33. Heidi White on Virtues, the 5 Common Topics, and Shakespeare

11/14/23 • 60 min

Difff is joined by Heidi White, a classical education consultant with the CIRCE Institute to discuss, well, a whole lot of good stuff. Beginning with some foundational questions about the classical education renewal, Heidi talks about the formation of classical teachers, Aristotle's Five Common Topics, and understanding virtues, before moving on to thinking about Shakespeare's humanism and why he's a quintessential example of the kind of literary figure that shapes classical education.
This episode has everything - it's not only theological and philosophical, but it's also intensely practical, with Heidi explaining how to structure lesson plans around the Five Common Topics.

Check out Difff's other podcast: Chiron, conversations about the past to help make sense of the present.
And James' other podcast: The Art of Inquiry, inquiries into the nature of the world and humanity with expert level guests passionate about their field.
Music: 'Inspiring Dreams' by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

Previous Episode

32. Subjects Reconsidered

In our short series on conversation topics for things we're reconsidering: subjects - yes, we're even reconsidering subjects. Something as foundational to the structure of schools is often overlooked, but what are the pitfalls that can sneak into a school when they think in terms of distinct siloed 'subjects'? Difff and James think through how disconnecting subjects can impact not only how and what a student learns about the subject, but also what they learn about themselves. Difff also spends some rather tedious time explaining the requirements within the Australia National Curriculum and how - and why - subject thinking comes to dominate, before offering some potential solutions that could help to align better to the telos of education as understood within the classical paradigm.

Next Episode

34. A New Season

And we're back for 2024! Difff and James chat about what has been happening in classical education in Australia, including updates from new schools starting up, a visit from Andrew Kern and Katerina Hamilton, and Difff's upcoming presentation at the Church and State Summit. James then previews what's to come in 2024, including overly ambitious guest interviews and a close read of Josef Pieper's Leisure: The Basis of Culture.