A Lesson in Grammar School Literature: Aristotle and Charlotte’s Web

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Using Aristotle’s thoughts on friendship and E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web as an example, we will experience an actual lesson in which the great classical thinkers and Biblical principles can be taught at the grammar level and applied to children’s literature. We will further discuss exploring ideas of teaching grammar students to think about literature, and apply it to other disciplines of thought, concluding with the importance of teaching students to find God’s story within the story.

Mary Clifford

Mary Clifford has taught in the Grammar School at the Geneva School of Boerne for seven years and has over fifteen years of teaching experience in various fields, including writing curriculum for an Art History program in the public schools. She was a recipient of Geneva’s Paideia award for outstanding teacher of the year in 2011-12. She has two sons, one of whom graduated from Geneva this year. A native Californian, she and her husband are avid paddle boarders.

Introduction to the Quadrivium

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The four liberal arts of the Quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music, have been central to the Western vision of education since the time of Plato and Aristotle. They provide crucial tools of learning for many other areas of study later in the curriculum. They historically undergirded the birth of modern science and had preserved a vision of the cosmos as an ordered whole for millennia. Yet they are little understood and perhaps their centrality to classical education is underappreciated. This seminar will explore how to recover a vision for these four liberal arts within our curriculum and how they can provide a rich vantage point for the recovery of wonder, wisdom, and worship in our math and science classes.

Ravi Jain

Ravi Jain graduated from Davidson College as a pre-med, political science major having also served as a teaching assistant in physics and ancient Greek. He worked at various churches before receiving an M.A. from Reformed Theological Seminary. He has been teaching AP Calculus and AP Physics at the Geneva School since 2003. During this tenure he has sought to understand and champion the role of math and science in a Christian Classical curriculum. Over the past four years he has had the opportunity to deliver over 35 talks or workshops on these topics at various schools and conferences across the country. Much of his spare time recently has been spent smoothing the rough edges on a book he is co-authoring on Christian classical education which is due for publication during the summer of 2013.

The Role of Pleasure in Classical School Culture and Community

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A silver thread that Lewis explores through his work (alongside the Argument by desire) is the tutor of desire–pleasure. He speaks and embodies frequently the benefit of small human pleasures in the salvation of our souls. In Screwtape the patient famously is rescued from the clutches of the demon by taking a walk and reading a book he genuinely enjoys. Wormwood is severely chastised for this lapse of judgment, which accomplishes much for the enemy (God). The patient recovers himself at the same time that he forgets himself, whenever we truly enjoy something we are self-forgetful which, in Lewis’ mind, is always a good and the ultimate goal—the starting place for humility. Our likes are the raw material through which God speaks to us, according to Screwtape; by recovering ourselves through the experience of pleasure we are protected from false friendships, from pretending to be something we are not, and thus from pride. We exist, for those moments, comfortably in our own skin and are glad to be alive. Often genuine friendships are formed out of such pleasures. Screwtape summarizes the design this way: “Remember always, that He really likes the little vermin, and sets an absurd value on the distinctness of every one of them. When He talks of their losing their selves, He only means abandoning the clamor of self-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts (I am afraid, sincerely) that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever (XIII).” The implications for this in our school are tremendous. We aren’t simply stuffing our students with valuable methods and information, we aim to give them primary contact with some of their deepest likings. What creates this in our classroom culture? Come ready to consider this together, bring a thought, event, experience to share from your contact with students. We will discuss topics as wide ranging as room design, tea drinking, instructor pleasure in learning, relationship of the material we teach to life, relationships within the classroom, co-curricular activity, classroom practices, and assignments designed with this in mind. This is a panel discussion with teachers from a variety of schools who will discuss how this principle has functioned in their lives as teachers and then open up the floor for Q and A and participant sharing.

Christine Perrin

Christine Perrin has taught literature and creative writing at Johns Hopkins University, Messiah College, Gordon College’s Orvieto Program, through the Pennsylvania Arts Council to students of all ages, and at the local classical school where her husband was headmaster for a decade and where her children a ended K-12. She consults with classical schools in curriculum development and faculty development in poetry. She is a two time recipient of the PA Arts Council Artists Fellowship and a Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference Fellowship. Her own work appears in various journals including The New England Review, Image, TriQuarterly, Blackbird, and Christianity and Literature, The Cresset. “The Art of Poetry” a text book for middle to high school students was published in 2009 by Classical Academic Press. She attended Johns Hopkins as an undergraduate and the University of Maryland for graduate school. She keeps a blog at: h p://blog.classicalacademicpress.com/poetry

