Faculty Meetings with Rudolf Steiner
GA 300a
8 March 1920, Stuttgart
Eighth Meeting
Dr. Steiner: We still have four months ahead of us after having finished five.
A teacher reports about mathematics and science instruction in the seventh and eighth grades.
Dr. Steiner: In eighth grade optics, you should teach only about refraction (lenses) and the spectrum. In teaching thermodynamics, teach only melting (thermometer), boiling, and the sources of heat. Then go into magnetism only briefly. In electricity, you will need to teach about static electricity. In mechanics, the lever and incline plane; and in aerodynamics, the lifting forces and air pressure. In chemistry, you should cover burning and how substances combine and separate. In the seventh grade, you should discuss optics and magnetism in more detail than in the eighth grade. You also need to cover the mechanics of solid bodies.
A teacher reports about the humanities in the seventh and eighth grades. There is a discussion about Goethe’s biography and also his Poetry and Truth, as well as Schiller’s Aesthetic Letters.
Dr. Steiner: I would recommend Herder’s Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit [Thoughts on the philosophy of human history], in which he presents the human being as a summation of all the other natural realms. World History should continue right up until the present.
A teacher speaks about the sixth grade.
A teacher speaks about the fifth grade. Much of the subject matter has not yet been taught.
Dr. Steiner: It is better to omit some material than to hurry. In teaching about human beings and animals, you should discuss the brain, the senses, the nerves, the muscles, and so forth.
A teacher asks about Latin letters and German grammar in the fourth grade.
Dr. Steiner: If you are to teach Latin handwriting, it is perhaps better to first develop German handwriting out of drawings and then develop characteristic Latin letters from the drawings. You can create sentences from poems, but do it in a kind way, don’t do it pedantically.
Two teachers speak about the second and third grades.
A teacher speaks about the first grade. E.S. has not returned since being deloused. Another question is asked regarding how to introduce letters.
Dr. Steiner: It would be best to first create the forms of the letters pictorially, and then to gradually move into the letters themselves. In general, you should concentrate.
A teacher reports about music and eurythmy, also tone eurythmy.
Dr. Steiner: We could send a flyer about the school regulations to all the parents every four weeks saying that eurythmy is a required class.
A teacher reports about foreign language instruction.
Dr. Steiner: In Latin, and in the languages generally, you should not have the children translate, but only freely speak about the content, about the meaning, so that you can see that they have understood. Otherwise, you would adversely affect the meaning of language.
In the upper grades, you will also need to teach the children something about the vowel shifts, thus coming back to the standpoint of English.
You should always pay strict attention that you teach the class, not just individuals. If one child occupies you for a longer period, then you should now and then ask questions of the others to keep them awake. Treat the class like a chorus.
A teacher reports about the instruction in social understanding.
Dr. Steiner: In the seventh and eighth grades, you could give them what is in Towards Social Renewal.
A teacher asks about the emotionally disturbed children.
Dr. Steiner: The remedial class is for those who have significant learning barriers. Those children are not in the normal class, and Dr. Schubert teaches them separately every day during that time.
A.B. has a strong tendency toward dementia praecox.
E.G. is disturbingly restless. You must often reprimand him, as otherwise he could develop dementia praecox by the age of fifteen. We have seven or eight children like that in the school.
A teacher reports about a student who stole something.
Dr. Steiner: With children who steal, it is good to have them remember scenes they experienced earlier. You should have them imagine things they experienced years before, for instance, with seven-year-olds, experiences they had when they were five, or with ten-year-olds, experiences they had when they were seven. You should also have them recall experiences from two weeks before. Things will then become better quickly. If you do nothing, these problems will become larger and develop into kleptomania.
In such cases, things that solidify the will are particularly effective, and recalling things that go back weeks, months, or years is particularly effective in firming the will.
In cases of kleptomania, it is also good to punish the children by having them sit for a quarter of an hour and hold their feet or toes with their hands. From the perspective of strengthening the will, that is something you can do against kleptomania.
There are also children who cannot remember, who on the next day can no longer remember what they did the day before. In that case, you must strengthen their capacity to remember by having them recall things in reverse order.
You still have the children say those phrases I once gave you as prayers for them, don’t you? “People gain strength for life through learning,” “I will pay attention to my thoughts and deeds” or “… and words.”
