In this Christmastime edition of Quiddity, the podcast of the CiRCE Institute, Brian Phillips talk to author, pastor, and educator, Dr. George Grant, about Christmas traditions in his home, his work setting up classical Christian schools in Indonesia, and much more. Then we conclude the podcast with a lively - and strange - game of Christmas-themed trivia. You won't want to miss either segment. 

And Merry Christmas from the CiRCE team! 

In this episide of Quddity, the CiRCE podcast, Chuck Hicks, Brian Phillips, Graeme Pitman, and David Kern discuss Christmas traditions (both commemorative and celebrative), Christmas gift ideas, and why Dicken's A Christmas Carol has resonated for so long. 

In this episode of Quiddity, the CiRCE podcast, Chuck Hicks, Brian Phillips, Graeme Pitman, and David Kern contemplate whether beauty is, as the common saying claims, in the eye of the beholder. They may or may not provide any useful conclusions, but the conversation was interesting nonethless. 

For this week's podcast we bring you a wonderful 2013 conference talk from Memoria Press's Martin Cothran called Les Miserables vs Schreck: The Difference Between Ironic and Heroic Literature and the Difference It Makes. 

Modern literature and film have largely abandoned the heroic mode in favor of the ironic. All modern narrative seems to subvert rather than exalt. What is the heroic and how does it differ from the ironic and what are the implications of the answer to this question? Can the modern soul still be reached by a heroic story? To what extent is the ironic story a legitimate narrative form? How have Christian writers responded the modern emphasis on the ironic?

As always, click the arrow above to listen, or click here to find this episodes, and all the others, on iTunes. 

In this episode of Quiddity, the CiRCE podcast, David Kern and Brett McCracken discuss Joss Whedon's interesting new film adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. They compare it to the famous Kenneth Branaugh/Emma Thompson version, consider the merits of setting the play in a modern context, and much more. 

Click here to read Brett McCracken's review of the film for Christianity Today.

In this edition of Quiddity, the CiRCE podcast, Brian Phillips, Chuck Hicks, and David Kern discuss what it means to have a "life in reading". Plus we discuss fall traditions (including books we like to read this time of year) and life in the South. There's even talk of eating bear and how to pronounce "Appalachian". 

In this week's edition of Quiddity, the CiRCE podcast, we offer this 2013 conference talk from  Dr. Christopher Perrin, the director of the Alcuin Fellowship, the co-chair of the Society for Classical Learning, and the publisher of Classical Academic Press. 

We are familiar with some traditional Latin commendations like cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude.  We are also very familiar with the grades with which we were branded (A, B, C, D and F) and the composite GPA which has also defined our humanity.  What most of us don’t know is how any of these designations emerged and to what purpose.  In this seminar, we will trace the origins and evolution of “grades” (from the middle ages to the present) and contrast modern assessment to traditional methods that were not so data-driven, nor well-acquainted with multiple-choice exams.   We will conclude with a discussion of mentorship in contrast to metrics and consider who some secular modern writers who are decrying the prevailing curriculum of “test-prep.”  We will also discuss how more traditional methods of assessment can be implemented within a system of education that demands numerically-based grades.

In this edition of Quiddity, The CiRCE Podcast, we chat with Alissa Wilkinson, chief film critic at Christianity Today and professor at The King's College in New York City. Alissa shares some thoughts on helping students solve writer's block, how to cultivate good readers, and how homeschooling helped improved her writing. An prolific writer, who has an MFA from Seattle Pacific University and has worked on Wall Street in information technology, Alissa offers a unique and experienced perspective on the many challenges that accompany both writing and teaching writing. 

In this edition of Quiddity, the CiRCE Podcast and the audio companion to this website, Debbie Harris describes what it's like teaching classically in an inner city school, how to cultivate a love of beauty in students who rarely see anything beautiful, and why good classroom management and school culture is driven by relationship. 

