Latest / The Grammar of Classical Education / Book Recommendation & Discussion - The Liberal Arts Tradition #5

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Book Recommendation & Discussion - The Liberal Arts Tradition #5 · The Grammar of Classical Education

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  SPEAKER_00: Hello,
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  SPEAKER_00: welcome to the Grammar of Classical Education,
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  SPEAKER_00: a podcast that covers the foundations as well as the philosophical and theoretical
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  SPEAKER_00: ideas of classical learning in a user-friendly and,
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  SPEAKER_00: may I even say,
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  SPEAKER_00: interesting way.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr. Darlene Gomes from Leading to Wonder, and I'm so glad that you could join me today.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'd like to welcome you back,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I am actually really excited to pick up just where we left off last week.
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  SPEAKER_00: In fact,
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  SPEAKER_00: if you are just joining us,
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  SPEAKER_00: I would really recommend that you pause and jump back to last week's episode so you
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  SPEAKER_00: have a basic idea of where we are with talking about poetic knowledge in the
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  SPEAKER_00: context of musical education.
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  SPEAKER_00: which again,
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  SPEAKER_00: part of the language arts tradition from the book by Kevin Clark and Robbie Jane
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  SPEAKER_00: and their PG mapped format,
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  SPEAKER_00: which is piety,
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  SPEAKER_00: gymnastic,
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  SPEAKER_00: musical arts,
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  SPEAKER_00: which is the language arts,
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  SPEAKER_00: philosophy and theology.
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  SPEAKER_00: And just as a brief summary of
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  SPEAKER_00: Musical education,
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  SPEAKER_00: which is education by the muses,
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  SPEAKER_00: or as James Taylor calls it,
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  SPEAKER_00: poetic knowledge,
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  SPEAKER_00: has its goal,
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  SPEAKER_00: the formation of the soul,
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  SPEAKER_00: the drawing of the innermost being toward what is true,
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  SPEAKER_00: good,
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  SPEAKER_00: and beautiful.
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  SPEAKER_00: but it is accomplished through the compelling of the senses and the emotions.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is not just playing and imagination,
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  SPEAKER_00: but it actually may include those things,
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  SPEAKER_00: but it is always in the context of true reality.
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  SPEAKER_00: We were able to see the contrast and understand poetic learning better when we took
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  SPEAKER_00: a look at it compared to scientific learning,
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  SPEAKER_00: where scientific learning examines information just one element at a time,
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  SPEAKER_00: putting the puzzle together by examining each little piece,
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  SPEAKER_00: Poetic learning spends time enjoying the picture on the box,
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  SPEAKER_00: so to speak,
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  SPEAKER_00: looking at the whole and examining the beauty of the whole before emptying out the
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  SPEAKER_00: pieces for the students to put together as they progress through their educational journey.
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  SPEAKER_00: And as a reminder, they are not supposed to be able to put together pieces
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  SPEAKER_00: the whole puzzle in the context of your one-year classroom.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is not a one-year journey.
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  SPEAKER_00: Grammar school teachers are laying a foundation for the learning that is to come.
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  SPEAKER_00: I had given you the example of Taylor's example specifically of a music class where
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  SPEAKER_00: what's more beneficial to lecture on notes and beats and rhythms or to have the
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  SPEAKER_00: students clapping and dancing and enjoying the music before getting into the nitty
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  SPEAKER_00: gritty of musical theory.
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  SPEAKER_00: When they are playing with the music, they are actually working with musical theory and
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  SPEAKER_00: But they're seeing it through their senses and their emotions before seeing it
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  SPEAKER_00: through the sheer scientific,
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  SPEAKER_00: hardcore facts of musical theory.
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  SPEAKER_00: And like we discussed last week,
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  SPEAKER_00: this will look different with students of different ages,
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  SPEAKER_00: as the example I gave about learning about the branches of government with my fifth graders.
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  SPEAKER_00: The giving of basic information was followed by playing with the information,
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  SPEAKER_00: getting a more solid,
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  SPEAKER_00: big picture.
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  SPEAKER_00: Did they have a full grasp of the three branches of government in all its glory?
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  SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
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  SPEAKER_00: But did they get a glimmer that sparked wonder,
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  SPEAKER_00: the understanding that they knew only a bit of what there was to know and desiring
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  SPEAKER_00: now to know more?
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  SPEAKER_00: Well, I most certainly hope so.
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  SPEAKER_00: Finally,
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  SPEAKER_00: we left last week with the question,
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  SPEAKER_00: does every lesson have to be as big of an example as the one I gave you?
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  SPEAKER_00: Do you need to bring out the horse and pony show for every single lesson?
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  SPEAKER_00: And the answer is absolutely not.
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  SPEAKER_00: What our goal as a teacher is,
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  SPEAKER_00: is to help create in our students what Taylor calls a poetic disposition,
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  SPEAKER_00: encouraging,
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  SPEAKER_00: as Aristotle described it,
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  SPEAKER_00: patient,
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  SPEAKER_00: silent,
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  SPEAKER_00: receptive listeners.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now,
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  SPEAKER_00: realizing that our classrooms are rarely silent and only occasionally patient for
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  SPEAKER_00: that matter,
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  SPEAKER_00: we're still working to instill that attitude of being a desiring learner in our students.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's also known as scolay learning.
