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
Category: Classical Education
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?
Minds and Hearts
Every educational model flows from some idea of what it means to be human. Even if such a philosophical worldview is never made explicit or even consciously considered, it is still at work in all practical education, since educators can only profess to improve their students if they have some sense of what those students… Continue reading Minds and Hearts
Prior to working as a teacher at a Hillsdale College K-12 school…
Prior to working as a teacher at a Hillsdale College-affiliated BCSI school, I held several different jobs in traditional public education. Working with students from Pre-K through 12th grade, I served as an ESL paraprofessional, library aide, and preschool recess monitor, among other roles. I had the privilege to observe many experienced, compassionate educators and… Continue reading Prior to working as a teacher at a Hillsdale College K-12 school…
Spring is Coming
At Seven Oaks Classical School, we've had our two winter concerts and, even though I've been planning this music since April, I finally saw a theme peeking through. It's a theme that frequently pops up in classic winter songs, including one we sang recently: Lo, how a rose e'er blooming / From tender stem hath… Continue reading Spring is Coming
The First Step toward Wisdom
"The beginning is thought to be more than half of the whole."- Aristotle We often advertise classical education as an education for the whole human person. We are not training people for careers, we say, but minds for Wisdom; we aim not to improve skill sets so much as we aim to improve the human… Continue reading The First Step toward Wisdom
Quality Over Quantity
Self portrait, by Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1790). The most frequent piece of advice I have given students over the years is to slow down on art assignments. It is very easy to become impatient in the studio and want to skip steps or move forward prematurely. Admittedly, I am guilty of often becoming… Continue reading Quality Over Quantity
Why Our Students Write in their Books
Petrarch, the fourteenth century Italian monk, sometimes referred to as the “father of humanism”, famously wrote a series of letters to classical writers such as Cicero, Seneca, Homer, and Socrates. These writers having been dead for more than a thousand years at the time, Petrarch didn't expect a response. But he wrote nevertheless because he… Continue reading Why Our Students Write in their Books
Lancelot Plays Football
One of my favorite features of the Hillsdale College-affliated schools is that there is an equal focus on teachers educating both the minds and the hearts of their students. The curriculum we teach is ripe with opportunities to discuss virtue and how the choices of different people affect their lives and the lives of those… Continue reading Lancelot Plays Football
The Classical Classroom 