A conference for subject teachers, faculty chairs, and pedagogical administrators. Class teachers and teachers-in-training are also encouraged to attend.

 

With Jeannine Davis of The Waldorf School of Garden City, Erin Fitzgerald of The Waldorf School of Garden City, and Jana Hawley of Sunbridge Institute and Green Meadow Waldorf School

 

Subject teachers play an essential role in the life of every Waldorf school and the experience of every Waldorf student. Their classes serve to enrich, balance, and support academic lessons. Children immersed in movement, artistic activities, and new language acquisition receive numerous social and emotional health benefits that will support them throughout their lives.

Bringing subject teachers from across all areas of specialization together to learn about and share with one another the challenges and opportunities inherent to subject teaching, Sunbridge’s 2020 Subject Teachers Conference builds on our 2018 conference in exploring the unique and multi-faceted task of the Waldorf subject teacher.

With a focused look at collaboration, classroom management, and child development, and through presentation, discussion, sharing, and role-playing led by master Waldorf subject teachers, this conference will address the following questions:

 

• How can subject teachers best collaborate with both their fellow subject teachers and the class teachers with whom they work, and and how can they bring the curriculum forward based on this collaboration?
• As indicated by Rudolf Steiner, what is the overarching gesture for each grade and how can subject teachers work with these themes in their curricula?
• How can subject teachers design their classes to deepen the teaching and the experience of key main lesson blocks in each grade?
• What are strategies for dealing with classroom management and disciplinary problems across subjects and grades?
• When should subject teachers step into potentially sensitive conversations often overheard between students and what are effective ways of addressing these conversations?
• How can subject teachers best share information concerning their students with class teachers and in faculty meetings?
• How can subject teachers address the pragmatic aspects of their work, such as organization and timeliness?

 

Takeaways from this conference will include practical knowledge of the themes and child development of each elementary school grade, along with a toolbox of ideas and strategies to support your teaching.

 

Facilitators

Jeannine Davis, MSEd, teachers horticulture and gardening at The Waldorf School of Garden City, where she created, implemented, and teaches the organic gardening curriculum for grades one through eight; she is also a key figure in her school’s coming-of-age experience to honor the transition and challenges of entering adolescence. Jeannine was a featured panelist at a recent conference at Hofstra University, speaking on “Importance of Local Agriculture to Health and Education” and was also a curriculum panelist at Sunbridge’s 2018 teachers conference. She graduated from American University with a BA in public relations, earned her MS in Waldorf Education from Sunbridge College, and holds a certificate in Biodynamic Agriculture.

 

Erin Fitzgerald is the movement and dance teacher at The Waldorf School of Garden City.  Previously, she served as administrator and movement/games teacher at Ithaca Waldorf School, and was part of the group of parents and teachers that founded the Brooklyn Waldorf School in 2004. She has also taught creative movement in NYC public and private elementary schools and was a professional dancer and choreographer. Erin received her BA from Bennington College and graduated from the Spacial Dynamics Movement Training Program.

 

Jana Hawley, MSEd, has served as director of Sunbridge’s Elementary Teacher Education program since 2009 and director of our specialized intensives in Elementary Music and Grades 1-12 World Language teaching since 2014. Since 2006, she has also been on the faculty of Green Meadow Waldorf School, where she has been a class teacher, music teacher, and member of the Teacher Development Committee; previously, she spent 14 years on the faculty of the Whidbey Island Waldorf School, teaching music and main lessons. Jana, who has been a visiting faculty member at several Waldorf teacher training institutes in the US as well as abroad, earned her BFA in Music from Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA, and her MSEd in Waldorf Elementary Teacher Education from Sunbridge College.

Plus eurythmy with Maria ver Eecke of The Waldorf School of Garden City

 

Schedule

Friday evening, February 28: Doors open at 6:30pm for check-in registration. Conference begins at 7pm and runs until 8:30pm.
Saturday, February 29: Conference runs 9am-5:30pm with time for breaks and lunch

 

Conference Cost

The conference cost is $295 via online registration (cost includes Saturday mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks and a $25 non-refundable registration fee). Online registration is available through noon on Friday, February 28. If you haven’t registered by then and still wish to attend, walk-in registrations will be accepted at the walk-in cost of $310. Check this page to ensure spaces remain before arriving for walk-in registration.

Meal Plan

For the convenience of workshop participants, we offer an optional meal plan consisting of Saturday breakfast (8-9am) and lunch (midday), served at the on-campus Threefold Cafe. You may sign up for the meal plan on your registration form. The $20 meal plan cost must be purchased by and is non-refundable after February 25.

 

Discount options

• For every three registrations it makes, a school may send a fourth attendee for free (the fourth registration cost will be rebated after the conference takes place). Schools should fill out a volume discount form and submit it by Tuesday, February 25.
• Current Sunbridge program students receive 30% off the conference cost and Sunbridge program alumni receive 15% off; a discount code will appear on your registration form once you provide identifying information.
• Only one discount option may be applied.

 

Housing

Campus housing and local accommodations are reserved directly through Threefold Educational Center.

 

 

Questions?
Contact Admissions and Summer Coordinator Barbara Vitale at [email protected] or 845-425-0055 x20.

Sunbridge Institute reserves the right to cancel any offering at any time. If Sunbridge cancels, all registrants will be notified and will receive a full refund. If the registrant cancels, he or she will receive a full refund less the non-refundable registration fee.  Sunbridge reserves the right to make faculty substitutions when necessary.