Continuing Education Catalog

Great Hearts first and foremost educates children—that is our primary task. And the type of learner we strive to cultivate is essentially Socratic—the learner who, in awe of the cosmos and with a sense of passion and mission, strives continuously to know what is true, to know and practice what is good, and to love what is beautiful.

This kind of passionate, dynamic, continuously active Socratic learning can only be fostered by those who themselves practice it. The spirit of Socratic learning must permeate the entire organization and flow outwards from it. Thus, the Great Hearts mission is not only to educate children: we seek to educate our teachers and all our employees, the parents of the children entrusted to us, and the general public as well.

In this spirit, we are pleased to make several continuing education programs and courses available through this online catalog.

All Courses are FREE for Great Hearts employees: use voucher code ghemployee (case sensitive) at checkout.

For all general inquiries, please contact PD@greatheartsamerica.org.

APEX Program for School Leadership

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Academy for Classical Teachers

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Featured Courses

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A Close Study of Jane Austen’s Emma and Persuasion

This course is for any teacher who wants to grow and enrich their lives through the discussion of great literature and would also like to dive into a beautifully written novel and contemplate the value of novels for teaching students’ virtue, aiding students in their pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty, and teaching them how to articulate their own thoughts and have a meaning discussion.

$125.00

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Building a Strong Faculty Culture

Building a Strong Faculty Culture uses the classical virtues as a paradigm for developing a healthy faculty. The objective of this course is to develop your understanding of the components of a healthy faculty culture so that you can bring that understanding to bear on the practical, day-to-day decision-making processes of a school teacher.

$250.00

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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.

$125.00

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Leadership & Liberal Education

In this course, we will consider a set of challenges that are unique within – or at least more focal to – a classical or liberal arts educational setting, given the distinct goals of such settings. In doing so, a first step will be to consider the goals of a liberal arts education. In taking this course, it is unlikely that you will emerge having mastered these challenges, as they are challenges that reflect the magnitude of liberal education itself. For instance, a teacher might wish to produce a lifelong learner, might even know what actions are conducive to doing so, and still have a long way to travel before having the capacity of cultivating a lifelong learner. This course aims at identifying the challenges and providing tools toward mastering them. There may follow years of attempting to apply those tools before feeling as though you have arrived at any level of mastery.

$250.00

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Leadership for Change: Understanding Change, Managing Transitions - Summer 2025

Intended for any teacher or rising leader, this course seeks to build awareness of the larger context of leading school change and managing transitions. While not exhaustive, it aims to develop an awareness of the process of change and the ways a leader can manage and facilitate change and transitions. This overview includes an introduction to how adults learn and make change and to understanding and managing the progression of transitions, and offers some tools for all leaders to use when implementing or facilitating a change.

$250.00

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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.

$125.00

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