I got discouraged this week considering basic composition programs that are mostly based on progym. I was recalled to sanity by a couple of posts by Cindy of Ordo Amoris. When will I learn that much teaching is liable to kill learning? I mean, I need to internalize this! I must not have it if I still need reminders.
Here are the resources I plan to
peruse. (I probably will not get to all of them.)
Towards a Defense
of Charlotte Mason by Cindy Rollins
"To divorce a subject from its
meaning was the error of modernity, a mad quest to produce more in less time.
The classical authors and educators from antiquity until now were not searching
for efficiency and it is puzzling that modern classical educators have missed
this point." --Cindy
"Education is the Science of Relations;
that is, that a child has natural relations with a vast number of things and
thoughts: so we train him upon physical exercises, nature lore, handicrafts,
science and art, and upon many living books, for we know that our business is
not to teach him all about anything, but to help him to make valid as many as
may be of 'Those first-born affinities/That fit our new existence to existing
things.'" --Charlotte Mason
"There is a way to have both rigor
and meaning but we must not take shortcuts through the avenue of too many
subjects." --Cindy
"The more important a 'subject'
the greater danger we are in of over-teaching it." --Cindy
"She was seeking a classical
education that would serve the needs of the general population, but founded in
principles that had weathered well." --Karen Glass
Since I don't know a whole lot about
Classical Ed, I want to limit myself to teachers that have CM's principles at
the heart of their teaching while also understanding Classical Ed. I feel
more certain of this with Andrew Kern than I do James Selby, but I really like
Selby's presentation of the progym so far.
This was the article that really scared
me. I am going to read it again, writing comments and questions in the
margins.
I also have some materials from Kern's Lost
Tools of Writing, Selby's Classical Composition program and the Classical Writing program (by different authors).
Why am I doing this to myself?
Because I need to have a foundation of understanding. When I work
with my kids on their writing, I want it to be in a way that respects the
nature of the student. But I lack knowledge. I have little
understanding of the nature of writing! I intuitively get some things but
do not see the path on which to lead others. I NEED this. How can I
teach otherwise?
No comments:
Post a Comment