Author: Kolby Atchison

Towards a Philosophy of Nature Study

And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:11-12 (ESV) Our modern world does not know what to do with nature. As a result, neither do our schools. For some, nature is a victim of humanity, a primordial entity (Mother

Continue reading

Why Gender Matters in Education

We often take for granted the givenness of the world we live in, that is, the things in life that are not questionable. For example, I have never questioned that the sky is blue or that I am the son of my parents. These aspects of reality strike me as matter of fact and have served as two axioms among many upon which my mind has built its picture of reality. While these beliefs may not be foundational in the strictest philosophical sense, they are close enough to the foundation that I form subsequent beliefs about reality around them. For

Continue reading

Proclaiming the “True Myth”: Tim Keller’s Ministry and Classical Education 

I was first exposed to the ministry of Dr. Timothy Keller in college while pursuing a degree in philosophy and reading through the western canon of Great Books. Immersed in the intersection of Christian discipleship and the life of the mind, I found in Keller a comforting voice that resonated with many of the questions I was asking.  Keller had a gift for making complex things simple for ordinary people to understand. This made him a great teacher. It did not matter whether he was distilling the philosophical theology of Jonathan Edwards or the secularization analysis of Charles Taylor. He

Continue reading

An Educational Renaissance for the Development Shop

The purpose of Educational Renaissance is to promote a rebirth of ancient wisdom for the modern era. Through synthesizing the insights of the great philosophers of education across time and place with contemporary findings in modern research, we aspire to serve fellow educators in the worthy calling to educate future generations for the good of society and in service to the church.  If you are new to this blog, you will notice that we typically focus on wisdom and modern research for the classroom or homeschool. As classical Christian educators who have been profoundly influenced by the educational philosophy of

Continue reading

Ending the Year with a Strong Parent Partnership

One key end-of-the-year objective for teachers is to bring parent partnerships to a positive conclusion. All year long teachers have worked diligently to facilitate these relationships. From first contact at a back-to-school event to parent-teacher conferences to ad hoc meetings, teachers have likely interfaced with parents on a number of occasions. To end the year positively, teachers do well to think through how to complete this partnership on a strong note. Most teachers, of course, do not enter education because of their passion to partner with parents. However, it does not take long for a new teacher to realize that

Continue reading

The Drive to Learn: Three Views on the Desire for Knowledge

What is the purpose of knowledge? What is its draw? What drives us to learn and pursue knowledge about God, the world, and ourselves? Most educators agree that pursuing knowledge is a primary goal of education. But views diverge soon after, specifically when questions about the purpose of knowledge emerge as well as what fields of knowledge to pursue.  As I have begun working on my first book about the craft of teaching, this question has become of unique interest to me. In particular, as I have been reading Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion 3.0, I have been struck

Continue reading

The Classical Notion of Self-Education for Today

In her lecture at Oxford in 1947, Dorothy Sayers remarked, “Is it not the great defect of our education today, a defect traceable through all the disquieting symptoms of trouble that I have mentioned, that although we often succeed in teaching our pupils ‘subjects,’ we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think? They learn everything, except the art of learning.” Here we observe the seedlings of the classical Christian renewal movement: the distinction between training students how to think versus what to think. Sayers’ diagnosis is that schools in her day had prioritized learning subjects over

Continue reading

Teaching a Narration-Based Bible Lesson

“Child,” said Aslan, in a gentler voice than he had yet used, “perhaps you do not see quite as well as you think. But the first step is to remember. Repeat to me, in order, the four signs.” The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis Teaching a Bible lesson can be a teacher’s most intimidating class of the day. On the one hand, the biblical text is probably quite familiar, leading to great confidence. But on the other hand, the weight of the responsibility–teaching truths from the Word of God to children–can be overwhelming.  One cannot help but think of Jesus’

Continue reading

Refining the Mission for an Aligned Community

In organizational development, scholars often make the distinction between an organization’s vision and mission. While there are numerous ways to differentiate between the two, generally speaking, an organization’s vision is an inspirational picture of the future. It is the aspirational end state that comes from asking the question, “What if the world could be different? What if it looked like…this?”  A vision, as you might expect, is purposefully general. It can be so broad, in fact, that it can entail a number of pathways to achieve it. This is where an organizational mission comes in. A mission is a purpose

Continue reading

Virtue Formation and Rightly Ordered Loves

The cultivation of virtue is unarguably a core objective in the classical vision for education. In contrast to knowledge acquisition or skills mastery, growing virtue in our students is about strengthening their internal moral structure. It is fundamentally a project of formation, changing a person for the good in pursuit of it. Interestingly, Augustine of Hippo, the great medieval theologian, observed that the lives we live and the things we love are inextricably linked. What we love impacts if, and how, we embody the virtues. In this way, seeking to live a virtuous life is both a moral enterprise and an

Continue reading