Let's begin with this summary of each principle given in the back of the book. After each, I will offer an evaluation of myself based on how I am doing on that particular principle.
The Goal of All Education:
Wisdom and Virtue
By employing the following principles, teachers will naturally cultivate virtue and wisdom in the lives of their students.
1. Festina Lente, Make Haste Slowly
It is better to master each step rather than to rush through content; the quickest way forward is to ensure that you take the time needed for mastery. To make haste slowly is to set a pace that is fitting for the time that is available and that ensures students master what you teach them.
Right away, the very definition of the principle had me crying for mercy. It's true that I try to cram as much in as possible. I DEFINITELY don't "take time for mastery." Ouch. The authors claim, "To 'go forward' without mastering the skill... is to go backward and do great harm" (p. 21). So yeah... They add, "Festina lent allows the time needed for students to love something well" (p. 30). I completely failed the assessment given at the end.
Action Steps:
- Focus on mastery, not "covering material."
- Ask students to repeat major lesson principles several times throughout the lesson.
- Leave room for student questions and unforeseen learning curveballs.
- Resist being flustered or rushed by all I feel I have to accomplish in a day or week.
- Do not give into pressure to finish the curriculum.
- Privilege the students' needs over the curriculum
- Cut down on the activities and objectives per lesson, focussing on one idea or skill.
2. Multum Non Multa, Much Not Many
It is better to master a few things than to cursorily cover much content that will be forgotten; it is better to study fewer things but study them well; it is better to deeply understand a single book than to superficially read several books that will not be loved nor remembered; it is better to study deeply the truly best things available than to divide attention and comprehension among several good things.
Once again, the very definition got me. Since this one is similar to the last, of course I was going to be brought face-to-face with my failure! This one can be described with the words "savor, linger, attend, and ponder" (p. 36). They remind me that I must "be selective and only teach what is necessary for the student to learn well" (p. 36). They emphatically state that doing too much simply CANNOT be done! "If we overwhelm the students with too much of a good thing, we will do mare harm than good and even ruin their taste for something beautiful" (p.37). Double ouch!
Action Steps:
- Only include one objective, "truth," or logos per lesson.
- Teach a few things deeply rather than cover a multitude.
- Make clear to students that mastery of a skill or idea increases the joy or love of learning for this particular concept.
- Remember that love and mastery leads to further learning. Frustration and "covering" do not.
- Resist becoming impatient or intimidated with the depth of conversation or time on a particular idea or skill.
- Do NOT feel overwhelmed by what needs to be covered.
3. Repetition Mater Memoriae, Repetition is the Mother of Memory
Revisiting and reviewing are not rote learning but rather deepening love, affection, and understanding of something true, good, and beautiful. It is like kissing the photo of a beloved person. Important skill, ideas, facts, persons, stories, and books should be revisited in regular and fresh ways that deepen understanding, retention, and delight.
The authors make an interesting claim concerning repetition. I find it boring and unnecessary, while they state that ideas the students love will be a joy to review. In addition, "educators helps stop the leaks by repeating things worth remembering" (p. 60). Like the last two, in my haste to "get through" the material, I definitely neglect repetition and review.
Action Steps:
- Regularly review and repeat information through having students summarize and explain what we have covered.
- Consider games, songs, and chants to help review.
- Resist the fallacy of too much knowledge which assumes the students "get it" without first ensuring that they, in fact, do "get it."
4. Songs, Chants, and Jingles
We sing when we love, and we remember what we love and sing. Children (up to about age twelve) enjoy singing and chanting ideas and facts that they have come to know and treasure. Regular singing and chanting delight students, employing their bodies, voices, sight, and hearing; deepening learning; and making it permanent.
The authors make clear that this is mostly a lower grade principle, but it definitely has application even to the oldest students. And I agree. I do this, in a sense in the daily Catechism. It's a daily chant of the most important information. And since it's done daily, it incorporates the need for repetition! But I could stand to include songs a bit more.
Action Steps:
- Offer patriotic songs in the place of the prayer each day after the Catechism.
- Do not let my own lack of singing ability thwart my attempts to inculcate song in our day.
