Summer Conference Edition

Welcome Summer Conference Attendees to Educational Renaissance It’s a busy summer . . . of staying home. In previous years you may have traveled to take in several of the summer conferences that are part of our classical Christian schooling movement. This summer everyone’s staying home and attending conferences virtually. Many of you will have discovered Educational Renaissance for the first time through one of Jason’s talks at either the ACCS Repairing the Ruins conference last week or the Society for Classical Learning conference this week. We welcome you summer conference attendees to explore the resources available here at Educational

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“Teach Like a Champion” for the Classical Classroom, Part 2: Teacher-Driven Professional Development

There are two general approaches to professional development in education, one that is supervisor-driven and the other that is teacher-driven. In the supervisor-driven approach, the principal or dean is the primary driver for teacher development. The principal sets the goals, schedules observations, provides feedback, and identifies future growth areas. The strength of this approach is that it puts the responsibility of developing teachers on administrators, field experts who have been on their journey as educators long enough to develop a general sense of best practices to pursue and pitfalls to avoid. The notable weakness of the supervisor-driven approach is that

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Summertime, and the Learning is Easy

Summertime has arrived. Gershwin’s song from Porgy and Bess is clearly on my mind, if you caught the allusion in my title. If you have a moment, watch Ella Fitzgerald’s soulful performance of “Summertime, and the Livin’ is Easy” in Berlin during the summer of 1968. You could listen to any number of recordings, but this one stands out because you can see the intricacies of her performance. She was a true master. One of the great joys of being a teacher is summers off. This may be one of the chief compensations, more important to teachers than healthcare or

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“Teach Like a Champion” for the Classical Classroom, Part 1: An Introduction

As classical educators look for tools and resources to strengthen their teaching practices, it can often be difficult to know where to turn. While the classical education renewal movement has led to a resurgence in a fresh vision for the purpose of education and even suggestions toward an ideal curriculum, the movement has not always been clear regarding method. We have the “why” and even the “what,” but the “how” remains uncertain. Some, no doubt, will respond to this critique with raised eyebrows. After all, the movement has unlocked a rich treasure chest full of wisdom and insight from master

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scientist performing experiment in laboratory

The Problem of Scientism in Conventional Education

Scientism is precisely not a focus on the importance of learning all that we can about the natural world in school. This we applaud, and classical education has a lot to tell us about how we can teach our knowledge about nature, our scientia nātūrālis as the medievals would call it, better than we currently do. Instead, scientism is the trend in the social sciences, like the field of education, to conform to the pattern of the wildly successful hard sciences by proving themselves through data and pure reason alone. If we can prove it through an experiment and logic

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Habit Training during Online Distance Learning

Everything changed a couple months ago when school went online. At-home learning has caused every school to attempt schooling in new and creative ways. We can also get creative about habit training during online distance learning. I shared my new eBook on habit training in the classroom about a month before we stopped meeting in classrooms. So here is a brief update where we consider how habit training might work while doing school online. The Method of Habit Training Doesn’t Change Even though our classrooms are online and it feels like everything has changed, the method of habit training doesn’t

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Teaching Confident Faith in an Age of Religious Uncertainty

Christianity, as a global religion, is at a crossroads. On the one hand, it remains the largest religion in the world: 31% of the world’s population is Christian, and sociologists predict this percentage to increase to 32% by 2060. [1] On the other hand, the religion is experiencing notable decline in the West. In 2010, 75% of Europeans and 77% of North Americans identified as Christian, practicing or non-practicing. The percentages in both continents are expected to decrease to 65% by 2050. [2] If Christianity is projected to increase globally, but decrease in the West, in what parts of the

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old iron levers

The Problem of Technicism in Conventional Education

Technicism is not simply an over-fascination with technology as a means of stimulating learning out of students, though that problem plagues conventional education as well. Instead, I use the term ‘technicism’ to refer to a broader ideological approach to education that has become captivated by quantitative measurements and the economic evaluation of success. In technicism education has been reduced to something that can be measured in numbers alone. Teachers are made into technicians, who simply pull the levers and push the buttons assigned to them by the ruling technocrats. Technicism focuses on quantities and techniques, rather than quality and values.

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Education is Life: A Philosophy on Education

The study of education is the study of life. At least that’s the way it should be. Too often educational thought seeks precision in the use of the techniques and technology brought into the classroom. Have one’s lesson plans fully articulated all of the learning objectives spelled out in the curriculum? What is the new feature in the student management software? A flurry of activity surrounds the art and craft of teaching, so much so that we might miss the opportunity to observe life occurring right before our eyes.  One of my favorite podcasters, Brian Johnson who put out a

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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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