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“Where do you see or use computers in your life?” Fausto Rivera asks the seventh grade class at the Susquehanna Waldorf School. At first, the students ponder the question quietly, exchanging a few thoughtful glances with their peers as they ponder their responses. “ATMs,” one student announces. “Toll booths,” another adds. “Cars.” “Phones.” “Healthcare.” What begins slowly quickly mounts into a lengthy list of daily applications for the technology. “These are fantastic answers!” comments Mr. Rivera. “Now, let’s actually open a computer up, and see how it works.”

Led by the expertise of Mr. Rivera, an expert Technologist with a degree in Systems Engineering, the students take their Cyber Civics program above and beyond the textbook. Separating into two groups, the students, without the aid of any tools, are tasked with opening up computers and locating various vital components that have been discussed throughout their study. The Cyber Civics course isn’t only about being able to understand the physical parts. It is approached the same way any other subject is undertaken in Waldorf education: by understanding what, how and why they use something, from the inside out. Aside from this study, computers are not present in early childhood and elementary Waldorf classrooms, and media use in general is discouraged, even in the home. Reliance on picture and images from screens can reduce a child’s ability to visualize their own thoughts and imagination. Because the cultivation of the imagination is paramount in Waldorf education, media mindfulness is practiced to strengthen creativity and foster deepened focus, critical components to an education that develops innovative thinking.

In the case of computers in the Cyber Civics course, the goal is to understand the history, evolution and physical components of computers, weaving everything together into a complete picture so that students can use the technology safely, effectively, creatively and wisely and grow into healthy, ethical digital citizens. “For a child, a computer is merely a toy,” says Leilani Richardson, Class 7 teacher. “At this age, and as they begin to enter adulthood and have more responsibilities around life, students now use computers for non-recreational purposes. It becomes a tool. We want to extend their digital literacy skills so that they are prepared to use this tool for life.”

As the class nears its close for the day, the students engage in a final hands-on exercise. Mr. Rivera asks the class to gather around as he lifts the lid to a computer server and presses the “on” switch; instantly, the server whirs to life, small orange and green lights twinkling across the board like a miniature city. “If you are going to teach Civics,” says Matt Bei of the New York Times, “then as part of Civics you ought to be teaching media.” At a time when the presence of digital media permeates seemingly every sphere of life, with children (and adults) around the world being conditioned to passively let technology control them, teaching young students that they can make healthy choices around computers has enormous implications for their own well-being, as well as the well-being of the greater community.

In Fiber Arts teacher Barbara Freiberg’s classroom, Susquehanna Waldorf School’s Class 7 students busily transform lengths of thread and swatches of fabric into playful marionettes for their May performance of “Folktales from Africa.” The work is fun—but it is also grounded in the classwork and the student’s developmental needs.

The marionette play is, as all class plays in Waldorf education are, connected to one of the curriculum blocks. For Class 7, the “Folktales” play reinforces and enriches their study of Africa. Touching on geography, culture and people of the different African regions, the marionettes, alongside other art-centered projects, carry the goal of a deeper experience with the subject matter.

In addition to bringing the curriculum to life, class plays at SWS meet students where they are developmentally and seek to address the struggles felt by the particular age group. Class 7 students entering adolescence, a stage of heightened self-awareness, find comfort in their role working with marionettes, as they can reveal their character behind the scenes instead of out in the spotlight. The teacher is able to stretch the skills and capacity in students this way, but from a place that is comfortable for their age. The play also strengthens the sense of interdependence among the whole class, and uncovers a new appreciation for each other.

As each puppet dances lightly from the marionette strings, Class 7 students smile and recite the lines they have worked diligently to memorize. How they enter their character and respond to each other through practice prepares them for their performance, as well as their final eighth grade production in the coming year, but it also prepares them for life—a gift that goes well beyond the stage.

On behalf of the faculty and Board of Trustees at SWS, we are excited to present our 2017-2018 Annual Report. The magic of our school continues to work its wonders in educating and developing the children that have been entrusted to our care.  In light of the challenges of our modern world, Waldorf education continues to provide much needed focus on the developmental needs of the child.  The results are tangible — one walk through the hallways of our wonderful building makes that apparent.

As always, we welcome input from any member of the school community.  We look forward to continuing this journey with our parents, alumni, friends of the school and most important, our children.

On Friday, March 2nd, the Susquehanna Waldorf School hosted their annual Spring Eurythmy assembly. With Eurythmy Teacher Katie O’Brien’s bright eyes and graceful, sweeping gestures, each grade took the center of the gym in turn, painting an artistic picture for the audience of how human beings can work and move together, and make their bodies sing.

To an onlooker who didn’t know, one might find it difficult to distinguish eurythmy from a form of dance. It was, in fact, a young dancer who came to Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, and said, “I want to bring something new to movement. Something is missing.” This sparked the inauguration of eurythmy, an entirely new form of expressive movement art unique to Waldorf education. By definition, eurythmy is “a system of harmonious body movement to the rhythm of spoken words.”  In dance, it is the physical form and exact body position that are paramount; eurythmy, in contrast, is about bringing words and sounds into formation, using the human body in motion as its instrument. Sound and gesture are united as the body becomes the vowels, consonants, and music being played. It is an art that makes a nod to the heart and the inner life, acknowledging that what we hear is not just audible, but also harnesses an emotional and physical hold.

