Info

HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive

Welcome to HeightsCast, the official podcast of The Heights School. Every week, we feature interviews with teachers, educators, and experts in a variety of fields, both here at The Heights School and beyond our school's walls. Our conversations concern the education and formation of men fully alive in the liberal arts tradition. In other words, we talk about the education of the kind of man you’d want your daughter to marry. We hope that these conversations may be both delightful and insightful; and that through them, your vocation as educators may be ever renewed. Join us!
RSS Feed Subscribe in Apple Podcasts
HeightsCast: Forming Men Fully Alive
2024
March
February
January


2023
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2022
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2021
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March


2020
December
November
October
September
May
April
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
March
February


2018
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2016
December
November
October
September
August
May
April
February
January


2015
December
November
October
September


All Episodes
Archives
Now displaying: Page 1
Mar 25, 2024
This week's episode features Mr. Alexander Havard, an internationally recognized authority on leadership and virtue. Mr. Havard gives us, as parents and teachers, a beautiful introduction to the virtue of magnanimity. In addition, Mr. Havard helps us understand the critical role of the human heart in the process of first embracing and then living a life of virtue. A good education shapes not only intellect and will, but heart as well. Listen in to hear why that is the case, and how we can go about offering a great education to the great souls entrusted to us.
 
Links: 
Books: 
Mar 11, 2024

This week's episode features Chris McKenna, founder and CEO of Protect Young Eyes (ProtectYoungEyes.com), who discusses the challenges and opportunities of raising sons in a digital age. Our guest has been on the frontlines of the current battle to protect children from digital exploitation, both criminal and corporate. As we form sons into men of freedom, it is grossly negligent to lack awareness and plan in this domain. Chris provides both. Listen in to hear more about how parents can flip a challenge into an adventure by accompanying their sons through a digital world where pornography and distraction saturate the landscape. As always, the obstacle becomes the way, and by keeping our sights set on the good while fearlessly walking with our sons, we can rely on grace to help our boys grow into men with hearts capable of profound and lasting love.

Feb 29, 2024

For many people today, avoiding existential despair is like shoveling water from a damaged ship: the effort, no matter how valiant, is ultimately futile. Stuck in an immanent frame, a frame which lacks any real transcendence, one is left without a substantial source for hope.

The above remains true, though in different ways, even for believing and practicing Christians. As children of our current culture, that culture shapes even our faith. 

This week on HeightsCast, we welcome back Dr. R. J. Snell, the Director of Academic Programs at the Witherspoon Institute and the editor-in-chief of Public Discourse. In the episode, Dr. Snell discusses his recently published book, Lost in the Chaos, in which he offers an examination of the theological virtue of hope and an application of that virtue to our current times.

More than an optimistic personality trait, more than a virtue that looks forward to a time in which all shall be made right, and more than a nostalgia that pines for a past in which all is thought to have been right, R. J. encourages us to see hope as a supernatural gift whereby we trust now in the agency of God even while evil perdures around us.

Chapters 

  • 2:55 What is hope? 
  • 7:30 The “in the end” attitude 
  • 11:00 Job and hope in the darkness
  • 14:00 The metaphysics of despair 
  • 18:55 Safety-ism 
  • 21:55 Despair as the desire to disappear 
  • 24:30 How immanence affects even the believer
  • 26:46 Temptations of believers and non-believers 
  • 31:40 The twin dangers of utopianism and fundamentalism 
  • 36:35 The small teams and the little flocks
  • 42:20 The importance of loving people as they are 
  • 44:15 Re-evaluating our approach to reason and our capacity to see reality
  • 50:50 Expanding reason 
  • 54:35 Feelings as hooks into reality
  • 1:01:00 Towards a more human way of seeing
  • 1:02:00 Take-aways
  • 1:05:05 A parting blessing

Also on the Forum 

Work and Acedia: On Our Original Vocation with R. J. Snell

Leisure and Acedia: On Contemplative Homes in a Frenetic Age with R. J. Snell

Feb 20, 2024

This week we feature a lecture offered by Head of Upper School, Michael Moynihan, at the most recent Teaching Vocation Conference. In his presentation, Michael encourages us as teachers to engage our students as free and rational agents, even when they don't want to be engaged as such. Michael offers us some helpful insights into the principles that should guide our teaching, as we lead our students to becoming seekers of truth, rather than consumers of information produced by others.

