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HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
Welcome to HeightsCast, the podcast of The Heights School. With over 200 episodes, HeightsCast discusses the education of young men fully alive in the liberal arts tradition. The program engages teachers and thought-leaders in the educational/cultural space to support our community of listeners: parents, teachers, and school leaders seeking to educate the young men in their care. Instead of downloads, HeightsCast's most important metric for success is the unknown number of thoughtful…
Episodes
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveOn Grades: The Parents' Perspective
Be careful that in encouraging a grade, you don't shortchange growth; for a grade ought to be a means to growth, helping students—and their parents—see where…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveTeaching: A Professional Vocation
"The mind," Plutarch wrote, "is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting." The teacher's job, then, is not so much transferring data about…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveOn Dress Codes and Decorum with Tom Royals
"It's the little details that are vital," said Coach John Wooden. "Little things make big things happen." Among the little details of school, which at times…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveTom Steenson on Classroom Tone and Culture
What, you might ask, does cheese have to do with education? The answer is not that you may find holes in both, but rather that both require attention to the…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveTeaching Sovereign Knowers: Michael Moynihan on Fostering Agency in Students
Upper School Head Michael Moynihan encourages teachers to view their students as sovereign knowers called to exercise agency in their learning. As teachers, we…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveStewards of the Universe: Alvaro de Vicente on "Men Fully Alive"
In this episode, Heights Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente elaborates on his vision for our Heights Graduates as "Men Fully Alive." This vocation is a life-long…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveEpic and the Ordinary: Tom Cox on Why We Teach Epic Poetry
This week on HeightsCast we feature Tom Cox, Upper School Latin teacher and one of the architects of the Core Humanities Sequence. In the Episode, Tom explains…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveThree Components of a "Great" Summer: Colin Gleason on Journals, Schedules, and Service
"Have a great summer!" We hear it and say it incessantly, but what are we actually wishing for our boys? 21st Century America gives boys 3 months off--that is…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveDefining the Liberal Arts
To learn more about the Summer Workshops, click here. Dr. Matthew Mehan unpacks the liberal arts. We can throw the term around to describe our school, but do…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive"I totally lost it": Colin Gleason on Paternal Patience
Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, discusses paternal patience and anger in this week's episode. If you, like so many dads, find yourself regretting the fact…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveMentoring without a Program: Joe Cardenas on Teaching the Whole Person
At the heart of teaching is the desire to make an impact on the lives of one's students. Beyond conveying useful information or training them in…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveGeorge Weigel on John Paul II's "Culture-First" Approach: The Pope-Saint's Lessons for Parents, Teachers, and Leaders
"Education," wrote G. K. Chesterton, "is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another." If Chesterton is right, then education is…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveWit and Wisdom: Dr. Matthew Mehan on Teaching Shakespeare
In schools today, Shakespeare is often taught superficially. Students attempt to grasp the plot with the aid of their teacher, who helps them through the…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AlivePaternal Presence: Alvaro de Vicente on "Being There"
In G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy, he tells a sort of parable in which children are given space to play on a mountain top surrounded by steep precipices on all…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveFriends in the World: Nate Gadiano on Engaging with Those Who Disagree
As the world of academia becomes increasingly polarized, parents may be concerned about sending their children off to colleges where the general culture and…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveParenting from Fear: Alvaro de Vicente on Reasons for Confidence
Parents love their children and desire the best for them. Yet at times the world seems full of dangers and obstacles to a child's ultimate good. Because of…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveParental Authority: Dr. Leonard Sax on Our Role
In the past twenty years, research suggests that parents are worrying more about their children and spending more to provide them with comforts. In spite of…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AlivePope Benedict XVI and Catholic Education: Dr. Joe Lanzilotti on the Adventure of Truth
Hell, Dante expresses, is being trapped by our false attempts to be free. Thus, the Comedy's Satan is forever stuck in the ice of a lake made frozen by the…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveA Better Approach to History: Cox and Dardis on their New Book
