Our Courses
All ACT courses fit into one of two categories: live, virtual courses that meet via Zoom and are typically held during the summer and fully asynchronous courses that are available year-round through our partnership with ClassicalU. Scroll down to view information on both summer and year-round courses.
Summer 2025 Course Offerings
The courses below are available for the summer 2025 season. Learners in these courses complete assigned readings and then meet virtually on Zoom to discuss the reading assignments in a seminar.
| Course Title | Description | Schedule | Facilitator | Registration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| An Introduction to Alexis de Tocqueville: Selections from Works and Letters | This course introduces students to some of the key ideas and arguments in the life and works of Alexis de Tocqueville–the great French aristocrat and statesman who toured America in the 1830s and wrote, “Democracy in America,” a work often said to be the best book written about America and about democracy. We will read excerpts from this large two-volume work, as well as from some of his other writings, including a handful of personal letters. No prior knowledge of Tocqueville is required. | June 3rd, 5th, 10th, and 12th from 10:00-11:30 AM (AZ time) | Trevor Shelley | Click here to register |
| Goethe as Poet and Scientist | Though known best as one of the greatest poets of German Romanticism and the author of the renowned epic Faust, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was also an innovative scientist and well-respected as such in his time. Of his scientific works, most highly prized by contemporary scientists are Goethe’s botanical writings which have become increasingly relevant to modern biologists who are more and more finding a need to appeal to qualitative methods of inquiry. The centerpiece of this course will therefore be Goethe’s Metamorphosis of Plants, a masterwork of empirical observation and creative scientific thinking. | June 2nd, 4th,6th, 9th, 11th, and 13th from 1:00-2:30 PM (AZ time) | Dr. Michael Ivins | Click here to register |
| Unbinding Prometheus: Donald Cowan on Liberal Learning | Prescient in his predictions about the need for liberal education in a technology-driven society, Dr. Cowan finds analogies in great literature for the qualities of imagination, practical reasoning, and taste. In this course, we will examine five major themes of his work giving specific attention to application of those themes to the issues facing the contemporary classical school. | June 2nd, 4th,6th, 9th, 11th, and 13th from 9:00-10:00 AM (CST) | Mandi Gerth | Click here to register |
| Tragedy and Comedy in Shakespeare Through the Lens of Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream | In this course, we will read together two plays, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which are often considered companion plays, and are often performed at festivals side by side. Both plays involve young lovers, thwarted by the conventions and demands of their parents, against which the lovers rebel. Romeo and Juliet begins lightly with the love at first sight of the eponymous lovers, and ends tragically. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by contrast, begins with tragic potential and the possibility of violence mid play, but it concludes with a high degree of happiness and satisfaction among the four young lovers. Why do these two plays, both ostensibly about young love, end so differently? How does Shakespeare write two plays apparently on the same subject but infuse one with comic contentment in the end, while the other ends in tears? Shakespeare’s two stories of young love, their similarities and differences, is the subject of this discussion course. | June 2nd , 4th , 9th , and 11th from 9:00-10:30 (AZ time) | Carol McNamara | Click here to register |
| Aristotle’s Politics | In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle emphasizes that cultivating virtue is a matter of forming the proper habits. But the best way to form virtuous habits is not through individual, isolated efforts to make good decisions. Rather, it is by dwelling in good communities and abiding by the laws they set down. Aristotle concludes, therefore, that “someone who wishes to make people better…should try to acquire legislative science….”
