Author: Mr. Steven Battaglia

When talking with teachers who are new to classical education, I am often asked about planning a lesson “classically.” In response I suggest that a classical lesson is distinct from all other lessons in that it possesses elements of the classical Trivium: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric.  

If the ingredients of a lesson contain three features: deciding what to teach, organizing materials and activities, and bringing the lesson to life, then the Trivium is most readily applicable in the organization of the lesson.…

Wilfred M. McClay’s Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story is the recommended student text for the eleventh-grade American history course. The text tells the story of America through a compelling narrative that appears and reads more like a novel than a textbook. McClay, himself, in his “Introduction” acknowledges the objective of his writing is “to offer to American readers, young and old alike, an accurate, responsible, coherent, persuasive, and inspiring narrative account of their own country – an account that will inform and deepen their sense of the land they inhibit and equip them for the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship.” …