You can hardly strengthen memory other than by attempting to have the children imagine something backward, for instance, “the father reads in the book,” turned around to, “book the in reads father the,” so that they have a pictorial image of that. Or you can have them say the numbers 4, 6, 7, 3 in reverse order, 3, 7, 6, 4. Or perhaps the hardness scale, back and forth.
You also do not need to shy away from having the children repeat little poems that they have said word for word backward. They can also say the speech exercise backward. That is a technique you can use when memory is so weak.
There is some discussion about the scientific work done in the research institute.
Dr. Steiner: You should not dissipate your strengths. You should have friendly and neighborly relations with Dr. Rudolf Maier’s research institute.
Achte Konferenz
RUDOLF STEINER: [Wir haben jetzt] noch vier Monate vor uns gegenüber den fünf absolvierten.
KARL STOCKMEYER berichtet über den mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht in der 7. und 8. Klasse: Multiplizieren, Potenzieren, Radizieren. Physik: Akustik mit 7. und 8. Klasse. Rest Optik, Wärmelehre, Elektrizität, Magnetismus. 8. Klasse: ganze Mechanik.
RUDOLF STEINER: [In der] 8. Klasse [sollte in der] Optik nur [behandelt werden die] Brechung (Linse) und [das] Spektrum.
[In der] Wärmelehre [das] Schmelzen (Thermometer), [das] Sieden und [die] Quellen der Wärme.
[Dann der] Magnetismus, ganz kurz; [nur] wie er sich äußert.
[Von der] Elektrizität nur [das] Prinzip von Reibungs- und Berührungselektrizität.
[Dann die] Mechanik: Hebel und schiefe Ebene. [In der] Aeromechanik Auftrieb [und] Luftdruck.
[In der] Chemie: [das] Verbrennen, [das] Zusammensetzen und Zerlegen von Substanzen.
[In der) 7. Klasse [wären] Optik, Magnetismus ausführlicher [zu besprechen] als in der 8. Klasse. [Dann die] Mechanik der festen Körper.
WALTER JOHANNES STEIN berichtet über die humanistischen Fächer in der 7. und 8. Klasse: [Es ist besprochen worden die] Biografie Goethes [und] «Dichtung und Wahrheit», «Das Märchen von der grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie», «Der neue Paris», der 1. Teil des «Faust»; Schillers «Ästhetische Briefe». Herder: Weltgeschichte.
RUDOLF STEINER: [Da wäre zu empfehlen] Herders «Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit». Herder [stellt darin den] Menschen [dar] als Zusammenfassung der anderen Naturreiche.
[Die] Weltgeschichte [ist] bis zur Gegenwart weiter[zuführen].
EUGEN KOLISKO berichtet über die 6. Klasse: Geschichte: Altertum: Römer und Griechen, Nachwirkung bis zum 15. Jahrhundert. Geografie, Zinsrechnungen, Geschäftsaufsätze, Geschäftsbriefe, Telegramme.
Physik: Akustik an der Musik, Optik, Wärme, Naturgeschichte: Botanik im Sommer, Geometrie. Schlechtes Schreiben. Buchstabenrechnung am meisten im Rückstand, Rechnen bis zur Buchstabenrechnung.
CAROLINE VON HEYDEBRAND über die 5. Klasse: Manches vom Pensum sei noch unerledigt. Deutsch, griechische Geschichte, Rechnen, Dezimalbrüche, Naturlehre.
RUDOLF STEINER: Mitteilen, warum [sie?] das Pensum unerledigt lässt nach hinten. Lieber ein Pensum unerledigt lassen, nur nicht eilen!
[In der Naturlehre], Mensch und Tiere, [wären zu besprechen]: Gehirn, Sinne, Nerven, Muskeln [und so weiter].
HERTHA KOEGEL über die 4. Klasse: Deutsche Grammatik, Heimatkunde, Naturgeschichte.
RUDOLF STEINER: [Wenn man die] lateinische Schrift entwickeln [will, ist es am besten], erst die andere Schrift aus dem Zeichnen zu entwickeln [und] dann charakteristische Buchstaben aus dem Zeichnen herüberzunehmen.
