Ancient Writing Texts

I've been thinking some about writing instruction, looking at various books and curricula, reading reviews, etc.  In the process I came across Progymnasmata: Great Textbooks of Prose Composition and Rhetoric.  The book consists of English translations of four ancient Greek composition textbooks.  In each, the progymnasmata is explained and in some of the texts examples are provided.  Most of the greatest authors (or just about any writer or speaker) from before the time of the New Testament until the modern period would have used one of these texts or one similar.

Here are a couple of quotes from The Exercises of Aelius Theon.  First on the progymnasmata in general:

These things are, as it were, the foundation of every kind of discourse, and depending on how one instills them in the mind of the young, necessarily the results make themselves felt in the same way later.  

And this good advice on making corrections to a student's writing:

The making of corrections (by the teacher) in the early stages of study is not aimed at the removal of all mistakes but at correction of a few of the most conspicuos in such a way that the young man may not be discouraged and lose hope about future progress. 

    

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.