Year 1 — Summer I: Foundations & Awakening to the Art of Teaching

Theme: Awakening to Self, Child, and the Living Art of Waldorf Education

Year 1 introduces teachers to the essential foundations of Waldorf education through immersive, artful, and developmental study. Participants work with biography and social art, blackboard drawing, form drawing, music, pentatonic flute, wet-on-wet painting, Eurythmy, games, and storytelling, all designed to awaken the inner life of the teacher. Coursework includes core Waldorf principles, child development across the three seven-year phases, Main Lesson structure, and the Fourfold Human Being. Teachers also engage with sensory-based classroom management and the virtues that guide curative and pedagogical work. This first summer establishes a rich, experiential foundation that supports teachers in seeing the world—and their students—through new eyes.

Year 2 — Summer II + Midyear Mentoring: Entering Practice & Deepening Craft

Theme: Practicing the Art of Teaching Through Relationship, Rhythm, and Reflection

Year 2 supports teachers as they step more fully into practice, working through focused pedagogical coursework and a yearlong mentoring and observation cycle. Summer II includes advanced painting, Goethean Science, geometry 5–8, drawing through the grades, Eurythmy II, family communication, movement education, recorder, pedagogical law, teaching indications, and the dynamics of Creative Speech. During the school year, each teacher is paired with a mentor who offers individualized guidance and observes classroom practice. Teachers complete a structured process that includes observing Main Lessons or specialty periods, hosting mentor observations, engaging in reflective dialogue, and maintaining a professional growth log. These experiences anchor the development of practical teaching skills, deepen curriculum understanding, and help teachers harmonize inner work with their daily classroom responsibilities.

Year 3 — Summer III: Integration, Mastery & Professional Confidence

Theme: Integrating the Whole of Waldorf Pedagogy into a Mature, Confident Practice

Year 3 brings together all prior learning into a cohesive, refined teaching practice. Through adolescent education, advanced music, advanced teaching methods, literacy and math methods, scientific methods, clay modeling, drama, Eurythmy III, collegiality, and in-depth work with The Foundations of Human Experience, teachers deepen their understanding of human development and the curriculum from grades 1–12. This summer strengthens pedagogical judgment, artistic mastery, and professional identity, preparing teachers to step confidently into their roles as leaders, collaborators, and bearers of Waldorf education within their schools and communities.