Happy September! We have been so excited to welcome back to school all of our new and returning families this week. It is so wonderful to see all the joy and smiling faces and hear about the many summer adventures had by our families.
Over the summer, we launched a new blog series, "What we're reading..." where we share articles, blog posts, or other sites that our faculty has found fascinating, intriguing or inspiring. Whether they are related to specific subject areas or the topic of classical education, or something related to the myriad of other interests of our faculty, we like to share in the hopes that you may find them worth checking out as well.
We love to hear from you, too! Have a great article, blog post or website that you've enjoyed lately? Please share in the comments!
- 8 Habits of Every Great Student - David Kern, CiRCE Institute
“Humility is a foundational habit of a great student. Learning requires us to recognize that we do not, and cannot, know it all and that others contribute to our knowledge and understanding. Those others may be teachers and peers, or the authors, artists, and composers we study. ”
- Keeping Children's Choir Christ-Centered - Marie Landskroener, Concordia Publishing House Music Blog
“Of all acts of corporate worship probably none is more inspiring than the singing of a well-trained, well-disciplined choir of children. To hear the pure voices of children produce freely floating tones in perfect unison or in harmony is one of the most uplifting of musical experiences. An even more spiritually profound impression is made if the song is an integral part of the theme of the day and if the singers actively participate in worship by listening, singing, and praying as full partners in the worshipping community.”
- The Purpose of Mathematics in a Classical Education - Thomas Treloar, The Imaginative Conservative
“How is mathematics to be approached? Is mathematics a science? Is it a set of skills to be memorized? Can the study of mathematics be more deeply integrated into a classical education? If so, is this necessary or desirable? ”
- New, High-Quality Study Finds Laptop Use Dramatically Reduces Student Grades - Fort Wayne Classical School Blog
“Researchers found that the students permitted to use tech devices in class suffered a third of a standard deviation drop in their performance — roughly the difference between an A- and a B+ average. In other words, a student prevented from using screens for class would have an A- grade average, but if allowed to use a laptop or tablet for study instead averaged a B+ grade. Computer use significantly degraded student performance.”
- Why Trendy Math Instruction that Focuses on 'Understanding' Often Hurts Kids - Barry Garelick, The Federalist
“To compensate for what some believe is students’ lack of understanding, mathematics teaching has been structured to drag work out far longer than necessary with multiple procedures, diagrams, and awkward, bulky explanations.
Ultimately, these exercises in understanding simply become new procedures, which small children attempt to learn and memorize because that is what many small children do. On top of all that, these methods are inefficient and confusing, resulting in frustration that feeds children’s dislike of math—something this method was supposed to cure.”
- Writer's Seat: A walk through the home that inspired E.B. White's essays and stories. - Andrew Ferguson, The Weekly Standard
“I was thrilled and moved by the prospect of seeing his house, and the barn out back where Charlotte wove her web, and the meadow behind the house that led down to the little waterside boathouse where White, in fair weather, pecked away at his typewriter.”