I recently reviewed The Seven Laws of Teaching, an 1886 manual for teachers by professor John Milton Gregory that is still recommended in Classical circles today. Teachers often hold up the Seven Laws as a model worthy of emulation, and evaluate their own performance against it. Here’s a paraphrased list: Master the subject to be […]
How Jesus Breaks the Seven Laws of Teaching Read More »
Wordsworth and his contemporaries sparked an artistic revolution, the effects of which we’re still feeling.
The Power of Daffodils Read More »
To all parents and teachers who have ever attempted a lesson in literature and composition: Does the following teaching strategy sound familiar to you? A teacher assigns a work of literature, say The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. After the students have read the novel, he takes the opportunity afforded by a particular scene or
Do “Lit and Comp” Belong Together? Read More »
Many people claim that literary analysis ruins reading – but that perspective reveals a misunderstanding of the term “analysis”
Does “Analysis” Destroy the Love of Reading? Read More »
When we idolize the glories of civilizations past, we often mistake flowers for seeds, and put our hope in something which has already withered and fallen
Do Not Mistake Flowers for Seeds Read More »
As much as the past has to teach us, we can never live there. To assume that we ought to is to nurse an unfulfillable longing; teaching our students to do the same is to encourage fantasy.
Teaching the Past with Woody Allen Read More »
Neither Beowulf nor Hrothgar is the correct exemplar in Beowulf, for the poem offers no exemplar. Instead, it offers a chance for readers to identify with the plight of all mankind.
Beowulf the Ambiguous Read More »
The glory of literature is that it makes the Great Conversation possible across the ages, between men and women from different worlds.
Raft Building and the Great Conversation Read More »
My students often blush at the irony of the image of Odysseus’ marriage bed for Odysseus himself hardly deserves the appellation “faithful” – but is there more to it than meets the eye?
Is Odysseus a Faithful Husband? Read More »
Thank God for an eternal place, of which these barns and hills are but dim reflections, and thank God for “children’s books” that ever so gently help us face the grownup issues of our world
All the Places to Love Read More »
Whatever Paul means by “present your bodies a living sacrifice,” he cannot mean “repay God’s mercy with self-denial.”
On Living Sacrifices and the Walking Dead Read More »
The Brandenburg Concertos present a lovely combination of variety and unity – and this is what makes them so meaningful.
A Brandenburg Concerto Touchdown Dance Read More »
