Category: Modern Research

Slow Productivity in School, Part 2: Do Fewer Things

In my last article we discussed the problem of pseudo-productivity in school. Popularly called busywork, this pseudo-productivity of the factory model of education presents a fairly straightforward analogy to the pseudo-productivity of the office. In his book Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout, Cal Newport diagnosed the problem of our crazy busy work culture: “The relentless overload that’s wearing us down is generated by a belief that ‘good’ work requires increasing busyness–faster responses to email and chats, more meetings, more tasks, more hours” (7). Then he proposed an altogether different approach to work, characterized by slowness rather

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Slow Productivity in School, Part 1: The Problem of Pseudo-Productivity

Classical educators can often be found touting the Latin phrase multum, non multa, in favor of various revolutionary proposals to adopt quality over quantity, depth over breadth, much over many things. (See for instance this article on Memoria Press by Andrew Campbell, or Christopher Perron’s lecture on Classical Academic Press.) The phrase comes from a letter of Pliny the Younger (7.9.15) and originally refers to his advice for a student to read much, not many things. This could be taken to mean that he read the right books or the best books over and over again rather than simply reading

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College-bound Superstars: How Classical School Students Can Cultivate Interesting Lives

Student at classical Christian schools are already on their life journey. The temptation is to think that life only begins once the student goes off to college or enters their career. A student in sixth grade feels like college is so far off that it’s not even worth talking about college. While it is true to say that a student is on the college journey, in reality this sells short what is truly going on for all of our students. Really they are on a life’s journey. The college journey is actually just a small component of the life’s journey.

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Are You Ready to Become a Phone-free School?

The latest catchphrase sweeping the nation is “phone-free school.” In an age where smartphones have become ubiquitous, more and more schools are adopting policies to remove phones from the hands of students. In this article, we will look at the reasons behind this move to create distraction-free environments. Even though many classical schools are already low-tech, it is well worth considering how to approach the role of phones in the lives of students. We will also consider the thesis of Jonathan Haidt in his new book The Anxious Generation to learn more about what we can do to enable our

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The Search for Great Teaching: A Comparison of Teach Like a Champion 3.0 and Christopher Perrin’s Pedogogical Principles

One interesting addition to Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion series in his third edition (Teach Like a Champion 3.0) is his notion of a mental model. He introduces the idea like this: “In a typical lesson you decide, often quickly. Then you decide, decide, and decide again. You are a batter facing a hundred pitches in a row…What do you need to decide quickly, reliably, and well, while thinking about other things under a bit of pressure in the form, of, say, twenty-nine restless students, twenty-five minutes’ worth of work left to get done, and a ticking clock to

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Three Key Skills to Develop during High School

For high school students, college looms large in the mind. Frequently, the focus is on grades and graduation requirements. But the most effective way to become optimally prepared for college is to delve into concepts surrounding human learning. In particular, students who gain a sense of themselves as learners who can manage their own learning gain a master skill that will put them in the driver’s seat of their college career. In this article we will dive into a few areas where students can optimize their understanding of themselves as learners through practical tactics. Each of these skills is backed

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How to Teach Grit and the Growth Mindset

Over the years we have written about grit and growth mindset here at Educational Renaissance. These are important areas of recent research that align well with the aims of our educational renewal movement. But one of the really tricky issues is whether we can teach grit and growth mindset. Is it the case that children are either gritty or not? What do we do when a child comes to us with a fixed mindset? We might be committed to the ideas of grit and growth mindset, but to really have transformative classrooms, we need to consider the question of how

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Guiding a New Generation: Six Alternatives to College

In this series on college guidance, we have worked within the framework that most if not all students are destined to attend a four-year college. I began by questioning the current state of affairs in higher education. There is a massive educational-industrial complex that serves as the gateway to the industrial economy. However, many recent developments have seriously impacted the role higher education plays across the economy. Despite the rising costs of higher education, the value of such an education remains high. Thus, college likely remains the normal outcome for high school graduates. Yet, a growing number of alternatives have

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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

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Reading for Meaning: Tapping into the Collective Unconsciousness

The story of Saint George and the Dragon is a classic tale of courage and faith. It tells the story of a brave knight, George, who saves a princess from being sacrificed to a dragon that has been terrorizing a small town. After slaying the dragon, George is celebrated as a hero and his bravery is rewarded with the hand of the princess in marriage. The story has been adapted into many different versions throughout history, but its core message remains the same: courage and faith can overcome any obstacle. There’s a lovely edition of Saint George and the Dragon

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