A teacher's journey is filled with both precious moments and difficult situations. Our sense of how we are doing is often determined by the way in which we respond to the flashpoints of teaching. These moments will either refine or consume us. It is the social dynamics that offer us both challenges and growth.

The Social Arts Concentration will offer participants the chance to deeply explore the large social questions of our time as they relate to our school communities. Possible focus areas will include…

Creating healthy collaboration with parents of children who are struggling. How to facilitate potentially tense meetings.
Social Inclusion. Understanding and breaking the pattern of dehumanizing behavior both with the children and in the adult community.
Restorative Discipline. Moving beyond modification and management.
Parent Enrichment. Establishing a strong and supportive parent education process.
The social change agent. From 'force to flow'.
Getting behind the labels. How to support "diagnosed" children (ADD, OCD, NLD etc) in the Waldorf classroom. What do these labels mean in the light of Anthroposophy.
The Compassionate Response. A meditative approach to shifting old and habitual patterns of responding to challenging behavior.

This course of research study may count towards advanced standing in the professionally oriented Antioch Waldorf Collaborative Counseling program.

A core learning modality will be to span from the spiritual and meditative dynamic to how this manifests in the practical day-to-day life of the educator.

Kim John Payne is a faculty member at Antioch University New England and is the project director and coordinator of the Waldorf Collaborative Counseling Program at Antioch. He has 25 years experience in education and has worked as a counselor, adult educator, consultant, researcher and Waldorf educator. He consults and lectures around the world on social, emotional, and child development issues. He co-directs the Waldorf Attention Related Disorders research project. He is the author of Games Children Play (Hawthorn Press) and Simplicity Parenting. The Extraordinary Power of Less (Random House).

Last Updated: 11/10/08