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  SPEAKER_00: Learning in leisure,
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  SPEAKER_00: as we've talked about before,
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  SPEAKER_00: it is the joy that comes from learning based in desire rather than forced by compulsion.
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  SPEAKER_00: So our goal is to help our students enjoy the process of learning.
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  SPEAKER_00: As Taylor interpreted Augustine,
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  SPEAKER_00: When you enjoy something, you are gaining a true knowledge of that thing.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thus, the reverse would be true.
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  SPEAKER_00: Without the joy, there cannot be true knowledge.
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  SPEAKER_00: And as Taylor says,
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  SPEAKER_00: quote,
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  SPEAKER_00: enjoyment is spontaneous,
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  SPEAKER_00: surprising,
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  SPEAKER_00: unplanned,
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  SPEAKER_00: and immediately captivating to the senses and emotion,
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  SPEAKER_00: as well as to the mind.
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  SPEAKER_00: In other words, poetic, end quote.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that, my friend, is our goal.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can clearly see the goal.
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  SPEAKER_00: The question then really becomes how?
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  SPEAKER_00: How on earth can I constantly create things that are, quote,
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  SPEAKER_00: surprising, spontaneous, unplanned, and immediately captivating to the senses and emotion.
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  SPEAKER_00: And oh yeah, the mind.
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  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget the mind.
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  SPEAKER_00: Really?
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  SPEAKER_00: Alrighty then.
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  SPEAKER_00: Add about 10 extra hours to my planning time,
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  SPEAKER_00: not to speak of the time I will actually lose teaching the information that I'm
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  SPEAKER_00: required to cover.
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  SPEAKER_00: Great.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
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  SPEAKER_00: I know that's what everyone is thinking, but take a breath.
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  SPEAKER_00: We are not talking about creating a major production for every subject every day.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we are certainly not talking about the sheer chaos of letting them
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  SPEAKER_00: independently captivate their senses and supply their own wonder.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, after taking a deep breath...
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  SPEAKER_00: Let's do a quick comparison and you may find that you are already doing some of
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  SPEAKER_00: these poetic methods and many others would not be that difficult to add.
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  SPEAKER_00: To make it a little easier to grasp,
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  SPEAKER_00: let's go back and contrast it again with the scientific teaching that we've talked about.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I gave you a puzzle analogy.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now let's look at it in the reality of a classroom.
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  SPEAKER_00: Scientific teaching aims to investigate and analyze so the information can be classified,
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  SPEAKER_00: looking at all of the small details without a context and a clear big picture.
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  SPEAKER_00: According to Taylor, scientific learning has as its goal to hold, to handle, to grasp, to master.
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  SPEAKER_00: What we want is poetic teaching.
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  SPEAKER_00: It enjoys examining the possibilities,
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  SPEAKER_00: making general connections,
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  SPEAKER_00: enthusiastically investigating,
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  SPEAKER_00: admiring,
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  SPEAKER_00: examining,
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  SPEAKER_00: and developing love.
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  SPEAKER_00: The biggest difference and probably the greatest obstacle for a classroom teacher
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  SPEAKER_00: is that scientific knowledge has as its goal to make progress,
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  SPEAKER_00: while poetic teaching has as its goal to slowly enjoy.
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  SPEAKER_00: Well, ouch.
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  SPEAKER_00: Where do we spend most of our time?
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  SPEAKER_00: Desiring to make progress and get it done or desiring to slowly enjoy and bring that joy to our students?
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  SPEAKER_00: I honestly wish I had a magic wand that could solve the unspoken problem of too
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  SPEAKER_00: much information being required,
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  SPEAKER_00: especially on the grammar school level.
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  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, I do not.
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  SPEAKER_00: Believe me, as a classroom teacher of 34 years, that has always been my personal concern.
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  SPEAKER_00: That balance between covering all the material and having time to enjoy the material.
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  SPEAKER_00: and a true moment of honesty,
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  SPEAKER_00: yes,
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  SPEAKER_00: it is easier to take time with the subjects we enjoy at the detriment of the
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  SPEAKER_00: subjects that we find just eh.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can't do that though.
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  SPEAKER_00: Remember, if they are just eh to us, we are teaching the students that learning about them is just eh.
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  SPEAKER_00: problem that will haunt them for years to come.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now,
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  SPEAKER_00: I am not saying that we shouldn't cover a rigorous amount of information in our classroom,
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  SPEAKER_00: but what I am saying is that it does not need to be rigor for rigor's sake and that
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  SPEAKER_00: there really may need to be some discussion about how much is enough.
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  SPEAKER_00: leaving some room available for enjoyment.
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  SPEAKER_00: We do have to work.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was so funny to see as Taylor quoted John Henry Newman and his description of
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  SPEAKER_00: the poetic lifestyle of the Benedictine monks.