What does it mean to be "civilized"? What is justice? What is a citizen? Given the opportunity, would you have killed Julius Caesar? Was Nero inevitable, or is…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveDiscipline in the Classroom: Colin Gleason on the Art of Order
As teachers and parents, it is often difficult to find the balance between leniency and strictness, love and fear. Getting the right tone, being firm in…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveCarpool: Kyle Blackmer on Making Commute Time Good Time
It's not merely where you are going, but how you get there, that matters. And as we often find ourselves going places in cars, it is worth stopping to consider…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveFriendship for Fathers: John Cuddeback on Living and Teaching the Art
In a recent national survey of adults in America, a striking sixty-one percent of young adults (age 18-25) reported feeling serious loneliness. Such feelings…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveA Time and Place for Silence: Greving and Ortiz on Time and Solitude
With another year having passed—perhaps even sped by—and a new one underfoot, HeightsCast returns with a discussion of time and solitude with Mike Ortiz and…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveArtwork in Schools: Joe Cardenas on the Buildings that Build Us
From the very start, the founders of The Heights understood education to consist in the communication of a culture. As culture often enters a boy's mind…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveAnton Vorozhko on the Education of the Human Heart
In many schools, education is understood in reductively intellectual terms. The point of teaching, it would seem, is merely to inform, to fill the mind with…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveThe Art of Teaching: On Forming Contemplative Souls
In this episode, we feature a recorded lecture given by Rich Moss in his introductory presentation at the Art of Teaching conference hosted by The Heights…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AlivePlutarch's Lives Teach: Tom Cox on Character Education through Story
Boys love concrete details and, even more, they love when those concrete details form the fabric of a hero's tale. Indeed, as Aristotle himself knew, better…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveThe Culture of The Heights: Alvaro de Vicente on Our Mission
This week on HeightsCast, we feature headmaster Alvaro de Vicente's open house speech on the mission and vision of The Heights School. In the speech, Alvaro…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveThe Man Fully Alive: Alvaro de Vicente on our Vision
This week on HeightsCast, we feature a recording of the 2022 Headmaster's Lecture on the man fully alive. In this lecture, Mr. Alvaro de Vicente helps us…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveScience Fiction: Joe Breslin on the Beauty and Value of Strange Worlds
In this week's episode, we discuss science fiction with Mr. Joe Breslin, fifth grade teacher and soon-to-be published author of Other Minds: 13 Tales of Wonder…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveWhy Sing: Pat Love on Brotherhood and Song
From the boys' choir in the lower school to the men's chorus in the upper school, informal performances at faculty dinners to songs at the annual Maryland Day…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveScience Education: Michael Moynihan on the Need for a New Synthesis
This week on HeightsCast we talk with upper school head, Michael Moynihan, about a new initiative of his on the Forum: the Initiative for the Renewal of…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveSelf-Mastery: Alvaro de Vicente on Fostering Interior Freedom in Schools
In this week's episode, we talk with headmaster Alavaro de Vicente about a central theme from our faculty workshop: self-mastery. As Alvaro explains…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveWhen to Fight: Kyle Blackmer on Fisticuffs and the Peacemaking Protector
In this week's episode we discuss fights. Most boys, especially at a young age, have a beautiful need for rough and tumble physical play. But what happens when…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveLeisure and Acedia: R.J. Snell on Contemplative Homes in a Frenetic Age
In many quarters of contemporary society, busy-ness has become a sort of cliche greeting. To the question "How are you?", the response, "So busy," is often…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveWork and Acedia: R.J. Snell on Our Original Vocation
A certain distinguished school leader, when asked when he would retire from his work, replied, "the day that I wake up and do not want to go to work." A reply…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveWhy a Liberal Arts Education Today? Michael Moynihan on Realism, Reductionism, and the Need for a New Synthesis in Liberal Education
This episode features Mr. Michael Moynihan's lecture at last year's Teaching Vocation Conference. Our Upper School Head shares why a liberal arts education is…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveSeeing Our Boys with Loving Eyes with Tom Royals: Not Projects, but Persons
In last week's episode, we considered how beauty is a special combination of order and surprise. To behold beauty, we learned, is to contemplate the dynamism…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveOrder and Surprise: Lionel Yaceczko on Beauty and the Western Tradition
It sounds nice to say, using Dostoevsky's words, that beauty will save the world. But is this claim true? If so, in what sense is it true? What even is beauty?…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveEndless Growth: Kevin Majeres on Addictions and Setting Challenges
