The Classical Scholar

One of the characteristics of an Indy Car driver and a musical maestro, both masters of their respective skill, is self-discipline. Were they undisciplined in pursuing knowledge and practice of their craft, they would never have risen to the heights of master. We want our rising classical scholars to exhibit self-discipline especially when they are ready to tackle the weightier ideas of life. But successful young adults don’t just wake up one day with a cheery smile and say, “I’m going to be self-disciplined today!” No, long before your home school child is ready to transition to the supervision of subjects, you have something to teach them besides language, critical thinking, and communication skills. In addition to content, you will gradually teach them good habits which will prepare them for Step 3, Supervised Study of Subjects.

Look at the word “self-discipline,” it’s easy to see that “self” refers to the individual, but the really interesting thing about the etymology or origin of the word “discipline” is that it comes from the latin noun disciplina (instruction) and the latin verb discere (to learn). A very familiar word to Christian parents also derives from these latin roots: disciple. So, in the simplest sense discipline is really instruction given to a disciple! As a parent, you are not just discipling your children to follow Jesus, but you are also discipling them to govern themselves.

Progressive Responsibility

When the kids were young, there was no homeschool schedule (at least one they knew of). I made all the decisions about the content, but over time, I gradually disciplined the children to take more responsibility for their work. In the beginning, I did not tell them what we were going to do that day. Schedules were flexible and depended quite a bit on how long I could hold their attention. As they got older, I began to give them a daily schedule with tasks that they were to complete. They enjoyed crossing out the task as it was finished, and it gave them a sense of accomplishment and motivation to keep plugging along until the entire day was done!

When I felt they were ready to handle more responsibility, I developed a weekly schedule of assignments by day which I expected them to tackle. Inevitably, some tasks were not accomplished and were postponed to the next day, but overall, it was a good way to show them the whole week at a glance and teach them longer term planning.

Later, I began to give them a weekly schedule, but this time, I did not tell them when they had to get the work done. In other words, I told them they were mature enough to budget their own time and could choose to do all their math lessons on Tuesday if they wanted or spread them over the week.

Finally, the summer before Meredith’s freshman year, we spent several hours in a visionary session where we went to the websites of a couple of colleges that she’s interested in, and we looked at the minimum admission requirements for her possible major and minor. We then chatted about what she had to accomplish to meet these minimums, and sketched out a very loose, four year strategic plan to get there. Then she decided, with our blessing and counsel, which subjects she wanted to study in detail for the next two semesters. So, she was now responsible for a semester plan which was totally her own responsibility. In effect, David and I had discipled her over the years to supervised independent study.

Appropriate Consequences

In a perfect world, the disciple would do exactly what he or she was supposed to do, but we know from the Gospels, that even Jesus’ disciples veered off course. Peter denied knowing him in the courtyard, and Judas arranged his arrest. Over the years, you’ve been teaching your child certain patterns of behavior, but every now and then, as the disciplinarian (another derivative of disciplina, “instruction”), you have to enforce order. David and I have found that it’s much easier to establish the consequences before the infraction is committed.

For instance, when the kids were younger, I didn’t punish them for missing one of my task deadlines. I am often overly ambitious, and I chalked the delays up to my optimism in setting the schedule. But now that I know what they are capable of doing, and now that they are older and more mature, they do receive consequences for failure to meet expectations. Connor, my almost-fourteen year old, is still operating with a weekly schedule, so if he doesn’t complete one of the tasks on the schedule, he has to keep working until he gets it done. This might mean extra hours in the afternoon or on the weekend. Meredith, my fifteen year old, didn’t finish her Algebra 1 this semester because of our overwhelming debate workload, so she’s working this summer (on her own timetable) to complete the Algebra 1lessons.

Consequences can be negative or positive. Sometimes the kids have cranked to get something done, and I’ll give them the rest of the week off as a reward for hard work. Incentives are not manipulative or coercive; they are more like unexpected rewards for good behavior or stellar performance. I think of them like a bonus for long hours or excellent work that your boss might give you at year-end.

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Self-discipline is not just about assuming personal responsibility for a work schedule and experiencing consequences for missing or making deadlines. Discipline over learning, the role of the supervisor, and four helpful hints for your disciples are the subjects of my next post.

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In post one of this series on mastering the three skills of the classical trivium, “How Do You Measure Mastery?”, I compared classical homeschooling to Indy car racing and defined the finish line, the driver, and the crew. In “Diane’s Must-Know Mastery Checklists,” I compared the content to the Indy car and shared my personal “must-know” checklists for teaching language, critical thinking, and communication skills. In this final post on mastery, we’ll look at pit stops and how to evaluate your child’s progress towards mastery.

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The Pit Stop

Indy Cars enter the pit for one reason: maintenance. Periodically throughout the race, the driver pulls into the pit for fuel, tire changes, and for other engine or body work. The experienced pit crew member assesses the situation and prescribes a solution. Personally, in the “Lockman Racing League,” we like regular pits! I probably reassess the kids’ progress about every 12-18 weeks. I use my “must-know” checklists as a gauge and adjust the schedule and content accordingly. Weaker areas get more time. Sometimes I’ll even table all other work and do a quick intensive to make sure they are getting the concept. We’ve been known to stop everything and do a “grammar camp” or nothing but algebra until I was satisfied that they “got it.” Feel free to use my content “must-know” checklists as a guide to help you develop your next 12 week strategic plan.

