Strength Based Teaching and Meeting Children Where They Are

Waldorf education has always valued “meeting students where they are.” This is a phrase that means teachers spend time getting to know each child and rather than measuring them all with the same standards and goals, they look at each child’s individual strengths and challenges, learning how to best work with each student through observation and deepening their understanding. This allows students to learn and grow at their own pace in their own ways. Recently, Scholastic interviewed Michael Haggen, Senior Vice President Content Development and Chief Academic Officer, Scholastic Education, to talk about how educators can work with students in a post-pandemic world and specifically addresses the need for all schools to adapt to changing needs. 

These days schools are updating their best practices, they are finding new tools to work with the needs of students, and teachers are looking to each other for how to best meet their students where they are. As Michael Haggen said, “...regardless of which learning model you’re using, you as an educator have to find out where your students are as the first step. Try not to worry about all students being where they’re supposed to be. Instead, look at which strengths students are coming to you with—this is a strengths-based learning approach. Receive students where they are, then begin to accelerate learning, and go from there.” This is a concept that Waldorf has been utilizing since the start of the education model. The basis of Steiner’s work was to understand human development and address the needs of the growing child and this concept continues today at Cedarwood. (AWSNA)

Haggen continued by saying that “Accelerating students in a strengths-based approach means moving them forward from where they are. Teachers should concentrate on feeling comfortable scaffolding instruction to meet their students’ needs, not trying to grade students based on a rigorous scale; this includes accounting for all students, including those with disabilities, students who are multilingual, and students who require interventions. Once you’ve identified how all students need to be supported through assessment, then you can determine which students need extra intervention based on the multiple data points that you’ve gathered.” Waldorf Today supports this approach as well, explaining it further, “the theory behind strength-based teaching purports that focusing on a deficit simply brings a skill level to average, but never inspires excellence. Excellence is cultivated from strengths. And excellence, and the deep motivation to achieve it, is what students really need to succeed.” They continue by pointing out that Waldorf schools were created specifically to bring the gifts out in each child. They do this through relationships with each student and a multidisciplinary teaching model. When Waldorf education began, Rudolf Steiner believed that each child held the ability and skills to change the world and it was up to the education to help them find success. As Cedarwood’s first pedagogical director, Chiaki Uchiyama, always said “We help children reveal their genius”.

Cedarwood does this through a culture that creates a love of learning. Teachers approach education with the idea that all children have strengths and by creating a community where individuals can support each other and use their talents to form lasting bonds with their peers and everyone’s natural or learned gifts are cherished and appreciated. Teachers loop through the grades with students, spend years getting to know them, and create relationships that students remember forever. It’s through this culture and these relationships that we see the strengths-based approach assist students in achieving success at Cedarwood and beyond.

To learn more about Cedarwood Waldorf School, please come visit us for a tour or request more information. Visit these sites to learn more about meeting students where they are and the use of the strength-based approach in Waldorf education.