Essentials of Effective Teaching

In this course, Robyn Burlew (upper school and academic head at the Veritas School in Richmond, VA) shares her accumulated wisdom and practical insights into what it means to be an effective classical educator. While Robyn understands the philosophical and historical elements of classical education, she excels at practical planning, assessment, and execution in real classrooms with real students. Those teachers yearning for practical, hands-on guidance in teaching methods, classroom cultivation, testing and assessment, and effective planning will find this course truly essential. In particular, we recommend this course to new or relatively new teachers. Ideally, we think it would be fruitful for small groups of educators to take this course together and discuss each presentation, week by week.

Robyn’s recorded presentations are clear, pithy, precise, and practical. You will also enjoy her conversations with Dr. Christopher Perrin, which follow each presentation. In these discussions, she often goes into further depth and detail, sharing examples and anecdotes that further illumine her advice and counsel.

(See Robyn’s follow-up course here: Growing Classroom Culture through Parent Partnerships.)

Robyn Burlew is the Head of Upper School at the Veritas School in Richmond, VA. Her career spans a couple decades in classical education. She first served as a 6th grade teacher, then as an upper school principal, and then as academic dean at Covenant Christian Academy in Harrisburg, PA, before taking the upper school and academic head position at the Veritas School. Robyn has 3 grown daughters who have all been classically educated. Robyn excels at bringing classical, pedagogical principles to bear practically and effectively in the classroom. She is a committed mentor of teachers who devotes an entire day every other week to faithfully observing classes and coaching teachers. Robyn has a BS in biology from Houghton College, where she also minored in mathematics. She also holds an MEd from Covenant College in integrated curriculum and instruction.

Interested in seeing more courses by Robyn Burlew? Check out her other course on ClassicalU called Growing Classroom Culture.

To learn more about earning a certificate for this course, please visit “How do I Obtain a Course Certificate?” on our FAQ page. Our course certificates are valued by classical schools and co-ops worldwide, and you can also be on your way to obtaining a Level 1 certificate with your completion of this course. Teachers certified with either ACSI or ACCS will see continuing education unit (CEU) credits listed on our course certificate for you to submit to either organization (with more information on certification credit here).