Professional Development
Restoring America's Heritage
Freedoms Foundation SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES!
Founded in 1949, the Freedoms Foundation is a national, non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian educational organization. The Freedoms Foundation provides a wide range of educational and awards programs for students, teachers and citizens to gain a greater awareness and appreciation of the principles and responsibilities of a free and democratic society. These programs include: U.S. history, Citizenship & civics, Constitutional rights, Citizen responsibilities, Student entrepreneurship, American political process, Public policy issues, and the Free enterprise system. All education programs are conducted at the Freedoms Foundation’s 85-acre campus in historic Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, located 25 miles from Philadelphia. Open to K-12 teachers. Must apply online.
Reacting to the Past is an active-learning pedagogy of complex role-playing games. Reacting promotes engagement with big ideas, and improves critical, practical, intellectual, and academic skills.
Teaching American History SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES!
We support teachers of American history, government and civics, believing they do the most important work in America. We help them bring the documents and debates of America’s past into the present through free document-based seminars, document collections both online and in print, and other resources. We are dedicated to making every American history, government, and civics class in America its best.
Harvard Classics Challenge
Dr. Charles W. Eliot for forty years President of Harvard University and one of America’s greatest scholars and educators compiled and edited “The Five Foot Shelf” known as the Harvard Classics, first published in 1909. His purpose was to provide what was essential to develop a cultivated mind, a good substitute for a liberal education to anyone who would read them with commitment. He said, “A great mind needs acquaintance with the prodigious store of recorded discoveries, experiences, and reflections which humanity in its intermittent and irregular progress from barbarism to civilization has acquired and laid up.”
The Harvard Classics touch every facet of human interest: romance, poetry, adventure, exploration, drama, mystery, political theory, law and philosophy. The fifty volumes give a picture of the progress of the human race within historical times, to record the stream of the world’s thought that the observant reader’s mind shall be enriched, refined and fertilized.
There are about 23,000 pages in the fifty volumes. Reading ten pages per day an aspiring scholar could read all fifty volumes in their middle and high school years and some works included in these volumes will already be read as part of the JAA curriculum.
This invitation is for the scholar that desires a greater challenge and a deeper dive into scholarship. Included in the set is a reading guide that invites those that can commit to reading 15 minutes a day to accelerate the journey of becoming a well-educated man or woman. Each day write down discoveries from your reading in your common place book and share those thoughts with your family, friends and mentor. Read, write, discuss!
Why take the Harvard Classics challenge? “They take you out of the rut of life……They offer you companionship of the most interesting and influential men and women who have ever lived; they make it possible for you to travel without leaving home, and to have vacations without taking time from your work” (Eliot). The classics included in this compilation are the finest writings of the greatest creative minds of the world. They offer you education and the means of making your life what you want it to be.
How do you begin? Complete sets of the Harvard Classics are often available on eBay, Amazon, in used bookstores, and in some libraries. They are also available to all on a digital platform.
Take the challenge! Just begin!
Dr. Dean and Linda Forman
Founders, John Adams Academy
Foundations in Classical Education
Academy For Classical Teachers-SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES!
The Academy for Classical Teachers (ACT) provides online enrichment for classical teachers who seek to teach in their classrooms according to the principles of a traditional Liberal Arts Education. ACT is a collaborative initiative of Great Hearts Academies and our partner institutions in both higher education and classical K-12. This year’s courses are designed to help teachers dive deeply into content, with an eye toward both theory and practice. Faculty are drawn from our friends in higher education, expert teachers, and scholars who have chosen to teach within the public K-12 arena because of the unique opportunities it affords.
Hillsdale Online ONGOING FREE OPPORTUNITIES!
Hillsdale College was founded in 1844 with a mission to provide "all who wish to learn" the education necessary to preserve the civil and religious liberties of America. The founders of Hillsdale College understood, like the founders of our great nation, that free government requires independent, virtuous, and knowledgeable citizens.
In 2011 Hillsdale launched its online courses program to extend this mission and to teach the core subjects of a Hillsdale education free of charge. Since that time, more than 2.6 million Americans have partnered with us in this effort.
Classical U ONGOING OPPORTUNITIES!
ClassicalU is an online teacher-training platform that provides 70+ courses by highly qualified presenters with a clear path toward mastery for educators seeking to understand the classical tradition of education and to teach with excellence.
Circe Institute ONGOING OPPORTUNITIES!
The CiRCE Institute is a leading provider of inspiration, information, and insight to classical educators throughout the U.S. and Canada via an annual conference, an online classical academy, in-house teacher training, Lost Tools of Writing™ Workshops and materials, consulting on board development, school leadership, and school start-up, as well as a content-laden website and blog.
In the tradition of missions that have established schools, colleges, hospitals, food banks, shelters and other works intended to meet the needs of their neighbors, no matter their background, we offer support to any teacher in any kind of school or adult education program, serving all kinds of students. We believe in the dignity of every human being and that each one deserves an exceptional humanities education. That is why we are committed to serving all teachers and fostering humanities for everyone.