Man kann Sätze aus den Gedichten bilden, aber man muss es ganz liebenswürdig machen, dass es nicht pedantisch wird.
JOHANNES GEYER und HANNAH LANG über die 3. und 2. Klasse. 3. Klasse: Deutsche Sprache, Heimatkunde, Naturgeschichte, 2. Klasse: Lesen, Schreiben.
LEONIE VON MIRBACH über die 1. Klasse: E. S. ist seit der Entlausung nicht wiedergekommen.
Noch zu erledigen: Rechnen.
Eine Frage wird gestellt nach dem Einführen der Buchstaben.
RUDOLF STEINER: Es wäre gut, die Buchstabenformen zuerst noch mehr nach dem Bildlichen hin machen zu lassen und dann erst zum Buchstaben überzugehen. Im Allgemeinen [sollte man] konzentrieren!
Paul Baumann berichtet über Musik und Eurythmie, auch Toneurythmie.
RUDOLF Steiner: Alle vier Wochen [kann man] an die Eltern ein Zirkular herumschicken wegen der Schulordnung [und kann darin sagen, dass] Eurythmie [ein] obligatorisches [Unterrichtsfach ist].
Es wird über den Sprachunterricht berichtet.
RUDOLF STEINE: Beim Latein [und] bei den Sprachen [überhaupt sollte man] nicht übersetzen, sondern nur [frei] den Sinn sagen, den Inhalt erzählen lassen, sodass man sieht: Das Kind hat das verstanden. Es beeinträchtigt sonst den Sprachgeist.
In [den] obersten Klassen [müsste man] etwas vom Lautverschiebungsgesetz beibringen. Wir kommen zurück zum Standpunkt des Englischen.
Stramm darauf sehen, dass man [immer] die Klasse unterrichtet, nicht nur einen Einzelnen. Während man sich lange mit einem beschäftigt, [da sollte man] immer Zwischenfragen an die anderen stellen [und sie] dadurch wach erhalten. Die Klasse als Chor [behandeln].
Es wird berichtet über den Unterricht in sozialer Erkenntnis.
RUDOLF STEINER: [In der] 7. und 8. Klasse [könnte man das] geben, [was in] den «Kernpunkten der sozialen Frage» [steht].
Es wird gefragt nach dem Unterricht für die Kinder mit Förderbedarf.
RUDOLF STEINER: [Die] Hilfsklasse ist für die ganz Unbegabten. Diese Kinder bleiben [nur] aus dem Hauptunterricht weg und werden Won] DrsSchubertitäglich in-dieser Zeit separaridressiert.
K. B. [hat] starke Anlage zu Dementia praecox.
E. E. [ist] pathologisch unruhig; man muss ihn recht: oft ermahnen. [Sonst könnte auch bei ihm] Dementia praecox [eintreten] mit fünfzehn Jahren. [Wir haben] sieben bis acht solche [Kinder] in der Schule.
Es wird berichtet über einen Schüler, der einen Diebstahl verübt hat.
RUDOLF STEINER: Bei Kindern, die stehlen, ist es gut, sie erinnern zu lassen Szenen, die sie in früheren Jahren erlebt haben; sich Dinge vorstellen zu lassen, die sie Jahre zurück erlebt haben, [also etwa bei] Siebenjährigen Erlebnisse [aus] dem fünften Jahr, [bei] Zehnjährigen Erlebnisse [aus] dem siebenten Jahre erinnern zu lassen. Und es ist gut, sie daran zu gewöhnen, mit solchen Erlebnissen nach vierzehn Tagen zu wechseln. Dann bessert sich das schnell. Wenn man gar nichts macht, dann werden diese Übel größer und arten in Kleptomanie aus. [Dann] kann später etwas Kleptomanisches herauskommen.
Auf solche Sachen wirkt besonders [das], was ihnen Festigkeit des Willens gibt, und solches Hereinrufen von Erinnerungen, [dass man sie] Wochen, Monate, Jahre zurückgehen [lässt], bewirkt Festigung des Willens.
Bei Kleptomanie wirkt [es auch] gut, wenn [das Kind] zum Beispiel während einer Viertelstunde sitzen und die eigenen Füße, die Zehen mit der Hand halten [muss], als Strafe. Das ist [auch] vom Gesichtspunkt der Willensstärkung ein Mittel gegen Kleptomanie.