The Score

Indy Car drivers accumulate points over the racing season as they compete in multiple races around the country. You need criteria for judging mastery, too.

How will you evaluate the learning?

In our home, we have one performance philosophy: do it well or do it over. We don’t accept mediocrity. Once Connor was performing poorly on his math lessons averaging about a 60-70%. My husband took control of the situation and started grading his work. Instead of circling the errors, he simply told Connor how many he missed and told him he had to find them. Basically, he had to do every problem again to find the errors. Although it was a painful lesson that took a couple of weeks of endurance, Connor learned to take his time, check his work, and master the material.

Although I do use letter grades for recording high school level work for the transcript, I prefer to evaluate mastery using a scale that I found in John Milton Gregory’s The Seven Laws of Teaching. Basically, you pick a skill and answer the following question. For instance, how much do you know about analogies? punctuation? bibliographies?

• I know nothing about…

• I am somewhat familiar with…

• I can generally describe the steps to…

• I can illustrate and explain how to…

• I am beginning to understand the deeper truths of…

• I am changing my behavior because of…

When they reach the changing behavior status, you know that they have mastered the material. Additionally, I really like to have them teach others the concept. You cannot teach what you do not know, and there is nothing like having to prepare a lesson that clarifies your misunderstandings or weaknesses. By the way, the word “master” is defined as “one who has such extensive knowledge and comprehensive skill that he is able to teach others his specialty.

The Training

Alas, mastery is hard work for both parent and child. Parents who may not remember (or maybe never learned) the “rules” of the race need refueling to restore long-forgotten knowledge. Thankfully, a rusty parent can come up to speed rather quickly with a little review. The child, however, begins each of the three skills of the trivium as a novice, and consequently, his or her journey towards mastery will take years of learning and practice before language, thought, and communication skills are finally conquered. To continue with the race analogy, the parent runs a sprint while the child runs a marathon!

Mastery of the three skills is not consecutive; the skills are usually built concurrently over time. In other words, your child doesn’t master language then master critical thinking then master writing then master public speaking. In fact, your child can work on mastering all three skills at the same time. Consider the child who is learning about multiplication. As he learns the vocabulary like factor and product (language), he makes ordered stacks with the colored tile manipulatives (critical thinking) and sings the multiplication songs to his little brother (communication).

Additionally, you may find that your child has substantially mastered one skill (like the spelling component of language) but is still working on another skill set (the grammar component of language). Instead of drilling the spelling rules, devote that time to diagramming sentences.

The good news is this: if you have dropped the 12 year public school paradigm, then you are free to spend as many years as it takes teaching only 3 major skills: language, thought, and communication. In some families, mastery of these three skills takes 6 years; in others, it takes 8 years. Even if you spent the first 8 years guiding your child toward full command, that still leaves 4 years for your teenager to dive deep into the study of subjects and, in the process, compile a very impressive transcript. Don’t worry about how long it takes; teach them language, thinking, and communication until they are able to teach others and become masters of their skills just like Indy Car racers!

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In Adopt a Radical Position…Be Counter-Cultural, I discussed four qualities that need to be nurtured in classical Christian home school kids: (1) mastery, (2) self-reliance, (3) interpretation, and (4) influence. Now that we’ve covered mastery, it’s time to examine the rising scholar’s level of self-reliance, independence, and responsibility, all of which are the subjects of my next post.

Have you watched my free parent tutorial yet on The 7 Laws of Teaching? In this free ~30 minute flash presentation, you’ll learn more about mastery for you, the parent! You can take your own assessment and see what areas of language, critical thinking, and communication you need to work on to teach your kids. Let me know if you enjoy it, and please leave any suggestions for improvement by taking the online survey. Thanks!

In “How Do You Measure Mastery?”, the first post of this series on preparing to transition to the supervised study of subjects, I compared classical homeschooling to Indy car racing and defined the finish line, the driver, and the crew. Today, we’ll talk about the car, and I’ll share my personal “must-know” checklists for teaching language, critical thinking, and communication skills .

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The Car

An Indy Car driver does not learn to drive in an expensive race car. He probably drove his Daddy’s tractor, dirt bike, or old beat up Chevy around the farm before he was invited to drive a million dollar vehicle. Simple concepts precede complex concepts.

We use different vehicles for different purposes. Indy Cars are made to travel on a wide oval track, Formula One cars travel on tight European city streets, and good ‘ole boy stock cars are made for intentional frequent crashes! Mountain bikes have fat tires for scaling rocky uphill terrain. Racing cycles are lightweight with thin tires for speed and manueverability on pavement. Gargantuan cruise ships carry loads of vacationers while shrimp boats are perfect for fishing and hauling seafood. So, too, there are different purposes and rules for using language, thinking critically, and communicating effectively. Whether you are transitioning to a classical model or just beginning, you need to decide what basic rules of operation you want to teach your child for each particular skill.

What content will you teach your children?

Now if you were expecting me to lay out a full “scope and sequence” for teaching the trivium, I’m sorry to disappoint you. When I go to home school curriculum fairs and see the words “scope and sequence,” my eyes glaze over, and my brain goes numb. In my opinion, scope and sequence is a phrase invented by professional educators to intimidate home school parents into thinking they need experts to tell them what’s best for their children!

