Learning at Emerson Waldorf School is active: whether digging up sea creatures on a marine biology field trip to the beach, exploring the woods in a botany block, visiting historical sites in a history block, or acting in a play during a literature block. Here are some examples of our active learning:

Curriculum Trips offer students an intense period of exposure and engagement with aspects of the curriculum. Each year, each class takes a week long trip, usually involving camping or rustic accommodations, in which students study a particular topic together. Meals are often prepared together and evenings are spent socializing with music, skits or other recreational options.

In the 9th grade, the curriculum trip is an Agricultural Intensive. Students spend the week with Harvey Harman at Sustenance Farm in Bear Creek, NC, engage in regular farm chores, work on a farm project, and learn the basics of permaculture farming.

The 10th grade trip is a craft intensive, studying the fiber arts through the production of wool and cotton, carding, spinning, and weaving, as well as a visit to a modern factory, and relating this to their study of the Industrial Revolution in History.

The 11th grade focuses on forestry and the forest ecosystem by spending a week in the mountains studying the forest ecosystem through scientific exploration and by hiking and exploring the diversity of the forest ecosystems at different elevations.

The 12th grade curriculum trip focuses on Zoology. The seniors spend a week on Hermit Island in Maine, with Seniors from other Waldorf Schools on the East Coast. This unique adventure combines phenomenological study of invertebrate zoology with marine-based science labs and artistic activities.

Field trips are an integral part of learning at Emerson Waldorf High School. We start the year with an All-High School retreat at a local lake, full of fun games and time to relax and get to know each other. The rest of the year is filled with numerous field trips, from visits to art galleries to exploring the local forests during a botany block. The sailing trip during the 10th grade block on Homer’s The Odyssey, pictured at the right, is an annual event. We take advantage of the many opportunities that our region has to offer, including visits to Playmakers Theatre for dramatic performances and the many opportunities for interaction with experts from our local universities.

Performance is a large part of life at Emerson Waldorf High School. Each year there are various performances of material developed in special subjects and clubs which may include musical revues from the Chorus elective, a ‘circus’, Eurythmy, String Band or Jazz Club, Morris Dancing: offerings vary from year to year. Watch the Changing Waters Performance Video, a tribute and homage to the passage of souls from Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War. (Note: May not be suitable for young children.)

Class plays are a part of the curriculum for Grades 10 and 12. One of the distinctive features of a Waldorf High School is that theatrical performances are not extra-curricular activities, reserved for those who successfully audition. The class plays are integrated into the study of literature, and there is a role for each student both in performing the play, and in designing and building the sets. Recent class plays have includes Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. See pictures of the 2010 Senior Play, Noises Off!, here.

Junior Internships: each 11th grade student at EWS completes a one week (40 hours) internship/practicum with a local artist, small business or non-profit agency. The goal is a hands-on experience with specific demands and expectations, mentored by an on-site guide and supervisor that afford the student the opportunity to gain experience and practical skills in a specific area of interest. During the internship week each student will: shadow an individual with expertise in their chosen field of study, engage at their skill level in the work being done on site, undertake a small independent project that supports the intern host and utilizes the intern’s particular constellation of skills and talents. Some examples of research internships include: shadowing a midwife, doing medical research in an Emergency Room, working on a bio-dynamic farm, writing news stories and reading them on air at a local radio station and volunteering at a nursery school.

Senior Projects are required in Waldorf Schools across the globe. Each student chooses an area of study that they pursue independently with mentors from their community. These projects are the culminating experience in the student’s high school education, demonstrating the student’s ability to devise, plan, undertake, complete and publicly present a self-chosen, weighty project. Students set out and meet a significant challenge, one that requires them to make a substantial advance in already-existing capacities or to make a marked breakthrough into a discipline which is entirely new. EWHS values the senior project as a tool for self-education, individual expression and self-development to the degree that successful completion of a project is a condition for graduation. Examples of past senior projects include: writing a musical composition for the piano, developing an equestrian riding test set to music, building a banjo, starting a small business, performing a play, researching and creating masks, building a motorcycle, writing and illustrating a comic book and producing a Legomation film. The picture to the right is of a student building a cabin as his senior project.

The community service component of our curriculum provides an opportunity for students to connect with and contribute to the wider community in a personally and socially meaningful way. Emerson Waldorf students must satisfy the 40 hours of community service requirement for graduation.