5. Wonder and Curiosity
Wonder is an astonishing encounter with reality that sparks love and study. Curiosity is a disposition that seeks to explore, investigate, and learn. Sometimes a spirit of curiosity leads a student to an encounter of wonder; sometimes an encounter of wonder further cultivates a spirit of curiosity.
When a student has been captivated by something true, good, and beautiful, the most engaged form of learning begins because the student has become enchanted with an earnest desire to know and becomes his own teacher—he becomes an intellectually honest person. This wonder is modeled by teachers; students are inspired and imitate their teachers.
The authors remind us that "when our palpable ignorance is combined with a longing to know, we are ready to be educated--we have become a student" (p. 99). Each lessons needs to start with something to spark the wonder and curiosity of the students. This could include a question or at least an objective for the day so the student can begin to wonder at the answer. The teacher, however, should not be too quick to answer her own question: "The good teacher will neither tell students what they are to see nor explain matters before the students even raise question. She will work to place wonders before them; they will gaze, awaken, and wonder. They they will ask questions with anticipation and even hunger" (p. 101). At the same time, the teacher must resolve the questions with knowledge. Land the plane.
Action Steps:
- Avoid a hurried or over-planned lesson which leaves no time for wonder.
- Begin each lesson with an objective and/or a question to spark wonder and a recognition of a gap in knowledge. Ask myself, "How can I engage students' wonder before the lesson?"
6. Scholé and Contemplation
We long for a place, without distraction and noise, to study and contemplate with our friends. Scholé provides the atmosphere, the set-apart, sacred space and time that enable students to see together. Wonder certainly stimulates contemplation, but scholé provides the conditions for it to continue and spread
Once again, I recognize myself when the authors claim that many teachers "are often busy, distracted, and anxious--doing good things while neglecting what is best" (p. 130). They recommend a sabbath-like rhythm of allowing for approximately 1/7th of the lesson to involve contemplation. It must be strategically planned and integrated so that contemplation and active learning go hand-in-hand.
Action Steps:
- Provide time for relaxed discussion and contemplation during class.
- Allow students to "play" as a part of the learning process.
- Do not sacrifice contemplation in order to "get more done."
- Allow for quiet space and do not fill it with the sound of my own voice!
7. Embodied Learning -- Liturgical and Poetic Learning
Because humans are bodies as well as souls, creating academic, sensory, and bodily rhythms modulates and deepens learning. Students as bodies learn through all five senses; embodied learning honors learning through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and hands. Students will desire to be in harmony with the world's beauty when they experience embodied rhythms, practices, liturgies, and routines.
Because humans are bodies as well as souls, one way we know reality is through a sensory, participatory bodily engagement with the world, which evokes awe, delight, and sometimes even fear.
Liturgies are "any communal activity that is patterned, ordered, and formative" (p. 146). These are the routines that we do as a class. My Catechism is a great example of this. As we stand and recite together, we are incorporating "embodied" learning which engages both body and mind. The key word for me to remember is "formative." The liturgies must have the impact of forming the student into the virtuous person I desire. Part of this embodied learning is the decor and sounds that pervade the room. They suggest a "coffee station" for the smell alone! Cocoa in the winter and lemonade in the summer! The authors chastise us for failing to engage the whole of the student. "Our mistake is that we routinely overlook and fail to harmonize all of the senses when teaching and act as if students had one giant set of eyes, a modest set of ears, very small hands, and practically no nose or tongue" (p. 159).
Liturgiical Action Steps:
The authors suggest a daily routine, similar to hosting a meal, that I find very helpful:
- Invitation: Establish the classroom as a welcoming space to explore the good, true, and beautiful.
- Preparation: All the work accomplished in prior lessons.
- Welcome: Build interest and expectations for the coming lesson.
- Drinks and hors d'oeuvres: Short review/contemplation.
- Seating at the table: Arrange desks in the most conducive manner.
- Prayer: Ask the Spirit of God to illuminate understanding
- Conversation: Lecture, seminar or tutorial.
- Dessert and coffee: Conclusory part that is relaxed and summative.
- Departure and good-bye: Exchange of thanksgiving and gratitude/well-wishing.
