Synopsis
Handwork cultivates many admirable and positive results in developing human beings – even those already set! Brain research demonstrates repeatedly that handwork stimulates brain development, a multiplicity of neurons, and lights up almost the entire brain. Psychologists indicate that handwork generates inner peace and equilibrium. Students repeatedly testify that the skills they learn and their pride in the results of their handwork and beyond compare. All of these beneficial results lead to capacity and clarity in thinking. Logical thought is demonstrated in handwork. Design is required in handwork; decisions about how to use the results of handwork are demanding in the best of ways. Waldorf Education integrated handwork, woodwork, blacksmithing, basket making, stained glass window making, furniture making, and more handcrafts and practical arts into its curriculum from the beginning of the approach of Waldorf Education in 1919. Many rich aspects of human capacity and skill lie dormant or, worse, simply atrophy from lack of use in each human being. These skills exercised from early grade through high school stimulate an impressive level of thinking. This book carefully describes the handwork and practical arts curriculum in a Waldorf school, the remarkable results in the products and artifacts made, and the student handworkers' thinking creativity.
About the Author
Patricia Livingston taught handwork for 27 years at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City. While there she worked in many areas of the school, served as chairperson, and took a special interest in teacher training and parent education. She served as a member of the Pedagogical Section Council for many years. David Mitchell was a Waldorf teacher for over 35 years. He served as chairman of Publications for the Association of Waldorf Schools of North AMerica (AWSNA) and was co-chair of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education (RIWE). He was a class teacher and manual arts teacher at the Pine Hill Waldorf School in Wilton, New Hampshire, where he was also an adjunct professor of education at Antioch New England University. For many years he was a Waldorf high school teacher specializing in life sciences, Shakespeare, and the practical arts. In 1987, while teaching at the Shining Mountain Waldorf School in Boulder, Colorado, he was selected by the AMGEN Corporation as one of the top two teachers in Colorado and was given a stipend to write a book on teaching chemistry in grades 7-9. Throughout his professional life he maintained laws for working with his hands and teaching practical arts: woodworking, stone carving, blacksmithing, and copper chasing.
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