Besides, anyone who tells you what to teach by grade level is advocating a public school model, not a classical model. Remember you just need to focus on the big picture: teach three skills! You don’t need a 12 year plan, and in fact, you need frequent pit stops to reevaluate progress, so I suggest you make short-term plans. Personally, I like to reevaluate progress about every 12 weeks, and I always end up adjusting the course as a result to better meet my goals. Here are my short lists of “must-know” content for the three skills.

Diane’s “Must-Know” Checklist for Language Skills:

• How to read (alphabet, phonetic method)

• How to spell (spelling rules)

• How to write (handwriting – print, cursive, and later typing)

• How to punctuate and capitalize

• How to use proper grammar (all 8 parts of speech)

• How to decipher unfamiliar vocabulary

Diane’s “Must-Know” Checklist for Critical Thinking Skills:

• How to classify, describe, compare, and contrast

• How to identify and complete sequences

• How to identify and interpret analogies

• How to solve problems (math equation and word problems, puzzles)

• How to structure logical arguments (syllogism, fallacies)

• How to think inductively (particular to general) and deductively (general to particular)

• How to perform an experiment using the scientific method (including prediction)

• How to analyze literature

• How to research a topic

Diane’s “Must-Know” Checklist for Communication Skills:

• How to have conversations (face to face, telephone, letters)

• How to write a proper sentence and vary the structure (compound, complex, phrasing)
  

• How to write a correct paragraph, transitions, introduction, and conclusion

• How to add stylistic elements (dress ups, openers, decorations, triples)
  

• How to take notes (key word outline, stick & branch, annotation)

• How to write essays, reports, abstracts, research papers, and speeches

• How to footnote, write bibliographies, and edit

• How to develop a thesis statement and prove it with evidence

• How to give a speech (all 10 NCFCA categories)

• How to listen well and interpret meaning

Each family will teach content in differently. Let’s take an example. Learning how to research and develop arguments are two components of critical thinking. These skills can be taught in various ways. For instance, my husband, David, is an attorney who often finds himself before a federal judge. Learning how to research and debate a national or international resolution meets my husband’s criteria for teaching research skills, developing an argument, listening well, and giving a speech. Consequently, participation in our local debate club is mandatory for the Lockman kids! Whereas, your husband may be an engineer who believes research is best learned in a lab setting and communicated in a research paper. Tailor the content and methods to best meet your family’s abilities and preferences.

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In the final post of this series on mastery, I’ll share my 12 week pit stop plan for evaluating progress in acquiring the three skills of language, critical thinking, and communication.

For your convenience, I’ve prepared my “must-know” checklists for you in pdf format, so click on this link and print out your copy today!

In Adopt a Radical Position, I suggested that home school parents should seek to nurture four unusual qualities in their kids: (1) mastery, (2) self-discipline, (3) interpretation, and (4) influence. Before releasing your child to experience the thrills of step 3, Supervise the Study of Subjects, you need to determine whether mastery of the three skills of the trivium has been attained. Over the next 3 posts, I’ll explore this question:

How do you measure mastery?

The Race

I live in Indianapolis, Indiana, home of the “world’s greatest racing spectacle,” the Indianapolis 500. Every May, nearly 300,000 people gather to watch this exciting 200 lap, 500 mile race. Adrenaline rushes as the cars fly around the track, traveling the length of a football field in one second, at speeds exceeding 220 mph. As drivers compete for placement in the turns, they endure G-force of four times the weight of gravity which is comparable to the G-force of the space shuttle take offs. The sleek fiberglass shell of the Indy car hides a powerful engine that can run at 675 horsepower which is 4 times the speed of an average car. Experienced pit crews perform mechanical magic as they refuel and replace worn tires in an astounding 20 seconds or less. Aggressive, careless, or tired drivers occasionally lose control of their cars, and the yellow caution flags come out when fiery crashes bring the manic race to a screeching halt. Unlike horse races which are over in a few minutes, the Indy car race is a marathon often exceeding three hours!

Imagine for a minute that classical home schooling is an Indy car race. As in the Indy 500, other factors enter into the equation for a successful homeschooling race such as unforeseen circumstances (weather), finances (sponsors), and the community (spectators), but for this post, we’ll focus on the three factors which most impact mastery: your child (the driver), the content (the car), and you, the parent (assuming the roles of both pit crew and clean up crew). But before we tackle the driver, the car, and the crew, let’s define the end of the race.

The Finish Line

Every Indy Car driver dreams of winning the Indy 500. Completing the race is the ultimate goal. In homeschooling, we’re not concerned about finishing before our peers, but we want to finish the race in God’s perfect timing for our particular child. The first race that we need to finish is Step 2, Teach the Skills of the Trivium, so that we can then move on to finish the second race, Step 3, Supervise the Study of Subjects. Both steps culminate in mastery.

According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, the primary definition of the verb “master” is

“to conquer, to bring under control, to overcome, to subdue, to own, to rule, or to solve.”

Powerful images of domination and achievement arise, and, in the purest sense, to master something is to dominate. However, I prefer the second definition in Webster’s which is “to become skilled or proficient in the use of.” To complete the thought left dangling by the above preposition, your task as the classical home school parent is to teach until your child is:

• skilled or proficient in the use of the English language

• skilled or proficient in the use of critical thinking abilities

• skilled or proficient in the use of oral and written communication

Once the trivium race is finished, your job is then to supervise the continued acquisition of skills in areas of interest so that they are on their way to mastery in other areas of expertise.