Rhetorical Reading of Paradise Lost

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By giving a central place to the treatment of justice in an epic narrative, Paradise Lost arguably intervenes in the “ancient quarrel” between poetry and philosophy. The juxtaposition of mode and topic is striking because the text most famously associated with the indictment of poetry, and Homer specifically, was also one of the most influential ancient philosophic treatments of justice: Plato’s Republic. I contend that the explicit treatment of justice as a topic in the opening books of Paradise Lost is, in effect, part of a larger attempt to “justify the ways of Poets to Plato.” The first stage of this presentation draws on Peter Mack’s account of how renaissance rhetorical education engaged early modern discourses of ethical deliberation. The second part of the argument traces how the first books of Paradise Lost include no less than six points of direct engagement with parallel claims advanced in the Republic. In each case, Paradise Lost either articulates or explicitly dramatizes a given claim made in Plato’s text. Ultimately this opening book of Paradise Lost implies that a specific kind of union between poetic narrative and dialectical inquiry best illuminates questions concerning justice—most notably, questions regarding the character of tyranny and virtuous appearances.

Phillip Donnelly

Phillip J. Donnelly serves as Director of the Great Texts Program in the Honors College at Baylor University. His research focuses on the historical interaction between philosophy, theology, and imaginative literature, with particular a ention to Renaissance literature and the reception of Classical educational traditions. He is the author of Milton’s Scriptural Reasoning (Cambridge University Press, 2009). His recent essays include: “Latin Pedagogy and Ethical Ends in the Royal Grammar (1542),” in Transformations in Biblical Literary Traditions, edited by D.H. Williams and Phillip J. Donnelly (University of Notre Dame Press, 2013), and “Historical Appearance in Areopagitica,” in Milton and Questions of History, edited by Feisal Mohamed and Mary Nyquist (University of Toronto Press, 2012).

Rhetorical Reading of Paradise Lost

Posted on by Society for Classical Learning

By giving a central place to the treatment of justice in an epic narrative, Paradise Lost arguably intervenes in the “ancient quarrel” between poetry and philosophy. The juxtaposition of mode and topic is striking because the text most famously associated with the indictment of poetry, and Homer specifically, was also one of the most influential ancient philosophic treatments of justice: Plato’s Republic. I contend that the explicit treatment of justice as a topic in the opening books of Paradise Lost is, in effect, part of a larger attempt to “justify the ways of Poets to Plato.” The first stage of this presentation draws on Peter Mack’s account of how renaissance rhetorical education engaged early modern discourses of ethical deliberation. The second part of the argument traces how the first books of Paradise Lost include no less than six points of direct engagement with parallel claims advanced in the Republic. In each case, Paradise Lost either articulates or explicitly dramatizes a given claim made in Plato’s text. Ultimately this opening book of Paradise Lost implies that a specific kind of union between poetic narrative and dialectical inquiry best illuminates questions concerning justice—most notably, questions regarding the character of tyranny and virtuous appearances.

Phillip Donnelly

Phillip J. Donnelly serves as Director of the Great Texts Program in the Honors College at Baylor University. His research focuses on the historical interaction between philosophy, theology, and imaginative literature, with particular a ention to Renaissance literature and the reception of Classical educational traditions. He is the author of Milton’s Scriptural Reasoning (Cambridge University Press, 2009). His recent essays include: “Latin Pedagogy and Ethical Ends in the Royal Grammar (1542),” in Transformations in Biblical Literary Traditions, edited by D.H. Williams and Phillip J. Donnelly (University of Notre Dame Press, 2013), and “Historical Appearance in Areopagitica,” in Milton and Questions of History, edited by Feisal Mohamed and Mary Nyquist (University of Toronto Press, 2012).

FreeThinkU

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Jim Van Eerden of the Big Questions with the students in our lives is essential. New resources are generating encouraging results that can hep transform family conversations.

Jim Van Eerden

Jim Van Eerden is a co-founder of Free Think U (www.freethinku.org) and serves as its Executive Director and as a member of its Board of Directors. As a Managing Director for a national merchant bank, Jim has had extensive background in brand-building and as an early-stage business architect. In addition to engagements for the 1994 World Cup Organizing commi ee and the Atlanta Commi ee for the Olympic Games, Jim has co-founded and helped manage the launch and growth of prominent blended value companies. He has also served as senior counsel for corporate philanthropic projects like Refresh Everything for PepsiCo, and has originated numerous cause-based movements like The Centurions Program for Charles Colson. His portfolio management role has also involved him as Executive Producer for several award-winning feature lms including Bobby Jones, The Ultimate Gi and The Perfect Game, and documentaries such as the critically acclaimed Warchild and Running the Sahara. These lm projects each carried a philanthropic mission, and raised tens of millions of dollars for charity. He and his wife Rachel and their children live on a family homestead near Greensboro, North Carolina.

