Lectures, workshops and consultations for schools

Perspectives on the Child from 7 to 9 - an Overview

What human capacities are called on when we ask a child to enter classroom life, sit at a desk and begin the journey toward analytical thinking? Can we as teachers find the right keys for each child? This lecture will provide an overview, including:

• Hierarchies of readiness for learning • Children’s temperaments and constitutional types

• Rhythms and health in education • Signposts from developmental movement, including reflexes, midlines, handedness, postural control, vision, hearing & touch

• Our 12 senses • Multiple Intelligences • Improving our stance as teachers.

Nurturing the Child’s Multiple Intelligences

Every child – every human being – possesses far more than one form of intelligence. In addition to the mental capacities measured by desk-bound SAT’s or Regents tests, a more complete list could include the Interpersonal Intelligence that guides great leaders and mediators like Dr. Martin Luther King, the Spatial Intelligence that allowed Einstein to picture in his head the workings of the universe, the Musical Intelligence that Mozart exhibited even as a young child... and other forms as well. Beginning in the 1970’s, Harvard professor Howard Gardner worked to develop a scientific definition of human intelligences. His work, contained in numerous books including “Frames of Mind” (1983) and “Multiple Intelligences” (1993), has provided foundations for many reforms in today's education. This lecture will begin with an overview of Multiple Intelligences theory. Then, the speaker will weave in thoughts from a spectrum of sources -- from African Bushmen to C.G. Jung, Rudolf Steiner and Karl König -- in order to explore ways that parents and teachers can come to a clearer, livelier picture of a child’s potentials and nurture a rounded, balanced development. It will also include ideas for making the jobs of parenting and teaching easier along the way.

Models for a Healthy Education: The 12 Senses • Hierarchies of Learning

The Waldorf approach to human development works with the picture that we have much more than the five traditional senses… in fact, twelve! If you’re like most people, you might initially have a mystified or puzzled reaction to hearing someone say humans have twelve senses—not just the five that science usually describes. However, the twelve senses approach – first described by Rudolf Steiner some 90 years ago – is similar in many ways to the “Multiple Intelligences” education theory popularized by Harvard professor Howard Gardner in the 1990s. In any event, the idea of the 12 senses isn’t meant to be analyzed in a literal or scientific way, but rather to be carried as a picture that might shine new light on how parents and teachers can contribute to the healthy growth of children. The particular definitions for the capacities to be described as the spectrum of 12 interrelated senses, can be quickly grasped by placing them in the light of ‘common sense’ everyday expressions. Taking up the picture of twelve human senses can give us fresh insights into the task of nurturing healthy childhood development in the classroom and at home.

A Scaffold for Waldorf Teachers - Classroom Management and Inspiration

(For detailed description, please email request.) To become a Waldorf Teacher, or a teacher in a Waldorf School, is to take on a mighty mantle of ideas and ideals. In this workshop, we can work together to outline the “core values” that every teacher might aspire to study and incorporate.Key concepts might include Steiner’s description of the human being: threefold man - thinking, feeling and willing; the four temperaments; the six constitutional types; the twelve senses; spatial man and the upper and lower triangles; currents of the earth.

Pedagogical indications from Rudolf Steiner would include: Pedagogical law; Goethean observation; rhythm and breathing: the teacher’s primary task; imitation and authority; teaching from the whole to the part; evolution of consciousness - from birth to old age; picture thinking; intellectualizing; media.

Developmental aspects - other sources: Dealing with parents: the gifts of fear, shame and anger; Six developmental keys according to “Take Time”; development according to model developed in Dutch Waldorf Schools; the polarities.

Pointers to Learning Readiness, Worksheets for Developmental Support

What are the learning implications if a school age child still moves like a toddler, or is out of touch with time or space? What learning problems result if a child can't keep a rhythm, or has trouble sequencing, lacks fine motor control, or has unclear handedness (dominance)? How can these aspects of incomplete development be identified and supported? This talk and hands-on workshop is based on the book Take Time by Mary Nash-Wortham and Jean Hunt. The uncomplicated means they present for assessment and developmental assistance will be described and demonstrated, and then will be practiced by participants. (Purchase of book highly recommended; currently about $20 a copy.)