You know your child has reached mastery when he or she has consummate possession of the skill. Theoretically, full command of language, thought, and communication signals the end of Step 2 and the beginning of Step 3. Practically, your son or daughter needs to have such command of the English language that the vocabulary, complex sentence structure, and literary style of the classics is not overwhelming. The ability to comprehend and wrestle with the meaning of the text is also necessary. Finally, the child who is ready to move on to the supervised study of subjects has the skill to write extensively about the themes of the classics.

The Driver

Some glamourous Indy Car celebrities grow up in renowned racing families, but no matter how famous Daddy was, junior doesn’t just inherit the raw DNA ability to drive. All champions have to learn the basic rules of driving just like every other licensed driver. Once the basics are mastered, then they can then move on to more sophisticated concepts. Your child is no different. He starts as a novice, moves on to apprentice, and eventually becomes a master in his craft.

The Crew

The highly-skilled mechanics who work on Indy Car crews are some of the best in the world. They receive regular training as technology advances. They know their cars and drivers so well that they can anticipate problems and solutions before they crop up. Quick to respond, they are proactive, monitoring the status of the vehicle with wireless radio and detailed gauge readings. To give your kids a classical education, you need to be current on all that you are teaching. Plan time to refresh your memory if you are a little rusty (Mom’s continuing education) or do a little advance reading before you need to teach a concept. You’ll be more confident and serve your children’s needs better if you are prepared. If you find yourself unprepared, that’s ok, too. Declare a reading week and catch up! The kids will love the break!

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In part 2 of this series on mastery, I’ll go into detail about the content to be mastered and share my short “must-know” checklists for language, critical thinking, and communication.

If you haven’t read all the posts under Step 2, Teach the Skills of the Trivium, now is the time to catch up. I’ve got over 30 posts planned for Step 3, Supervise the Study of Subjects, so you want to keep up with me if possible so you’re ready to teach in the fall!

Successful home school communicators consider the audience who will read or hear the composition before they begin researching the topic. Think about how a speech on euthanasia might be received by each of these audiences:

• a few medical doctors who work at the local hospice
• a Sunday School class of 11 and 12 year girls
• a funeral home director and his staff
• a group of state or federal legislators
• a gathering of elderly nursing home residents
• a convention of pharmaceutical reps

Obviously, each of these collective audiences would have a different perspective and perhaps a biased self-interest in advocating or outlawing euthanasia. No two audiences are ever the same. (My speech students who compete in different regions of the country know this hard fact!) Excellent public speakers do their best to assess the audience in advance and tailor the message accordingly. If poor or unenlightened choices are made during the content phase, the message may be doomed no matter how brilliant the delivery. Failure to communicate ultimately rests with the speaker because the audience is always right.

Whether addressing a parent, a small group of friends, a few thousand newsletter subscribers, or an auditorium full of paid attendees, the public speaker and writer is particularly challenged by this compound question:

Who is my audience, and how will I reach them?

Understanding the audience - who they are, how they think and feel, and what they need - is essential to effective communication. This concept applies to all ages and levels of expertise: from the little boy who desperately wants another cookie to the grandparent who needs a ride to the pharmacy to the teenage debater who hopes to persuade the judge to vote affirmative. Possible attitudes toward your appeal include:

supportive (they agree with you)

apathetic (they don’t care)

doubtful (they’re not sure or have serious reservations)

hostile (they are actively opposed)

knowledgeable (they already know a great deal)

unlearned (they know nothing about it)

indifferent (the thought never occurred to them)

Knowing some key facts about the audience favorably impacts the message. The speech or essay can then be crafted in such a way that the ideas have personal meaning and relevance to your unique audience. People pay attention to ideas that compliment their own hopes, needs, and goals.

Savvy public speakers and writers adjust the theme (invention), structure (arrangement), style, vocabulary, length, and delivery to each audience. If addressing a large, heterogeneous audience, more explicit syntax and background information is needed. If addressing a specialized niche (for instance, baseball players), specialized language (like earned run averages) can be used to illuminate. What do the members of the audience have in common? Do you expect them to be good listeners? Can you estimate collective age, social status, ethnicity, education, and cultural background? Consult others who have spoken before similar audiences in the past, or check out any written records (bylaws, public minutes) that are available about the group. Will the surroundings such as lighting, acoustics, and distance impact their ability to favorably respond to you?

Communication is an exchange of information. The word exchange implies giving and taking. The orator or writer gives three things: (1) a debatable idea, (2) the evidentiary proof, and (3) a call to action. The audience receives this offering and responds with verbal, nonverbal, and sometimes written feedback. Nothing is more deflating and discouraging to a homeschool public speaker or writer than a tepid, unresponsive audience. To improve immediate feedback, consider adding novelty, humor, contrast, movement, suspense, and intensity to command attention. Above all, tailor the message to the audience. Certainly, the audience has the right to disagree as in the case of the mom who refuses the 2nd cookie, but if the audience doesn’t understand the idea, plea, argument, or information, somehow the author has failed to communicate. Although it’s hard work, effective communication rests primarily with the creator of the message because the audience is always right!

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This post concludes my three-part series on Teach the Skills of the Trivium. If you happened to miss one of the twenty-three essays, you can find a complete list under the tab The Trivium which is located in the header of each web page. Although I’ve got SO MUCH more to share about the classical trivium, it’s time to tackle the third step of Three Simple but Significant Steps to a Classical Education, “Supervise the Study of Subjects.”

