At WSP, we are fortunate to have two alums of our school serving as physical education teachers. Liam and Marina bring with them rich backgrounds in physical fitness and athletics, coupled with a deep passion for cultivating our students’ growth in these areas. Liam teaches our ninth and tenth grade PE classes, while Marina leads our eleventh and twelfth grade classes. They recently provided insights into WSP’s Physical Education that I am excited to share with our community.
WSP’s PE curriculum is designed to enhance students’ understanding of movement and spatial awareness through age-appropriate activities, empowering them to apply these skills throughout their lives. Emphasizing a social component in these activities fosters self-awareness in movement, space, and group dynamics.
In ninth grade, the curriculum places a strong emphasis on activities that cultivate courage and inner focus by challenging students to overcome obstacles. With students coming from a variety of backgrounds and movement experiences, the class begins with simple activities to quickly engage everyone and transition into gameplay. A popular introductory game is “pillow polo,” resembling field hockey, which helps students enhance their hand-eye coordination. Throughout the year, students develop their concentration skills, enabling them to progress to more complex sports like volleyball, basketball, football, soccer, baseball, ultimate frisbee, and street hockey. An important element of this year is the principle of respecting each individual’s starting point, fostering an environment in which students unite to explore new experiences together.
Once students move into tenth grade, the classes revisit the sports introduced in the previous year, benefiting from an additional year of practice that enhances their hand-eye coordination and deepens their ability to focus and engage in each sport. With familiarity comes faster recall of the rules, enabling the group to dive into activities more swiftly and confidently.
In these first two years of the high school PE program, the goal is group work – to learn how to be teammates while getting more comfortable with movement and coordination.
Transitioning into eleventh grade, the physical education program undergoes a shift towards a deeper understanding of body mechanics. Students explore how muscles function and provide support, refine their breath control during exercise, and enhance overall body awareness. Alongside traditional sports, they delve into personalized activities such as yoga and weight training, aiming to strengthen the mind-body connection essential for lifelong functional movement. This foundation not only promotes current fitness but also helps them learn to prevent future injuries.
In the twelfth grade the students participate in much of the same activities as the prior year, but with more confidence and experience. Now they will start to make more independent choices and create their own weight lifting routines. They also learn more deeply what movements affect their specific bodies and in what ways.
In these last two years of high school, the students move from competing against one another to being their own competition. In most of our lives, people sit so much. We want our students to get outside, get their heart rates up and get moving. We hope that through these experiences they will learn what they enjoy, and take it forward into the next phase of their lives – both in being physically active, but also growing their social awareness.
Like all of our programs, WSP’s high school physical education classes seek to meet the students where they are developmentally and support them in their growth. Over the four years, we hope our students will develop and strengthen their cardiovascular abilities, strength, mobility awareness, and individually improve in ways such that they find movement joyful and fun.
When I was organizing the senior project presentations, the last thing I expected was that we would end them dancing the night away. But that’s exactly what happened at the end of our first day of presentations! Our last presenter that evening, Vir, shared his senior project titled “Beyond The Beat, An Exploration of DJing” with the Waldorf community. He began his presentation by showing a video of himself dancing in his living room as a child, illustrating his early connection with music and dance. Vir then delved into his passion for music and desire to further explore dance through DJing.
He provided a brief explanation of the term DJ, derived from “disc jockey,” describing DJs as individuals who play recorded music for audiences at events and parties. To conclude his talk, a slide read, “Let’s get the party started!” The audience enthusiastically responded by clearing the chairs and transforming the presentation night into a dance floor. It was a fantastic way to end the evening, with the excitement of two more nights of senior project presentations still to come.
Our seniors began their projects long before their final presentations in March. Towards the end of their junior year, they started discussing their project ideas and envisioning what they wanted to pursue. Class sponsors, Marina Budrys and Jennifer Staub, and I met with the seniors before the summer break to emphasize that senior projects are the culmination of their studies at WSP, intended to showcase their finest talents, interests, and research endeavors.
During these meetings, we underscored the significance of the senior project as an opportunity for students to delve deeply into a specific subject, possibly one not covered in our curriculum, or to explore a creative process.
This year, our students showed a diverse range of interests they were eager to pursue. Before summer break, Alma shared her plan to create a senior project focused on educating our high school students about genocide, particularly exploring the Holocaust during World War II. Freyja had already been discussing her interest in exploring meditation practices from various cultures around the world.
As their senior year began, our class faced multiple tasks beyond their senior projects. We gathered to discuss college applications, and essays, and I began drafting their letters of recommendation, which filled me with excitement. Over the next six months, amidst this euphoria, I guided the seniors through their senior projects, each tackling exceptional topics. Noam delved into the role of American comics, while Galen ambitiously crafted a camera from scratch. Annika explored the Electronic Dance Music genre through music creation, and Ronit developed an app for downloading class schedules. Vivian embarked on a project titled ‘Fibre: From Fleece To Fabric,’ designing and building a loom to weave garments.
However, there was a catch this year—the presentations were scheduled earlier, before our March spring break. This posed a challenge: would the students have enough time to see their projects to fruition and craft insightful presentations in this shorter timeframe? It was a test of their focus and determination.
Over three incredible afternoons in March, our seniors demonstrated a resounding “we can” with their senior project presentations! Elowyn kicked off the first night by sharing her journey of overcoming her greatest fears, from heights to spiders. Aru followed with a poignant exploration of his bicultural identity as an Indian American, presenting insightful interviews he conducted with Indian American individuals of all ages.