Feb 12, 2024

Many of us assume that college will inevitably follow on high school's heels, but why? Why go to college, and, once there, how do we make the most of the "college experience?" University of Dallas' President, Dr. Jonathan Sanford, shares his thoughts on these questions and offers guidance as to how this experience should be different at a Catholic liberal arts university. Our approach to friendship, study, and reality is shaped by our university years. But so too are our university years shaped by our expectations heading into it. Higher ed is a place where most of us can find whatever it is we are looking for. Dr. Sanford's conversation calibrates our students to make sure they are looking for the right things.

Feb 1, 2024

Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente discusses the importance of "imperfect parenting.'  Ours is an age of external perfection, but when our son's fail to achieve the standards we set for them, our own anxiety can be the chief obstacle to our boys' thriving.  Emotional presence in an imperfect parent facilitates a child's thriving by subsuming him into that of his mother and father.  Hear our headmaster explain the importance of "quantity time," and the internal emotional disposition that can make this time a win, even if imperfectly.

Jan 18, 2024

While most professions work on an object which is ultimately transient—a doctor, for example, works to heal the body which will ultimately die, an engineer to design a bridge which will deteriorate over time, an entrepreneur to start a business that will likely persist at most a handful of generations—the object of a teacher’s work is a human person, whose ultimate destiny is eternity. His work reverberates not only in this life, but echoes into the life to come. 

In this way, the work of a teacher is a natural extension of the work of parents, who cooperate with the Creator in not only welcoming souls into their own homes, but in stewarding them back to their heavenly Father’s eternal homeland. Indeed, the work of a teacher is essentially an extension of the work of parents, who are the first and primary educators of their children. 

To explore the ways the vocation of fatherhood harmonizes with the vocation of teaching, this week on HeightsCast we share a lecture given by Tom Steenson at our recent Teaching Vocation Conference. In his talk, Tom discusses the ways that being a teacher helps one to be a better father, as well as the ways being a father helps one become a better teacher.

 

Dec 20, 2023

Dr. Scott Crider of the University of Dallas introduces us to Rhetoric, an art of persuasion that allows our future leaders to lead souls (and themselves) to the good. Dr. Crider discusses the nature of rhetoric, its place in the tradition of liberal learning, its role in a technologically advanced society (and classroom), and how it can be practiced by our students,  not only later in life but now, in the context of the academic essay.

Dec 11, 2023

In a HeightsCast episode released in September, headmaster Alvaro de Vicente offered guidance for parents on how to understand, interpret, and respond to their sons’ grades while also nurturing strong and lasting bonds. This week we welcome Tom Steenson to HeightsCast to discuss grading from the teacher’s perspective.

Tom offers practical advice to teachers, framing grades as a means to helping students learn, whether they are relatively strong in a subject or struggling through a class. Approaching grading more as an art than a strict science, Mr. Steenson encourages teachers to be realistic without crushing a student and to challenge students to think beyond the grade, helping them find a real joy in learning. 

Chapters 

  • 2:10 Introduction: Grading from a teacher’s perspective

  • 3:00 How to think about grades

  • 5:05 Dealing with a strong student

  • 7:45 Should you grade different students differently?

  • 10:53 The grade-monger: Kids who are hyper focused on the grade

  • 14:20 Online gradebooks? 

  • 16:20 Practical advice for students struggling with grades

  • 20:00 Grading fairly without crushing the student 

  • 21:45 Advice for the art of grading 

  • 28:10 Closing thoughts 

Mentioned in the episode 

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck 

Dec 1, 2023

The book of Genesis tells us that God made man ut operaretur—that he may work. Far from a punishment for the Fall, work is an essential part of man’s original vocation. Indeed, it is precisely as a craftsman—a tektōn, in the Greek—who does his work well (cf. Mark 6:3) that Jesus was identified in the Gospels. Education, therefore, even a liberal arts education, ought to take into account this important aspect of man’s nature. 

This week on HeightsCast, we welcome John Paul Lechner and Dr. Joseph Haggarty to discuss how a craftsmanship class can fit into the education students receive at a liberal arts school. Both teachers at Sparhawk Academy in Millis, Massachusetts, Lechner and Haggarty explain how students at Sparhawk engage reality through their unique craftsmanship curriculum. They give examples of the ways even their younger students learn to craft meaningful works for their families and community while gaining skills that will serve them for life.

