she has become an avid supporter of Extra Lesson work for individuals and classes. Connie is a consultant to Waldorf schools in the eastern U.S. and mentors Waldorf remedial teachers in training. For several years she has served on the board of the Association for a Healing Education. Connie holds a Waldorf teacher certification from Antioch New England (2000), a Waldorf Remedial certification from AHE, a Masters in Special Education from Lesley University (1981) and a B.A. in psychology from Connecticut College (1977).