Debbie Harris, a longtime speaker at our conference, graduated from Azusa Pacific University with a Bachelors Degree in Liberal Studies (with a California K-8 certification) and has spent twelve-plus years as a classroom educator, primarily in the elementary grades. She has taught at Foundations Academy in Boise, Idaho and Hope Academy, an inner city classical school, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She lives in Oakdale, Minnesota with her husband and two sons. Debbie has focused on mentoring teachers in classroom management strategies and classical techniques since 2002. Beginning in 2006, she has served as the Dean of Teaching Staff and Curriculum at Hope Academy. She works for the CiRCE Institute as a consultant in classroom management.

Click here to learn more about Hope Academy. 

In this week's edition of Quiddity, the CiRCE podcast, CiRCE President Andrew Kern joins Brian Phillips and David Kern to explain his claim that, in our age, we have more than three times the necessary time to teach the seven Liberal Arts to our students. The conversation touches on the power and role of metaphor in teaching, why imitation is so important, and what an education that focuses on these Liberal Arts looks like, even in the youngest of students. 

From the 2013 CiRCE Conference: A Contemplation of Judgment
July 2013; Baltimore, MD 

The making of judgments requires some sort of standard against which to make measurements. While the normal nihilism of contemporary culture is often described as being thoroughly without standards, all judgments assumed to be merely expressions of preference, very few people possess the Promethean confidence to assert their preferences requires some sort of standard against which to make measurements. While the normal nihilism of contemporary culture is often described as being thoroughlywithout standards, all judgments assumed to be merely expressions of preference, very few people possess the Promethean confidence to assert their preferences rful arbiters of quality.

In this week's episode of Quiddity, the CiRCE podcast and the audio companion to this website, David Kern chats with author and culture critic Brett McCracken, whose new bookGray Matters: Navigating the Space Between Legalism and Liberty, came out earlier this month from Baker Books. They talk about why he was motivated to write this book, how to cultivate cultural discernment in young people, and why so many recent books have challenged common Chrisitian conceptions of cultural engagement. 

In this week's edition of Quiddity, the CiRCE podcast and the audio companion to circeinstitute.org, David Kern chats with Cindy Rollins and Dr. Chris Perrin about starting the year off well. Topics of conversation include how to avoid biting off more than you can chew, what to do when you inevitably do, and how to keep learning from being a "School year" thing. 

In this week's edition of Quiddity, the CiRCE Podcast and the audio companion to circeinstitute.org, Dr. Brian Phillips and David Kern offer a follow-up conversation to last week's discussion about teaching literature without killing it, this time a contemplation on fairy tales, the Moral Imagination, and why stories should never end with the words "and they all lived happily ever after". 

In this edition of Quiddity, the audio companion to circeinstitute.org, Dr. Brian Phillips and David Kern discuss the art of teaching great literature in such a way that reckons with the fact that many students will hate the process. What is the nature and purpose of literature and how can we can teach it according to both? What role does "the spark notes" approach play and how do we deal with what Flannery O'Connor referred to as the "mystery and manners" of literature? 

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Repond in the comment section below or on Facebook or Twitter. 

Standardized tests have been in the news a lot lately. 

As the new Common Core initiatives take root, our national educational system increasingly insists and depends upon them. Yet in places like New York City, Chicago, Seattle, and others, students, parents, and teachers are responding - and the media is taking note. 

In the newest edition of our Quiddity podcast, Brian Phillips and David Kern discuss these stories and consider what it all might mean for classical educators. 

In the April 2012 edition of Quiddity, the CiRCE Podcast, we had the really fun opportunity to interview Cindy Rollins. Cindy is a regular contributor to our website and blogs here. Cindy has more than 20 years experience as a homeschooler and therefore has a wealth of knowledge (very nearly second to none!).

In this conversation we discussed good books for children grades 7 and under, some of which are classics of which you’ve probably heard (Little House On the Prairie) and others are works with which you may not be so familiar (the works of John Buchan and Little Britches).

Cindy has some really interesting things to say about those Little House books (some bold claims) and about how to deal with questionable language in children’s literature.
So sit back – or run or drive or however you listen – and enjoy.