Teacher Training Brochure

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9:00-9:50 a.m.

Gregory’s Seven Laws of Teaching will be unpacked with an eye toward the practical application of day-to-day instruction.

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10:00-10:50 a.m.

James will walk you through the 75-point rubric that is used for training and observation of teachers. Within those 75 points are captured elements philosophical and practical with emphasis upon the wisdom found in The Seven Laws of Teaching. You’ll come to understand why a proper lesson observation focuses more on the activities and participation of the students than the performance of the teacher. Are you a conductor of the orchestra or a solo performer on the stage?

Making sure that the principles of the Seven Laws are incorporated into our daily lesson plans goes a long way to ensure successful teaching.

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11:00 a.m.-Noon

Giving our youngest students a solid foundation in phonics sets them up for a life of reading and writing. In this workshop we will discuss ways we engage our students in phonics and literature. Examples will be given for activities we use to make phonics and literature both meaningful and fun for our littlest learners.

Students spend approximately 13 years of their life growing and learning within your Classical Christian school community, so it is vital to create a school culture in which your families and students are seen, known, and connected. Our schools should reflect a commitment to Christ-centered learning and Christ-centered relationships. Capture the heart and vision for living in Christian community, partnering with parents, and maximizing the possibilities for deep connections in your K-12 Classical Christian classrooms and school.

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1:30-2:20 p.m.

James will model for teachers a typical classroom period from opening to closing bell to demonstrate strategies and methods for getting the very most out of every class period. Opening exercises, strategies for effective review, advanced organizers, lesson flow per time markers, and effective endings to a lesson session will be discussed. The emphasis of this workshop is practical application. Principles can be applied at any level of the trivium.

When approaching simple sentences, students of Latin and Greek often adopt methods of translating that are not the same as reading. These methods usually fail when the student encounters original Latin texts. This session provides tools and tips for enabling students to process meaning from left to right and experience the mental operation of truly reading an inflected language. It explains how to use a reading approach from the very first Latin lessons to prepare students for advanced reading, and how the same method works with extremely complex sentences. The tools are effective for Latin and Greek, but can be adapted to any foreign language.

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2:30-3:20 p.m.

In this workshop, we’ll discuss how to build strong foundations by using chants, songs, games, paddles, and more. This workshop will center largely around introducing beginning Latin, but the principles can be applied to any subject. Come and be a student in our Latin workshop and find some tools you can use in your classroom next year which will get every student involved.

Unlike other texts that students may study in school, the Bible brings an authoritative message that the teacher is obliged to communicate faithfully. God designed the whole of Scripture with a distinct framework into which every passage finds its place. This session explores how an understanding of the Bible's framework should guide the Bible teacher's lesson plans. It helps teachers study biblical texts with reference to the framework, and so avoid lessons that are out of sync with the intent of the text. It introduces tools for communicating the Bible's big picture to students and preserving the dynamic of unfolding drama that is built into Scripture.

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3:30-4:20 p.m.

Classroom management in the lower grammar classroom includes teachers, students, and their parents. Come learn the tools we use for classroom management in the lower grammar classroom at MHA, as well as how we invite parent buy-in and support. 

What does a respectful, engaged scholar look like in your classroom? What will you do when your students are disrespectful, off task, or not ready to learn? In this hands-on workshop, you will develop a framework for a written classroom management plan. While every teacher will benefit from having a written plan, this workshop is best suited to new teachers or teachers changing roles. You will leave with a living document that will become your playbook for effectively managing your day-to-day interactions with your students and set you up for success heading into a new school year.

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7:00-9:00 p.m.

Cunning and vengeance; pride and self-control; indulgence and self-humiliation; Zeus and Athena. In classical and Christ-centered schools, we invest many hours enjoying classic pagan stories, such as Homer's Odyssey. But why? And more importantly, how? This seminar will explore how we approach, enjoy, and learn from Homer's Odyssey in a Christ-centered classroom. Participants are invited, but not required, to read The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fagles. (Additional registration fee applies.)

9:00-9:50 a.m. 

As Christian educators, we seem to have a problem. From the same mouth we command students to follow the rules and we urge them work hard to earn good grades, while we also invite them to receive salvation from God as a free gift of his grace. Is this really a problem? We will explore how to clarify these important issues for our students in life-giving ways.

10:00-10:50 a.m.

How can you develop a hands-on and engaging science curriculum without a dedicated classroom? Learn tips and tricks from an experienced teacher who has taught grammar-level science from a cart for the past six years. This presentation will benefit those teaching science as well as teachers without their own classrooms who need to physically transport supplies to multiple locations each day.

Classical education emphasizes the study of primary texts over textbook syntheses. Primary texts are particularly important in the study of biblical hermeneutics because the "rules" of sound interpretation were developed through a long history of error and correction that continues to this day. This session explores how to make primary texts, including interpretations of ancient Jewish sects, church fathers, reformers, and modern critical interpreters, accessible to high school students. It demonstrates how to design a lesson that works from student observation and discussion to abiding hermeneutical principles.