Mr. Lechner and Dr. Haggarty help us see the ways craftsmanship class contributes to the formation of these boys so full of energy and budding strength.

Chapters 

  • 2:25 Introduction 

  • 3:10 Origin of Sparhawk’s craftsmanship courses

  • 6:15 Craftsmanship in the younger years 

  • 7:19 Craftsmanship and the liberal arts

  • 12:30 A brief history of craftsmanship

  • 15:10 The dignity of working with one’s hands 

  • 16:20 Examples of projects 

  • 23:20 Learning to use energy and strength well

  • 26:35 Getting started with craftsmanship 

Recommended Reading 

Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford 

Nov 16, 2023

“I’m a big believer in boredom…. All the [technology] stuff is wonderful, but having nothing to do can be wonderful, too.” Thought-provoking words from the man whose company produces one of the most powerful tools for distracting ourselves from any feelings of boredom. Not only Steve Jobs, but seventeenth-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal, too, understood the dangers of perpetual entertainment, the inability to sit alone in a room by oneself. 

Given the current cultural moment, a particular arena in which children—and, indeed, parents too—need to grow in self-mastery is that of screens and technology. This week on HeightsCast, we feature a talk given by Colin Gleason, head of lower school. First given at last Saturday’s Parenting Conference, this talk addresses how parents can foster the interior dispositions their sons will need to use technology well, and not to be used by it. He encourages parents to train their young sons in other arenas in order to prepare for healthy use of technology. Moreover, he speaks to the need for parents to model the virtues they’d like to see, and accompany their boys in a close and intimate relationship once they begin their digital journey.

Colin underscores that trust is not merely a result of but rather a means to achieving peace. If parents want their children to grow in virtue, they need to first trust that they can do so; for an intimate and personal relationship provides the proper culture for the growth of virtue. While external guardrails can be helpful and are at times necessary, in the end, virtue will be the best defense against evil and the strongest guarantee of the good.

Chapters 

  • 3:30 A common sense convention 

  • 6:30 Fostering internal guides

  • 9:20 Trust 

  • 10:25 Training 

    • 11:45 Let him be hungry 

    • 15:35 Let him be bored 

    • 19:30 Let him stay outside 

  • 23:15 Modeling 

    • 24:05 Detachment 

    • 25:15 Manners

  • 26:00 Establishing an intimate and personal relationship

    • 26:39 Freedom

    • 32:45 Ownership

    • 33:50 Learning from mistakes 

    • 34:20 Encouragement

    • 37:50 Trust  

Missed the conference but don’t want to miss out on the content? Check out the Freedom and Technology Collection

 

Nov 6, 2023

“Man He made to serve Him wittily,” said Thomas More in Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons, “in the tangle of his mind.” To serve God wittily requires an orderly mind, one capable of parsing through truths and falsehoods, able to string together arguments. Thus, the trivium endures: grammar, rhetoric, and logic. 

To discuss teaching logic to high school students, we welcome to the podcast Mark Grannis, Heights teacher, attorney, father, and author of The Reasonable Person: Traditional Logic for Modern Life. In this episode, Mr. Grannis discusses what logic is, why it matters today, and how to teach it. Given man’s nature as a rational animal, Mark argues that the study of logic—what he refers to as the art and science of sound reasoning—can improve the daily lives of everyone, regardless of his professional or academic path. Moreover, as social animals, Mark explains how logic can be a powerful means to attaining consensus in the public arena. 

In a world in which thinking has become an increasingly outsourced ability, learning the art and science of thinking well is perhaps more important than ever.

Chapters

  • 2:45 Introduction
  • 3:30 Law and logic: Mark’s path to the classroom 
  • 5:40 Why (traditional) logic today? 
  • 11:30 Symbolic and traditional logic 
  • 14:30 Examples of traditional logic 
  • 19:00 Practical benefits of logic 
  • 22:55 Logic and writing 
  • 24:40 Teaching logic to high schoolers
  • 26:40 Why write your own textbooks? 
  • 28:40 What’s different about The Reasonable Person?

Recommended Resources 

The Reasonable Person: Traditional Logic for Modern Life by Mark Grannis 

Logic and the Reasonable Person by Mark Grannis

AI and the Take-Home Essay with Matt Mehan

Why a Liberal Arts Education Today? with Michael Moynihan 

Oct 27, 2023

This episode of HeightsCast features our Headmaster's Open House presentation, in which he shares our vision of education, along with the specific mission and concrete approach this vision animates.  As you will hear, the Heights is informed by the timeless, yet vigorously engaged with the present, sinking its roots as a school and community into the soil of the 21st century.  The Heights education, rather than seeking escape, strives to strengthen men who will, in turn, preserve, protect, and promote the good that is abundantly present in our modern world.

