Educating for Balance and Resilience (Paperback)

Jeff Tunkey

ISBN 10: 1952166004 / ISBN 13: 9781952166006

Published by SteinerBooks, Inc, Great Barrington, MA, 2021

About this Item

Paperback. There is growing recognition in educational circles that helping children to build the skills they need to thrive in adult life is as important as learning facts and passing exams. These important skills include communication, persistence in the face of challenge, adaptability, teamwork, good manners, self-control, responsibility and punctuality. Every Steiner-Waldorf school aims to provide a progression of challenging academic content for which the students are emotionally and physiologically prepared.Jeff Tunkey highlights how focusing on a child's physiological and emotional development is just as important as academic learning, especially in the early grades. He argues that children need a varied curriculum of movement, drawing and painting, in order to build core competencies such as posture, spatial orientation and physical coordination. This book includes helpful exercises and activities for strengthening the whole class and advice on building bridges with parents. This illuminating resource argues that these foundational practices of Waldorf education should be part of the curriculum for all students, in all classes, every day. A compelling book for teachers that demonstrates that a focus on posture, spatial orientation and coordination is as important to healthy child development as academic content. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781952166006

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Educating for Balance and Resilience (Paperback)
• Publisher: SteinerBooks, Inc, Great Barrington, MA
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1952166004
• ISBN 13: 9781952166006
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

A practical guide to strengthening the foundations for professional development, student capacities and readiness, and parent support“Each child in every age brings something new into the world from divine regions, and it is our task as educators to remove bodily and psychical obstacles out of its way...”  ―Rudolf Steiner (Aug. 19, 1922)

There is growing recognition in educational circles that helping children to build the skills they need to thrive in adult life is as important as content delivery linked to achievements on benchmark tests. These important skills include communication, persistence in the face of challenge, adaptability, teamwork, good manners, self-control, responsibility, and punctuality. 

A unifying goal for every Waldorf–Steiner school―anywhere in the world, large or small―is to provide a gradual progression of challenging academic content for which the students are (or soon will be) emotionally and physiologically prepared. Waldorf schoolteachers recognize that all true learning requires inner composure and flexibility, and that what can be seen and developed through outer movement is vital for mental health and acuity throughout life. Physical activity fuels the brain with oxygen and decreases stress. Every movement creates and strengthens connections within the brain and in the nerve pathways throughout the body. 

The importance of developmental movement is also clearly validated by modern science as a path to physiological and emotional development, and might be just as important as academic presentation, especially in the early grades. Activities that build such basics as postural control, spatial orientation, physical coordination, and body geography are not merely classroom extras. All children (perhaps more than ever before) need a rich diet of developmental movement, drawing, and painting exercises, as indicated by Rudolf Steiner, Audrey McAllen, Karl König, Olive Whicher, and numerous others. 

Although nearly all of these tools have been within the domain of Extra Lesson practitioners and Waldorf movement teachers for decades, Jeff Tunkey asserts that they should be staples for all students, in all classes, every day.

About the Author

Jeff Tunkey is a teacher and founding board president at Aurora Waldorf School in West Falls, New York. A graduate of the Spacial Dynamics 5-Year Inservice Training, he is one of the lead instructors in the Remedial Teacher development courses for the Association for a Healing Education. He leads intensives for Waldorf teachers from across North America and beyond, including class, movement, and remedial teachers, as well as pedagogical directors.