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The False Door between Life and Death
Supporting Grieving Students, Teachers, and Parents
Paperback
May 2019
9781621482444
More details
- Publisher
SteinerBooks - Published
1st May 2019 - ISBN 9781621482444
- Pages 168 pp.
- Size 6" x 9"
$20.00
When a school community loses a child, parent, or teacher, the experience can be devastating to the whole community. Few things in life can prepare anyone for such a tragedy. Teachers and parents often struggle with how to speak with the children and may have important questions, such as:
What is the best way to work with grief?
What happens after death?
How can we stay connected?
Working through shock, grief, and even depression is a necessary step in life following a death in one’s community.
Torin Finser—long-serving faculty member of the Waldorf Teacher Education Program at Antioch University New England—presents stories, fairy tales, personal anecdotes, and even the Egyptian Book of the Dead to help children and adults deal with loss through spiritual insights into the meaning of death and suggestions for how a school community can build resilience by coming together after the loss of a colleague or fellow student.
The False Door between Life and Death is an indispensable resource to prepare teachers and parents who are likely to face a death at some time in their community.
C O N T E N T S:
Preface: The False Door
1. Personal Experiences of Death
2. When a Child Dies
3. Talking with Children about Death
4. One Day at a Time
5. Children and Grief
6. Spiritual Perspectives on Death
7. The Legend of Baldur
8. The Golden Casket
9. More Stories that Help Children with Loss
10. Adolescent Boys and Death
11. The Open Door (by Karine Munk Finser)
12. How to Stay Connected
13. Conclusion
Appendices:
1. Verses for the Dead
2. Mistletoe
3. “The Juniper Tree” by the Grimm brothers
4. “The Odor of Chrysanthemums” by D. H. Lawrence
5. When a World Tragedy Comes into a Child or Teen’s World
6. Bringing Death Home
Bibliography
Torin M. Finser
Torin M. Finser received his PhD in educational leadership from Union Graduate School, his MA in education from Adelphi University, and his BA from Bowdoin College. He taught at the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School, where he also served as faculty chairman. He has done extensive consulting with schools in organizational dynamics and leadership development and has been a keynote speaker at conferences around the world.
Dr. Finser is the author of numerous books, beginning with School as a Journey (1995), which has been translated into Mandarin, Farsi, Thai, Arabic, Korean, and Spanish. Torin has served as General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America and Chair of the Education Department at Antioch University New England, and is currently Director of Waldorf Programs.
A founder of the Center for Anthroposophy, he has recently pioneered their new Building Bridges Program for practicing teachers in independent and charter schools and Explorations for Waldorf parents. Educational History PhD, Union Graduate School, 1994 Educational Leadership with emphasis on Teacher Stress/Renewal MA, Adelphi University, 1978 Education BA, Bowdoin College, 1977 Double major in history and German Literature. Graduated in three years, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. Waldorf, 1960–1974 Student at three Waldorf Schools: Rudolf Steiner School in NYC Green Meadow Waldorf School, NY, Freie Waldorf Schule in Krefeld, Germany.
Torin is married to Karine, has six children, and is also now a very happy grandfather!
