Beautiful Teaching: Classical Education Courses for Parents and Classroom Teachers

"Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare."

Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare.

Let all who prate of Beauty hold their peace,

And lay them prone upon the earth and cease

To ponder on themselves, the while they stare

At nothing, intricately drawn nowhere

In shapes of shifting lineage; let geese

Gabble and hiss, but heroes seek release

From dusty bondage into luminous air.

O blinding hour, O holy, terrible day,

When first the shaft into his vision shone

Of light anatomized! Euclid alone

Has looked on Beauty bare. Fortunate they

Who, though once only and then but far away,

Have heard her massive sandal set on stone.

-Edna St. Vincent Millay

What: Online teaching and discussion of Euclid's Elements once a week for five weeks. Euclid's Elements is the most commonly read book of Mathematics for the last two thousand years. Participants will discuss sections of the Elements and practice critiquing and presenting Propositions from the Elements in an effort to provide practical knowledge of how one might teach math from a primary source or, as Charlotte Mason might say, a "Living Book."

Who: For educators who wish to learn what it means to learn and teach mathematics classically. For those wishing to understand, both theoretically and practically, how math can be taught in way which integrates it into the larger conversation of a classical curriculum.

Class Limit: Places are limited so we can all participate in discussion.

Course Dates:  The course will begin on September 5th and meet for five consecutive Thursdays ending on October 3rd.

Time: Every Thursday, 7:00pm-8:30pm (Central)

Course Overview:

September 5th - Introduction and Definitions, Postulates, and Common Notions

September 12th - What is a Proposition? Book I: Props 1-5

September 19th - More Complex Propositions - Book I Props 6-7, 13-16

September 26th - Book I Proposition 26

October 3rd - Book I Prop 47

Requirements: 

• A zoom app
• A copy of Euclid's Elements
  • My suggestion for a hard copy would be Sir Thomas Heath's translation from Green Lion Press
  • A free copy of the same translation can be found here

Recorded: Our courses are interractive, so we encourage live attendance. All courses are recorded and available 48-72 hours after the course and will be available for 1 month. You will be sent a YouTube link. 

Cost: $50 (non-refundable)

About the Teacher

Aaron Mitchell has been teaching various disciplines in classical schools since 2012. He received his B.A. from Cornell College with a triple major in Classics, Philosophy, and Religious Studies. Upon graduation, he began teaching at Great Hearts Academies in Phoenix, AZ. While there, he taught Middle and High School Latin, History, and Music. In 2017, Aaron was privileged to return to St. Peter’s Classical School, his High School Alma mater, as a faculty member. During his tenure there he taught Greek, Latin, Literature, and Euclidean Geometry. He has spent the last few years doing curricular development for Math and Classical Language instruction at St. Peter’s, particularly focusing on classical language instruction using both inductive and deductive methods, and how an ancient understanding of quantity effects math instruction. He currently teaches Humanities and Euclidean Geometry at Great Hearts Academies. He enjoys reading poetry, playing music with his wife Corrie, and watching their son play youth baseball.