Professional development for Waldorf grades 6-8 class and science teachers, and homeschooling parents working with a Waldorf curriculum

This course takes place in-person on Sunbridge’s campus. Read Summer Series 2023 details here.

This anthroposophically-based, hands-on course with longtime science teacher Gary Banks explores the phenomena-based approach to teaching science used in Waldorf schools. The intention of this week is to deepen the teacher’s connection with science and explore how these exciting topics can be brought to the students in a way that develops joy and enthusiasm. 

Through looking at common natural phenomena and learning to think about them in a living way, we can develop capacities as teachers that will deepen our approach to teaching science main lessons and lessons in other subject areas as well. Over the course of your week, we will observe some of the key phenomena from grades 6-8 and practice observation, letting go of our preconceptions, and bringing conversations to students with language that is true to what we experience.

Your course includes:

• An overview of the main science topics in middle school science, grades 6-8
• Performing and observing a few key experiments from the many exciting topics in grades 6-8, giving you a sense of how to create demonstrations and hands-on experiences that will serve the middle school student and to have a sense for how a topic develops over three years
• Sharing ideas about how students may record the experiences they observe in class
• Reviewing the experiences we observe together in the way a teacher would do with students, deepening the participant’s relationship to these topics and gaining confidence in how to conduct lessons in a two-day rhythm of observation and concept development
• Discussions around  the middle school student and how they are served by this method
  

Instructor

Gary Banks is a founding core faculty member of Sunbridge’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education program, and high school faculty chair and high school math and science teacher at the Rudolf Steiner School of Ann Arbor, where he has been on the faculty since 2007 and where he is a member of the School’s College of Teachers and a Board trustee. He is also a presenter in the Teaching Sensible Science course and has taught in a number of teacher training programs and foundation studies courses. From 1993-2001, Gary took a class from first to eighth grade at the Denver Waldorf School, and then worked as a high school science teacher at High Mowing School and a class teacher at Pine Hill Waldorf School before moving to Michigan. Gary earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering and worked as a research engineer on the NASA Space Station project before entering teaching. He completed his MEd at Antioch New England Graduate School and is an enthusiastic hiker, gardener, and musician.

Your course also includes eurythmy with Alexandra Spadea of NYC’s Rudolf Steiner School.

Schedule

This course takes place July 30-August 4 on the Sunbridge campus.

Sunday evening: 6-6:30 check-in; 6:30-7 optional campus tour; first session starts promptly at 7:15 and ends at 9
Monday-Thursday: Classes begin by 8:30am and end by 6pm
Friday morning: Classes begin by 8:30am and end by 1pm

Cost
$945 includes all materials and a $60 non-refundable registration fee

Available Discounts

Volume: $60 off each registration for schools sending 2 or more participants
Alumni/CAD: 25% off for Sunbridge teacher education program graduates OR for payments made in Canadian dollars
Current Students: 50% off for current Sunbridge teacher education students

Discounts may not be combined. Qualification for discounts will be verified by Sunbridge staff.

Questions?
Please contact Barbara Vitale, admissions and summer coordinator, at [email protected] or 845-425-0055 x20

Sunbridge reserves the right to make faculty substitutions when necessary. See registration form for refund policy.