Hallmarks of history
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The history curriculum of Waldorf High School traces the development of human consciousness from ancient times to the present. The role of the human being in community becomes the lens through which students examine how the past affects the present and the future. We aim to develop our students' ability to appreciate the concerns and perspectives of people in very different circumstances and times, such as ancient India or European medieval society or during the burgeoning ideas of the rights of the human being in the eighteenth century.
We ask students, "What are the various themes that have been played out in history? What are the paths that humanity has followed in the past? What are the forces at work in the present?" Our graduates have a sense of the history that brought them to their own time and place, which affords them a foundation for considering how the future may unfold.
Analysis and expression
We encourage and develop active thinking and the clear expression of ideas through class discussions and an appreciation of the research process. Critical analysis of primary source material forms the foundation on which students develop and write papers based on their own thoughts and conclusions formed by research, synthesis, and analysis.
 Revolutions, Ninth Grade Main Lesson, Mr. O'Donnell
History through Art, Ninth Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Delaney
Native American History, Ninth Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Delaney
American Studies, Ninth Grade, Ms. Delaney
Greek History, Tenth Grade Main Lesson, Mr. O'Donnell
Ancient History, Tenth Grade Main Lesson, Mr. Gately
Global Studies, Tenth Grade, Mr. O'Donnell
Medieval History, Eleventh Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Delaney
Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment, Eleventh Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Delaney
Developing a World View: Ideas & Consciousness, Twelfth Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Delaney
Modern History: Political and Economic Theory, Twelfth Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Delaney
History Through Architecture, Twelfth Grade Main Lesson, Mr. O'Donnell
Revolutions, Ninth Grade Main Lesson, Mr. O'Donnell
“Revolutions” are seen as periods of violent and chaotic change, wherein powerful forces both create and destroy. But are there underlying patterns and rhythms to those terrifying, tumultuous events? The class will explore historical revolutions in the political, economic, and cultural realms, studying the people who fought for change and those who resisted it. We will attempt to answer the fundamental historical question: how does “change” happen?
-Go to top-History through Art, Ninth Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Delaney
Throughout our time on earth, human beings have expressed themselves through various forms of art. During this block we will explore the foundation and development of Western art from earliest times through the 17th century. Our classes will be a combination of presentations, discussions, the viewing of slides and prints, drawing and recitation. It may include a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts.
-Go to top-Native American History, Ninth Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Delaney
Long before Europeans settled on the North American continent the land was inhabited by hundreds of clans of people who came to be collectively called Indians. In this class we will explore several geographic regions of the continent and acquaint ourselves with representative cultures that developed in each. Beginning in the east, we will look at the history, culture, mythology, and religion of various clans up to the present.
-Go to top-American Studies, Ninth Grade, Ms. Delaney
This year-long course will trace the history of the United States from colonial settlement into the 19th century. We will build upon the work begun in the block on Native American History to better understand the land the Europeans called America and the forces that shaped the United States. We will pay particular attention to the development and implementation of the Constitution and to the cultural and political influences brought by the various groups of people who today embrace the term American.
-Go to top-Greek History, Tenth Grade Main Lesson, Mr. O'Donnell
So much of modern Western Civilization points to Ancient Greece as its intellectual and cultural forefather. History, drama, logic, math, and philosophy (the story goes) were all “born” in classical Greece. This block looks more closely at this “birth” story by examining primary sources from the period. If much of western cultural heritage began with the Greeks, how did they accomplish it? How were Greek people and their culture so different from earlier, powerful civilizations (Sumerian, Egyptian) in ways that allowed them to create so much that was new?
-Go to top-Ancient History, Tenth Grade Main Lesson, Mr. Gately
We will study the early river valley civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt and India, along with the great literature of those places and peoples. What was everyday life like in ancient times? What did the early civilizations accomplish? How did ancient peoples experience the world and the place of humans within it? How did the geography of ancient civilizations affect their worldviews? In exploring these and related questions, we will seek to imitate and transform ancient art, sculpture, myth and story.
-Go to top-Global Studies, Tenth Grade, Mr. O'Donnell
In this year-long course, the class will study a non-Western region that is particularly relevant to current events: the Middle East. After a brief examination of the ways humans have understood and represented the globe throughout time, the students will explore the land, the peoples, the political structures and history, and the cultural forms of this fascinating region. Our texts will include current events reportage, textual and visual primary sources, and secondary sources.
-Go to top-Medieval History, Eleventh Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Delaney
The downfall of the ordered Roman Empire created a chaotic situation in Europe that led to the development of feudalism and the founding of (often feuding) monarchies. The growing strength of the guilds, the rise of the middle class, monasticism, the founding of the mendicant orders, the influence of Islam, the medieval mystics, the growing heretical issues within the church, the development of law and the founding of universities are some of the dominant political, religious, and social aspects that shaped the Medieval world of Europe. In this block we will follow these developments from the Fall of Rome to the Renaissance.
-Go to top-Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment, Eleventh Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Delaney
Picking up where we left off in our previous block we will begin at the Renaissance in Italy then continue on to examine the forces of the Reformation and Counter Reformation, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. We will concentrate on the transition from the medieval world-view to the basis of our modern empirical consciousness.
-Go to top-Developing a World View: Ideas & Consciousness, Twelfth Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Delaney
What is a modern person? What do I believe? What do I know? Who am I? From ancient times to the present, cultures and individuals have struggled to answer the perennial questions that help define the nature of the human being and our relationship to the world and to the spirit. This survey course will review the ideas of the past, explore those of the present and look to the possibilities of the future.
-Go to top-Modern History: Political and Economic Theory, Twelfth Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Delaney
What role did economic theory of the 19th and 20th centuries play in the unfolding of political practice? We will review the dominant economic theory of the 16th century called mercantilism and retrace the change of thinking from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment which spawned the capitalist ideas of Adam Smith. From the economic revolution of classical liberalism and its outcome of laissez-faire politics we will explore the Utopian ideas of living with technology and the development and practical applications of the theories of Marxist socialism, communism, fascism and the radical romantic nationalism that led to Nazism. In addition to the writings of Adam Smith, we will read from Jeremy Bentham, Georg Hegel, Karl Marx and Friederich Engels, V.I. Lenin, and Adolf Hitler. We will include an exploration of Rudolf Steiner's ideas of the Threefold Social Order, developed at the end of WWI.
-Go to top-History Through Architecture, Twelfth Grade Main Lesson, Mr. O'Donnell
The students will examine architectural artifacts from ancient civilizations to the present, sketching them, reconstructing them and interpreting them to discern characteristics of the societies, cultures, governments, and economies that created them. The block will culminate with student presentations of research projects and models of chosen structures.
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