The National Paideia Center improves the ability of adults and students to think and communicate so that each might be good citizens, earn a decent living, and lead a good life.

You may purchase instructional materials, as well as training and technical assistance.

Paideia teachers use three instructional techniques:

1. didactic instruction for increasing students’ factual recall,
2. intellectual coaching for developing students’ literacy skills, and
3. seminar dialogue to strengthen students’ conceptual understanding.

Upcoming Learning Opportunities
Introduction to the Paideia Seminar Chapel Hill, NC	June 28-30, 2010
Teaching Math and Science via the Paideia Seminar Chapel Hill, NC	June 28-30, 2010
Advanced Paideia Seminar Chapel Hill, NC	July 15-16, 2010
Introduction to the Paideia Seminar Pueblo, CO	August 10-11, 2010
Teaching Math and Science via the Paideia Seminar Pueblo, CO	August 10-11, 2010
Introduction to the Paideia Project Pueblo, CO	August 10-11, 2010
Advanced Paideia Seminar Pueblo, CO	August 10-11, 2010

In Paideia classrooms, all students are involved in a wide range of academic work and social practices needed to achieve the following objectives:

to become good citizens,
to earn a decent living,
and to lead a good life.

Paideia classrooms feature seminar dialogue to teach critical and creative thinking. Paideia schools are built on the idea that public schooling is preparation for becoming educated over the course of one’s life time.

Paideia Seminar Tools:

• Seminar Plan Template
• Generic Seminar Question Planning Form
• Text Selection Rubric
• Seminar Participation Goals
• Seminar Groundrules
• K-1 Seminar Checklist
• Elementary Seminar Checklist
• Secondary Seminar Checklist
• Facilitator Seminar Reflection Guide

Sample Paideia Seminar Dialogue plans:
The newest versions of Paideia Seminar Dialogue plans include expanded pre- and post-seminar process and content sections that emphasize the potential for teaching a full range of literacy and thinking skills. See the examples below:

• The American Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance
• The Gettysburg Address

The National Paideia Center is a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the University of North Carolina since 1988. The Center supports a world-wide network of educators through training, technical support, and publications.

Questions or comments about Paideia? Issues with our website? We maintain a broken link checker.
Send email to info@paideia.org or call 919 962 3128.

Since 1988, an affiliate of

Announcing our Fall 2010 Picturing America Across North Carolina regional conferences; sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities open to North Carolina recipients of the Picturing America Portfolio. These thematic one day conferences are designed for educators to learn from nationally recognized art scholars, with interactive sessions for strategies to engage students with art to teach literacy, history, for all grade levels. Contact us at info@paideia.org for a Picturing America Across North Carolina conference participant application.

Now Available:
2nd Edition
Paideia Seminar Training Manuals

Read and share  Thinking is Literacy,
 Literacy Thinking.
EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP 
by Terry Roberts
and Laura Billings. Copyright 2008 
by Assn for Supervision & Curriculum 
Development. 
Reproduced with permission 
of Assn for Supervision 
& Curriculum Development.

Read and share Speak Up and Listen
by Terry Roberts
and Laura Billings. Copyright 2009 by 
the National Paideia Center. Also
available at Phi Delta Kappan, 
October 2009, online at pdkintl.org.

Recent Research Findings: 
Our most recent program evaluation 
is now available. Read on-line or print, 
Evaluation of Academic Achievement 
at Nine Paideia Schools.

A recent external program evaluation 
including one important Paideia 
School is available. Read on-line or 
print, Profiles of Success:
Eight Colorado Schools that 
are Closing the Achievement Gap.

Research

Program Evaluation
submitted by Eric L. Robinson, Ph.D.,
Baylor University
Waco, Texas
2008
Evaluation of Academic Achievement
at Nine Paideia Schools

Doctoral Dissertation
submitted by Pelusa Orellana, Ph.D.,
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
2008
Maieutic Frame Presence and Quantity and Quality of Argumentation in a Paideia Seminar

Doctoral Dissertation
submitted by Ann S. Philgren, Ph.D.
Norrtalje, Sweden
2008
Socrates in the Classroom: Rationales and Effects of Philosophizing with Children

The National Paideia Center improves the ability of adults and students to think and communicate so that each might become a good citizen of the world, earn a decent livelihood, and lead a good life.