Tags: arrangement, audience, call to action, composition, debatable idea, Debate, delivery, effective communication, home school, homeschool, invention, proof, public speaker, Speech, style, Writing

For the past two millenia, five principles or canons have governed the creation and execution of classical rhetoric. These five canons form a template for developing and critiquing speeches and written compositions. In canon one, INVENTION, the orator or writer determines the topic, discovers the arguments, and develops the thesis for his speech or essay. Canon two, ARRANGEMENT, was called “dispositio” by the ancient Romans since it involved the disposition or arrangement of the idea and supporting arguments. Contemporary home school parents and even public school teachers spend an enormous amount of time teaching their students how to organize their thoughts often without consistent success. Let’s take a look at how ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and colonial orators arranged their material.

Introduce the Idea

In the beginning of the speech or essay, the debatable idea was introduced. Ancient Romans called the introduction the exordium, and it was during this initial stage that the public speaker established his credibility and authority as an expert on the subject. Often the speaker referred to his knowledge or personal experience with the idea. Of course, the savvy orator selected evidence during the invention stage which highlighted his expertise so that the persuasive appeal of his personal character would lend weight to his arguments. Personal character, reputation, and intelligence were important factors in disposing the audience to listen and respond just as they are important to effective communication today.

Contemporary orators and writers often add a step before the introduction called the “attention-getter.” Quotations, personal stories, jokes, or other compelling statistics open the speech so that the audience is immediately alert and receptive to the speech or essay.

State the Facts

The second part of a classical discourse was called narratio or narration. A narrative account of the facts is provided, and a general explanation of the case or idea is outlined. The current state of affairs or status quo was usually described with vivid word pictures that stirred the emotions and prepared the audience to favorably consider the arguments. Although a direct appeal to accept the arguments was not made at this point, the underlying intention of the narration was to move or persuade. Today, we call this portion of the speech or essay the exposition…the facts are exposed.

Outline the Proposal

Once the facts were stated and summarized, the ancient orator briefly outlined the evidence that was to follow. Contemporary audiences would recognize this ancient practice as the place in the speech where the speaker tells you what he’s going to tell you! For example, after the attention-getter and introduction of the thesis statement, an excellent orator will “sign-post” where he’s going with the speech or essay by using transition words like “first,” “secondly,” “next,” “finally.” Then he launches into the substance of the speech or essay.

Nail the Proof

Called the confirmation, this main body of the speech was devoted to the evidence. Quality content and logical arguments were imperative. It was here that the orator proved the points of his case or debatable idea. Now he would reveal the evidence that was derived during the question portion of the invention stage starting with the least powerful proof and gradually building to the most powerful and convincing proof as the climax of the argument.

The ancient orator used persuasive techniques like appeals to exhort the audience to recognize the benefits that would accrue to each of them if they adopted his position. He often appealed to material, spiritual, or emotional self-interest. (Contemporary copywriters call this technique “what’s in it for me?”) Sometimes, the orator exposed the inherent danger of acting on the opposing idea. Ethical and logical appeals were also made when the orator wanted to move the audience toward decisions of public good like caring for widows and orphans. Above all, the ancient orator appealed to reason or the logic of his case, so it’s not surprising that ancient orators and audiences highly regarded critical thinkers.

Refute the Opposition

This portion of the speech was devoted to answering the counterarguments of one’s opponents. Of course, in order to refute, the orator had to know both sides of the argument. During the invention stage, he gathered evidence for his case and against his case. Often during the speech, the orator asked imaginary questions in anticipation of the objections being raised in the minds of his audience; he then answered these imaginary objections. Sometimes the orator denigrated the authority or credibility of an opponent. At other times, the ancient orator found it useful to reject an alternative idea as immaterial, ridiculous, unnecessary, absurd, false, or morally wrong. Today we regularly reject opposing ideas as too expensive in terms of time and money.

Conclude and Call to Action

The peroration or conclusion of the speech included a summary of the debatable idea, the arguments, and the refutation in a compelling, climactic manner. The Greek word for climax means “ladder,” and a rhetorical climax looks just like a ladder: the words, phrases, and ideas are arranged in a manner of increasing importance often in parallel structure. Usually, a final appeal was made to the listener to act on the orator’s advice.

The Apostle Paul, trained in classical rhetoric, concludes the argument of chapter 4 of The Epistle to the Romans with a climactic conclusion: “we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5 NRSV). Another example from Scripture of a classical conclusion is found in the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah at the end of Matthew, chapter 1. After listing all the generations from Abraham to Jesus, Matthew concludes with “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.” (Matthew 1:17 NRSV). Arguably, the most famous peroration in Scripture could be the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, found in 2 Kings 17:1-22 which concludes the historian’s exposition and arguments for the fall of Israel.

So now I hope you see how important artful arrangement is to the effective communication of the message and the ultimate persuasion of your audience. The orator or writer needs an introduction, a statement of facts, an outline, the proof, the refutation, and the conclusion. Although I’ve just given you a lot of detail, you can really boil classical rhetoric down to the idea, the proof, and the call to action. Canon three, STYLE, is the subject of the next post on “Communicating Well,” skill set three of the classical trivium.

