iHistory Guest – Ken Kowalski
We want to thank Mr. Kowalski (left) for taking time to come speak to the junior class on Tuesday, March 13, 2019 as part of the iHistory initiative. Mr. Kowalski, former principle of EC Glass, spent part of his childhood in post-war Poland and observed the ravages of WWII. He spoke with the US History […]
New Covenant and the National Reading Crisis
I consistently tell prospective parents that there are a hundred ways to teach students how to read. There are also some ways not to teach them. Reading is not a natural function of the brain. Humans didn’t invent an alphabet until 3200 BC, or thereabouts, and reading by the masses, as opposed to professional scribes, […]
Thinking About Critical Thinking
During a recent professional development day, the faculty hosted Dan Willingham, Phd, a leading cognitive psychologist from the University of Virginia. Dr. Willingham’s work with the faculty was extensive, and we are pleased to share some of the topics that were covered, and discussed in his book, Why Don’t Students Like School? The following pertains to critical […]
Why Study Dead Languages
Because of our own language’s profound debt to the Latin, the young student of Latin can begin to “translate” English, often without the need of a dictionary. A working knowledge of simple Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes, will enable a 13-year old student to ascertain the meaning of many “million-dollar” English words without ever consulting […]
Quid Novi Archive
Quid Novi is the newsletter of New Covenant Schools. Find the latest editions below.
The Challenge of a Secular Age
We live in a secular age. Charles Taylor, in his massive book which bears the above title, poses the question, “How is it that 500 years ago it was almost impossible not to believe in God, but now it almost impossible to believe in God?” In the older world and earlier Christendom, it was taken for […]
21st Century Skills Require 25 Centuries of Context
My first brush with politics as a “full contact sport” came in 1973 when the Watergate hearings were televised gavel-to-gavel on black and white TV. The three networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, rotated their coverage from mid-May through August 1. I was eleven years old and had little idea of what was going on, but […]
Boiling It Down: Think. Learn. Love. Live.
I didn’t spend much time in the kitchen as a child, unless it was to get under Grandma’s feet, so I had to wait until I was married to learn how much fun cooking could be. I now know that certain things need to be boiled down before they are presentable. Lots of ingredients get […]
The Butting Order: How Middle School Students Rank Themselves in School
Middle school student are very much aware of what we call the “butting order.” We all have our own preferences and opinions that form our individual kingdoms. Within our own kingdoms, we often strive for individual glory which ultimately ends up leaving us empty. Through various methods, we attempt to lift ourselves higher on the “status” […]
Marking Milestones: What You See if You Stay Long Enough
Every year about this time year I get a bittersweet feeling deep down in my soul. I’m preparing to let go of students I’ve watched grow up, some of whose parents I have known for twenty years. When I headed out of grad school as a young pastor, my aspiration was to find a community […]
