“It’s the little details that are vital,” said Coach John Wooden. “Little things make big things happen.” Among the little details of school, which at times may feel more mundane than meaningful, is the dress code. 

To discuss the why behind our dress code, we welcome to the podcast Assistant Headmaster Tom Royals. As parents and teachers, we work together to help our boys look sharp: buttons buttoned, ties up, shoes—yes, leather shoes—laced and tied. Our Assistant Headmaster reminds us that this work is worth the effort despite the repetitive and thankless nature of our stylistic exhortations. 

Listen in to learn more about what motivates us to keep the lads looking sharp.

Chapters

• 2:45 What motivates the school’s attention to detail in dress? 

• 4:30 Why a professional dress code? 

• 8:35 Order both inward and outward

• 12:12 Decorum and charity

• 14:40 Preserving decorum and modesty 

• 16:25 Modes of encouragement in the hallways

• 20:45 Teacher as the anchor point for students

• 22:40 Effects of COVID

• 25:00 The home front

Also on the Forum

Dressing Like a Gentleman by George Messenger 

Teaching Magnanimous Dress with Joel Sellier

Material Order and the Middle School Boy with Kyle Blackmer

Self-Mastery: On Fostering Interior Freedom in Schools with Alvaro de Vicente

What, you might ask, does cheese have to do with education? The answer is not that you may find holes in both, but rather that both require attention to the local culture to be made whole. 

This week on HeightsCast, Mr. Tom Steenson shares his thoughts on the tone and culture of the classroom. Leaning on nearly twenty-five years of teaching experience, Tom encourages us as teachers to see our classrooms as second homes and our role as assisting their primary families. There are, of course, important differences between being a parent and being a teacher, yet the overlap between the two vocations is striking and worth pondering. 

Listen to Mr. Steenson's ideas on how to shape the tone and culture of the classroom to be a place where students know they’re loved, love to learn, and therefore learn to know and love all the more. 

Chapters

• 2:15 Chesterton and cheese
• 5:07 Like father, like teacher 
• 9:35 How teaching is an art
• 11:50 What is “tone”?
• 15:05 Externals that affect the tone
• 18:10 Classrooms as expressing the teacher’s personality 
• 19:15 Differences between being a parent and a teacher 
• 23:13 Overcoming first judgments
• 25:45 A key aspect of being an effective teacher
• 32:50 Recommended reading for teachers
• 35:15 On posters

Also from the Forum

School Tone, the Most Powerful Teacher with Alvaro de Vicente 

Discipline in the Classroom: On the Art of Order with Colin Gleason

Artwork in Schools: On the Buildings that Build Us with Joe Cardenas

Creating a Culture of Learning in the Home by Alvaro de Vicente

John Paul II’s “Culture-First” Approach: The Pope-Saint’s Lessons for Parents, Teachers, and Leaders with George Weigel 

Ways to Foster a Family Culture by Alvaro de Vicente