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One of the first exercises for teaching classical rhetoric in Quintilian’s Progymnasmata was storytelling. If you have younger kids, prepare them for classical rhetoric now by teaching them how to narrate stories. Read them a story, close the book, and ask them to tell you the story in their own words. If they are having trouble, coach them through the beginning, middle, and end. Teach them how to ask the standard questions: who, what, when, where, how, and why. Eventually, they will learn how to quickly summarize the story which will be useful later when incorporating narratives in their speeches and writing as well as in literary analysis.

Tags: arrangement, attention-getter, classical rhetoric, climax, conclusion, confirmation, counterarguments, critical thinkers, debatable idea, dispositio, effective communication, essay, evidence, exordium, exposition, home school, invention, logical arguments, narratio, narration, orator, organize thoughts, outline, peroration, persuasive appeals, principles of classical rhetoric, proof, public speaker, refutation, speeches, style, thesis, transitions, written compositions

The oldest surviving Latin text on communicating effectively, Rhetorica ad Herennium (possibly written by the ancient Roman orator Cicero), outlines five canons or principles by which all rhetoric is judged. These five canons form a template for critiquing speeches and written compositions as well as a pattern for educating your home school children in rhetoric. Adopted from classical Greek rhetors (orators) like Isocrates, Plato, and Aristotle, this definitive guide to rhetoric was studied by the most famous orator in ancient Rome, Quintilian, as well as leading Christian medieval and Renaissance orators like Saint Augustine, Desiderius Erasmus, and Sir Francis Bacon. Although our family has not read Cicero’s original text, we use a contemporary text, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, by Edward Corbett which extensively explains and illustrates this tradition that has been practiced in Western culture for over two thousand years. Over the next 5 posts, I’ll reveal the template or pattern of classical rhetoric. Canon one, INVENTION, is the subject of this post.

Determine the Topic

Discovering the main idea of the speech or essay is the first step of invention. What do you want to talk about in your speech or essay? Aristotle organized the potential topics of speeches into two categories: common and special. Common topics included definition of terms, division of the material into parts, comparison of similarities and contrast of differences, and testimonies of authorities. Common topics could be applied to any idea. Special topics were related to the three classical discourses and included justice, honor, and worthiness.

Sometimes we brainstorm for topics, but usually we simply select one of the more interesting subtopics of our homeschool academic reading (history, literature, philosophy, Scripture, science, etc). For example, Connor is reading about the battle of Gettysburg in the novel, The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara. When I gave him the book to read, I told him that I wanted a 10 paragraph paper from him on one debatable point. As he’s read the compelling narrative, he’s been struck by the honorable character of three officers: Lee, Longstreet, and Chamberlain. Now if you were heavily influenced by the stories your great grandmother told, you may not find all three men honorable because two of the men he’s chosen to write about were Confederate officers and one a Union officer. However, Connor is going to argue that their characters transcended their national loyalties. That’s a debatable point or idea; it’s not a simple declaration of objective fact, but rather, there is subjectivity in the idea which is supported by evidence.

Discover the Arguments

During invention, ask lots of questions and discover arguments to support your point of view or case. In this exercise, try to find the core conflict of the debate. What is the real issue? Ancient orators asked four types questions:

1. Is it true?

Questions of fact deal with truth which can be supported by actual objective evidence. In the example above, there are many facts to be examined such as Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet were both Confederate Generals while Joshua Chamberlain was a Union General.

2. What is it?

Questions of definition make a call about the nature of the idea. In our example, Connor would define character, the Confederacy, and the United States among other terms.

3. Is it important?

Questions of quality ask why the idea is important. Value judgments enter into these questions as each author will have differing opinions as to the importance or meaning of the idea.

4. Is this the right audience?

Questions of jurisdiction ask whether the venue for the speech or paper is the best for this issue or idea. An ancient orator would not present a deliberative speech to a judge just as the same orator would not present a forensic speech to a city council member.

The ultimate purpose of questions is to find arguments and evidence that support your point of view or case.

Develop the Thesis Statement

Once you’ve determined the topic of your speech or essay and developed the questions that support the topic, it’s time to develop a thesis statement. The word thesis often gives my writing students the quakes, probably because a good thesis statement is generally more difficult to create than a topic sentence. A topic sentence is a declarative statement which states a general fact usually followed by supporting facts. A thesis statement is a debatable point or claim. To be debatable, there must be differing opinions or conflicting facts which call into question the validity of the statement. Thus, the orator or author must prove his idea or claim with hard evidence. To distinguish between a topic sentence and thesis statement, I’ll provide an easy example from Connor’s essay:

• Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, and Joshua Chamberlain were men of character. (a topic sentence)

• Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, and Joshua Chamberlain were men of character because they allowed their decent, chivalric upbringing to transcend their nationalistic loyalties. (a thesis statement)

What’s the difference? The second sentence takes a position on each man’s upbringing that must be proven with evidence whereas the first sentence is a statement of fact which does not claim to know why they were men of character. There could be many unique reasons for why each man has character which makes the idea debatable. The debatable component of the idea is what makes invention so much fun and challenging. We think to uncover the truth which is the essential purpose of canon one of classical rhetoric, invention. Once you’ve invented your debatable idea, you can move on to canon two, arrangement, which is the subject of my next post.

