Literacy in the Waldorf Classroom with Janet Langley, Part Two — A Waldorf Journey Podcast

In Part Two of my conversation with Janet Langley, co-author of Roadmap to Literacy, we move from understanding the stages of literacy development into the practical question every teacher eventually asks: Okay, so what do I actually do?

Janet walks us through the kinds of classroom experiences that support children as they move through the emergent, phonemic awareness, pattern, and syllable phases of literacy development. We talk about everything from helping first graders hear words and individual sounds, to introducing consonants and vowels, explicitly teaching phonics, working with sight words, and giving children meaningful opportunities to practice.

We also get into some of the Waldorf traditions that Janet calls “sacred nothings”—practices that have become so established that we may continue doing them without stopping to ask whether they actually serve the children in front of us. Our conversation touches on long morning circles, introducing uppercase and lowercase letters, and the importance of being willing to examine inherited practices while still preserving what is essential about Waldorf education.

And finally, we talk about one of my favorite practices from Roadmap to Literacy: kid writing. I share what this has looked like in my own classroom and the remarkable difference I’ve seen when children are given the tools and confidence to use their developing phonemic awareness to put their own thoughts on paper.

In this episode, we talk about:

“Theory of word” and helping children recognize sentences, words, syllables, and individual sounds
Rhyming and what difficulty with rhyme can tell us
Choosing and introducing consonants
Why English-speaking Waldorf teachers need to think differently about introducing vowels
Short vowels, CVC words, digraphs, silent letters, and other early phonics skills
Using stories and imagination alongside explicit literacy instruction
Making practice periods actually about practice
The pattern and syllable phases of literacy development
Why spelling instruction needs to continue well beyond the early grades
“Sacred nothings” and questioning inherited Waldorf practices
Introducing uppercase and lowercase letters together
Sight words and how they support reading fluency
Memory reading through familiar poems and songs
Kid writing and the transition from copying to independent composition
Using children's writing as both practice and assessment
How teachers can combine a clear literacy progression with creativity and responsiveness to the children in front of them

Janet and her colleague Patty Connolly have gathered extensive resources for teachers and homeschoolers at Waldorf Inspirations, including activities, curriculum resources, and support materials that complement Roadmap to Literacy.

If you haven't listened to Part One yet, I recommend starting there for Janet's explanation of the different phases children move through as they learn to read. Together, these two conversations offer a much clearer picture of both how literacy develops and how we can intentionally support that development in the Waldorf classroom.

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