In our world of teachers and students, a special community exists within which we all seek to pursue knowledge and strong moral character, but what ought I to give to my students to help them reach those goals?
What I Owe My Students
Category: Classical Education
The Education of the Teacher
Pedagogy and classroom management are necessary, but they are always in service of a higher thing. That higher thing—cultivating within students the wonder and love of learning—ought always to come first. That, then, must also be the end of the education of the teacher when they themselves are students.
How “Literacy Essentials” Is a Game-Changer for Reading
“Literacy Essentials” provides students with the tools to be able to spell and read hundreds of words. We want to set our students up for a successful, lifelong pursuit of reading for both pleasure and enlightenment, and this is the best way to place them on that path.
Learning How to Be a Student
We have to learn how to be students, and my favorite book on that subject is Study is Hard Work, by William Armstrong. Except for its title, the book is a welcoming introduction to the habits and skills that make someone a learner.
The Teacher in the Classical Classroom
Today there is confusion about the role of the teacher. It stems from a larger confusion about the role of education in the life of the student. The unfortunate truth is that education is seen primarily as a kind of job training, reducing students to receptacles for information and teachers to its delivery system.
Teachers Should Be Free To Teach
Teachers should be free to use their natural and developed gifts to teach a robust curriculum in science, literature, mathematics, the arts, history, physical education and civics. This is the kind of schooling experience that students deserve, parents desire and society demands. -Dr. Dan Coupland
Teaching and the Noble Work of Education
At Hillsdale College we know—from both experience and principle—the authority that teachers and parents have in the noble work of education. We profess this in all that we do, but especially through our work in K-12 education. No remote system of control or bureaucracy can supplant the knowledge, interests, and love that local communities bring to bear—primarily through parents and teachers—on the education of the young. As Hillsdale was founded to advance education, we will ever promote these great truths and the practices that arise from them. It is our mission, and we will not shrink from it.
Values vs. Virtues
We all want to be good. We think things like honesty and kindness are important. Then why are some of us dishonest and unkind? In my fourth-grade classroom this year, we are working to understand the difference between valuing something and actually doing it. A value is something we intellectually hold as important, but a… Continue reading Values vs. Virtues
Protect Their Hearts
For me, February is the longest month of the school year. Boasting only 28 days, the weeks seem to drag on as we slog through classes. My students feel it too. Some who started the school year off with a fantastic work ethic and a sense of energy and excitement are now struggling to complete… Continue reading Protect Their Hearts
What is American Classical Education?
Here at Hillsdale College, we promote the founding of classical schools, and excellence in their teaching and operations, so that American schoolchildren may be educated in the liberal arts and sciences and receive instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue. We refer to this education as American classical education. What is American classical education, exactly? What does it look like within the walls of a particular school?
The Classical Classroom 