[Es gibt nun aber auch] Kinder, die sich schlecht erinnern können, die am folgenden Tage nicht [mehr] wissen, was sie am Tage vorher getrieben haben. [Da muss man das] Erinnerungsvermögen - [das] Gedächtnis stärken durch rückwärts vorstellen lassen.
Sie lassen [doch] diesen Spruch, den ich [Ihnen] einmal als [etwas] wie ein feines Gebet für die Kinder gegeben habe, immer noch sagen, [nicht wahr]? «Im Lernen erwirbt der Mensch sich Lebenskraft», «Ich will achtgeben auf mich im Denken und Handeln» [oder] «... und Sprechen».
Das Gedächtnis kann man kaum anders stärken, als dass man versucht, die Kinder sich [etwas] rückwärts vorstellen zu lassen: «Der Vater liest in dem Buch» [umkehren lassen in] «Buch dem in liest Vater der», sodass sie es zum bildlichen Vorstellen bringen. [Oder] Zahlen hin und her sprechen lassen: 4 6 7 3 [umkehren lassen in] 3 7 6 4. [Oder die] Härteskala hin und zurück.
[Man braucht auch nicht davor] zurückzuschrecken, wenn die Kinder kleine Gedichte gesagt haben, [sie] sie Wort für Wort zurück sprechen zu lassen. [Auch] bei den Sprechübungen [ist es] gut, sie [auch] rückwärts machen [zu lassen]. Das ist ein technisches Mittel, das man anwenden muss, wenn [die Gedächtnisschwäche] sich so stark zeigt.
Es wird über die wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten im Stuttgarter Forschungsinstitut für biologische und physikalische Untersuchungen gesprochen, das von Dr. Rudolf Maier und Alexander Strakosch geleitet wurde.
RUDOLF STEINER: [Sie dürfen Ihre] Kräfte nicht zersplittern. [Sie sollten] freundnachbarliche Beziehungen pflegen zu Rudolf Maiers Forschungsinstitut.
Eighth Conference
RUDOLF STEINER: [We now have] four months ahead of us compared to the five we have already completed.
KARL STOCKMEYER reports on mathematics and science lessons in grades 7 and 8: Multiplication, exponentiation, root extraction. Physics: acoustics in grades 7 and 8. The rest: optics, thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism. Grade 8: all of mechanics.
RUDOLF STEINER: [In] 8th grade, [only] refraction (lenses) and [the] spectrum should be covered in optics.
[In] thermodynamics, [only] melting (thermometers), [the] boiling point, and [the] sources of heat should be covered.[Then] magnetism, very briefly; [only] how it manifests itself.
[From] electricity, only [the] principle of frictional and contact electricity.
[Then] mechanics: levers and inclined planes. [In] aeromechanics, lift [and] air pressure.
[In] chemistry: [the] combustion, [the] composition and decomposition of substances.
[In] 7th grade, optics and magnetism [would be] discussed in more detail than in 8th grade. [Then] the mechanics of solid bodies.
WALTER JOHANNES STEIN reports on the humanities subjects in the 7th and 8th grades: [The following have been discussed:] Goethe's biography [and] “Poetry and Truth,” “The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily,” “The New Paris,” the first part of “Faust”; Schiller's “Aesthetic Letters.” Herder: World History.
RUDOLF STEINER: [It would be advisable to include] Herder's “Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Humanity.” In it, Herder [presents] human beings [as] a synthesis of the other kingdoms of nature.
[The] world history [is] to be continued up to the present day.
EUGEN KOLISKO reports on the 6th grade: History: Antiquity: Romans and Greeks, after-effects up to the 15th century. Geography, interest calculations, business essays, business letters, telegrams.
Physics: acoustics in music, optics, heat, natural history: botany in summer, geometry. Poor writing. Letter calculation most behind, calculation up to letter calculation.
CAROLINE VON HEYDEBRAND on the 5th grade: Some of the workload is still unfinished. German, Greek history, arithmetic, decimal fractions, natural science.
RUDOLF STEINER: Explain why [she?] is leaving the workload unfinished. Better to leave some work unfinished than to rush!
