LifeWays Certification Student Checklist for Integration of Learning Requirements

(pdf download)

(enrollment forms)

Please Note: In order to receive a LifeWays certificate a student must work with a mentor, have a minimum of eight to ten mentor-student conversations during the year, and complete all of the Integration of Learning Requirements listed below. Items highlighted in bold represent documents that must be sent to mentor and/or program director by the student.

Mentoring

Students will be assigned a mentor who will provide the following services:

___ Monthly telephone consultation – students are required to phone their mentors monthly for 8-10 conversations

___ Possibility of observing mentor in her or his own working environment if applicable

___ Offering of advice in selecting a theme for final paper or project

___ Help in finding a location for LifeWays and traditional program observations and for the practicum if needed (usually practicum will be in student’s own site)

___ Reviewing and offering comments on student’s program observation reports and on final paper or project

___ Two-day observation of the student during the practicum with a follow-up conversation.

___ Written report on mentor’s two-day observation and general comments on student’s progress.

___ Student reviews mentor’s report and has an opportunity to discuss it with mentor.

___ Mentor sends final report to the program director.

___ The mentor and the program director, with input from the student, will determine if the student has completed all of the Integration of Learning Requirements and is prepared to receive LifeWays certification.

Practicum

___ Two-week practicum, preferably in student’s own program or home to better assess student’s work with relationship-based care. This is a time period where student does her/his regular routine, and during that time period your mentor observes for two days.

___ Send your mentor a description of your daily and weekly rhythm and a descriptive overview of the two-week period into which s/he will be coming for two days. This is to help you to clarify your schedule and intentions. It is not meant to be something different from what you do on a regular basis. This gives the mentor a window into how you work with daily and weekly rhythms and a feeling for the experience s/he will be entering when s/he comes to observe. If you are doing a practicum in a site other than your own, write out the schedule of that site for the two weeks in which you will be there.

Observation in a LifeWays-Approved Early Childhood Program and in a Conventional Program

___ Observe a LifeWays-approved early childhood program and document the observation based upon the criteria in the Observation Report Form. If the program you are visiting is an all-day program, please observe through lunch and the beginning of the nap routine to see the transitions and the nurturing activities.

___ Observe a conventional early childhood program and document observations based upon the criteria in the

       Observation Report Form.

___ Send both program observation reports to mentor and program director.

Child Observation Project (Observing two children during the course of the training)

___ Select a child to observe over a three- to four-month period. Upon completion choose another child for the next three to four months. Your observations are meant to be objective and based purely on what you observe.

       For example, “Johnny takes very small bites of his vegetables. He eats all of his rice and asks for more. He eats quickly with little chewing. When he is finished, he starts wiggling in his chair and kicking the bottom of the table.” This is simple observation as compared to: “Johnny is a picky eater but what he does eat, he eats fast because he is restless. After he eats, he creates distraction for everyone else by kicking the table.”  We are trying to learn to do pure observation, leaving judgment out of it for now.   Some people journal by taking a few notes every day. Others prefer to write an overview paragraph weekly.   Your style of journaling is up to you, but brevity is recommended in order to help keep you in the realm of pure observation.       

        Please journal the following observations:

        1) how the child moves

        2) how the child speaks

        3) how the child interacts socially

        4) how the child plays  

        5) how the child listens

        6) how the child sleeps and wakes

        7) how the child eats

___ Send samples of your journal entries to mentor upon completion of each observation.

Improving Your Observation Skills and Gardening Project

­­___Plant and cultivate a small garden during your training period.

___Bring a report and photographs of your gardening project to the final session of training.

___Daily Nature Observation: Choose a particular object in nature (a plant in your garden, a tree, the sunset or sunrise, etc.) to observe every day for 5 minutes to support the schooling of observation skills and the ability to note subtle changes that take place over time. You are not required to journal this.

___Monthly Nature Walk Journal: Go on a nature walk each month for 45 minutes to an hour in the same location.  Journal the changes observed in that location each month. This does not need to be more than a paragraph each month.

___Bring your Monthly Nature Walk Journal to the final session to share one entry in class.

Celebrating Festivals

___Plan and celebrate a seasonal festival with your community. This could be your own family, your neighborhood, your child care, playgroup or pre-school families, or whatever context works for you. The festival needs to include the elements taught in the LifeWays training on festival development, namely: story, songs, game (could be a circle time), craft activity, simple decorations, festive food, blessing, and brief sharing with the adults on the meaning of the festival. Note: Not all festivals need to have all of these components, but please plan one that does for this assignment. Keep it simple.

___Send outline of your festival plan and photographs of the festival to program director.

Improving Your Music Skills

___Weekly voice and kinderharp practice.

___Any other homework assigned by music teacher.

Movement and Handwork

___Any homework assigned by movement teachers.

___Any homework assigned by handwork teachers.

___Please bring samples of completed handwork items to display at graduation ceremony.

Cooking with Whole Foods and Grains

___Practice cooking whole foods and grains on a weekly basis.

___Submit three recipes to program director to be shared with all the students. These should be recipes that you have cooked during your training period.

Research Paper or Approved Project

___If writing a paper, it needs to be a 6-10 page double-spaced paper on a child development topic approved by program director.

___If doing a project, it needs to reflect student’s understanding of how the chosen project observes and/or serves the developmental well-being of young children. The project must be approved by the program director.

___Send paper or project description to mentor for proofreading and comments.

___Send final paper or project description to mentor and program director.

___Present paper or project during final week of training.

Required Reading

___The Education of the Child by Rudolf Steiner – Part One and 2nd Lecture of Part Two

___Work and Play in Early Childhood by Freya Jaffke – Chapters 1, 2, and 4

___Toymaking With Children by Freya Jaffke – Chapter 1

___The Spiritual Tasks of the Homemaker by Manfred Schmidt-Brabant

___ Creating a Home for Body, Soul and Spirit by Bernadette Raichle

___Lifeways by Bons Voors and Gudrun Davy

___The First Three Years by Karl Konig – Chapters 1, 2, and 3

___Beyond the Rainbow Bridge by Barbara Patterson – Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5 & pgs.148-162, 169

___You Are Your Child’s First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin Dancy – Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11

___The Developing Child: The First Seven Years – WECAN Gateways Series

___Sing a Song with Baby by Mary Schunemann – work with during the training

___This is the Way We Wash-A-Day by Mary Schunemann – work with during the training

Recommended References (These may vary with the different training sites)

___The Genius of Play by Sally Jenkinson – entire book

___ A Holistic Wellness Guide from Lilipoh Magazine, 610-917-0792

___ Nurturing Children and Families: One Model of a Parent/Child Program in a Waldorf School by Sarah Baldwin, WECAN

___ Bringing Love, Giving Joy by Wilma Ellsersiek, WECAN

___ Let Us Form a Ring by Nancy Foster, WECAN publication

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