Author: Kolby Atchison

The Importance of Courage and Curiosity for School Leaders Today

If you were to make a short list of some of the most important traits for school leaders, what would you include? You might start with confidence. Confidence affords leaders the ability to stay calm under pressure and remain focused on a course of action when the going gets tough. Or perhaps humility comes to mind. The quality of humility enables a leader to see beyond her own well-being in order to seek the well-being of others. Along with confidence or humility, you might think of perseverance. Perseverance is that invaluable leadership trait that propels a leader to never give

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Cultivating a Community: Wisdom for Parents Educating at Home Amidst the Present Crisis

In the last few weeks, life has changed dramatically for families across the globe. For families living in some parts of the United States, the most predictable elements of their busy schedules—the nine-to-five work day, daily school routine, church commitments, soccer practice, piano lessons—have vanished from the calendar. For perhaps the first time since the holidays, last summer, or never, families finally have the chance to breathe.  But will they? How will families adapt in such a crisis? And how will they ensure their children’s learning continues while at home, far removed from the influence of their teachers? The Stoics,

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Charlotte Mason and the Liberal Arts Tradition, Part 2: Educating the Whole Person

What has Charlotte Mason to do with classical education? In my first blog in this series, I began exploring this question through a close reading of Kevin Clark and Ravi Jain’s The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education. In this book, Clark and Jain offer a paradigm for understanding classical education as it exists within the broader liberal arts tradition. According to these thinkers, the purpose of classical education is to cultivate virtue in body, heart, and mind, while nurturing a love for wisdom under the lordship of Jesus Christ. This is a comprehensive purpose statement to

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Charlotte Mason and the Liberal Arts Tradition, Part 1: Mapping a Harmony

“What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” the church father Tertullian skeptically asked. Tertullian was writing at a time in which church leaders were weighing the pros and cons of mining the Greco-Roman philosophical tradition for insights they could utilize in the development of a distinctively Christian philosophy.  Similarly, within the Christian classical school movement, some have asked, “What has Charlotte Mason to do with Dorothy Sayers?” In other words, can the pedagogical insights of the British educator Charlotte Mason be conducive for classical education today? Where is there harmony? Where is there discord? While a full treatment of this

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Charlotte Mason and the Power of Ideas

As Charlotte Mason observed, there is nothing quite like the experience of being struck by an idea. The experience is equivalent to being the recipient of some unexpected treasure. Ideas loosen our grip on holding a thin view of the world. They open our minds, especially through narration, to connections previously gone undetected and stir our imaginations to explore further up and further in. Ideas light the fire beneath us to learn, search, and discover. I’ll never forget when as a child I encountered the idea of the Roman Empire. In the family room we had an entire bookshelf dedicated

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True Mastery: The Benefits of Mixed Practice for Learning

“Practice, practice, practice.” This mantra for learning is proclaimed across companies and schools, athletics and the arts. The widely held belief is that the key to mastering a particular skill or gaining new knowledge is relatively straightforward: Practice.  Now, to be sure, practice is important, especially if it rises to the threshold of “deliberate practice,” an intensive approach which Patrick lucidly explained in a past article. He himself warns, however, that the repeated rehearsal of skills can be futile if the three other components of deliberate practice are not in play. Patrick writes, “ We need to be careful with

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The Search for Happiness, Part 2: The Way of Wisdom

In my previous blog, I examined how modern research, particularly through the avenue of positive psychology, confirms some of Aristotle’s insights about human beings and the well-lived life. In particular, I observed that author Shawn Achor’s definition of happiness as “the joy of striving after our potential” isn’t that far afield from Aristotelian virtue theory.  In this blog, I’ll take a closer look at the notion that virtue is the pathway to happiness through exploring the idea that a person’s everyday habits, not choices, are the building blocks for the happy life. Ultimately, I’ll show, however, that good habits are

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In Search of Happiness, Part 1: The Road of Virtue

In 1952, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, an Ohio-born pastor who went on to minister for fifty-two years in New York City, published a book that would go on to change his life and career trajectory. The book’s title? I’m sure you’ve heard of it, at least, as an idea. It’s called The Power of Positive Thinking.  Next installment – Part 2: The Way of Wisdom. The book earned a coveted place on the New York Times bestseller list for 186 weeks, 48 of which sitting at the top for non-fiction. It launched Peale onto the national spotlight, leading him to

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Why Luther Believed Christians Should Study the Liberal Arts

What lies at the core of an authentically Christian education? Bible classes, faithful teachers, chapel services, certainly. How about the liberal arts? For many parents of faith, they aren’t so sure. After all, the liberal arts aren’t necessary for coming to faith or remaining in the fold. And in 2019, with a diversified economy, the increase in demand for STEM degrees, and the rising cost of higher education, the liberal arts don’t appear necessary for a successful career either. So what gives? Should Christian parents really care that much about ensuring their children receive a Christ-centered liberal arts education? As

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Strategic Instruction: Optimizing Classroom Performance for Small and Large Classes

It is often assumed among administrators, teachers, and parents alike that the smaller the class size, the better the instruction, and consequently, the greater the academic achievement. After all, each teacher possesses a finite amount of time, focus, and energy, so it would seem that smaller class sizes would be ideal for preventing teachers from being spread too thin.  But what if this assumption is wrong? Or, at least, what if the relationship between class size and academic achievement isn’t so simple? This is precisely what Malcom Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, explores in a chapter of David and

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