[In natural history], humans and animals, [should be discussed]: brain, senses, nerves, muscles [and so on].
HERTHA KOEGEL on the 4th grade: German grammar, local history, natural history.
RUDOLF STEINER: [If you want to] develop Latin script, [it is best] to first develop the other script from drawing [and] then transfer characteristic letters from the drawing.
You can form sentences from the poems, but you have to do it in a very amiable way so that it doesn't become pedantic.
JOHANNES GEYER and HANNAH LANG on the 3rd and 2nd grades. 3rd grade: German language, local history, natural history; 2nd grade: reading, writing.
LEONIE VON MIRBACH on the 1st grade: E. S. has not returned since the delousing.
Still to be done: arithmetic.
A question is asked after the introduction of the letters.
RUDOLF STEINER: It would be good to first have the letter forms made more pictorial and only then move on to the letters. In general, [one should] concentrate!
Paul Baumann reports on music and eurythmy, including tone eurythmy.
RUDOLF Steiner: Every four weeks, a circular letter can be sent to parents regarding school rules, stating that eurythmy is a compulsory subject.
A report is given on language teaching.
RUDOLF STEINER: In Latin [and] in languages [in general, one should] not translate, but only [freely] convey the meaning, let the content speak for itself, so that one can see: the child has understood. Otherwise, it impairs the spirit of the language.
In [the] upper grades, [one should] teach something about the law of sound shifts. We return to the point of view of English.
Make sure that you [always] teach the class, not just one individual. While you are spending a long time with one person, [you should] always ask the others questions [and] keep them alert. Treat the class as a choir.
There is a report on teaching social studies.
RUDOLF STEINER: [In] the 7th and 8th grades, [one could] teach [what is in] the “Key Points of the Social Question.”
A question is asked about teaching children with special needs.
RUDOLF STEINER: [The] remedial class is for the completely untalented. These children [only] stay away from the main lessons and are taught separately every day during this time.
K. B. [has] a strong predisposition to dementia praecox.
E. E. [is] pathologically restless; he must be admonished quite often. [Otherwise, he too could develop] dementia praecox [at the age of fifteen. [We have] seven or eight such [children] in the school.
There is a report about a student who has committed theft.
RUDOLF STEINER: With children who steal, it is good to let them remember scenes they experienced in earlier years; to let them imagine things they experienced years ago, [for example, in the case of] seven-year-olds, experiences [from] the fifth year, [in the case of] ten-year-olds, experiences [from] the seventh year. And it is good to get them used to changing such experiences every fortnight. Then things will quickly improve. If nothing is done, these evils will grow and degenerate into kleptomania. [Then] something kleptomaniacal may emerge later.
What is particularly effective for such things is [that] which gives them strength of will, and such recalling of memories, [that one] goes back weeks, months, years, has the effect of strengthening the will.
In the case of kleptomania, it [also] works well if [the child] has to sit for a quarter of an hour and hold their own feet and toes with their hands as a punishment. This is [also] a remedy for kleptomania from the point of view of strengthening the will.
[However, there are also] children who have poor memories, who do not remember the next day what they did the day before. [In this case, one must] strengthen their memory by having them imagine things backwards.
You still have them recite this saying, which I once gave you as a kind of prayer for the children, don't you? “Through learning, man acquires vitality,” “I will be mindful of my thoughts and actions” [or] “... and speech.”
There is hardly any other way to strengthen memory than to try to get children to imagine [something] backwards: “The father reads in the book” [reverse to] “book the father reads in,” so that they can visualize it. [Or] have them say numbers back and forth: 4 6 7 3 [reverse to] 3 7 6 4. [Or the] hardness scale back and forth.
[One should not shy away] from having children repeat short poems word for word after they have recited them. [Also] with speech exercises, [it is] good to have them [also] do them backwards. This is a technical means that must be used when [memory impairment] is so severe.
The scientific work carried out at the Stuttgart Research Institute for Biological and Physical Investigations, which was headed by Dr. Rudolf Maier and Alexander Strakosch, is discussed.
RUDOLF STEINER: [You must not] fragment your energies. [You should] maintain friendly relations with Rudolf Maier's research institute.