Author: Kolby Atchison

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

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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

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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

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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

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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’

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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

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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

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Love the Lord Your God With All Your Mind

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”  And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”  Luke 10:25-28 ESV What does it mean to love God? How are we to

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3 Leadership Books for Teachers

Teachers are the leaders of their classrooms. Now, this may seem obvious (who else would be in charge?), so let me explain. Teachers are responsible for the execution of classroom objectives and the development of their students. In a healthy school, they are given the freedom and responsibility, within a broader structure of administrative oversight, to make key decisions pertaining to how they will empower their students to learn and grow. For example, a teacher responsible for teaching The Great Gatsby must consider how the book will be taught, what she will focus on, and how she intends for students

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The Life of the Mind, Part 1: From Proverbs to Einstein

It seems to me that we have lost sight of the significance of the human mind. Here I mean more than one’s brain, but not less than it. Humans cannot be reduced to physical neurology, but neither can they be understood apart from it. We are mind-body unities, created as embodied souls, or ensouled bodies, infused with a rich, albeit mysterious, integration of physical and spiritual realities.  Nevertheless, when I say we have lost sight of the significance of the human mind, I am not referring to the significance we ascribe to our brains. We require young children to wear

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