The Enterprise of Learning as Wonder Toward Wisdom

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Throughout history it often has been said that the process of learning begins with a sense of wonder/awe. It also commonly has been understood that the goal of learning is not merely the acquisition of information but the development of wisdom. In this seminar we will examine what it means to have a sense of wonder and how we can cultivate such wonder in our students. We also will discuss what it means to aim all learning toward the development of wisdom and how we can foster a love of wisdom in our students. Particular attention
will be paid to what it means to be a lover of wisdom (i.e. philosopher) within a Christian framework that acknowledges wisdom as beginning with the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10).

David Diener

Dr. David Diener began his formal post-secondary education at Wheaton College where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Ancient Languages. After putting his philosophical training to work by building custom cabinets and doing high-end finish carpentry for an Amish company, he moved with his wife to Bogotá, Colombia, where they served as missionaries for three years at a Christian international school. He then a ended graduate school at Indiana University where he earned a M.A. in Philosophy, a M.S. in History and Philosophy of Education, and a dual Ph.D. in Philosophy and Philosophy of Education. A er teaching for one year at The Stony Brook School on Long Island he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where he serves as Head of Upper Schools at Covenant Classical School. He also teaches philosophy courses for Taylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary as an Adjunct Professor. The Dieners have four wonderful children and are passionate about classical Christian education and the impact it can have on the church, our society, and the world.

Getting from Grammar to Logic Latin

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This team-taught seminar will focus on the transition from grammar-stage Latin to logic-stage Latin, specifically aiming to develop the ways in which this key transition can be anticipated, executed, and capitalized on in later grades. Marcus Foster and Brent Stevens will begin with the more theoretical topics of incarnational teaching, the prioritization of goals, and curricular alignment. This will be followed by a very practical discussion of the methodological shifts in both communicating and evaluating content specific to the respective pedagogical stages. The seminar will conclude with time for Q & A as well as collaboration between participants.

Marcus Foster

Marcus graduated from Baylor University with a B.A. in Classics in 2000. He worked with youth in Berlin, Germany for ve years, part of which was also spent studying theology at Humboldt Universität. He received a Masters of Humanities from the University in Dallas in 2012. Heavily invested in languages, Marcus hopes to stir a love for language and literature in his students. He and his wife, Julie, have been married for 10 years, and have three beautiful daughters.

Brent Stevens

Brent graduated from The College at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a B.A. in Humanities in 2010. Brent was introduced to classical education while a ending DBU for a brief time, and has wrestled to understand its meaning and implications for modern education ever since. He and his wife, Stephanie, are thrilled to be a part of the Covenant family.

A Brief History of Civic Virtue

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One of the elements of classical and Christian thought which is rather in need of restoration today is the concept of civic virtue. In “A Brief History of Civic Virtue,” Veritas humanities and classics teacher Rick Trumbo traces the idea of civic virtue from its origins in Greco- Roman republicanism through its Medieval and Renaissance development into what Alexis de Tocqueville called the American notion of “enlightened self-interest.” The workshop will provide documents and discussion topics for teachers of ancient, Medieval, and early American history and teachers of government as an aid to helping Classical Christian schools recover this often-neglected element of moral philosophy.

Rick Trumbo

Rick Trumbo graduated with a B. A. in Humanities from Hampden-Sydney College in 1976. He earned a Master of Humanities at the University of Richmond in 1983. He has taught history, government, and Latin over 35 years as a high school teacher. He is currently an instructor in Ancient and Medieval humanities, and Latin, at Veritas School in Richmond, Virginia, where he has taught for six years. He has held various administrative and departmental roles during his career and also serves as a ruling elder in the PCA.

Classical School Sustainability in Changing Times

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Charter schools, home schools, magnet schools, parental abdication, and economic hardships are only a few of the challenges that Classical Christian schools must face in the future. How can our schools not only maintain, but thrive moving forward? Mark Guthrie will present strategic ideas for the future sustainability (and growth) of Classical Christian schools.

Mark Guthrie

Mark Guthrie has served as the Head of School for 9 years at Caldwell Academy. Caldwell Academy is a classical Christian K-12 school which has grown from 63 students to over 700 students in 18 years. Prior to his position at Caldwell, Mark served as the Director of The American School of Lyon in Lyon, France. He has been a teacher and administrator for over 23 years in both the public and private systems in South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio, Georgia, and France. Mark has educational degrees in Mathematics and Administration/Supervision from Bob Jones University, The Ohio State University, and Lincoln Memorial University. His passion is to provide students a rigorous classical academic education within a biblical worldview. Mark has been married for 23 years to his wife, Laura. They have four children, Christian (19), Victoria (16), Pius (8), and Brian (5). Pius and Brian were adopted from Uganda two and a half years ago.