Teaching is hard, in and of itself, but teaching a truly Great Book is another beast altogether. Issues of translation and interpretation; dis-interested students; and, of course, the various complexities of great literature can join forces to make for quite the classroom challenge (regardless of your teaching setting). Here at CiRCE HQ the consensus is …
Here in CiRCE HQ some of our favorite female literary characters include Elizabeth Bennett, Anne of Green Gables, Miss Marple, Penelope, and Hannah Coulter. What about you? For this week’s question of week, we want to know who your favorite literary heroines are. Let us know in the comment belows or over on our Facebook …
Some of our questions of the week are specifically related to education, to the practice of teaching or the various things that teachers might experience. Others are more general. This week’s falls into the latter category. This week’s question of the week is the following: What historical figure most inspires you, and why? Here in …
Teaching isn’t easy. It’s physically taxing and emotionally draining and the long hours and longer years mean that we can’t do it alone. We need people help us: to push and inspire and motivate us. To help us continue our own education. To appropriate the popular colloqualism, behind every great teacher is a wise mentor. …
We classical educators are well known for our love of books. Whether it’s the good old-fashioned hard cover book that smells like moth balls and winter sweaters or a brand-new e-reader that keeps our spouses up at night, we tend to consume literature of all kinds like children consume candy on Easter. Many of us …
In his recent book, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child, Dr. Anthony Esolen, a noted literature professor and translator of Dante’s Divine Comedy, wrote this: If we have children around, and we let them be children, they will not miss entering our world. That will come soon enough, and indeed their play …
5 Ways to Develop Healthy Imagination in Your Kids Read More »
President of St. John’s College discusses the future of the American university, the ideal St. John’s student, and his favorite reads of 2014.
When book five begins we find ourselves in the same place where book one began: Olympus, where the gods are in session. And, as in book one, we listen as Athena pleads Odysseus’ case. “Father Zeus . . . “ she says, “be one whose thought is schooled in justice.” And justice, she claims, demands …
When last we rode with “thoughtful” Telemachus, he and Peisistratos, Nestor’s son, were on their way to the home of “glorious” Menelaus and Helen (she for whom his father was fighting when he went missing). As book four begins – and we come to the end of the portion of the Odyssey typically known as …
Towards the beginning of his book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, Michael Pollan notes that Henry Fielding once referred to The Odyssey as “Homer’s wonderful book about eating”. As a wannabe chef I love this; as a literature enthusiast and student I’m intrigued by it. And I think we get our first glimpse of …
