Warning--and Invitation
Please help me renew Waldorf education
Are you using the REAL Roadmap to Literacy program?
I (Jennifer Militzer-Kopperl) am glad that schools want to use The Roadmap to Literacy. I co-authored The Roadmap to Literacy with Janet Langley. I wrote the book to get up to 95% of Waldorf students reading and spelling at grade level by the end of third grade.
The Roadmap to Literacy aligns with Rudolf Steiner's indications better than anything on the market; however, some Roadmap trainings do not align with the book but with sacred nothings adopted by the Waldorf movement over the last 100 years. I include this page on my website to help teachers and schools adopt the real Roadmap program and to give them the tools necessary to identify sacred nothings and renew Steiner-Waldorf education.
False teachings undermine success
Watch this video and learn to identify practices that undermine success with The Roadmap to Literacy.
Click here to see the slides as a flip deck.
The Seven Core Tenets of The Roadmap to Literacy
Picture for the article "The Seven Core Tenets of The Roadmap to Literacy"
I have compiled the seven core tenets of The Roadmap to Literacy. They are seven principles that should be respected if a school or teacher claims to be using The Roadmap to Literacy.
Click here to read "The Seven Core Tenets of The Roadmap to Literacy."
Five resources for the real Roadmap program
I have done several things to help teachers, homeschool parents, and schools adopt the real Roadmap to Literacy program.
1. New Edition of The Roadmap to Literacy
I have written a new edition of The Roadmap to Literacy. It is called The Roadmap to Literacy: Renewal of Literacy® Edition. It addresses the #1 thing teachers are doing wrong when they use The Roadmap to Literacy so we can get up to 95% of Waldorf students reading at grade level by the end of third grade.
Click here to read the preface.
The first chapter is included later in this website.
2. Renewal of Literacy School:
Online, On-Demand Courses for The Roadmap to Literacy Books
I have created an online school called Renewal of Literacy®. It features on-demand courses to support The Roadmap to Literacy Books, including "Unlocking The Roadmap to Literacy." This course helps teachers get up and running when they use The Roadmap to Literacy (either edition).
Click here to learn more about "Unlocking The Roadmap to Literacy." Click here to see full course offerings.
Click here to see full course offerings.
3. Featured Bundles and Courses
I have created courses that can be used to supplement existing Waldorf teacher trainings and home school curricula.
I have created a bundle of three courses for the literacy capacities (sensory-cognitive functions). These are the capacities that Rudolf Steiner said Waldorf teachers should train: 1) Phonemic Awareness; 2) Symbol Imagery; and 3) Concept Imagery. Providing direct instruction in these three capacities is key to getting up to 95% of students reading and spelling at grade level. Click here to learn more about "The Keys to Literacy Capacities."
I have created created a phonics course to help teachers in grades 1-3 teach their students to read--and teachers in grades 4-8 teach their students to spell. That way, teachers that need to add phonics instruction to their curricula can do so with ease.
Click here to learn more about "Phonics: Decoding and Encoding."
4. Are Your Students Behind?
Free Course to Help!
I created a free online, on-demand course for teachers who need to get their students caught up post-pandemic. The course works equally well for teachers whose students are behind because they received faulty and/or inadequate information on how to use The Roadmap to Literacy.
Click here for more information about "Renewal of Literacy: Ways to Get Students Caught up in Reading and Spelling."
5. A Renewal of Waldorf Education
Many of the beliefs, practices, and principles of Waldorf education are not based on Rudolf Steiner's indications but on sacred nothings that have developed over the last 100+ years. These sacred nothings undermine Waldorf education--and The Roadmap to Literacy.
Thumbnail for Article "Academic Rickets: Why Education Should be Balanced, Not Enlivened"
A prominent sacred nothing that makes Waldorf education and Roadmap less effective is the idea that Waldorf education should always be creative and enlivening. Nothing could be further from the truth! Steiner specifically warned Waldorf teachers about this error. Click here to read "Academic Rickets: Why Education Should be Balanced, Not Enlivened." Teachers who understand this point can create healthy and effective education--and they will not have to work so hard.
For a fresh perspective on Waldorf education, click here to read "Renewal of Literacy®’s Proposed Mission Statement and Core Principles of Waldorf Education." This article is designed to help teachers and schools understand Waldorf education so they can identify sacred nothings and innovate responsibly.
Please join me in renewing literacy
This is Jennifer Militzer-Kopperl, author of The Roadmap to Literacy Books and creator of Renewal of Literacy®.
I have assessed and taught literacy and language arts to hundreds of Steiner-Waldorf students since 2005, and I have seen first hand the results of academic rickets:
- students who struggle to read, spell, and/or do arithmetic
- Waldorf teachers who burn out because they are trying to make every aspect of their lessons creative and enlivened.
- Families who struggle because the children need remedial education.
- Waldorf schools that struggle with enrollment and teacher retention.
Back in the aughties, I promised the parents of some of my students that I would do something to make sure that no other Waldorf students would have to suffer as their children had suffered.
That promise was why I wrote The Roadmap to Literacy with Janet Langley. It is why I continued the project without her when she quit.
Keeping my word to these families has been the hardest thing I have done in my life. It has also been the most rewarding, emotionally and spiritually (if not yet lucratively). I loved writing The Roadmap to Literacy Books. I love sharing them with teachers who share my passion for the work.
The tools are now available for the Steiner-Waldorf world to renew literacy--and education--for the 21st century and beyond. Please join me.
Please do me a favor: Be impeccable with your word. Please do not claim you are using Roadmap if you choose to violate The Seven Core Tenets of The Roadmap to Literacy." Please respect my work. I sacrificed my health and every penny of my life savings to write and publish The Roadmap to Literacy. I have sacrificed much of what little I earned to try to prevent people from misusing my work. Please do not use it to perpetuate academic rickets. Please do not plagiarize it. Please do not pass it off as your work. If you wish to use it in your workshops and teachings, please contact me.
Thank you!
Jennifer Militzer-Kopperl, author of The Roadmap to Literacy Books