The support we provide improves teaching; better teaching improves learning; and better learning advances both the good of each individual student and the common good.
Curriculum PD
Recommended Blogs
Dean Forman built prospering schools to elevate young minds. How are thousands of our youth graduating with hope in a sea of crises? Learning and applying classical literature. Not everyone can go to John Adams Academy. But we can bring John Adams Academy to you. Learn the principles of classical literature by following this blog. This site seeks to elevate, liberate and motivate you in the principles of freedom.
Promoting a Rebirth of Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Era
Symposiums/Conferences
The National Classical Education Symposium
The National Classical Education Symposium is designed to enrich our understanding of the classical, liberal arts in both the theoretical and practical dimensions of curriculum and pedagogy. Beginning with curated presentations from select scholars and practitioners, we provide school leaders and master teachers with some of the best thought on the subjects under consideration.
Coming Soon Society for Classical Learning Winter Conference.
Graduate/Post Doc Degree Programs
Get Your Masters!
By providing foundations in classical principles and pedagogy, the Classical Education Graduate Program aspires to form educators as master teachers. Students in the program explore the historical, philosophic, literary, aesthetic, rhetorical, and scientific roots of the liberal arts in the Western tradition. With a dedicated faculty and staff drawing on extensive experience in the academy and the classical classroom, and assisted by UD's world-class undergraduate faculty, the Classical Education Graduate Program combines the ethos of the University's core curriculum tradition with a concentration on the theory and practice of classical education, bringing these to working and aspiring classical school teachers, school administrators, and others both locally and around the country.
The Templeton Honors College Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) offers a distinctively classical approach to training teachers, which takes formation in virtue as the central task of education. To this end, the program charts a course between the exclusive focus of most education programs on method and technique and the exclusive focus of most liberal arts programs on content alone.
St. Johns College Summer Teacher
The St. John’s College Teachers Institute is a week-long program held each summer for educators in Annapolis, Maryland. St. John’s accepts applications from all high school educators for the Teachers Institute. Spaces are limited. If accepted, there is no cost for tuition, books, on-campus housing, or breakfast and lunch. Participants earn a certificate from St. John’s College. During the week-long program, seminars will meet Tuesday through Thursday, with a final seminar on Friday (see schedule sample). Time is also available to explore the historic city of Annapolis, the Chesapeake Bay, and nearby Washington, DC.
Ashbrook Center (Ashland University)
The mission of Ashbrook is to restore and strengthen the capacities of the American people for constitutional self-government. To fulfill this mission, Ashbrook offers educational programs for students, teachers, and citizens. Ashbrook's History & Literature seminars aim to encourage the cross-curricular study of key themes in American history by examining both historical documents and literary texts. Open to both social studies and English/language arts teachers at any level, the seminars delve into the history and meaning of America through the words of historical figures great and small, as well as through the prose and verse of the nation’s writers. Each seminar will be taught by a historian or political scientist teamed with a literary scholar. For additional information and registration deadlines please click here.
Earn Your PHD
The Doctor of Arts at Harrison Middleton University is delivered entirely at a distance and uses a flexible and individualized, student-created program of study. In this way, the manner in which the student fulfills the degree requirements can be tailored to each student’s educational and career goals.
We all want to become better versions of ourselves. No one wants to remain trapped where they are because of missed opportunities and unrealized dreams.At Faulkner University, we believe your dreams don’t have an expiration date. We understand that you’re looking for more than a degree. You want find your niche and thrive in your career.Whether you’re a high school senior just beginning your trek, or an adult student looking for a better path, Faulkner is here to help guide your journey.
Tuition Assistance for Graduate Studies in Classical Education
This program is for all qualifying employees who work for John Adams Academies, Inc. and wish to receive tuition assistance for approved programs under the Tuition Assistance Program.
The Program is intended to encourage and support the continued professional development of employees who work for JAA (min 2 year employment requirement); it is especially designed to help employees attain a deeper level and understanding of classical education. The Program is driven by JAA’s desire to advance the development of its employees who work to faithfully deliver the best possible education to JAA’s scholars. Participation in JAA’s tuition assistance program is entirely voluntary and is not a condition of employment.
For more program details, please refer to the Program Application.
Tuition Assistance for Graduate Studies in Classical Education Program Application
To apply:
1. Complete all parts of the Tuition Assistance for Graduate Studies in Classical Education Program Application
2. Submit to Karen Hansen.
3. A decision and communication will be sent to you from the superintendent cabinet.
Get Approved Today!
Step 1. Fill out the form for your campus.
Step 2. Get approved by your Admins.
Step 3. Work with your Business Tech for getting registered.
Step 4. Once registered participants should secure own flights and hotels. (See Reimbursement form and Board Travel Policy) Have fun learning!