Oct 20, 2023

The real problem for many today is not ADD; it is, rather, what Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente refers to as IDD: intimacy deficit disorder. This problem is even worse for men, who on average have fewer close friends. Studies indicate that the percentage of males who report having at least six close friends has been cut in half since the 1990s. There is, it would seem, a recession in male friendships. While there is no easy panacea for this problem, as with most things, one’s education can have a lasting impact on how a child learns—or doesn’t learn—to relate to others. 

This week we feature a recording of the annual Headmaster’s Lecture titled “Friendship and the 21st-Century Boy.” In the lecture, Alvaro discusses what friendship is and how to help children—and young boys, in particular—foster healthy friendships. He discusses contemporary obstacles to friendship and why growth in maturity is necessary for true, deep, and lasting friendships. He also offers a few words on what parents can do about bad friends—or, rather, friends with bad characteristics. 

In the end, Alvaro gives some practical advice for how parents and educators can set the stage for the formation of what Cicero called “the greatest of all gifts from the gods,” friendship. 

Chapters 

  • 4:42 Introduction 

  • 6:10 What is friendship? 

  • 8:47 Fostering friendship by common action 

  • 12:02 Intimacy 

  • 17:41 Why maturity is necessary 

  • 21:26 Characteristics of maturity in friendship 

  • 26:09 What to do about “bad friends”? 

  • 30:32 Should parents intervene in their children’s friendships?

  • 32:17 How to separate your son from a bad influence

  • 39:27 Specific challenges to boy friendship in the 21st century 

  • 50:50 Challenge of living in a hypersexualized environment

  • 54:02 Practical ideas 

Oct 10, 2023

Man is by nature made for movement. As a social-rational animal, he is not meant to live an angelic existence; his flourishing is embodied and, even more, it is familial. 

Though we all know this intuitively, living a healthy life can be difficult in practice. Not only does personal experience tell us this, data suggests it: life expectancy in America is dropping. How is such a downward trend possible given the advances in medicine and technology? What humans have done since the dawn of time, and what they have stopped doing in the past fifty, Is to move on a daily, hourly basis.

To speak about the importance of movement for human flourishing and family life, we welcome to HeightsCast our athletic director, Mr. Dan Lively. Keeping an eye on the development of the whole young person, Dan discusses the problem of sedentarism, a lack of movement, which plagues many people’s lives.

Rather than focusing on one-off exercise, Mr. Lively suggests we think about our overall relationship to movement. Living a healthy lifestyle involves more than checking a box; it involves developing habits of movement—low intensity, high volume, enjoyable movement that everyone can do for his whole life.

Chapters

  • 2:00 Introduction: On Movement 
  • 2:45 What is movement? 
  • 6:20 The sedentary person 
  • 8:25 Keeping it personal 
  • 11:00 VO2 max and life-expectancy
  • 19:00 Healthspan: Peter Attia and the art of longevity 
  • 23:10 Zone training and movement culture 
  • 25:55 Movement and the liberal arts 
  • 28:04 Building a culture 
  • 30:55 Movement vs. exercise
  • 39:43 Step-counters 
  • 43:00 Movement in the winter

Recommended Resources 

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia 

Alan Couzens 

Also on the Forum

Character Formation in Elite Athletics with Brad Soderberg 

Systems for Athletic Success with Dan Lively

Sep 28, 2023

According to Aristotle (and Aquinas and others), the human person is essentially rational and social; man thinks, and he thinks best in the context of friendship. As such, at the very heart of man’s education ought to be learning to write effectively, for good writing is thought clarified and beautified which can be shared with others. Recent developments in Artificial Intelligence, however, seem to pose a formidable challenge to teachers who wish to help their students grow in this most human of crafts. 

To help us think through how we as teachers should approach this challenge, this week on HeightsCast we welcome Dr. Matthew Mehan, Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Government for Hillsdale’s Steve and Amy Van Andel Graduate School of Government on Capitol Hill.

