Refreshing Classroom Habits and Skills for Teachers: How to Enjoy Yourself while Swimming Against the Stream

Educators need to exercise common sense, a presence of mind to cope with all possible situations in the classroom. But they also need an artistic "flow", an original interaction with their pupils or students. Both are vital for what is called a creative "study of the child", a three-step process in which teachers help their students overcome personal and learning obstacles. In essence these steps require the teacher to develop practical forms of imagination, inspiration, and intuition.

The basic task to be addressed: how can we train ourselves in this process? How do we realize the virtues (or competences) Rudolf Steiner offered for this extraordinary vocation? To the degree we succeed, deepening our understanding and improving classroom skills come together.

CHRISTOF WIECHERT: A popular lecturer and seminar leader the world over, Christof spent 30 years teaching at the Waldorf School in The Hague, where he was himself a pupil. While working at this school he co-founded the Dutch Waldorf Teacher Training Seminar. For many years, Christof was a Council member of the Anthroposophical Society in the Netherlands. Together with Ate Koopmans, he developed the "Art of Child Study" course. In 1999 he began to work for the Pedagogical Section of the Society and since October 2001 has served as Leader of the Pedagogical Section of the School for Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. He is married with five children.