Opening the March 2nd assembly, the younger students trickled down from the bleachers into a circular formation as O’Brien recited a poem, then knitted the circle into an increasingly intricate spiral as the pace of the verse increased. Movements flowed seamlessly with the consonants and vowels, keeping pace with the quick alliteration of lines like “bright are the sparks; sparks kindle light.” As the assembly continued, the classes expressed a progression towards more complex coordination and greater sensitivity to the space between their peers, forming shapes with their bodies that seemed invisibly tethered to the sounds and the surroundings.

Year by year, students of eurythmy at the Susquehanna Waldorf School are guided through exercises that are aligned developmentally to nurture intelligent hands and feet and, in turn, a thoughtful, thinking heart. It is a holistic approach to movement. Every consonant and vowel in eurythmy has its own sound and archetypal gesture; “b,” for instance, becomes alive in the verse as the “bear,” hands stretching the air apart like opening the bellows of an invisible accordion. “The gift of eurythmy,” says O’Brien, “is that the child can learn to experience themselves gracefully, maintain space thoughtfully, and move harmoniously with others.” When a student new to eurythmy, for instance, is instructed to walk backwards, they instinctively feel the need to look over their shoulder. “Gradually, they stop looking: they learn to trust themselves and the world they can’t see,” notes O’Brien.

This individual mastery that eurythmy cultivates also stimulates a deep sensitivity to others. In one Waldorf school, a basketball coach, impressed by the harmonious movement of the opposing team, asked the Waldorf coach how he was able to foster such orchestrated movement in his players. On overhearing this question, a teammate interjected that is was a result of their eurythmy training.

As the Spring Assembly came to a close, parents were encouraged to stay for a brief eurythmy lesson. O’Brien asked the small group to first form a circle; after forming something reminiscent of a squiggly star, then a lopsided oval, the parents were at last corralled into something more concentric. “Waldorf students are capable of making circles very quickly and accurately,” O’Brien commented with a smile. This spatial awareness is also seen in Waldorf geometry classes, where students are able to draw circles freehand that look like they were crafted with the precision of a compass tool.

“Eurythmy teaches you to find your center,” says O’Brien. Through the concentration, self-discipline, and sense of beauty that eurythmy instills, students at the Susquehanna Waldorf School are ultimately inspired by a shared intention to live harmoniously, within themselves and with others.

For students studying geometry at the Susquehanna Waldorf School, precision is compatible with beauty. Each student’s lesson book not only illustrates their knowledge and understanding, but also showcases their individual creativity and personality as they add their own color and shading to their construction. The result is a classroom brimming with richly colored and rigorously made shapes, integrally tied to mathematical understanding.

“We want the students to understand visually how the formulas work, not just memorize the formulas,” explains Leilani Richardson, Grade 6 teacher. As early as Grade 2, students begin laying the groundwork for geometry by creating form drawings and exploring multiplication through a circular times table. This advances to connecting points on a page with a ruler, and goes on to yield an exponentially broader range of form and color as students learn to bisect lines and angles. The technical terminology advances with the drawings, introducing the names of angles, line segments, and concepts. By the time the students reach the higher grades, they are well prepared for the rigor of constructing complex shapes and grasping advanced theories.

Constructing the shapes in the higher classes takes an enormous amount of focus and self-discipline. Pedagogically, this touches on a key aspect of the students’ development. “At this age, their bodies and their inner world are askew. They are growing and changing so rapidly, and the work to create these geometric drawings brings order and focus to their thinking. It is very comforting to them,” says Richardson. Students are also given an opportunity for self-discovery and self-direction. In one exercise, students are asked to determine the area of a triangle with just a square of paper. Not only does this encourage the student to find the connection independently, but it also gives them an opportunity to clearly express their discovery in words and in a mathematical language.

Beginning in the early grades as simple form drawings and progressing into the higher classes as meticulously constructed shapes, geometry in the Waldorf curriculum goes beyond the calculations and formulations to get at the very essence of shapes. It is a development of mathematical thinking that creates an understanding of the whole to the parts, and connects its students to the source.

The Susquehanna Waldorf School (SWS) is participating in a worldwide postcard exchange initiative to both broaden the global perspective of students and kick-off the 100 year celebration of Waldorf® Education planned for 2019.

Throughout the current year, students in 1,100 Waldorf schools from greater than 80 countries will send a postcard to every other Waldorf school in the world. Each postcard is being individually designed by a young person, telling or showing something of his or her country, school, or self.

This innovative global project will connect hundreds of thousands of students to one another through individualized and artistically designed postcards, which will then be arranged, by each school, into a Global Map for public display.

SWS is proud to be a part of this million-fold Waldorf greeting from around the globe!  Class Five teacher, Elizabeth Curtis, shares that her students “eagerly anticipate arrivals of cards from far-away lands” and are finding connection with other Waldorf students through the process.

See how students are broadening their horizons!