2023 Workshop Talk | 56:34 | All Grade Levels, General Classroom, Virtue, Character, Discipline
Summary
“Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs!” exclaimed Jonathan Edwards. As classical Christian educators, what if an eternal vision of our students was stamped on our eyeballs? The temptation for the classical Christian educator to perceive his/her students through a reductionistic lens is omnipresent. If the student is perceived as such, attempts to transmit truth, goodness, and beauty will only become intellectual exercises. The transformative power of the transcendentals is likewise reduced, and at best, our students become brilliant Marthas, but the Marys are nowhere to be found. In this workshop, we will explore how an eternal vision of our students invites a classroom paideia that exalts Christ and simultaneously positions the student so that he is able to gaze on Christ and more clearly perceive the reflection of the Master on His creation and on himself. Through this transaction, the student’s soul is harmonized with the glorious music of the true, the good, and the beautiful.
Speaker
Jason Valley is a teacher in the Logic School at Heritage Classical Academy in Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to teaching at Heritage Classical Academy, Jason was a university instructor in occupational therapy. In 2021, he earned his PhD in occupational therapy from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His dissertation examined the interrelationship between high school students’ time use on screenbased activities, life meaning, and psychological well-being. Based on his studies of adolescent screen use, he wrote an article for the 2023 winter issue of Classis, entitled, “Social Media or The Savior? The Answer to the Adolescent Quest for Identity.” Currently, Jason is working on a qualitative study exploring the self-perceived meaning of the classical Christian paideia in the lives of virtuous college students who attended classical Christian schools. Jason loves spending time with his beautiful wife, Josie (also a teacher at Heritage), and his three children, Noah, Clara, and Hannah. He also loves playing piano, exercising, playing sports, and reading great books. For Jason, the world of classical Christian education is a recently discovered treasure that he never knew he was searching for.
Additional Materials
The Association of Classical & Christian Schools presents Repairing the Ruins, the ACCS annual conference, copyright ACCS. You may make additional copies of this recording for use by your school but please do not sell any copies of the recording, or post it on the internet.
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