Joshua Gibbs

I am still haunted by my first round of parent-teacher conferences, which was more than fifteen years ago now. I had more than forty conferences that first year, though I can now only recall two. Two extremes. And of the two conferences I can recall, I don’t remember all that much. I only remember the […]

As a teacher there is little which vexes me more than hearing students unjustly praised, but there is little which delights me more than hearing students justly praised. That’s why I love end of the year awards ceremonies. Several weeks ago, the Veritas upper school faculty gathered to choose the winners of the Heart of

In the last several years, I have seen a handful of college profs offer sample lessons to high school students as part of the application process. While many of these college profs have what it takes to make it in a high school classroom, there are a number of common mistakes they make. For all

My latest book began with a trip to the movies five years ago. In August of 2018, I went to a cinema and bought a ticket for Jurassic World 2. I knew it wasn’t going to be any good. I knew that when the movie was over, it wouldn’t be worth thinking about or talking

Some people become teachers because they loved school. Some people become teachers because they hated school. Hang around in any school for long enough and you’ll hear a few teachers say things like, “I was a terrible student back in high school.” Consider for a moment how rare such a sentiment is among other professions.

All things considered, “burnout” isn’t a terribly old term. One doesn’t read of “burnout” in the works of Plato or Dante—or even Steinbeck, for that matter, though it’s amusing to think of Jim Casey complaining to Ma Joad, “You don’ know how lousy with burnout I am.” The fact that burnout is sort of a

Not every woman is a lady. Not every man is a gentleman. I don’t mean to be insulting. These are just the facts. In America, we simply don’t have any ladies or any gentlemen, and that’s by design. The fellows who framed our constitution forbade us from creating inherited titles of power—and that’s what a

What’s the surest sign of a great teacher? If I were a principal interviewing prospective high school teachers, the question I’d ask older applicants is, “How many of your former students do you keep in touch with? How many graduates want to talk to you after they no longer have to talk to you?” If

Don’t have a faculty meeting. But if you must, allow me to offer a few suggestions. Classical education is growing rapidly, which means the average school has teachers who have been around for ten years, five years, and five months. They’re not all on the same page—there’s no way around this, but it needs to

Paradise Lost isn’t the same book on a second read. You remember the plot, you remember the characters, but on a first read, you struggle to see the arc of the book. A good teacher can help you see the most obvious themes and significant images, but Paradise Lost on a first read is like

When parents and teachers disagree on a matter which pertains to the education of a child, teachers sometimes say, “We both want what is best for your son.” When teachers are frustrated by disagreements with parents, administrators sometimes remind them, “You both want what is best for the student.” And what do teachers, parents, and

I would like to offer a playful but not entirely unserious challenge to the people who organize the big classical education conferences every summer: let a K-12 teacher from some small school give a plenary talk. Perhaps an eighth grade Latin teacher from Kentucky. Or a senior rhetoric teacher from Wyoming. I know you’ve got