11:00 a.m.-Noon

Join us as we discover how to transform any room to a stage. We’ll discuss plays, reader’s theater, poetry, oral presentations, and competitions. Drama requires role-playing and helps us better understand humanity. Good public speaking is a goal of the rhetoric school, but the grammar of public speaking starts in the grammar school. We’ll explore the importance of public performance, ways to use it to enhance your studies, and even assessments. Walk away with ideas for incorporating role-playing and public speaking into your classroom. (If there’s interest, we’ll also cover ideas for starting an after-school drama program or summer camps.)

In many classical Christian school science curricula, astronomy often gets ignored. James will make an argument not only for its inclusion in your program, but also why its exclusion is a mistake. Astronomy, the mathematical art of number in time and space, allows for an integrative review of all aspects of the students’ K-12 education. The literary stories of the mythology of constellations, the use of the luminaries for determining signs, seasons, days and years, the development of trigonometry as a child of astronomy, and the formation of a solid apologetic for God’s creation of the cosmos through His natural laws are but a few of the aspects of learning and wonder that are available in astronomy." change to "The literary stories of the mythology of constellations; the use of the luminaries for determining signs, seasons, days, and years; the development of trigonometry as a child of astronomy; and the formation of a solid apologetic for God’s creation of the cosmos through His natural laws are but a few of the aspects of learning and wonder that are available in astronomy. Did we mention navigation, history, world cultures, cosmological art, space exploration, and the proper evolution of the Christian worldview? Come explore how the “heavens declare the glory of God” in nearly every aspect of life and inquiry.

1:30-2:20 p.m.

Reading is essential to learning and growing, yet what can teachers do when their students simply won’t read? What if there were some small “moves” within your classroom that would encourage students to grab a book, deepen their discussions, and delight in a “literary community?” Join us as we discuss this new approach to reading the classics and how it might just energize your instruction and create the “readerly community” that your heart desires. You will leave with new ideas, tools to implement, and a fresh way to engage your students in your current reading curriculum – and beyond!

Because American culture has forsaken God, people are struggling to understand themselves correctly as the image of God. The Christian study of humanities - including history, literature, art, and music - solves this problem because it directs students toward their true identity and purpose in union with the true image of God, Jesus Christ. We will consider how to apply this approach in a Classical and Christ-centered classroom.

2:30-3:20 p.m.

Have you always had a dream to teach but feel that you are getting into the game a little late? Hear the personal story of how a child’s persistent prayer led to one teacher leaving a lucrative career in the business world to become a teacher. You’ll glean insights about the joys, challenges, and surprises that have come with transitioning into the field of education. This presentation will benefit those changing careers to pursue teaching as well as those managing or mentoring teachers who have recently made such a transition. 

This session helps Latin and Greek teachers whose language classes contain students with a wide range of language aptitude. The teacher does not have to choose between a pace that leaves struggling students behind and one that leaves language-oriented students sitting idle and bored with language class. This session provides strategies for keeping every student engaged and progressing in language learning throughout an entire class period.

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3:30-4:20 p.m.

Avoid chaos and confusion within your day by implementing organizational tools and strategies in your grammar school classroom. In this workshop, you will learn techniques and practical steps to maintain order and create routines that will improve your classroom culture. You’ll leave with ideas and tips to help your students remain organized and engaged from the first bell to the last. 

Everywhere we turn, we find evil. We find it in both ourselves and our neighbors. We find it in both the past and the present. We even find it in the stories we read together in class. Evil is troubling, no matter where we find it. This workshop will examine how to respond to the problem of evil, whether the class is theology, history, or literature.

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7:00-9:00 p.m.

Cunning and vengeance; pride and self-control; indulgence and self-humiliation; Zeus and Athena. In classical and Christ-centered schools, we invest many hours enjoying classic pagan stories, such as Homer's Odyssey. But why? And more importantly, how? This seminar will explore how we approach, enjoy, and learn from Homer's Odyssey in a Christ-centered classroom. Participants are invited, but not required, to read The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fagles. (Additional registration fee applies.)

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9:00-9:50 a.m.

Because we were created in God’s image, we were made to desire beauty. In a very real sense, we were created for beauty. And yet, even in our classical Christian schools, how many people continue to believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? In this seminar, we’ll examine beauty as an objective reality and the necessity of our response to its call.

Decorate with intentionality that reflects truth, beauty, and goodness in your classroom. What does your space reveal about you? What do you value? Your room is an important place to show and model truth, goodness, and beauty. In this workshop, we’ll concentrate on designing a beautiful space. Sample bulletin boards will be shown with practical, how-to-do it yourself tips. We’ll take a look at ways to incorporate art and scripture; how to consider color, proportion, placement, and accessories; as well as ideas which encourage wonder.

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10:00-10:50 a.m.

Who would’ve believed that our gender-bending culture would end up where it is today with regard to questions of basic human biology? How do we teach boys and girls about biblical masculinity and femininity in the midst of a world that seems to be losing its collective mind on this topic? Let’s discuss some principles and practices.