In Book X, then, he proposes to “study the collected political systems” in order to “grasp better what sort…is best; how each…should be organized so as to be best; and what laws and habits it should employ.” But just as he proposes those things, he ends the book! The closing words are “let us discuss this, then, having made a start.” The Politics is where this promised discussion takes place, and our goal in this course will be to take up Aristotle’s charge – to study the collected political systems and better grasp what sort is best. We will be reading the text in its entirety, and we will be attempting 1) to understand his classification of regimes, 2) to see how he thinks they are best organized, and 3) to clarify the laws and habits he thinks they should employ. |
June 10th, 12th, 17th, 19th, 24th, and 26th at 10:00 AM (CST) | Michael Vendsel | Click here to register |
| Introduction to the Beauty of Latin | In these seminars, participants will begin their study of Latin primarily by using a well-used and well-loved text, Hans Oerberg’s Lingua Latina per se illustrata. Over the first few chapters of this book, we will read, learn basic grammar, and practice speaking the language. Seminar meetings will also include some activities that I have used in my classrooms (for all ages) that will help us to read and understand the text better. Preparation for seminar meetings will include reviewing brief grammatical notes based on Wheelock’s Latin 7th Edition and reading portions of the text ahead of time. Active participants should leave the class with the linguistic tools necessary to continue their study using Lingua Latina and Wheelock’s Latin on their own. | June 17th, 19th, 24th, 26th, July 1st, and 3rd at 3:00 PM (CST) | Luke Ayers | Click here to register |
| A Close Study of Jane Austen’s Emma and Persuasion | In honor of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, we will dive into Emma and Persuasion, exploring Austen’s ideas about love, marriage, and personal growth. Through our seminars, we will discuss such topics as her writing style, insights into humanity and relationships, humor, and the consequences of actions. Austen’s books are rich with lively characters who bring forth many topics that will aid us and our students in our pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty. We will focus on Emma for the first three sessions, Persuasion for next two sessions and compare the two works for the final session. | June 27th, 30th, July 2nd, 7th, 9th, and 11th from 2:00-4:00 PM (CST) | Suzanne Meledeo | Click here to register |
| The Neverending Story as an Educational Journey | The novel is a story about the personal moral development of the protagonist, and it is executed with literary and imaginative mastery. In this course, we will read this book carefully, observing how Bastien’s journey to self-possession is a powerful allegory for the educational journey classical education offers. We will discuss the details and themes of the book, but our focus will not be on how to teach the book for any particular level; rather, we will explore together, as educators, how Bastien’s journey can clarify our understanding of the journey our students are on, and equip us with a new realm of ideas in guiding them on that journey. And so this course is both an encounter and discussion of a great novel and a seminar for discussing our vocation as classical pedagogues, refreshing our hearts with the wonder and danger Bastien encounters along the way. The course is thus suitable for teachers of all levels. | June 30th, July 2nd, 7th, 9th, 14th, and 16th from 1:00-2:00 PM (CST) | Junius Johnson | Click here to register |
Year-Round Course Offerings
The courses below are available all year long through our partnership with ClassicalU. These courses are self-paced and fully asynchronous.
| Course Title | Description | Facilitator | Registration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials of Drawing | In this course, Brighton Demerest-Smith (a classically trained artist and veteran educator with Great Hearts Academies) moves from how to teach the elements of drawing up through still life and master study. Grounded in fundamentals and close observation of subjects, his methods of teaching drawing are traditional and time-tested. | Brighton Demerest-Smith | Click here to register |
| Math for Every Teacher | In this course, veteran mathematics teacher and leader Jake Tawney provides a clear and engaging introduction to the beauty of Mathematics. This course does not propose a specific curriculum. It does, however, present a list of “those things from mathematics you should have learned but probably didn’t.” In the opening lessons of the course you will hear that truth is effusive. Upon its discovery truth demands to be shared, and the mathematical proof is the medium through which mathematical truth is communicated. There are certainly no results in this course that Jake Tawney claims as his own, and many of the mathematical proofs are centuries old. These proofs represent, in a small way, some of the best that has been said within the discipline of mathematics. | Jake Tawney | Click here to register |
| The Teacher’s Playbook: Practical Pedagogy for Classical Educators | As Great Hearts has grown from one school of 140 students to 32 schools with over 20,000 students by 2021, Jerilyn has had the opportunity to capture the best practices of teachers across multiple contexts and share those practices with each new campus. Teachers are truly at the center of every school and teaching is the work of practical wisdom—it is neither a pure philosophical endeavor nor a utilitarian social science. Newer classical school teachers often find it difficult to visualize what good practice looks like in one’s own particular context. Such teachers often hear talk about the Great Tradition, truth beauty goodness, and Platonic ideas but aren’t sure what means in particular for planning tomorrow’s lesson on fractions.
At the same time, practical teaching handbooks that are full of techniques and strategies aren’t easily harmonized with a classical pedagogy. How can we know how and when employ techniques from these sources? Using classical rhetorical ideas and real-life anecdotes, Jerilyn seeks to bring together the great philosophies of classical education with effective, practical methods that good teachers employ every day. In these sessions, Jerilyn lays out a vision for practice—a description of what good teaching might look like, and how teachers can organize their ideas around the framework of rhetoric. Along the way, she gives some advice for your ongoing journey in learning good pedagogy, practicing, and getting feedback. Toward the end, she also gives advice to leaders who seek to help guide and develop effective classical teachers. |
Jerilyn Olson | Click here to register |
| Teaching Shakespeare’s Greatest Plays & Sonnets | Dr. Joshua Avery teaches Shakespeare with the Classical Education Graduate Program at the University of Dallas as well as Humane Letters at North Phoenix Preparatory Academy (Great Hearts). In this course, he guides teachers through Shakespeare’s sonnets as well as seven of his plays, providing key insights into enjoying and understanding these classics with your students. His own teaching experience in a classical upper school as well as training of teachers at the graduate level provide a wealth of practical insights into pedagogical approaches as well as insights into Shakespeare’s works as a literary scholar. | Dr. Joshua Avery | Click here to register |