Waking up to Learning with Bean Bag, Ball and Copper Rod Exercises

All learning occurs through movement of one kind or another! Here are activities teachers can do with a class for ten to thirty minutes a day over any period of time – a "break" that will help students be more awake and ready. The exercises serve the developmental needs of grade school children - first through eighth grade (and beyond) including:

• Physiology that supports writing and reading

• Direction, rhythm and sequencing - related to math

• Proprioception and balance - one of the "Multiple Intelligences"

• Working with anticipation; social skills

• Waking up to learning

Copper rod activities can be done in a gym, resource type room with carpeting, or classroom with desks pulled out of the way. Copper rods are upright and dignified, meant to set a mood of noble readiness.

Zoo-Robics and Crawl-Asthenics

How much creeping and crawling does it take to prepare a child for school? Many child development specialists believe that tens of thousands (perhaps as many as 50,000) crawling type steps are needed to properly myelinate the brain for academic readiness. Given today’s popularity of strollers, walkers, baby bouncers, backpacks, etc. it is unlikely a modern infant/toddler will take that many crawling steps. In her book If Kids Just Came with Instruction Sheets!, award-winning author and lecturer Svea J. Gold documents cases where a program of crawling for children beyond normal crawling age has alleviated learning barriers including attention deficit problems. The imagination of a “zoo” is suggested to enliven the exercises. Best results are obtained when the child “exercises the animals” for 15 minutes daily, or even better, before breakfast and before dinner. Alternating between the animals each day gives some variety. You cannot do these games too often! The workshop includes a talk on developmental movement, and pointers to possible learning problems that can be seen in the ways children move.

“Raiders of the Lost Art” (of play) - ‘Secrets’ from long ago in the early 20th Century - Developmental Movement for Home or School

We will explore the foundations of healthy development that occur through movement over time, and experience how these foundations can be joyfully built through ‘old time’ schoolyard and backyard games once played by children all over the world. Many of these activities are in books for teachers and recreation directors published between 1910 and 1950. (Come prepared to have fun!) Workshop includes techniques for sensory integration, specific academic goals.

The Ten Best Ways to Make Parenting Harder

Parenthood is a stage that can seem to last forever… until the child grows up and moves away! Drawing on his experience as a triathlete and a father of four, the speaker will present the ten best ways to be able to look back and say: “I didn’t take the easy way!”




