Waldorf School to Host Two Events on Technology and Education

The Waldorf School of Garden City will host two events about technology and education – one on Wednesday, February 6th and the other on Wednesday, February 13th. Both events are free and open to the public.

On Wednesday, February 6th, at 7:30 pm in Bonner Hall, the School will host a panel discussion on “Media and Technology in Kindergarten through 12th Grade”. Elizabeth Cohen, the Waldorf School’s Librarian and Media Specialist; Michael Gentile, a math teacher in the Waldorf high school; and Sabine Kully, the School’s Faculty Chair,  will discuss the media and technology program at the Waldorf School of Garden City and how it relates to the kindergarten through 12th grade curriculum. Other topics will include how technology relates to and effects children’s development at different stages, how Waldorf educators perceive media and technology to be a tool and how they work with it to create a balanced experience for students. The panel will also discuss what to watch out for regarding the use of media and our children.

The following week, on Wednesday, February 13th, at 7:30 pm in Bonner Hall, the School will host a lecture by Douglas Gerwin on technology and the adolescent. As recent studies show, technology works like a drug. As with any drug, it can either help by speeding up and bolstering vital processes or it can take over the very functions it was designed to assist. How do we educate our students so that they are able to wield technology without falling under its spell? This lecture is co-sponsored by the Winkler Center for Adult Learning and the Waldorf School of Garden City.

Douglas Gerwin, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Anthroposophy, including Chair of its Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program, and Co-Director of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education. A graduate of the Waldorf School of Garden City, Dr. Gerwin has taught for 30 years at university and high school levels in subjects ranging from biology and history to German and music. He is editor of four books related to Waldorf education –– For the Love of Literature: A Celebration of Language and Imagination; Genesis of a Waldorf High School; The Andover Proceedings: Tapping the Wellsprings of Health in Adolescence; And Who Shall Teach the Teachers: The Christ Impulse in Waldorf Education –– as well as author of various articles on adolescence and the Waldorf curriculum. Most recently he co-authored Survey of Waldorf Graduates, the first comprehensive look at how North American Waldorf graduates fare in college and beyond. At present he is preparing a Waldorf source book on sexuality for teachers in grades 4-12.

Located on Cambridge Avenue, adjacent to the Adelphi University campus, the Waldorf School of Garden City is a college preparatory day school teaching early childhood through Grade 12.  For more information about the School and its unique curriculum, please call (516) 742-3434 or visit www.waldorfgarden.org. The School will host a number of different Admissions events during the month of February. For more information, visit www.waldorfgarden.org/admissions and click “Register for an Admissions Event.”