A Chreia

Diogenes, on seeing an undisciplined youth, beat his pedagogue and said, "why did you teach him such things?"

Christ as Reading Teacher

In a brief but helpful lecture on approaches to teaching the great books, Dr. Bruce Foltz says that "all authentic learning must be, however tacitly and unknowingly, a seeking of the Creator within the creation, of the Logos within the logoi, of the Truth within the true."  The Logos, Christ himself, shows his contemporaries how to read the Old Testament scriptures.  Explicitly showing his disciples on the road to Emmaus.  When one looks at the writings of the early church, we find them reading secular works with an eye to the Logos. Finding Christ, however obscured, in the writings of Heraclitus, Plato, Homer and Virgil.  

Bonhoeffer on the power of government schooling

In an article by John Taylor Gatto, he makes the following statement about Bonhoeffer:

The famous Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that the Second World War was the inevitable product of good schooling.  It's important to underline that Bonhoeffer meant that literally, not metaphorically – schooling after the Prussian fashion removes the ability of the mind to think for itself. It teaches people to wait for a teacher to tell them what to do and if what they have done is good or bad. Prussian teaching paralyses the moral will as well as the intellect. It's true that sometimes well-schooled students sound smart, because they memorize many opinions of great thinkers, but they actually are badly damaged because their own ability to think is left rudimentary and undeveloped.

 I would love to see the original source for this material.

Thinking Mathematically and Fermi Problems

Getting students to "think mathematically" and apply what they have learned outside of the confines of their textbooks can be a challenge.  The problems with the way we usually teach math have been well stated in a long article here and a short video here.  As the video explains, math problem solving becomes something like using a cookbook; a) what kind of problem is this? b) what is the formula or process? c) crank out an answer d) check answer in the back of the book.  While a certain amount of this needs to be done in order to build skill, the student needs to go beyond this kind of math practice.

I have been thinking about this issue for a while, but recently I asked the Headmaster and Math Chair at Coram Deo Academy for some suggestions. He suggested using Fermi Problems.  I took his advice and began to give my 10 year old some of these problems.  Their effectiveness even exceeded my high expectations.  In fact, I told my son that I was planning on giving him one of these problems every week or two and after doing the first one, he said he wanted to do one a day.  Here is one of the problems I gave him:

How much unpopped popcorn would you need to fill your sister's closet with popped corn?

I offered no suggestions.  His task was to figure it out and to write down each step he used to solve the problem.  The process is more important than the exact answer.  In fact, the answer is meant to be a rough but logical estimate. Here are some of the things he did:

1. He found the ratio of unpopped to popped corn - he knew how much corn we put in the popper and how large a bowl of popped corn resulted.
2. He then used water in an amount that took up the same volume in the popcorn bowl and poured it into a rectangular container (for easier calculations).
3. He measured and calculated the volume of the rectangular container.
4. He measured and calculated the volume of the closet.
5. He divided the result of step 4 by step 3.
6. Then he converted the result back into cups of unpopped popcorn.

He had to be creative, use several different skills, and engage his mind to solve this problem.  I doubt he will ever forget the concepts he used and he also got real joy out of solving this problem.  Now I have to get busy and come up with more.

Enrico Fermi

A Place Will Not Save Us

The all-wise St. John Chrysostom said: "A place will not save us if we do not carry out the will of God." It is told of a monk who lived in a monastery where five brethren loved him and one brother offended him. Because of this one brother who offended him, he moved to another monastery. However, in this monastery eight of the brethren loved him and two of the brethren offended him. He then fled to a third monastery. But here, seven of the brethren loved him and five of the brethren offended him. He set out for a fourth monastery but along the way he thought: "How long will I flee from place to place? I will never find peace in the whole world. It would be better for me to become patient." He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote in bold letters: "I will endure all for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." When he entered the fourth monastery here also some loved him and others offended him. But he patiently began to endure the offenses. As soon as someone offended him, he would take out that piece of paper and read: "I will endure all for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." So with patience he succeeded and all loved him and he remained in that monastery until his death.

from the Prologue of Ochrid June 14

Nature Deficit Disorder and the Victorians

Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD), a term coined by Richard Louv in his book Last Child in the Woods, concerns the damaging effects of children spending less time outdoors in the modern world.  A hot topic of late, but apparently not such a recent phenomenon.  Victorian educator, Charlotte Mason, recognized the great benefits of spending time out of doors and incorporated it into her educational philosophy.

This post really wasn't meant to be about NDD, however, but about one of the funniest books written in the English language.  Jerome K. Jerome's  Three Men In A Boat.  It's about three nature deprived Victorian lads who decide to take a boat trip up the Thames.  Here you can witness the hilarious effects of NDD in a laugh out loud comic classic.

