Talk Tuesday 6 to 8pm

Dear Parents,

Please remember that you are invited to a talk and discussion on the power and perils of praise--with insights gleamed from Virginia Woolf--this coming Tuesday from 6 to 7pm. From 7 to 8pm parents will discuss forming a support group or groups.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

Parent Evening, Tuesday March 1

The Perils of Praise and Ornamental Pots:

Intrinsic Motivation, Brain Research, and Virginia Woolf's Three Guineas

Butterfly Classroom

Whidbey Island Waldorf School

Tuesday, March 1, 6 - 7pm

 (from 7-8pm there will be a discussion about forming a parent support group or groups)

  "All this pitting of sex against sex, of quality against quality; all this claiming of superiority and imputing of inferiority, belong to the private-school stage of human existence where there are 'sides,' and it is necessary for one side to beat another side, and of the utmost importance to walk up to a platform and receive from the hands of the Headmaster himself a highly ornamental pot."
— Virginia Woolf (A Room of One's Own) 

Articles on the research of Carol Dweck on the inverse power of praise have resonated with parents in parent & child classes on Whidbey Island and in Baltimore.  Motivated parents have shared the article with friends and relatives.  Several parents have requested a talk on tricky subject of praise, what to say instead if--following Kim Payne--we want to avoid spewing "Good Job!" all over the place, and what might be exceptions.  In this lecture and discussion, William Dolde will review Dweck's research and try to offer insights into how to enable the research to help us rather than paralyze us.  He will also weave in Virginia Woolf's wisdom from her 1938 non-fiction work Three Guineas (with some reference to the earlier A Room fo One's One) to explore some of the reasons why our culture tends to be asleep to common phrases of judgment such as "Good Job!" or "Is he a good baby?"

Various parents have expressed a wish to start a parenting support group, and from 7 to 8pm we will have a discussion of what forms this could take--from meeting at a coffee shop during school to meeting with a teacher at night.  Parents should also feel free to bring any questions about children and parents to this second hour, and we will use our collective wisdom to try to provide paths toward finding answers. This second conversation need not revolve around praise and its alternatives.

To prepare for the first hour, you may wish to read the following two articles:

"How Not to Talk to Your Kids:  The Inverse Power of Praise," by Po Bronson

http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

"The Secret to Raising Smart Kids:  Hint.  Don't Tell Your Kids That They Are," by Carol Dweck

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids

Article on Mythic Stories

http://www.google.com/m/url?client=ms-android-verizon&ei=tttQTYC7FpDSqQO8_uj2AQ&gl=us&hl=en&q=http://www.canadianwritersgroup.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Enchanted-Stories.pdf&source=android-browser-type&ved=0CBgQFjAC&usg=AFQjCNEY7eg9YIsnRewDocrzoMggTNNIWg

Dear Nursery and Parent & Child Families,

Mia Michael, a kindergarten teacher I worked with and learned a great deal from when I was a Waldorf kindergarten teacher in Monterey a decade ago, shared the above article with me--a gift she had wanted to share with me after not seeing me for many years. It resonated a great deal with me, and I wanted to share it with you. While we do not per se relate classic mythic stories in the nursery or parent & child class (an image of the nursery I received when I first came to Waldorf education in the 90s was that the nursery teacher is like a sturdy farmer or woodcutter or cobbler or blacksmith, welcoming these young and heavenly children to the earth with tangible work done with warmth and love. It is then the kindergarten and grades teachers in a Waldorf school who use stories to remind children of the spiritual world above and beyond and before and after and through and in the manifest world of rain pants and snow days, lunch baskets and pencil sharpeners), I share it for those interested in thinking how the curriculum over the years in a Waldorf School will meet our children at different developmental stages. The article also helps me to think about the stories that resonate with and within me at this point in my life's journey.

It might be a great article to read before you attend the talk on adolescence and the middle school curriculum on Wednesday, February 16, at 6:30pm.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

Grandparents' and Special Friends' Day

On Friday, March 11, Grandparents and other Venerable Friends of our students are invited to our school. While we have no official early childhood classes on that day, we teachers work together to share a variety of experiences with grandparents and their grandchildren. Even though there is no school, if a grandparent is coming, our early childhood children are invited along to share an experience. Our method of sharing changes year to year, but you can plan on something like the following:

At about 9am, grandparents and early childhood grandchildren will come to the Butterfly, Sunflower, and possibly Golden Forest room to engage in activities such as baking bread, finger knitting, touring the rooms, hearing songs we might sing, watching a puppet show or hearing a story, sharing a snack, and more. Not all activities are offered every year.

At about 10am (some years earlier, some years later), parents pick up their children. Grandparents stay for refreshments and brief discussion, are transported to Thomas Berry Hall, watch an grade school assembly, and then enjoy a brunch, lecture, and discussion at Thomas Berry Hall.

We will flesh out and publish details soon. Know for now that grandparents and venerable friends of EC students are cordially invited, even if your child does not have school on Fridays--and remember, no EC students, have school as usual on Friday, March 11.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde, writing for the Early Childhood Faculty

Upcoming Dates to Note

Wednesday, February 16, 6:30 - 8pm, a talk on Adolesence and the Middle School Curriculum at Forest Hall (the building to your left when you approach the main building). This is a great chance to see where the path of a child's education in a Waldorf School is headed.

Thursday and Friday, February 24 and 25-- NO CLASSES. WIWS is closed for midwinter break.

Tuesday, March 1, talk and discussion in the Butterfly Room open to parent & child and nursery families, as well as interested community members. 6-7pm will be a talk on the power and perils of praise and alternative ways of speaking; 7-8pm will be a discussion about forming or recreating a parent support group, whether at the school or another location. More details to come.

Thursday, March 10 -- 8th and final class for Thursday Dewdrop classes of the spring session.

Friday, March 11 -- Grandparents Day. No Rosebud class.

Friday, March 18 -- 8th and final class for the Friday Rosebud classes for the spring session.

Friday, March 25 -- Spring Festival, 9 - 10:30am. Open to current families, nursery families, and the community. We will gather, share a snack, watch a puppet show, and take a walk to meet Mother Earth, Father Sun, Sister Rain, and Brother Wind. More details as the date approaches.