The Scriptorium Daily

Category: Education

  • Gifted or Determined?

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    Paul Spears
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    People in general are not born with amazing intellectual or physical giftedness. I continually have to remind myself of this. Most individuals have to work very hard to attain the level of excellence that we admire. Our culture reinforces this belief about natural abilities with language of giftedness–as if some “talent fairy” is throwing around…

  • Paul Spears, Master Teacher

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    Fred Sanders
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    “Master Teacher” sounds like some kind of superhero, or ninja elder, or cult leader, or maybe the first line of a contemporary praise song. But today Paul Spears won his university’s “Provost Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching,” and if that acclamation from his peers doesn’t qualify him as a Master Teacher, I don’t know…

  • Playground Morality

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    Paul Spears
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    Elementary school is a rather treacherous place to learn to navigate as a child. The first time I ever read Calvin and Hobbes, I discovered a kindred spirit. Calvin’s view of elementary school was akin to an intergalactic prison where the alien life forms torture you for what seems like their own pleasure—at times I…

  • The Space of a Sonnet

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    Matt Jenson
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    Nuns fret not at their Convent’s narrow room; And Hermits are contented with their Cells; And Students with their pensive Citadels: Maids at the Wheel, the Weaver at his Loom, Sit blithe and happy; Bees that soar for bloom, High as the highest Peak of Furness Fells, Will murmur by the hour in Foxglove bells:…

  • High Table: Luther

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    Melissa Schubert
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    Our reading assignment: Martin Luther’s “Theses for the Heidelberg Disputation,” “Two Kinds of Righteousness,” and “The Freedom of the Christian” from Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings. Faculty training at the Torrey Honors Institute puts our pedagogy to the test. We call our semesterly training meetings “High Tables.” Nothing as lofty as it sounds, we read…

  • Two Ways to Study Great Books: Torrey Honors Institute

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    Fred Sanders
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    Everything that we post here at the Scriptorium Daily is an overflow from the learning community we have in the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola. The faculty members who contribute to this blog all teach in our great books program. All the faculty teach all the books, so we’re always stepping on each other’s toes,…

  • Vocabulary Quiz on The Horse and His Boy

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    Fred Sanders
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    A few years ago, I taught the Chronicles of Narnia as part of a college course. I always feel odd teaching a class on books that people read for fun, books with a very high entertainment value. Isn’t that what people outside the academy assume we’re doing on campus: giving college credit for watching cartoons…

  • The Election in Classical Context: Victor Davis Hanson at Biola

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    Fred Sanders
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    Here is audio from Victor Davis Hanson’s recent speech at Biola. Following the news day by day can kind of beat up your mind, especially right now with the election, the war, and the financial crisis. These are all big stories that don’t fit daily updates very well. Every now and then it’s nice to…

  • In All Things, Be Fearful

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    Greg Peters
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    I just returned recently to southern California after a nice, long vacation with my family. As well, I was able to spend two good weeks at the National Institute for Newman Studies in Pittsburgh, PA. The Institute, run by the Pittsburgh Oratorians, is a research facility containing all the works of John Henry Newman as…

  • Shame on You

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    Paul Spears
    in

    We have all done it before. Driving home from an enjoyable evening with friends we start to replay the evening events and conversations in our mind. In the darkness of the night alone with only our own thoughts and the passing headlights we dissect our conversations with the skill of a forensic pathologist. Then, like…

  • A Very Decent College

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    Fred Sanders
    in

    Salvo magazine is all about being feisty, and the latest issue, on education, is no exception. Every article is sure to start a fight of some kind. Check out, for example, the article “Pick Your Poison,” by Les Sillars and John Basie (it’s not one of the free articles available at the website, so you’ll…

  • Prayer for the Class of 2008

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    Fred Sanders
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    Father in heaven, We bring these graduating seniors of the Torrey Honors Institute before you today with thankfulness, joy, and relief. We present them to you with their Torrey educations completed. And in this sweet moment of successful accomplishment, we admit to you that we do not completely understand the meaning of what we have…