Good afternoon!
One of the most common questions I've received from parents and the public regards the much-maligned Common Core State Standards (CCSS) that are scheduled for full implementation in the 2014-2015 school year and the extent to which the school will follow them. Many parents have strong feelings one way or the other regarding these standards. Some are strongly against them, often because they feel that, due to the varying populations of each state, national standards are unrealistic. Others are in favor, citing that we cannot accurately measure the efficacy of our schools if we don't have the same data. I'd say many educators fall somewhere in the middle. Many educators feel that the current way of doing things needs work- we test too much, teach too little, and our standards are a bit outdated. I know that I've felt that new standards were needed a long time ago- but I'm not sure the Common Core- or its methodology- is necessarily right either.
So how does the classical model fit into the Common Core and its requirements? Charter schools are public schools and therefore, we must teach whatever standards Florida puts into place and, for now, those are the Common Core standards. However, there is a distinct difference- we will NOT be teaching to a test or using the canned curricula that has been developed specifically for Common Core. Our curriculum has been around for a long time- great works of literature, great speeches, scientific discoveries- much longer than any single set of standards. Our curriculum exceeds what is required by the Common Core. When the CCSS were released, the Core Knowledge foundation didn't have to change or adjust their curriculum to meet it- the curriculum already exceeded its requirements. Singapore Math was similarly already exceeding this "raise in standards of teaching".
The bottom line is, if you have a solid curriculum and you allow teachers to truly TEACH- without focusing on teaching to a particular test- your students will pass any test put in front of them. In fact, they'll often exceed and succeed. And you do not have to change your time-tested curriculum to match standards they already far surpass.
Factum per Litteras
(Achievement through Learning),
Kelly
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Friday, May 2, 2014
Understanding the Trivium
Happy Friday!
One of the first things the founders noticed when we truly began digging in to classical education was a consistent mention of the concept of the "Trivium". The word Trivium is (of course) Latin, meaning "the three ways" or "the three roads". The word refers to the three ancient forms of teaching common in Greek and Roman and through medieval education- the concepts of grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
These three levels of learning, so to speak, refer to the way that children learn and acquire information over their developmental growth curve. Susan Wise Bauer is likely the most well-known classical educator to discuss the Trivium in her acclaimed article The Well-Trained Mind. You can read her short, but informative article here. This website also has a wealth of other information regarding classical education.
The first stage, the Grammar stage, refers to the elementary school years — what we commonly think of as grades one through four — where the mind is ready to absorb information. Bauer describes this time frame as the place where children seek to learn facts about the world around them and this is where these facts set the stage for all future learning and critical thinking.
The second stage, the Logic Stage, Bauer describes as a time when the child begins to pay attention to cause and effect, to the relationships between different fields of knowledge relate, to the way facts fit together into a logical framework. Children here begin to develop abstract thought and not only ask "what?" but the all-important question of "why?".
In the last stage, Rhetoric, Bauer describes a student of rhetoric who applies the rules of logic learned in middle school to the foundational information learned in the early grades and expresses his conclusions in clear, forceful, elegant language. Students also begin to specialize in whatever branch of knowledge attracts them- the arts, STEM subjects, or liberal arts.
In short, many child development theorists have taken their research from the idea of the Trivium. In fact, probably the most well known child development theorist, Jean Piaget, described stages in which students learn and progress through to develop abstract thinking. Classical education has been using these stages for hundreds of years before Piaget!
Classical education is a multifaceted approach to education of which the Trivium is only one facet, but it does provide a broad organizational structure for the large amount of knowledge students will learn in a classical school. A well-trained mind, indeed.
Ad altiora tendo
(I strive towards higher things),
Kelly
One of the first things the founders noticed when we truly began digging in to classical education was a consistent mention of the concept of the "Trivium". The word Trivium is (of course) Latin, meaning "the three ways" or "the three roads". The word refers to the three ancient forms of teaching common in Greek and Roman and through medieval education- the concepts of grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
These three levels of learning, so to speak, refer to the way that children learn and acquire information over their developmental growth curve. Susan Wise Bauer is likely the most well-known classical educator to discuss the Trivium in her acclaimed article The Well-Trained Mind. You can read her short, but informative article here. This website also has a wealth of other information regarding classical education.
The first stage, the Grammar stage, refers to the elementary school years — what we commonly think of as grades one through four — where the mind is ready to absorb information. Bauer describes this time frame as the place where children seek to learn facts about the world around them and this is where these facts set the stage for all future learning and critical thinking.
The second stage, the Logic Stage, Bauer describes as a time when the child begins to pay attention to cause and effect, to the relationships between different fields of knowledge relate, to the way facts fit together into a logical framework. Children here begin to develop abstract thought and not only ask "what?" but the all-important question of "why?".
In the last stage, Rhetoric, Bauer describes a student of rhetoric who applies the rules of logic learned in middle school to the foundational information learned in the early grades and expresses his conclusions in clear, forceful, elegant language. Students also begin to specialize in whatever branch of knowledge attracts them- the arts, STEM subjects, or liberal arts.
In short, many child development theorists have taken their research from the idea of the Trivium. In fact, probably the most well known child development theorist, Jean Piaget, described stages in which students learn and progress through to develop abstract thinking. Classical education has been using these stages for hundreds of years before Piaget!
Classical education is a multifaceted approach to education of which the Trivium is only one facet, but it does provide a broad organizational structure for the large amount of knowledge students will learn in a classical school. A well-trained mind, indeed.
Ad altiora tendo
(I strive towards higher things),
Kelly
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