Sample of Leader's Manual
Class 2- Cycles and Education
Preparation for class:
*Complete the readings and videos using the study skills found in the article Getting the Book Through You. Write questions of your own for discussion of the readings.
*Read or review the plot for The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. Look over the sections quoted and make sure that you understand their meaning and can discuss them clearly.
*Make copies or e-mail the students the handouts for Class 2.
*Bring a whiteboard and markers if your classroom has none.
*Bring your copies of the Study Guide and The 5000 Year Leap.
*Make a copy of this Leader’s Manual Class 2 and bring it.
1) Give your 3-5 minute opener. Share the following quotes:
“The only thing worth teaching anybody is a principle”
Jacques Barzun
“For every thousand hacking at the branches of evil, there is one striking at the root.” Henry David Thoreau
Ask: What do these quotes have to do with this course we are going through? Why must we focus on principles in our teaching? Why are so many hacking at the branches and not at the root? What does it mean to hack at the branches of government, rather than at the root? How can we change this?
2) Discuss the Lost Educational Principles video. Ask if anyone has questions about what the principles are and why they are important to know and practice. Emphasize again that these lost principles are what make this course so unique and as the students use them, they will not only gain the skills of deep thinking and persuasion, but they will enjoy learning.
3) Discuss Lecture 1 using the questions found in the Study Guide. Here are some additional questions you could use:
Why is the creation of the United States the greatest of all human achievements? What has it done for the world? For the individual? How do we learn why it is the greatest achievement?
Do you believe in absolutes? Why? Can you convince someone else? How?
What is the difference between obedience out of fear and obedience out of love? Why does that matter?
How does Revolution begin in the heart and mind? What can we do about that today?
How do you restore liberty?
4) Discuss the Tytler cycle and try to cite examples of why we are on the decaying side.
5) As a class, create a definition for “principle”. Have the students give their ideas and write these on the board. Then go through them and see what everyone can agree with.
6) Discuss Skousen’s Preface and Introduction and compare them to Lecture 1. Have the students share any thoughts or questions from their commonplace book that they would feel comfortable telling others. Here are some discussion questions you could use:
Preface:
How did this book come into being? Why did Skousen write it?
Why did he write the Preface? What did he want us to get out of it?
Introduction:
What principles of government, economics and society does Skousen use as evidence for the 5000 year leap? Look for these principles together.
Principles of Liberty Discussion Group Leader’s Manual
Class 3- Worldviews
Preparation for Class
*Complete the readings, watch Lecture 3 and write discussion questions for them.
*Choose a section from The 5000 Year Leap to write questions about when discussing the article From Opinions to Principles.
*Study the Humanist Manifesto found in “Handouts for Class 3.” Write questions that tie it back to the readings and other lectures. You may want to study signers that the students didn’t choose and talk about them.
*Pick up a local or national newspaper and highlight articles you can discuss as a class. Circle any sections you may want to read aloud.
*Bring a whiteboard and markers if your classroom doesn’t have them.
*Make a copy of this Leader’s Manual Class 3.
*Make copies or e-mail the handouts for Class 3.
*Bring your copy of The 5000 Year Leap.
1) Share your 5 minute opener.
Idea for opener—Read and discuss quality reading as Mortimer J. Adler describes it:
“…there is only one situation I can think of in which [men and women] almost pull themselves up by their bootstraps, making an effort to read better than they usually do. When they are in love and are reading a love letter, they read for all they are worth. They read every word three ways; they read between the lines and in the margins; they read the whole in terms of the parts, and each part in terms of the whole; they grow sensitive to the context and ambiguity, to insinuation and implication; they perceive the color of words, the odor of phrases, and the weight of sentences. They may even take the punctuation into account. Then, if never before or after, they read.”
