News & Announcements

Adult Education Event: How the Waldorf High School Meets Today’s Adolescent

Master teacher Betty Staley is returning to AWS! She will be part of a panel discussion with fellow master teacher John Wulsin and AWS high school faculty on Monday, December 4th, 7 -8:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall.

The picture of human development that is at the core of the Waldorf curriculum perfectly meets today’s adolescent and prepares them for life in our times. Waldorf graduates are recognized as being creative, flexible, and critical thinkers. They are confident, with the courage to take intellectual risks. They are guided by a moral and social compass and are engaged, lifelong learners. The panel will also discuss how the high school fits into the kindergarten through grade twelve full scope of a Waldorf education. Come learn more about the high school and bring your questions!

Betty Staley is the former director of the Waldorf High School Teacher Education at Rudolf Steiner College, as well as programs for public school teachers. A Waldorf educator for over fifty years at the kindergarten, elementary, high school and teacher training levels, she is a founder of the Sacramento Waldorf High School where she taught history and literature for nineteen years. In her retirement, she continues to mentor and support Waldorf high schools including the Austin Waldorf School which she visits two to three times a year.

She is the author of:

Adolescence: The Sacred Passage Inspired by the Legend of Parzival
Between Form and Freedom: A Practical Guide to the Teenage Years
Hear the Voice of the Griot!: A Guide to the History, Geography and Culture of Africa
Tapestries: Weaving Life’s Journey
Splinters of the Sun: Teaching Russian Literature to High School Students

John Wulsin taught high school English and drama for thirty-five years at Green Meadow Waldorf School. He currently serves as a teacher mentor at the Austin Waldorf School. He has written three books on language, edited The Riddle of America, and co-edited Books for the Journey. John and his wife, Jane, have retired to central Texas and both serve as mentors to faculty of the Austin Waldorf School.

Comments about Waldorf high school students and graduates by non-Waldorf teachers:

“They can converse intelligently on almost any issue, because they have been taught to examine. They can be enormously sympathetic to almost anyone’s plight because they have been taught to tolerate. They can gracefully dance or score a goal because they have been taught to move. They can circulate among the various groups on campus and engage in a variety of activities because they have been taught to harmonize . . . It is apparent to me that the Waldorf school consciously turns out calm, centered, and confident students.” (Teacher, History Department, Marin Academy)

“From time to time there would be a unique stabilizing influence in my classes: A Waldorf school graduate. And they were different from the others. Without exception they were, at the same time, caring people, creative students, individuals of identifiable values, and students who, when they spoke, made a difference.” (Professor of Biology, Premedical Curriculum, Adelphi University)