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Do you have a child who struggles with writing thesis statements? Use the following acronym to help trigger debatable points: “www.asia.” Although Andrew Pudewa teaches this as a stylistic dress up, I think you could use it for another purpose:  developing a thesis.  “www.asia” stands for:

when

while

where

as

since

if

although

If you tacked any of these words onto the end of a regular topic sentence then add a supporting phrase, you might have a thesis statement that needs proof. Try it next time!

Tags: 5 canons of rhetoric, Andrew Pudewa, Cicero, classical discourse, classical rhetoric, communicating effectively, deliberative speech, forensic speech, home school, homeschool, inventio, invention, Rhetoric, Rhetoric ad Herennium, speeches, thesis statement, topic sentence, topics for essays, topics for speeches, written compositions

Communicating effectively is not limited to classical discourse like formal speeches or written compositions. Narration is a communication skill that is used in casual conversation more than the other two combined! Think about the countless times during a day that you ask your child questions…

• How did you sleep last night?
• What did you dream about?
• What are your plans for study today?
• What was the book about?
• What would you like for dinner?
• How did you spend your free time this afternoon?
• What do you want to be when you grow up?
• What did you learn from your reading?

Moms and Dads are great at asking questions! But the risk with asking open-ended questions is that you’ll get vague responses like “okay” (how did you sleep) “I can’t remember” (what was the book about), and “I don’t know” (what did you learn today). What you want to do as a classical home educator is draw out your child’s understanding so that he or she is giving you more than one-word grunts. You know that words have the power to change the world, and you want to raise world-changers who are eloquent and persuasive! Train them in giving concise, direct answers so that when they find themselves out in the community and someone asks a question, they are prepared.

So how do you coax your reluctant child to give thoughtful responses to your questions? Socratic Dialogue is one method that we use in our home school to great effect. In this post, I’ll show you how I do it using a real-life example from Meredith’s high school biology course.

Remember that Courtroom Drama?

Unless you are a practicing attorney, you probably haven’t had a lot of experience in using Socratic Dialogue. In fact, attorneys (and some home schoolers) are the only living Westerners who still use this classical tool. Attorneys receive training in Socratic method in law school where they learn to ask leading questions of a witness.

If you have ever been to a legal deposition or watched a courtroom drama, you know that a good prosecutor asks leading questions. In preparation for the trial, the attorney “deposes” the witness. In a deposition, the attorney asks the witness pertinent questions under oath, and a court transcript is created which both the defending and prosecuting teams receive. In deposing the witness, the attorney is trying to arrive at the facts of the case. These facts are the basis for the trial, and a skillful attorney will use these facts in asking leading questions of the witness so that the witness gives him the answers that he wants. Facts are the starting point for your Socratic Dialogue preparation, too.

What are the FACTS?

Just like the attorney, you need to know the facts before you can ask useful leading questions. Unless you are already an expert on the subject matter, you need to read the material along with your child. Now I am not saying that you have to read every single word that the child reads; if you have more than one child, the task of keeping up with all of the weekly reading assignments plus all of your other family responsibilities would be overwhelming! Be selective. You might choose one subtopic from your teenage daughter’s science reading, one chapter from your preteen son’s history reading, and one picture story book to read with your youngest child. (By the way, the Socratic method works well with both fiction or nonfiction.)

In this example, I listened to a Teaching Company Biology lecture with Meredith on DNA called “The Double Helix.” We put on the 30 minute DVD, and we both took “stick and branch” notes (see image to the left - thank you, Andrew Pudewa) as the lecture progressed. We paused the DVD if there were any concepts we didn’t understand. After we watched the entire lesson and outlined the concepts, we both wrote a brief abstract or summary of the notes in paragraph form. This step ensured that we organized our thoughts and clarified any obscurities in the sticks and branches. We follow this same procedure for each lecture.

After Meredith writes her summary, she either reads it to me or lets me read it. Often there is no need for further clarification because I can see from her oral or written narration that she understands the concepts. She has effectively communicated her understanding. However, perhaps there is a concept that I think is particularly important or one that she hasn’t quite captured in her notes. That concept would serve as the subject of my leading questions. (See the blue arrows and the highlighted areas of my notes.)

This gets a little technical, but bear with me. For this example, let’s say that I want to make sure that Meredith understands how nitrogenous bases (A, T, C, G) pair up as they attach to the sugars on the two DNA strands. The sugars on DNA strand #1 have nitrogenous bases (NB) which attach to the NB on DNA strand #2. Imagine that the DNA strands are the side rails on a staircase, and the NB connections are the stair treads. (See the highlighted area in my stick and branch drawing.) Now the tricky thing is NBs are either pyrimidines or purines which means that one is larger than the other one. So the larger NB on DNA strand #1 must attach to the smaller NB on DNA strand #2 (C + G), then the smaller NB on DNA strand #1 must attach to the larger NB on DNA strand #2 (A + T), and so forth all the way down the double helix or the imaginary stair tread would be lopsided, and the double helix would not be a double helix!