Despite the risks and challenges associated with it, Dr. Mehan argues that teachers should not abandon the at-home long essay. Indeed, as he points out, the creativity and thoughtfulness required by teachers who still wish to utilize the at-home essay, while mitigating the risks of cheating, may even make them better at their own art. As it becomes increasingly easier for a student to cheat his way through simplistic prompts and an outcome-focused approach to writing, teachers must now think more deeply about the kinds of written assignments they give their students and the process they use to guide them along the way.

All this extra effort is well worth it. As Dr. Mehan reminds us: “If you cannot order your thoughts beautifully and rationally, cogently and powerfully, in writing, you cannot clarify your own thinking, nevermind then share that thinking in the most brilliant and candid way.”

Chapters 

  • 0:55 Introduction

  • 4:00 Artificial intelligence and teaching the craft of writing

  • 7:20 Are at-home assignments worth the risk of cheating?

  • 14:00 The real good of teaching writing

  • 15:45 Strategies for mitigating cheating

  • 19:30 The importance of writing to thinking and socializing

  • 20:55 Imitation and the art of writing

  • 21:50 More strategies

  • 25:40 Summary of strategies for mitigating risk

    • Pre-conversations 

    • Discussion of thesis statement 

    • Pre-writing process 

    • Refining your prompts 

    • Imitation and style 

  • 27:00 A new era in education?

  • 30:25 Will AI alter language more fundamentally?

  • 31:50 Some ideas for essay prompts

  • 37:12 Love, fear, and the stealing of ideas: the ethics of AI

  •  44:05 Can AI really know anything?

  • 46:15 How AI can make us better teachers

  • 48:00 Cite your sources: the limitation of ChatGPT as a research tool

  • 52:22 In-class vs. at-home essays 

Also on the Forum 

Writing from the Sentence Up by Joe Breslin

5 Don’ts and Dos When Teaching Writing by Joe Breslin 

On Writing: A Personal Reflection by Michael Ortiz 

Splashing in Puddles: Finding the Creative Writing Flow by Joe Bissex

Why Our Politics Needs Poetry with Dr. Matthew Mehan




Sep 22, 2023

In a culture where autonomy is often pursued as an ideal, it’s not surprising to learn that America is also experiencing a so-called loneliness epidemic. Together with loneliness, depression is also on the rise—a correlation that makes sense, given man’s nature as a social animal.

What is the solution to these problems? While there is perhaps no panacea, there is a particularly important starting point: the intergenerational family. 

This week, we explore the idea of “intergenerational human flourishing” with Fr. Robert Gahl, long-time professor at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce in Rome, Italy, who was recently appointed Associate Professor in the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America. 

In this episode, Fr. Bob weaves research from several disciplines—sociology, philosophy, theology, and neuroscience—together with his own personal and pastoral experience. All the data point to the same fact: if they are to flourish, our sons need to know themselves to be part of a bigger story which includes relationships with parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. Such strong intergenerationality will give our boys a sense that life is a total gift. 

Our job as educators, then, is to free young people from an individualistic solipsism, in part by helping them discover the role they are created to play in an intergenerational ecosystem.

Chapters 

  • 3:30 Introduction: intergenerational human flourishing

  • 4:55 Human flourishing

  • 10:15 Intergenerationality 

  • 12:45 Protagonists of a story 

  • 17:30 The role of grandparents 

  • 22:30 Family in different cultures

  • 27:05 Attachment and independence in the home

  • 31:15 Cause for hope 

  • 37:15 Heroism transmitted in the home

  • 42:15 Fr. Bob’s work at the Busch School 

Mentioned in the episode 

The Human Flourishing Program, directed by Tyler VanderWeele

Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI

Master of Science in Ecclesial Administration and Management at the Busch School of Business

Also from the Forum 

Shaping Your Son’s Moral Imagination with Alvaro de Vicente 

Sep 15, 2023

Be careful that in encouraging a grade, you don’t shortchange growth; for a grade ought to be a means to growth, helping students—and their parents—see where they are so they can know where to go. Ideally, grades are the beginning of a conversation about what lies underneath the surface: the “why” beneath the “what”. 

In today’s episode, Heights Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente guides us through a nuanced discussion on how parents can understand, interpret, and respond to their sons’ grades while nurturing strong and lasting bonds. Acknowledging that grades serve as a judgment of the quality of a young man’s work at a given time, Mr. de Vicente sheds light on strategies to decipher the meaning behind the letters and numbers. Is it a problem of time, habits, or effort? Is it a helpful indicator of aptitude?  

