Get Your ACT Together This Summer Facebook Twitter Email This Post Academy for Classical Teachers May 17, 2023 The Academy for Classical Teachers (ACT) will be offering live online courses via ZOOM this summer. ACT provides online enrichment for classical teachers who seek to teach in their classrooms according to the principles of a traditional Liberal Arts Education. ACT is a collaborative initiative of Great Hearts Academies and our partner institutions in both higher education and classical K-12. Courses are designed to help teachers dive deeply into content, with an eye toward both theory and practice. Paul Weinhold, Director of ACT, is excited to expand the reach of these courses. “Now that we’ve taken our courses online, we’re able to connect with classical teachers from around the country, and I am grateful for the ways that our colleagues from other schools have enriched the experience that we all share.” Let’s take a closer look at some of the live online courses that will be offered in June. All three of these courses have strong enrollment, but still have available seats, so you will want to register soon. Classics of Modern Empirical Science This online course with Michael Ivins is offered June 5 – 16, 2023 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 12:30 – 2:30 pm (AZ), 2:30 – 4:30 pm (CDT). The rise of modern science in the 17th century can be characterized by three essential features: an emphasis on direct observation, the development and employment of technology, and the mathematization of nature. Together with a fundamental shift in the aim of science from understanding the whole of nature and our place in it to the project of the “mastery and possession of nature” (René Descartes’ Discourse on Method, 1637), these three modes of understanding privileged by modern science have shaped our understanding of the world in ways we may not be entirely aware of. This makes the study of the tradition of the sciences as much a necessary part of our historical self-knowledge as the study of the humanities and even the facts of history. Register at https://greatheartsaz.configio.com/pd/4295/classics-of-modern-empirical-science-dr-michael-ivins-65-616-online?diid=5155#Detail Learning the Secrets of English Verse This online course with David J. Rothman is offered June 5 – 16, 2023 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm (AZ), 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm (CDT). This class explores how to read, write, study and teach verse, the most fundamental of the magical things poets do with words. Why magical? Because verse is an expression of language that not only says things, but also does things. In prose, you can express any meaning language affords; you can use any word, any syntax, any figure of speech, and take up any subject, any image, any tone, even at times any rhythm. What you can’t do in prose, however, is deploy verse techniques that poets argue endlessly over: meter, rhyme, stanza forms, lyrical forms (such as the sonnet, the limerick and sestina) and more. In this sense, the techniques of verse have more in common with promises, blessings and vows than with any kind of descriptive writing. And these techniques are key to understanding how poetry works, for they are language not only as object but also as action. Register at: https://greatheartsaz.configio.com/pd/4295/learning-the-secrets-of-english-verse-david-rothman-65-616-online?diid=5153#Detail Grammar as a Key to Meaning This online course with Dr. Kathryn Smith is offered June 6 – 22, 2023 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 – 1:00 pm (AZ), 1:00 – 3:00 pm (CDT). The approach to grammar instruction in school need not be a tedium for either the teacher or the student. Unfortunately for some, the memory of such instruction has left them jaded or confused. According to Phillip Donnelly the main reason for this disappointment is the way in which grammar is presented as a merely descriptive and instrumental categorizing of words instead of a wondrous and lively insight into the basis of our shared communion with others. This seminar will look at grammar instruction in light of the essential connection between grammar and meaning that informs all human communication. While we will review its structural elements, we will also explore the nuances inherent in grammatical choices through examples from history, literature, science, mathematics, and philosophy. “Only when grammar is understood as living knowledge oriented toward verbal making can we begin to imagine an alternative to the two-fold suffering – the boredom and shame – that so often results from dwelling amid the lived contradictions of linguistic facts and values” – Phillip J. Donnelly, The Lost Seeds of Learning Register at https://greatheartsaz.configio.com/pd/4295/grammar-as-a-key-to-meaning-dr-kathryn-smith-66-622-online?diid=5154#Detail This is just a sampling of the many courses available from ACT. While these courses will be offered live through ZOOM, there will also be offerings of asynchronous courses. These courses are free for Great Hearts staff and faculty, but you will find that they are reasonably priced for other classical educators and the general public who want to learn more about classical education. Registration for these courses is now open. View overviews of all the courses offered and register today at: https://www.greatheartsamerica.org/act/ Do you have a story or know of a story that you would like to see featured at Great Hearts? Please contact jmoore@greatheartsamerica.org.