The Pleasures of Reading

For one who has been drawn to lists of great books, various reading plans, and Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren's How To Read a Book, Alan Jacobs' new book is a fun and challenging read.  As a sort of rejoinder to How to Read a Book, Jacobs extols reading by Whim and serendipity, while at the same time offering some practical approaches to the practice of reading.  His approach reminds me George Grant's idea of "following the footnote trail" of your favorite books or even John Granger's approach to Harry Potter in Harry Potter's Bookshelf.  If you like books or books about books you'll probably enjoy The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. 

Undine - "the most beautiful fairy tale"

"Were I asked, what is a fairytale? I should reply, Read Undine: that is a fairytale; then read this and that as well, and you will see what is a fairytale. Were I further begged to describe the fairytale, or define what it is, I would make answer, that I should as soon think of describing the abstract human face, or stating what must go to constitute a human being. A fairytale is just a fairytale, as a face is just a face; and of all fairytales I know, I think Undine the most beautiful."  George MacDonald in The Fantastic Imagination

Many versions of this fantastic tale can be found, however, later versions tend to remove the explicit Christian content.  Here is the online version I recommend.  For a print version go here.

Finally, I recommend reading the entire essay linked above by George MacDonald.  In it he answers questions about interpretation, authorial intent, and the way literature works on the soul.

Socratic Teaching Resources

Socrates

Teaching by Asking Instead of Telling - elementary school math example

A Video example of Socratic Teaching.

A pdf of Socratic discussion principles and practices.

Let the Fairy Tale Study Begin!

I've been putting together a study of Fairy Tales for the whole family to work through over the next few months.  Here are some of the readings and resources we will be using:

We will be reading lots of classic fairy tales (most are available on the web or at your local library).  Here are a few good anthologies in print:

• The Victorian Fairy Tale Book
• The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales
• The Annotated Hans Christian Anderson
• The Annotated Brothers Grimm
• Andrew Lang's Fairy Book Series

Other tales we will read:

• The King of the Golden River
• The Goblin Market
• Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (unabridged, not Disney version)

We will be reading some of the works of George MacDonald:

• At the Back of the North Wind
• The Princess & the Goblin
• The Princess & Curdie
• The Light Princess

I found a great game that we have already tried a few times with fun results.  We'll also practice our story telling by memorizing a story or two to share with family and friends.

A few Fairy Tales for Mom and Dad:

• Phantastes
• Lilith
• Undine (George MacDonald said this was the perfect fairy tale)

Some resources for parents:

• Awakening the Moral Imagination
• Tending the Heart of Virtue
• The Golden Key - George MacDonald Resources
• On Fairy Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien
• A Study of Fairy Tales

Cassiodorus on the Trivium

Cassiodorus wrote his Institutions of Divine and Secular Learning around 538AD.  It would serve as a key text copied in monasteries throughout the Middle Ages.  The first half of the work concerns "religious readings" (the scriptures and writing of the fathers of the church).  The second half is about the seven liberal arts of "secular letters".  His exposition of liberal education is both clear and concise.  It was interesting that Cassidorus places the trivium in the following order: grammar, rhetoric, and logic.  He defines each as follows:

• Grammar is the skill of speaking stylishly gathered from famous poets and writers; its function is to compose prose and verse without fault; its purpose is to please by impeccable skill of polished speech and writing.
• The art of rhetoric, as the teachers of secular letters teach, is the knowledge of speaking effectively in civil cases.  Therefore the orator is, as has been said, 'a good man skilled in speaking' in civil cases.  The task of the orator is to speak in such a way as to persuade; his goal is to persuade in a manner of speaking, insofar as the nature of the circumstances and the individuals involved in civil cases seem to allow.
• Logic or dialectic, to the extent that the secular teachers speak of it, separates truth from falsity by subtle and concise discussion.

Teaching and Learning - A Word Picture

I hope this beautiful picture of the task of the teacher and student from Izaak Walton will inspire your teaching:

Come out from under your four walls and roof. Declare a holiday. Take the road with me to Thatch House, that admirable hostelry where good companions gather, where at the end of the day you'll find a good telling of tales, a good singing of ballads, and linen sheets that look white and smell of lavender, and you can listen to the refrain of Coridon's song: "Then care away and wend along with me."
     Stand with me at mid-day, in the open, where the sun casts no shadow, and let us together consider all things concerning our art - that which lies back of us - the antiquity of it, and that which lies close about us and claims our immediate attention.  I would have you know that tingling mood which comes to all who share the best that they have found.  I would have you honor this art, and those who have gone before - who have set it in high places.  Let your eye be single in all that it looks upon.  And let us share that humility which is at once the boon and the true grace of all who learn together.

as quoted in The Way of the Storyteller by Ruth Sawyer.

The Wisdom of Questions

St. John Cassian

It belongs to the understanding to discern the distinctions and the drift of questions; and it is a main part of knowledge to understand how ignorant you are. Wherefore it is said that "if a fool asks questions, it will be accounted wisdom," because, although one who asks questions is ignorant of the answer to the question raised, yet as he wisely asks, and learns what he does not know, this very fact will be counted as wisdom in him, because he wisely discovers what he was ignorant of.

From The Conferences of John Cassian (Conference 4, Chapter IX).