In 1999, Stratford Caldecott emerged as a unique voice in classical Christian education with his timely meditations on the oft-neglected subjects of the Quadrivium in Beauty for Truth's Sake.  Following a similar blueprint, Caldecott turns his contemplative powers to the theo-philosophical nature of language and takes the reader on a journey into the heart of the Trivium in his most recent Beauty in the Word (Angelico Press, 2012).  

While writing within a…

Many of you would enjoy this focused and prescient little essay on education by Chinese writer, inventor, and classicists Lin Yutang (1895–1976): "Good Taste in Knowledge" from his 1938 best seller The Importance of Living.

URL here:

http://stpeter.im/journal/1470.html

One of my colleagues, David Mathwin, writes a regular blog at http://astickinthemud.com. He talks about his history classroom, but also wanders farther afield. Have a glance at:

Steve Gadd Plays Drums With His Neck

and…

Helpful basic introduction to classical education (17 minute lecture). "Ancient Future Education" by Davies Owens (from Q Ideas, Washington, D.C., April 10–12, 2012). Description from the website:



Most people don’t know that current educational practice is less than a century old. Paradoxically, the harder we try to produce great thinkers similar to those of the past, the further we move from the style of education that produced them. Some now advocate a return to…

The Ladder of Abstraction -- by Bret Victor

Victor's idea of a ladder of abstraction is compelling. His presentation of mathematic as a succession of abstractions layered upon one another is beautiful. I suspect the idea of hierarchies of abstraction is a fertile field for exploring how grammar, logic, and rhetoric fit into the mathematics classroom.

Dan Meyer on Rhetoric

Dan Meyer's TED talk video is interesting. He astutely identifies a deep malaise in much math curriculum (i.e. it's all grammar level material), and talks through how to pose students questions that incorporate rhetoric as well. 

Excerpt from Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education by David V. Hicks (Lanham: University Press of America, 1999). This book was first published in 1981 when it won the American Library Association's Outstanding Book Award. See a review of it here by Andrew Kern and a…

I've heard a rumor that a good number of Chesterton fans exist on ClassicalEducator. Some may find this tribute (of a sort) to be of interest: The Sovereign God of "Elfland". Reading Orthodoxy myself recently (again and more carefully) was a wonderful experience! It is free on the Kindle and as an amateur audio book at …

A friend recently passed along this great (and short) editorial from the NY Times containing "Some Thoughts on the Lost Art of Reading Aloud" (from 2009). There are multiple connections to the values and philosophy of CCE, and this essay could facilitate worthwhile discussion in some classes. For those who haven't come across it before, here's a little excerpt:

If you had grown up…

Excerpts from (and about) the writings of Theon in Progymnasmata: Greek Textbooks of Prose Composition and Rhetoric by George Kennedy, 2003.

Theon's writings about the progymnasmata are unique in several respects, being the earliest that we have and the only description of these exercises written for fellow teachers (rather than as a textbook for students). Theon was clearly a passionate teacher, and his suggestions are often thought-provoking. (I've added a…

Several colleagues have recommended this book over the years, and I was very grateful when I read it recently. Josef Pieper (a German Catholic philosopher) touches upon critical relationships between schools, the liberal arts, contemplation, worship, celebration, festival and work. His ideas have fostered…

Excerpts from Science and the Story that We Need by Neil Postman.

I think this article starts of well, and highlights a great many true and important thoughts, which I've tried to collect below. But If you read it in its entirety, be prepared for an ending that misses its own point, throwing the baby out…

From Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis in chapter 14: HOW ALL WERE VERY BUSY.

A teacher who doesn't see:

She clutched at her desk to steady herself, and found that the desk was a rose-bush.

A teacher who sees:

She looked out of the window and saw the divine revellers singing up the street and a stab of joy went through her heart. Aslan stopped right under the window and looked up at her. "Oh, don't, don't," she said. "I'd…