						Lectures, workshops and consultations for schools LECTURES Perspectives on the Child from 7 to 9 - an Overview What human capacities are called on when we ask a child to enter classroom life, sit at a desk and begin the journey toward analytical thinking? Can we as teachers find the right keys for each child? This lecture will provide an overview, including: • Hierarchies of readiness for learning • Children’s temperaments and constitutional types • Rhythms and health in education • Signposts from developmental movement, including reflexes, midlines, handedness, postural control, vision, hearing & touch • Our 12 senses • Multiple Intelligences • Improving our stance as teachers. Nurturing the Child’s Multiple Intelligences Every child – every human being – possesses far more than one form of intelligence. In addition to the mental capacities measured by desk-bound SAT’s or Regents tests, a more complete list could include the Interpersonal Intelligence that guides great leaders and mediators like Dr. Martin Luther King, the Spatial Intelligence that allowed Einstein to picture in his head the workings of the universe, the Musical Intelligence that Mozart exhibited even as a young child... and other forms as well. Beginning in the 1970’s, Harvard professor Howard Gardner worked to develop a scientific definition of human intelligences. His work, contained in numerous books including “Frames of Mind” (1983) and “Multiple Intelligences” (1993), has provided foundations for many reforms in today's education. This lecture will begin with an overview of Multiple Intelligences theory. Then, the speaker will weave in thoughts from a spectrum of sources -- from African Bushmen to C.G. Jung, Rudolf Steiner and Karl König -- in order to explore ways that parents and teachers can come to a clearer, livelier picture of a child’s potentials and nurture a rounded, balanced development. It will also include ideas for making the jobs of parenting and teaching easier along the way. Models for a Healthy Education: The 12 Senses • Hierarchies of Learning The Waldorf approach to human development works with the picture that we have much more than the five traditional senses… in fact, twelve! If you’re like most people, you might initially have a mystified or puzzled reaction to hearing someone say humans have twelve senses—not just the five that science usually describes. However, the twelve senses approach – first described by Rudolf Steiner some 90 years ago – is similar in many ways to the “Multiple Intelligences” education theory popularized by Harvard professor Howard Gardner in the 1990s. In any event, the idea of the 12 senses isn’t meant to be analyzed in a literal or scientific way, but rather to be carried as a picture that might shine new light on how parents and teachers can contribute to the healthy growth of children. The particular definitions for the capacities to be described as the spectrum of 12 interrelated senses, can be quickly grasped by placing them in the light of ‘common sense’ everyday expressions. Taking up the picture of twelve human senses can give us fresh insights into the task of nurturing healthy childhood development in the classroom and at home. WORKSHOPS A Scaffold for Waldorf Teachers - Classroom Management and Inspiration (For detailed description, please email request.) To become a Waldorf Teacher, or a teacher in a Waldorf School, is to take on a mighty mantle of ideas and ideals. In this workshop, we can work together to outline the “core values” that every teacher might aspire to study and incorporate.Key concepts might include Steiner’s description of the human being: threefold man - thinking, feeling and willing; the four temperaments; the six constitutional types; the twelve senses; spatial man and the upper and lower triangles; currents of the earth. Pedagogical indications from Rudolf Steiner would include: Pedagogical law; Goethean observation; rhythm and breathing: the teacher’s primary task; imitation and authority; teaching from the whole to the part; evolution of consciousness - from birth to old age; picture thinking; intellectualizing; media. Developmental aspects - other sources: Dealing with parents: the gifts of fear, shame and anger; Six developmental keys according to “Take Time”; development according to model developed in Dutch Waldorf Schools; the polarities. Pointers to Learning Readiness, Worksheets for Developmental Support What are the learning implications if a school age child still moves like a toddler, or is out of touch with time or space? What learning problems result if a child can't keep a rhythm, or has trouble sequencing, lacks fine motor control, or has unclear handedness (dominance)? How can these aspects of incomplete development be identified and supported? This talk and hands-on workshop is based on the book Take Time by Mary Nash-Wortham and Jean Hunt. The uncomplicated means they present for assessment and developmental assistance will be described and demonstrated, and then will be practiced by participants. (Purchase of book highly recommended; currently about $20 a copy.) Waking up to Learning with Bean Bag, Ball and Copper Rod Exercises All learning occurs through movement of one kind or another! Here are activities teachers can do with a class for ten to thirty minutes a day over any period of time – a "break" that will help students be more awake and ready. The exercises serve the developmental needs of grade school children - first through eighth grade (and beyond) including: • Physiology that supports writing and reading • Direction, rhythm and sequencing - related to math • Proprioception and balance - one of the "Multiple Intelligences" • Working with anticipation; social skills • Waking up to learning Copper rod activities can be done in a gym, resource type room with carpeting, or classroom with desks pulled out of the way. Copper rods are upright and dignified, meant to set a mood of noble readiness. Zoo-Robics and Crawl-Asthenics How much creeping and crawling does it take to prepare a child for school? Many child development specialists believe that tens of thousands (perhaps as many as 50,000) crawling type steps are needed to properly myelinate the brain for academic readiness. Given today’s popularity of strollers, walkers, baby bouncers, backpacks, etc. it is unlikely a modern infant/toddler will take that many crawling steps. In her book If Kids Just Came with Instruction Sheets!, award-winning author and lecturer Svea J. Gold documents cases where a program of crawling for children beyond normal crawling age has alleviated learning barriers including attention deficit problems. The imagination of a “zoo” is suggested to enliven the exercises. Best results are obtained when the child “exercises the animals” for 15 minutes daily, or even better, before breakfast and before dinner. Alternating between the animals each day gives some variety. You cannot do these games too often! The workshop includes a talk on developmental movement, and pointers to possible learning problems that can be seen in the ways children move. “Raiders of the Lost Art” (of play) - ‘Secrets’ from long ago in the early 20th Century - Developmental Movement for Home or School We will explore the foundations of healthy development that occur through movement over time, and experience how these foundations can be joyfully built through ‘old time’ schoolyard and backyard games once played by children all over the world. Many of these activities are in books for teachers and recreation directors published between 1910 and 1950. (Come prepared to have fun!) Workshop includes techniques for sensory integration, specific academic goals. The Ten Best Ways to Make Parenting Harder Parenthood is a stage that can seem to last forever… until the child grows up and moves away! Drawing on his experience as a triathlete and a father of four, the speaker will present the ten best ways to be able to look back and say: “I didn’t take the easy way!”

		For information about lectures and workshops, or to inquire about telephone or personal consultation...

		Jeff Tunkey teaches both Physical Education and Extra Lesson (academic support) at Aurora Waldorf School, near Buffalo, NY. He was a member of the core group that founded AWS. The school’s unique movement program incorporates traditional games, life sports and team sports, weekly tumbling/gymnastics, and whole-class developmental movement based on the Extra Lesson. Students have four periods a week of this program, in addition to two periods of Eurythmy. Jeff is a graduate of the Spacial Dynamics inservice training, and made the transition to teaching 14 years ago,