
I am a teacher, graphic designer, and writer—and a passionate advocate for classical Christian education. I have worked at Cary Christian School since 2006, teaching a wide variety of courses in history, theology, and rhetoric.
I currently direct Cary Christian School’s senior thesis program. On this page you will find resources that I hope other senior thesis instructors will find helpful.
Over the years I’ve written for various publications including The Imaginative Conservative, FORMA Journal, The Classical Difference, and Cary Christian School’s blog, The Forum.
Senior Thesis Teacher Resources
Throughout the summer and fall of 2024, I will be adding resources for senior thesis teachers to this website. I have been involved in Cary Christian School’s senior thesis program for over fifteen years and have guided hundreds of students through the thesis process during that time. In June 2024 I will be leading a workshop at the ACCS conference on “Designing an Effective Senior Thesis Program,” which will eventually posted to this site.
DISCUSSION BOARD / EMAIL LIST
Are you involved in a high school senior thesis program? Join our Google Group! Our group currently includes over 60 teachers from schools across the country and provides a unique opportunity for teachers to connect and collaborate.
RESOURCES & CURRICULUM
The following files are works in progress but are posted in the hope that other teachers may find them helpful to peruse:
2024 Senior Thesis Teacher Survey
Senior Thesis Select Curriculum Files
- 2024-25 Schedule of Due Dates (PDF)
- Tips for Choosing a Good Thesis Topic
- Grading Rubric – Paper
Note: in addition to filling out this grading rubric, I also provide a page of feedback (about 250-350 words) describing my impressions of the paper, its strengths and weaknesses, and questions it prompts that I might want to raise at the presentation. - Grading Rubric – Presentation
The Senior Thesis: A Gracious Dialogue
Discussion on the CCS Knights Podcast (2022)
On this episode I joined two other teachers and a recent graduate to discuss the challenges, values, and outcomes of our senior thesis project. What does it look like to engage in gracious dialogue with people with whom you might disagree? We had a great conversation on reviving this seemingly lost art and the ways that the senior thesis, though somewhat intimidating at first, is an accomplishment upon which our graduates can look back on and feel satisfaction.
Featured Writing

Vico’s Vision of Education: Restoring the Imago Dei
Originally Published by FORMA Journal (Winter 2023). The first warning bells against overemphasizing STEM education sounded not in recent years, but over three centuries ago. In 1709, the Italian scholar Giambattista Vico lamented, “The greatest

We’re All Muckrakers Now
Originally Published by The Imaginative Conservative. Today, Theodore Roosevelt prompts us to ask the same question he raised over a century ago in his speech “The Man with the Muck-Rake”: How do we devote our

Learning How to Learn: The Senior Thesis
Originally Published by The Forum. “The thesis is there to prove that we are no longer just students, absorbing information from other people. In the thesis project, we find our own sources and reach our own
Teaching History through Masterpieces of Art
Association of Classical Christian Schools Conference (2019)
We all want our students to know and to love great works of art, to delight in the beauty of a masterpiece by Raphael or Rembrandt. We also want our students to develop a clear vision of history, understanding the trajectory of Western civilization and the ideas and values that have defined it from age to age. How can teachers accomplish both of these purposes by effectively integrating the study of art and history? In this workshop we will explore the theory and practice of introducing students to great works of art in a way that conveys the values and ideals of the cultures and eras in which they were produced. This Francis-Schaeffer-inspired approach seeks to deepen students’ understanding of history through engaging lessons that tie together art, culture, philosophy, and theology. The concepts and activities presented in this workshop have been developed over the past decade of teaching high school history classes, but can be implemented in any history or art classroom.
Education

Does Open Inquiry Belong in Religious Schools?
Originally Published by The Mill Institute at UATX: “Christianity, just as much as Islam, teaches children that unquestioned faith is a virtue. You don’t have to make the case for what you believe.”– Richard Dawkins,

Vico’s Vision of Education: Restoring the Imago Dei
Originally Published by FORMA Journal (Winter 2023). The first warning bells against overemphasizing STEM education sounded not in recent years, but over three centuries ago. In 1709, the Italian scholar Giambattista Vico lamented, “The greatest

Xenophobia of the Past
Picture this unpleasant scenario: an American school group travels to foreign countries around the world, walking the streets of cities as diverse as Rome, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, and Moscow. Their American tour guide

Russian Literature & Anna Karenina
Last year I listened to an interview with Russian Literature Professor Gary Saul Morson that prompted me to read Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1878) for the first time. I won’t say how long it took

Learning How to Learn: The Senior Thesis
Originally Published by The Forum. “The thesis is there to prove that we are no longer just students, absorbing information from other people. In the thesis project, we find our own sources and reach our own

“The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis”
If you’re involved in classical Christian education, you’ve probably read Dorothy Sayers’ essay, “The Lost Tools of Learning.” Based on a lecture she delivered at Oxford University in 1947, it is Sayers’ lament over England’s

Praying for Student Success
Originally published by The Forum. “Dear Lord: please help my son to make all A’s, ace the SAT, pass his AP exams with flying colors, and get accepted into a prestigious university. Amen.” What do

Are They Ready to Give an Answer?
Originally published by The Classical Difference and The Forum. But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that

Knowing God at Harvard
Originally published by The Classical Difference and The Forum. If a high school student asked you to recommend a college where the Bible is faithfully taught, Christian moral principles are held in high esteem, and knowledge of

Whose Children Are They?
Originally published by The Forum. Last year, MSNBC host and Tulane University political science professor Melissa Harris-Perry sparked a controversy when she remarked, “We have to break through our kind of private idea that kids

What You Need to Know about…Dorothy L. Sayers
Originally published on the blog of Professor Adam Laats. How did a British detective novelist inspire an evangelical pastor from a small town in Idaho to found one of the fastest growing Christian schooling movements

Begin with the End in Mind
Originally published by The Forum. In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey wrote that anyone who wants to succeed in an endeavor must “begin with the end in mind.” What then should be the
Interdisciplinary Curriculum
Discussion on the CCS Knights Podcast (2022)
Most people grow up thinking of subjects in school as being utterly distinct, existing in totally different realms–the way a picky eater tries to avoid letting different foods on his plate touch each other. On this episode of the CCS Knights Podcast, I got to discuss how this is the wrong approach. There are many reasons why a school’s curriculum should be thoroughly interdisciplinary–the most important of which is that that’s what life itself is like.
History & Culture

Albrecht Dürer’s “Knight, Death, & the Devil”
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was one of the most versatile artists of the Renaissance and one of the greatest German painters of all time. Most people today know of him only from his meticulously detailed drawing

We’re All Muckrakers Now
Originally Published by The Imaginative Conservative. Today, Theodore Roosevelt prompts us to ask the same question he raised over a century ago in his speech “The Man with the Muck-Rake”: How do we devote our

The Scopes Trial in American Memory
Master’s Thesis – North Carolina State University. The 1925 Scopes “Monkey” trial, in which high school teacher John T. Scopes was prosecuted in Dayton, Tennessee for violating the state’s Butler Act forbidding the teaching of

“Inherit the Truth”: Revising History at Dayton’s Scopes Trial Festival
Presented at the North Carolina Graduate Student History Conference (2012). On March 21, 1925, Tennessee governor Austin Peay signed into law a bill deeming it unlawful for any public school teacher “to teach any theory