As the presentations unfolded, each senior showcased professionalism, humor, sharpness, and profound insights. Misha drew inspiration from films such as ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘Star Wars’ to embark on building a film projector. Maya, now a certified postpartum doula, shared her journey and created a detailed brochure, explaining her role in supporting families after childbirth. Prem wowed the audience with a captivating 3D modeling video created using Blender, an animation software.
The diversity of topics and talents exhibited by our seniors during these presentations was truly remarkable, highlighting their individual passions and achievements. “Reality: Perfection is impossible” was a slide in the senior project presentation by Ren, who focused on Holistic Wellness Through Strength Training and Nutrition. Yes, indeed. Perfection is impossible. What an important take-away for a twelfth grader as they prepare to embark upon leaving high school.
When Bean gave the final presentation on Friday night, about a table-top role playing game that he had created called Monster Town, I was ecstatic! Our fifteen seniors had done it! They had wowed, enraptured and fascinated the Waldorf community assembled on campus, as well as many other members of our community who had watched the streaming presentations on YouTube.
When I went back up to the podium to give my concluding remarks, I had all of the seniors come up so that we could congratulate them one more time. I said that I did not want the night to end, and I meant it. I felt immense pride in our seniors’ accomplishments. Moreover, I was deeply grateful for the opportunity to share in their journey and witness their growth. Looking ahead, I felt excitement for what awaited them—from the upcoming senior class trip to Hawai’i, to their graduation from WSP, and the start of college just a few months away.
For three glorious evenings in March, the fifteen seniors showed that they are capable of so much, and made all of us at Waldorf School of the Peninsula so proud. And for me, their senior advisor, they made me even prouder! I will miss our seniors more than they will ever know, but I will always look back fondly on what they accomplished with their senior projects.
I was so eager to read Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation that I started listening to the audiobook the morning it was released. I had heard the book would speak to my growing concerns about teenage mental health. Having started my teaching career in 1980, recently I have seen quite a few changes in the culture of today’s teens, and even more so, since COVID-19, I have been concerned with the impact of technology and social media on their lives. Don’t get me wrong, our students are amazing and I am continually impressed with our younger generation in many ways. Jonathan Haidt’s book presents scholarly research that supports what we as Waldorf teachers have known for a long time about healthy practices for children, and it provides guidance about what we can do given the current climate. The research confirms that a play-based childhood is essential for healthy child development. For me, this is a watershed moment as the author provides the foundation for society to adjust our norms to support our children.
My big takeaways are:
Since the widespread adoption of the smartphone, children are now experiencing a phone-based childhood rather than a play-based childhood. Haidt articulates the importance of free play for child development, and how modern children have been experiencing less and less of it. Waldorf Schools emphasize free play throughout the grades. For example, it is quite common for me to have trouble exiting my office during recess as I need to navigate the raucous game of “grounders” the middle schoolers play. Having read The Anxious Generation, I am now re-reminded of the benefits of this free play – physically, socially, and intellectually. It fills my heart with joy each time I see them.
It is important to have a phone-free environment for children. At our high school we have implemented cell phone lockers so that students are freed up to be present with each other, and for their classes, without distractions. As I walk around during my day, I witness wonderful interactions where students are engaged with each other. I also have heard from students after they have gone on week-long trips without their cell phones that they find great value in being disconnected from technology. Often these trips serve as a touchstone for them to make healthtier boundaries around technology as they have experienced the gift and positive impact of being technology-free for an extended period of time.
Haidt points out how as parents we have become more overprotective in the real world while under protective online. As I read through his charts and graphs, as well as his reminder that the aim of social media is to “capture eyeballs”, he indicates that students are not yet developmentally ready to make conscious decisions when faced with social media until age 16. (He actually recommends age 18, but realizes that it would be difficult to implement.)
Haidt recommends that students do not have smart phones until high school, which resonates with my experience. He illustrates the power of communities and schools in helping families wait until high school for students to have a smartphone.
The development of digital technology happened quickly, and much of it before we truly understood its impact on child development. Haidt brings research and data to what Waldorf Pedagogy has been saying for years – children need free play, we should delay the introduction of screens (although he says some uses, such as face-timing with family members, are fine), and that when a community or school agrees to norms (such as our cell phone locker policy in the high school), it’s better for everyone.
Then, the cherry on top was when I heard him mention Waldorf School of the Peninsula specifically as a place that supports healthy childhood development. I had to rewind to be sure, but yes, indeed, our wonderful school is mentioned in the book. I truly hope it will be a catalyst for changes that will support a culture of healthy child development. At the very least, it confirms the importance and positive impact of what we do here at WSP.
Lisa Babinet has been teaching at WSP since 2003. She is blessed to be the mother of two adult children who attended WSP from K-12, and considers providing her children with a Waldorf Education to be the best parenting decision she has made.
In ninth grade, the curriculum places a strong emphasis on activities that cultivate courage and inner focus by challenging students to overcome obstacles. With students coming from a variety of backgrounds and movement experiences, the class begins with simple activities to quickly engage everyone and transition into gameplay. A popular introductory game is “pillow polo,” resembling field hockey, which helps students enhance their hand-eye coordination. Throughout the year, students develop their concentration skills, enabling them to progress to more complex sports like volleyball, basketball, football, soccer, baseball, ultimate frisbee, and street hockey. An important element of this year is the principle of respecting each individual’s starting point, fostering an environment in which students unite to explore new experiences together.
In these first two years of the high school PE program, the goal is group work – to learn how to be teammates while getting more comfortable with movement and coordination. 
In these last two years of high school, the students move from competing against one another to being their own competition. In most of our lives, people sit so much. We want our students to get outside, get their heart rates up and get moving. We hope that through these experiences they will learn what they enjoy, and take it forward into the next phase of their lives – both in being physically active, but also growing their social awareness. 