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  SPEAKER_00: He said,
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  SPEAKER_00: quote,
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  SPEAKER_00: they were not dreamy sentimentalist to fall in love with melancholy winds and
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  SPEAKER_00: pearling rills and waterfalls and nodding groves.
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  SPEAKER_00: But their poetry was the poetry of hard work and hard fare, unselfish hearts and charitable hands.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now, that sounds more like our classrooms.
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  SPEAKER_00: Hard work.
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  SPEAKER_00: but done with an unselfish heart and charitable hands and desiring to see the
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  SPEAKER_00: poetry in the world around them.
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  SPEAKER_00: I will say,
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  SPEAKER_00: regardless of how much we need to cover in a classroom,
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  SPEAKER_00: this issue of poetic knowledge and poetic teaching can be addressed if you are
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  SPEAKER_00: willing to
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  SPEAKER_00: to consider it more of a poetic mindset in you as the teacher that then flows over
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  SPEAKER_00: into the poetic knowledge of your students.
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  SPEAKER_00: Consider what Socrates says,
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  SPEAKER_00: He said,
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  SPEAKER_00: quote,
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  SPEAKER_00: we must look for artists and craftsmen capable of perceiving the real nature of
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  SPEAKER_00: what is beautiful.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then our young men living as it were in a healthy climate will benefit because
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  SPEAKER_00: all of the works of art they see and hear are
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  SPEAKER_00: influences them for good, like the breezes from some healthy country.
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  SPEAKER_00: insensibly leading them from earliest childhood to close sympathy and conformity with beauty and reason.
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  SPEAKER_00: This stage of education is crucial for rhythm and harmony penetrate deeply into the
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  SPEAKER_00: mind and take the most powerful hold on it.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can do that.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can be the artist and the craftsman that see the beauty in the world surrounding us,
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  SPEAKER_00: in the history,
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  SPEAKER_00: in the science,
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  SPEAKER_00: in the reading,
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  SPEAKER_00: and even in the math.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we can share that beauty with the young scholars in our classroom.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can be the breezes from some healthy country,
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  SPEAKER_00: wafting into them the sights of all the wonders yet to be explored,
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  SPEAKER_00: leading them to the close sympathy and conformity of beauty and reason,
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  SPEAKER_00: leading them as it were to wonder.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can do that.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can be that kind of teacher.
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  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't take the big plans,
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  SPEAKER_00: the big productions,
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  SPEAKER_00: but it does take some work and definitely some thought.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's including a cool but somewhat simple science demonstration for the
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  SPEAKER_00: introduction of a new unit.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's going to the kitchen and measuring ingredients for a fun snack after
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  SPEAKER_00: studying measurements or heading outside and doing number line math on a huge chalk
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  SPEAKER_00: drawn number line in the parking lot.
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  SPEAKER_00: for reading.
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  SPEAKER_00: It could just be letting the students find a cozy place in the room to settle in
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  SPEAKER_00: for some good old reading time.
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  SPEAKER_00: Or after a particularly challenging reading section,
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  SPEAKER_00: gathering in a little close-knit circle and chatting about it as a class.
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  SPEAKER_00: Or better yet,
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  SPEAKER_00: maybe it's priming the pump,
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  SPEAKER_00: so to speak,
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  SPEAKER_00: getting them set up for the section they will be reading.
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  SPEAKER_00: With poetic knowledge, there is so much more that we could cover.
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  SPEAKER_00: Plus,
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  SPEAKER_00: we need to see that transition from why the poetic and gymnastic learning has to
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  SPEAKER_00: deal with and be founded in piety.
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  SPEAKER_00: So much more to cover.
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  SPEAKER_00: But I think today I'm just going to leave it right here.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we're going to stop with just a specific challenge to you.
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  SPEAKER_00: In your classroom,
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  SPEAKER_00: whether you're with your 2 or with your 20,
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  SPEAKER_00: be the artist and craftsman that points to the beauty and the coolness that can be
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  SPEAKER_00: found in every subject.
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  SPEAKER_00: To those young men and young women who sit before you every day,
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  SPEAKER_00: be the breezes from some healthy country that waft to their very soul,
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  SPEAKER_00: creating a longing for knowledge and adventures yet unknown.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can do that.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can be that kind of teacher.
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  SPEAKER_00: So whether you are all in with classical ed,
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  SPEAKER_00: or you're just kind of curious,
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  SPEAKER_00: or even you just want to be a better teacher,
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  SPEAKER_00: I hope you'll stick around and join us for this next podcast.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: To get the latest episode,
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: as well as a fun little teacher's newsletter,
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: complete with a couple of classroom freebies,
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: please sign up for the Leading to Wonder newsletter.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can subscribe to the podcast directly on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about me and Leading to Wonder, you can visit my website at leadingtowonder.com.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: No spaces.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: And finally,
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  SPEAKER_00: to reach out to me directly with questions or comments or even for information
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: regarding in-house or
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: virtual teacher training workshops, feel free to email me at Darlene at leading to wonder.com.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Have an amazing week.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, as E.B.
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  SPEAKER_00: White said, always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.