Elan Teacher Lesson Plan Book
Carmen Kalua
At the Waldorf School of Princeton, teachers embrace, a non-hierarchical vision of education based less on concrete deliverables than on the hands-on experience of learning. For these teachers, an important aspect of education is to impart a tactile sensation of the world, outside of any standardized exams. At Waldorf, there are no grades until high school and minimal homework assignments, allowing students to focus on being present in class.
As an Israeli in America, Elan made a promise to himself to stay abroad so long as certain vital principles were satisfied. For him, the absolute ability to speak freely, to be left alone, to leave your community without asking for permission, and to retain your earthly possessions. And after 33 years, none of these sacred principles have ever been breached.
As part of his Academy\u2019s education, Plato would deliver daily public lectures out in the fields of ancient Athens. Often, his lectures would range from the easily accessible to the obscure, slowly driving away his audience until he was talking only to himself. Without the knowledge of mathematical proofs of the good life (or any interest), Athenians forsook Plato\u2019s abstract knowledge for more practical pursuits in the polis. Even today, education finds itself caught in between these same poles of abstraction and concretion. What is the use of knowing facts about mathematical formulas or art history jargon if you have no idea how they might apply to real-world conditions?
\u201COne of the core methodologies of the Waldorf school is to try to teach the children from experience through to the concept. If you can begin by doing, and then have a conversation about what you did, the concept lives in you in a completely different way,\u201D he said.
But, because every student\u2019s learning needs are unique, the Waldorf method also allows Elan to tailor his pedagogy directly to his students\u2019 needs: \u201Cthere are children who need to think about things first, too, before they come to engage with the physical and practical world,\u201D he said. \u201CThe idea is to meet the learning needs of all the students, not to decide in advance what path their learning has to follow for some \u2018correct\u2019 reasons.\u201D
When teaching his students about Ancient Greece and the various types of columns that might adorn a pagan temple, Elan helped his students carve a series of fluted ionic columns. Using materials provided by a parent, the class was able to learn about the sheer amount of labor and time required to construct an otherwise uninteresting column. \u201CWe set up a little workshop, and [the parent] brought all the materials, tools, safety goggles, and gloves to teach the children how to carve for about three weeks,\u201D recalls Elan.
In the process, adherents to this \u201Canthroposophic\u201D method are thrust into the lived experience of the world, rather than focusing on symbolic systems of understanding. This storied method was innovated by German philosopher and educator Rudolph Steiner in the early 1900s. Up through the 1930s, Steiner led a series of popular public lectures outlining the tenets of his hands-on method which subsumed the need for basic categories of analysis. In Steiner\u2019s eyes, there was nothing special about academic topics and professors who convolute the basic structure of the world with abstruse concepts. Instead, he suggested that there is an \u201Cobjective, intellectually-comprehensible spiritual world that is accessible to direct experience through a person\u2019s inner development.\u201D
When Elan first encountered Steiner\u2019s ideas while serving in the Israeli Defense Force, he wasn\u2019t sure what to make of them: \u201CI thought that this guy is either the most incredible teacher I'll ever meet, or the biggest charlatan in history. And I better find out which it is. So I came to America to find out.\u201D
After his deployment, Elan moved to the United States to begin his firsthand experience with the anthroposophic method. Studying Steiner\u2019s ideas, Elan was reminded of his childhood growing up on an Israeli kibbutz, a communal living collective that would split domestic tasks between all of the families involved. As Elan remembers it, \u201Call of the children got the same education, the same medical care, the same clothing, and the same housing. The housing for all members was standard, so it was a lot less individualized that it is anywhere else in the world.\u201D
That communal model, resonating with America\u2019s own vibrant co-op communities, serves not only as a way of living together, but also a full-bodied philosophy of the flesh. From an early age, Elan wanted to answer the universe\u2019s biggest challenges and was \u201Cabsolutely certain that [he] was going to be a philosopher and physicist together.\u201D
And at Waldorf, Elan is able to tailor his lesson plans directly to his students\u2019 needs and interests, rather than relying on a pre-set curriculum. Because teachers stay with the same class from first through eighth grade, they are able to develop lasting relationships with their students.
When he was teaching younger students, Elan would write original plays each year for his class to perform. Even without formal dramaturg training, he was able to design roles and choreography to challenge his students\u2019 perspectives. \u201CThere\u2019s something really wonderful about a teacher who looks at his students and asks, \u2018what story do they need as a play? How do I write these lines that I want these children to speak?\u2019\u201D he said.
Transitioning into the Zoom School era was a totally new experience for Waldorf which had previously banned the use of all screens in their classrooms. But, as with any new experience, Elan and his students have adapted and become more comfortable with the new normal\u2013\u2013Elan even took to writing some COVID reflections on his new website: \u201CIt takes great spiritual effort to \u201Csee\u201D our students when the cold visuals and audibles of the screen are all we are given. Learning to love, to raise ourselves to the point where we can give what is needed, requires the opposite energy from the nervousness that these devices generate.\u201D
Glancing towards the foreseeable end of the global pandemic, Elan and his wife are making plans to escape even the normalcy of stable jobs in order to go on the road and continue his writing projects. \u201CWe are selling the house and becoming nomadic. We ordered an Airstream, and plan on towing it all around the country for as long as it feels right (maybe three months, maybe a decade),\u201D he said.
I received my Bachelor of Arts at the University of North Texas in Denton, TX in Art History. Shortly after completing my undergraduate degree, I moved overseas for about a year. I began my overseas adventure in Spangdahlm, Germany and then moved on to Monnickendam, Holland where I worked in a tourist shop selling wooden clogs, tulips and cheese to tourists. I was also fortunate enough to spend a month in Italy where I had the life changing experience of standing in front of original pieces of art that I had only seen previously in books and projected on a wall.
After returning to the states, I began working as a middle school Art teacher where I worked with about 150 6-8th grade students at various proficiencies not only in art but also in English speaking abilities.
Following my short career as a teacher, I took the position of Museum Coordinator for our local Arts and History museum followed by a position as a Mentoring Coordinator at a local community college. In that position, I had the opportunity to work closely with multiple granting agencies for our program and was introduced to the importance of program planning and evaluation.
My move to Oregon in order to attend the University of Oregon has been one of the most fruitful decisions that I have ever made. I have thoroughly enjoyed the faculty, staff and my fellow classmates. I am excited for this coming year and hope you are too!
After working on a couple of very exciting research projects as a videographer and media editor, and later as Production Coordinator, I began to realize my interest in interpretation and curation. Coupling this with my interests in media and technology I moved across country to pursue a degree in Arts Administration. My interests in Media Management are bringing together all of my passions, skills, and interests to help me promote and create interesting and inspiring work across disciplines.
I believe the arts should be a uniting and enlightening force within communities. I have always been drawn to the storytelling aspect of the arts (whether Film, Music, or Photography) and I will work to promote art and artists that seek to bridge gaps and connect with their communities. An independent work ethic has allowed me to take initiative and ownership of projects that I am a part of.
Through creative and vibrant collaboration I work with interdisciplinary groups across various media to create unique experiences for audiences and consumers of art and media. I believe in the importance of understanding and embracing technology to further the mission of artists and arts organizations and constantly continue to seek out new and unique forms of communication.
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