Waldorf School Article

“Teaching is a human experience,” he said. “Technology is a distraction when we need literacy, numeracy and critical thinking.”

And Waldorf parents argue that real engagement comes from great teachers with interesting lesson plans.

“Engagement is about human contact, the contact with the teacher, the contact with their peers,” said Pierre Laurent, 50, who works at a high-tech start-up and formerly worked at Intel and Microsoft. He has three children in Waldorf schools, which so impressed the family that his wife, Monica, joined one as a teacher in 2006.

I could not agree more with the statements above. Teaching is a human experience. I love to watch students interact with me and their fellow classmates with self- confidence.  I love to watch when their eyes light up because something sparked their interest, either from the teacher to student or student to student or student to teacher for that matter. I learn from my students every day. Creating interesting lessons, which engage students fully or lessons that are tactile usually work best because kids can immerse themselves into whatever they are learning.

“You can look back and see how sloppy your handwriting was in first grade. You can’t do that with computers ’cause all the letters are the same,” Finn said. “Besides, if you learn to write on paper, you can still write if water spills on the computer or the power goes out.”

I love the honesty of the child who wants to see how his handwriting will improve. He also realizes that when power is out, and or the computer is not working you can always turn to writing.