Renewal of Literacy: Ways to Get Students Caught Up in Reading and Spelling

Jennifer Militzer-Kopperl

Now that students have returned to full-time, in-class instruction, do you have students who are behind in reading and spelling?

The Problem

Not all students responded equally well to distance learning. When students returned to full-time in-class instruction, they arrived with reading and spelling skills that were literally all over the map. As a result, more and more Waldorf teachers are realizing that a one-size-fits-all approach to reading and spelling instruction fails too many students.

Teachers are aware of the need to change tactics to meet the academic needs of all the students in the class, but some are unsure how to do so—or whether such a change would align with Waldorf education. 

A Solution

“Renewal of Literacy: Ways to Get Students Caught up in Reading and Spelling [. . .]” can help. It is a free online, on-demand course that outlines a simple seven-step solution to the problem and extensive proof that the steps align with Rudolf Steiner’s indications.

The course is based on an article I wrote for Research Bulletin’s current issue, an issue which explores new directions in Waldorf education and ways to revisit old practices. The article is entitled “Differentiating Reading Instruction by Phase” (Spring/Summer 2022, Volume XXVII Number 1, 50-59) which in turn is inspired by my new edition of The Roadmap to Literacy: Renewal of Literacy® Edition (coming soon). 

Overview of the Course

This course outlines a seven-step process to differentiating reading and spelling instruction in order to meet the academic needs of all the students in a class. The seven steps are as follows:

• Acknowledge the Elephant in the Room (i.e., Some Waldorf traditions make it hard to teach reading and spelling)
• Recognize the Phases of Learning to Read and Spell
• Assess
• Group by Phase
• Teach to the Phases in Your Class
• Re-Assess
• Begin a Remedial Process for Students Who are Still Struggling

Each step gets its own section that includes one or more short videos. The videos present Rudolf Steiner’s indications and introduce modern best practices. A special highlight is two literacy capacities that Steiner asks teachers to train (i.e., phonemic awareness and symbol imagery).

Direct instruction in these two capacities is key to helping students catch up if they fall behind. The videos challenge prominent sacred nothings and traditions in Waldorf education so that teachers have the confidence to take the steps necessary to meet the academic needs of all the students in the class. 

Two Literacy Capacities Steiner Recommends Teachers Train

Teachers can use the material presented in this course to inform their teaching and their assessing. Links to pertinent resources are included. In addition, one or more videos from this course can be used in faculty study or in a study group to initiate a discussion about how to teach literacy in Waldorf education and ways to chart new directions in Waldorf education. 

Sign up at Renewal of Literacy®. Go to renewalofliteracy.teachable.com/ or go to renewalofliteracy.com/ and select “courses” on the navigation bar. Scroll down until you see the course thumbnail.

“Renewal of Literacy: Ways to Get Students Caught up in Reading and Spelling” shows teachers what they can do when they have a diverse range of student literacy skills and capacities in one classroom. It gives teachers the information they need to chart new directions in Waldorf literacy education—and the moxie to pull it off. 

Join me in renewing literacy—for the 21st century and beyond.
 

Jennifer Militzer-Kopperl is the creator of Renewal of Literacy® and author of The Roadmap to Literacy Books. She brings the best of Steiner’s indications together with the best of modern research to renew Waldorf education, starting with a renewal of literacy. 

Intelligence. Knowledge. Wisdom: AI and the Waldorf School

A Webinar with Eugene Schwartz and Andrew Linnell

March 14, 2023, at 8:00 pm ET

From iWaldorf

The launch of the chatbot system ChatGPT in November 2022 has taken much of the world by storm.

Its speed, clarity, and writing skills appear to be harbingers of a new stage of artificial intelligence that may transform almost every field of human endeavor. Its disruptive power was recognized within weeks of its release when the New York City public school system blocked its use, even as myriad academics spoke strongly for or against its pedagogical value.

And what about Waldorf schools? It is likely that some enterprising Waldorf high school students are already using ChatGPT to assist them with history essay assignments or mastering concepts in science, and there are certainly teachers contemplating its possibilities in lesson preparation and composing end-of-year reports.

Given the Waldorf schools’ track record with TV, computers, and iPhones, it is likely to be damned in school newsletters and prohibited as a tool for students and teachers.
 
In this lecture Eugene Schwartz contends that whether ChatGPT and its progeny are banned or beloved, the most important task facing Waldorf educators and parents is to understand the ramifications of artificial intelligence and acknowledge the role that it is already playing in the lives of our students.

Eugene will begin with an explanation of how a chatbot works (he promises that it will be comprehensible to even the most technophobic listener). He will then explore the ways in which our own approach to "intelligence" in the Waldorf movement has been influenced by modern technology, altering our relationship to knowledge and wisdom.

And he will illuminate how the Waldorf approach is needed, more than ever, to empower teachers, parents, and students in counterbalancing AI’s nebulous counter-image of human cognition.

Sponsored by MysTech

Suggested Donation: $10.00

To register, visit iwaldorf.net/chatbot.html