Plan the Leading Questions

Now that I know where I want to end up, I can plan the questions. The easiest way to tackle this task is to break the entire concept up into short answer questions like this:

1. What are the 2 nucleic acids on each DNA strand? (sugars and phosphates)
2. What are the 2 types of nitrogenous bases? (purines and pyrimidines)
3. How are the purines different from the pyrimidines? (size - purines are smaller)
4. What are the 2 purines? (adenine: A and guanine: G)
5. What are the 2 pyrimidines? (cytosine: C and thymine: T)
6. Which of the 2 nucleic acids, sugar or phosphate, attaches to the nitrogenous base? (sugar)
7. Can a sugar attach to any of the 4 nitrogenous bases? (yes)
8. If a sugar has a purine nitrogenous base, what must the connecting nitrogenous base be? (pyrimidine)
9. What would happen if a purine attached to a purine on the DNA strand? (the “stair tread” of the double helix would be lopsided, so that it didn’t look like a double helix anymore)

If you have carefully structured your line of questions, your child should end up right where you expected and chances are good that she will understand the steps of the concept better now that she has had to think through them logically. Additionally, as the child answers the questions, you can detect any misunderstandings and discuss them right away. Yes, it would be much easier to just tell them the answers, but then she wouldn’t own her understanding, would she? Socratic Dialogue is an effective communication tool because the child learns to break the concept or idea up into components, organize the thoughts, and relate them to the parent. The conversation usually expands beyond the initial questions as a full-fledged discussion emerges, and your rising classical scholar practices the art of rhetoric through narration and Socratic Dialogue.

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Do you have any questions for me on Socratic Dialogue? Please use the comment box below, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Tags: classical discourse, classical home educators, communicating effectively, communication skill, critical thinking, high school, home school, homeschoolers, narration, questions, Rhetoric, socratic dialogue, Socratic method, speeches, think logically, written compositions

During ancient and medieval times, classical rhetoric was strictly defined in one of three ways: deliberative oratory, forensic oratory, or epideictic oratory. I prefer to call these 3 kinds of classical discourse by their function: political, legal, and ceremonial speeches. Although these are ancient forms of communication, they are still practiced effectively today in the public realm. Here’s a quick primer for you:

Political Oratory

The term “deliberative” oratory originates with usage; elite orators deliberated over public affairs such as whether to go to war, whether to raise taxes, whether to enter alliances, and whether to construct infrastructure like bridges and baths. The point of deliberative (political) oratory was to persuade the audience to do something or accept a certain point of view. Concerned with the future (either we will or will not do it), political orators focused on expediency (the opportunity is now…let’s do it) and inexpediency (it is not wise or prudent to take this action) by exhorting (strongly urging) and dissuading (advising against) the audience.

Deliberative oratory is still practiced today in the U.S. Capitol, the White House, and in state and municipal centers around the country. Home school teenagers who participate in local, regional, and national debate competitions engage in deliberative oratory as they seek to persuade the judge to adopt either the affirmative or negative position.

Legal Oratory

The term “forensic” is often used in relation to crime scene evidence, but the latin root of forensic is actually “forum” which was the central gathering place in ancient cities where judicial and public business was discussed. Public speakers who delivered forensic or legal oratory were usually advocated the defense or condemnation of individuals and their related actions. Unlike deliberative or political orators, forensic orators are concerned with the past. That past could be crimes committed, charges unjustly brought, or behavior that needs public reckoning. Topics most often addressed were justice and injustice by means of accusation or defense.

Today’s forensic oratory is most often heard in courtrooms as attorneys plead the cases of their clients before judges. In fact, law schools still consistently teach a variation of this classical discourse.

Ceremonial Oratory

Epideictic, a greek derivative, means “for display,” so it shouldn’t surprise you that I choose to call this type of classical discourse “ceremonial.” Demonstrative or declamatory in nature, the ceremonial speech intended to please, to inspire, to entertain, or to shame. Concerned with the present, topics most often included honor or dishonor. The means by which the ceremonial orator got his message across were either praise or blame. The nature of the speech lends it to literary style more so than the other two kinds of classical discourse.

Although politicians often find themselves using this speech when introducing their superiors (praise) or their rivals (blame), we most often hear this kind of discourse at celebrations like Fourth of July Parades, Memorial Day Services, and other public ceremonies. Pastors often employ this style even though they also use the deliberative discourse to encourage their congregation to do the right thing. The Gettysburg Address is a contemporary example of a ceremonial speech.

Summary

The three kinds of classical discourse are:

Political Oratory:

1. The Point: to persuade for action or inaction
2. Concern: the future
3. Topics: expedient and inexpedient
4. Means: exhortation and dissuasion

Legal Oratory:

1. The Point: to defend or condemn
2. Concern: the past
3. Topics: justice and injustice
4. Means: accusation and defense

Ceremonial Oratory:

1. The Point: to please, inspire, entertain, or shame
2. Concern: the present
3. Topics: honor and dishonor
4. Means: praise and blame

If you think about who delivered these 3 types of classical discourse and what positions they held in society, you quickly see that they were all societal leaders. Politicians, legislators, executives, lawyers, judges, pastors, and others of importance to the community employed the systematic tools of classical rhetoric to impact their culture in significant ways. If you hope to raise leaders, then you need to consider how classical rhetoric factors into your plans for teaching them in communicating effectively.

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Do you have any questions for me about the trivium? I would love to chat with you whenever I’m online. All you have to do is click on the SKYPE image to the right, join for free, and enter my private chat room. If I’m not online at the time, you can type your question, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Tags: classical discourse, classical rhetoric, communication, Debate, deliberative oratory, epideictic oratory, forensic oratory, home school, orator, scholar, speeches

According to the honorable Zell Miller, former governor of the state of Georgia and United States Senator,

“Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric. Campaign talk tells people who you want them to think you are. How you vote tells people