In this week's episode, we continue our conversation with Dr. Kevin Majeres, turning our attention to the importance of setting challenges and the way actions…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveThe Freedom to Form Bonds: Kevin Majeres on Mindfulness and Attention
We have all experienced moments in which we are so immersed in a task that we lose track of time and performance feels effortless. For some, this may occur on…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveFrom Anxiety to Adventure: Kevin Majeres on Reframing Challenges
Adorning our school's main hallway is a sort of charter for the Heights graduate which designates him as a man who is "optimistic toward life's challenges," as…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveA Study for All Seasons: Lionel Yaceczko on the Western Tradition
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us that he has "become all things to all people," so that he might better share the blessings of the Good…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveTeaching Hemingway and Fitzgerald with Michael Ortiz: Into the Writer's Workshop
In the opening paragraph of his Confessions, St. Augustine writes, "our hearts are restless until they rest in You." For many, the first half of this famous…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveWho am I?: The Question of Persona
Growing up is, at least in part, a process of learning to ask, and learning to answer, certain fundamental questions. These include timeless queries such as…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveHis Anxiety and Ours: Confessions of an Anxious Parent who Happens to Be a Therapist
As parents, we cannot help but yearn for our child's success. Obviously this is rooted in a beautiful and healthy love. But sometimes that love can give way to…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveThe Talk and Beyond
In this week's episode, we sit down with Mr. Michael Moynihan to discuss his new book, The Talk and Beyond. In the book, Michael shows parents how they can…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveWelcome to the Web: John Beatty on Introducing our Sons to the Internet
On this week's episode, we discuss technology with Mr. John Beatty, IT director at The Heights School. While in past episodes we have spoken about smartphones…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveDuties of Parents in the Conspiracy for the Good of the Boy
We have often heard it said that parents are the primary educators of their children. Among others, we find the seeds of this idea in Cicero, for whom nature…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveMantras, Mottos, and Slogans: On Parenting in an Era of Powerful Phrases
It is not on bread alone that man lives, but also on every word that he receives. And just as one's diet shapes his bodily growth, so too does one's verbal…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveOn Preparation for Teaching: Six Attributes of Great Teachers
This week on HeightsCast, we bring to you a lecture from the 2022 Teaching Vocation Conference. In this lecture, Head of Lower School, Mr. Colin Gleason…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveHumility and Teaching: On Leading While Walking Backward
A teacher is one who leads while walking backward. Even more, he is one who leads with the humble hope that he will one day be surpassed by those who are…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive"Learn to Turn": Tom Royals on Parental Prudence
While we often speak of the virtues we wish to see in our children, it is perhaps less common that we reflect on the particular virtues that we need to foster…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveOur Little Protectors: How do WE See our Boys?
Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente helps us examine our own perception, a parents and teachers, of our boys. If we view them as budding protectors, we'll treat them…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveWhy Teach? An Introduction to the Teaching Vocation
In the first talk of the 2022 Teaching Vocation Conference, Rich Moss describes some of the joys and travails of teaching, as he seeks to answer the question…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveOn Christianity and the Classical Education: Lionel Yaceczko on Ausonius Grammaticus
This week, we sit down with Dr. Lionel Yaceczko to discuss his new book on the fourth century Roman grammarian, Ausonius of Bordeaux. In looking at his life…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveFoundations for Mentoring Struggling Students: On Fighting the Right Fires
Continuing with the theme of mentoring, this week Mr. David Maxham discusses how we, as parents and teachers, can better mentor struggling students by taking a…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveRespectful Dominion: Colin Gleason on Discipline
What's your approach to discipline? This week we feature a lecture delivered at The Heights by Mr. Colin Gleason, Lower School Head offering his thoughts on…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveFinding Mentors After Graduation: Pat Kilner on Find Your Six
In this week's episode, we sit down with Pat Kilner, a graduate of The Heights, former Heights teacher, Heights dad, and now Chairman of the Board of Directors…
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully AliveThe Mission, Vision, and Philosophy of The Heights
In this episode of HeightsCast, we feature the speech delivered by Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente, to attendants of The Heights School's 2021 Fall Open House.