Many classical Christian schools have faculty development programs, but few of these programs help young teachers through basics like classroom management, parent management, lesson plans, and assessments. Until young teachers have the basics down, ideas about the liberal arts, the trivium, and the quadrivium will be worth very little. At the same time, the reason most young teachers lack self-confidence isn’t because they can’t explain the quadrivium. It’s because they attempt to govern high school classrooms like college classrooms and because they don’t really understand how teenagers think. A veteran high school teacher can help on both these points, though.  

“A Beginner’s Guide To Teaching Great Books” is an eight-week faculty development program for young teachers which explains the basics of teaching old books to high school students. This is a class grounded in experience, not theory. Joshua Gibbs has been teaching classic literature for more than fifteen years and discusses pedagogy with candor and common sense. Those enrolled in this class will learn how to teach great literature, how to discuss it, and how to create the conditions which call forth greatness from students. 

Meeting Date and Time: Thursdays at 7:30 pm (EST), beginning on February 2nd.