Poetical Actions Steps:
Poetic knowledge involves "showing, not telling." It incorporates all the senses. Consider projects/simulations. But not to excess.
- Incorporate all five senses.
- Include beautiful art, music, and/or poetry in each lesson.
8. Docendo Descimus, By Teaching We learn
Students want to teach what they have come to know, and when they do, their friends pay particular attention and are inspired to learn. Knowledge taught is twice learned. Peers can teach peers; older students can teach younger students; students when they teach become filled with greater desire to learn.
This principle reinforces the notion that students learn best when they are the teachers. I try to incorporate this in our daily discussion as well as projects. I think I'm doing ok on this! But I could be better and more intentional.
Action Steps:
The authors recommend the following structure:
- First Little Talk: Introduction of the topic/"Entice"
- Presentation of the Artifact: Actual lesson or artifact under consideration.
- Narration: Students summarize and describe the lesson (repetitio mater memoriae/docendo discimus).
- Second Little Talk: Analyze the narration for what is missing or incomplete. Use the Common Topics:
- Relationship: Cause/effect
- Circumstance: Context
- Comparison: Compare to other lessons/artifacts
- Testimony: Credibility of the author or other author's opinions
- Definition: What is it under consideration?
9. Optimus Magister Bonus Liber Est, The Best Teacher is a Good Book
The voices of great teachers in the good books never stop beckoning, inspiring, teaching, again and again with infinite patience. The best book is by a great author and is a book wisely selected (usually by a teacher) for a particular student at a fitting time. One who guides a student through a study of a good book is a tutor; the teacher is the author. Together the author (teacher), tutor, and student engage in a three-way conversation that educates remarkably.
According to Seneca, "You must linger among a limited number of master thinkers and digest their works if you would derive ideas which shall win firm hold in your mind. Everywhere means nowhere" (p. 213). This absolutely pierces to my soul! I am so guilty of trying to introduce so much to my students that I fear they remember, and certainly own, little of it.
This section, however, validates my idea that reading aloud text and privileging the text is the right way to go. It also serves as a good reminder to get students using their commonplace journals. Often, in my too-stuffed lesson plans, we have no time to actually do this. I am skipping the point of the lesson. Allow them to begin to "own" the learning by recording it!!!
Like the previous section, they recommend the use of the Common Topics to find great questions, with the addition on an "Ethic/Obligation" section asking "What should this person have done and why?" (p. 225).
Action Steps:
- Use Commonplace Journal with every reading.
- Use Common Topics for discussion questions, maybe even in reading packets/reading quizzes.
10. Conversation and Friendship
Ongoing conversation between teachers and students, and between students and fellow students, creates a friendship of the soul that gives birth to learning that is personal, mutual, delightful, and deep. In continuing exchanges over long spans of time, the teacher forms the student in his likeness. But the student too renews and refreshes the love of learning in the teacher. Academic conversation characterizes all learning; both the student and teacher seek the true, good, and beautiful together as academic friends and fellows.C. S. Lewis starts the section with, "The schoolmaster must think about the pupil: everything he says is said to improve the boy's character or open his mind--the schoolmaster is there to make the pupil a 'good' man" (p. 236). I need to make sure that all my lesson have the virtue of the student and his character formation in mind. Even if it is just tenacity or thoroughness, all lessons must be used to further an actual good in my students.
The section describes a "college" as a collection of learners. It asks us to invite our older students in the college that already exists in the faculty. They are to become its "junior" members. I love this idea! I think it treats our *almost* adult students with the gravitas they deserve. The classroom then becomes a place of restful and inviting conversation among *semi* equals.
Action Steps:
Review with the class what "kills" the conversation and thus makes them ineligible for membership in the "college":
- Judgment
- Ridicule
- One person dominating
- Thinking about what to say instead of listening
- Interrupting
- Side conversations
APPENDIX
- Questions that reflect on God's nature and will
- Questions that examine moral and ethical implications
- Questions that explore human purpose and calling
- Questions about the nature of Truth and knowledge
- Questions that encourage humility and dependence on God
- Questions about redemption and restoration
- Questions that foster wonder and gratitude
- Questions that discern spiritual growth
- Questions that build community and mission
