National Symposium for Classical Education – Day Two

The second day of the 2026 Great Hearts National Symposium for Classical Education started off strong with keynote speaker, Doug Lemov, a celebrated educator and author. The program filled the ballroom and several breakout rooms throughout the Mission Palms Hotel in Tempe, Ariz. For many, this marks the first full day of the symposium, and they were filled with anticipation for a wide range of talks, panels, and workshops scheduled throughout the day.

The first keynote session with the Chamber Choir from Veritas Preparatory Academy, giving an impressive performance from over 40 students, followed by a presentation from the 2025 Great Hearts Bard winner, Lia McArthur from Archway Classical Academy Chandler. She took center stage with her winning recitation of Act 4, Scene 3 from “Romeo & Juliet,” showcasing the students’ pursuit of Beauty in performing arts that is foundational to a classical education.

But it was Lemov that drew many of the over 900 educators and leaders in attendance to this session. He is the author of the widely influential Teach Like a Champion, now in its revised 3.0 edition. His name is very familiar to many educators around the world, especially teachers in classical education, who use many of his methods in their classrooms daily. At one point, during his keynote talk titled, “The Science of Reading (Books),” Lemov joked that he was “preaching to the choir” when explaining the importance of reading books to a conference filled with classical educators who hold such reverence to classic literature and the Great Books.

[insert graphic with a left-aligned wrapped text format] “A book is the closest analog to our own thinking,” explained Lamov, standing in the midst of the audience during his highly interactive talk, that felt more like a large format workshop. “It is an individual voice wrestling in language what that person sees around them.” Lemov briefly summarized the seven key research-backed principles that should guide reading instruction after students have learned their letter sound correspondence:

1. It starts with attention
2. Fluency is the hidden driver
3. Knowledge, not skills, lead to comprehension and understanding
4. Vocabulary is the most common and most important form of knowledge
5. Intentional, deliberate writing directly supports better reading
6. The book is the optimal format for student reading
7. Close reading – attentive focus to how meaning is created – is the goal of reading instruction.

He spent a little extra time discussing perhaps the most surprising of the seven principles – the idea that reading books – whole books, great ones, together as a class – is one of the most important things teachers can do to foster achievement and knowledge.

The fun continued with several breakout sessions that included world renowned speakers covering a wide array of topics from the great debate surrounding AI in education, to math, literacy, music, and leading classical schools, while circling back to this year’s theme, “Classical Education and the American Experiment: the Declaration of Independence at 250.”

Great Hearts institute, the organizers of the symposium, hopes to approach the semi quincentennial in the same spirit. The goal is to pursue together an understanding of the American mind, by examining how classical learning across the curriculum – from science and math to the fine arts, languages, history, philosophy, and literature – shapes the American experiment in republican government and prepares citizens and leaders for the future.

The National Symposium will continue through the end of the week, and we will continue to bring you highlights from all three days, full of keynotes, workshops, panels, and presentations from experts in the field.

Register before March 9th for the 2027 Classical Education Symposium, held February 24-26 at the Tempe Mission Palms, to lock in the lowest price of the year at $397 per person. Next year, we’ll explore “Recovering Reading and Reason in a Distracted Age.”

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Submit a student application to a Great Hearts Academy by visiting: https://www.greatheartsamerica.org/enroll/.