Regardless of the cause or cure, Alvaro reminds us that even more important than helping to raise a grade, is strengthening the bond parents have with their son. 

Chapters 

  • 2:30 Defining grades

  • 3:30 Grades: more than a necessary evil

  • 5:00 How parents should approach grades 

  • 7:28 Digging into the “why” behind a grade

  • 9:35 Elements of a grade: intelligence, time, habits, effort

  • 14:45 Optimal Work and grades 

  • 16:55 Why boys need to own their grades

  • 21:00 Evolving relationship with grades 

  • 24:00 Growth over grades

  • 26:00 Respecting a school’s professional competence 

  • 29:35 What your tone communicates 

  • 36:35 Internal motivation 

  • 40:00 How to reframe as a parent

Recommended Resources

Punished by Rewards? from The Golden Hour Podcast

Also on the Forum

Handling Poor Grades: Steps to an Academic Reset with Michael Moynihan

Grinders Aren’t Heroes: On Student Motivation by Dave Fornaciari and Michael Hude

Motivation: Encouraging Reluctant Students by Tom Cox

Sep 7, 2023

“The mind,” Plutarch wrote, “is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.” The teacher's job, then, is not so much transferring data about the world from his mind to the students, but leading them to fall in love with the world that they see as good. The same is true for preparing teachers: what is needed is to light a fire. 

There is no better man to light such a fire for the teaching vocation than Heights Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente. In this week’s episode, Mr. de Vicente addresses the attendees of the 2022 Teaching Vocation Conference, introducing them to teaching as a vocation and a profession. He offers his thoughts on what it means for work to be a vocation, what it means for work to be a profession, and why it is that teachers are called to work that is both a profession and a vocation. Finally, our headmaster shares his thoughts on how we can tell whether the classroom is for us, or rather, whether we have been made for the classroom.

Chapters

  • 3:05 Introduction to the topic

  • 4:07 What is teaching?

  • 7:52 Out of intellectual ignorance, but also moral ignorance 

  • 12:55 Every school teaches morality 

  • 16:00 What is a vocation?

  • 22:35 The vocation of a teacher 

  • 27:18 Not a bad audience: you, your pupils, your friends, God 

  • 29:30 The need for teachers

  • 30:10 The field of life 

  • 32:15 The need for male teachers 

  • 32:35 Discerning the teaching vocation 

Also on the Forum 

Guidance for Aspiring Teachers with Alvaro de Vicente

On Preparation for Teaching: Six Attributes of Great Teachers with Colin Gleason

Why Teach? An Introduction to the Teaching Vocation with Rich Moss

The Art of Teaching with Rich Moss

Aug 29, 2023

“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

Aug 4, 2023

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

Jul 7, 2023

Upper School Head Michael Moynihan encourages teachers to view their students as sovereign knowers called to exercise agency in their learning. As teachers, we lead by walking backwards, but our students should provide the forward momentum. Yet this momentum must itself be fostered by a proper approach to the art of teaching. Mr. Moynihan shares ideas here about how teachers can create an environment conducive to this sense of agency.

Jun 30, 2023

In this episode, Heights Headmaster, Alvaro de Vicente elaborates on his vision for our Heights Graduates as "Men Fully Alive."  This vocation is a life-long pursuit.  The closer we get, the farther we realize we have to travel.  And yet, the calling to full and authentic manhood brings peace once embraced.  This peace results from knowing who we are, thinking big, and realizing that we can pursue these ends with joy and friendship.

Jun 2, 2023

This week on HeightsCast we feature Tom Cox, Upper School Latin teacher and one of the architects of the Core Humanities Sequence. In the Episode, Tom explains what epic poetry is, where it fits into our curriculum, and why we teach it. Weaving together themes from Homer, Virgil, and Dante, Mr. Cox shows us how these epic poems shape the boys' moral imaginations at a time when they are first beginning to ask life's perennial questions: What is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of my life? Can I be a hero? If so, what is my quest? By way of epic poetry, as Tom explains, the boys can begin to see that some of the most epic of all journeys may be hidden in the most ordinary, quotidien activities of life. 

May 30, 2023

"Have a great summer!" We hear it and say it incessantly, but what are we actually wishing for our boys? 21st Century America gives boys 3 months off--that is one quarter of the year and an enormous amount of time. Join Lower School Head, Colin Gleason, for a discussion of three ways that boys can fill their summer with healthy leisure and positive growth.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next » 9