Welcome to The Praxis Journal: Let's Stop Touring and Start Teaching

We’ve all been there. 

I can't tell you how many times I've stood in a museum, notebook in hand, dutifully listening to a guide. I’d be in Florence, standing in front of something truly sublime like Masaccio's Trinity in Santa Maria Novella—feeling that rush of pure awe.

I'd fly home with a camera full of photos, buzzing with inspiration.

And then, Monday morning would hit. I'd be standing in my own classroom, looking at my lesson plan, and the gap between that sacred space in Florence and the reality of my curriculum felt a mile wide. How, exactly, was I supposed to translate that knowledge and feeling into a skills-based, ready-to-use lesson for my students?

This blog, and the entire idea behind Renaissance Education Praxis, was born from that exact feeling of frustration. It’s my answer to a problem I've spent 20 years trying to solve.

My Philosophy: This Isn't a Tour, It's Pedagogy

Welcome to Renaissance Revisited. This isn't just another travel blog about Florence. It’s a collection of my pedagogical notes: a workshop in written form.

My core belief is simple: the most passionate and effective teachers are the ones who create, not just consume, knowledge. For too long, "PD trips" for educators have just been...well, tours. They get you inspired, but then they leave you all alone to do the real work of pedagogical translation.

I wanted to close that gap between the academic theory and the classroom reality.

The Solution I Found: The "Praxis Method"

The answer, for me, is Praxis.

Praxis is just a word for what we do every day: fusing deep knowledge with practical, hands-on application. It’s the "how" I always felt was missing.

This is a space for educators like us who want to move beyond the textbook and become the architects of their own signature course.

Here, we won't just look at art and history. We'll deconstruct it together. I want to share the pedagogical frameworks I’ve developed for:

• Reading Power: How can we teach the Piazza della Signoria not as a random group of statues, but as a deliberate text of political propaganda?

• Analyzing Architecture: How can we use Brunelleschi's dome as a complete, ready-to-use lesson on Humanist ideals, engineering, and civic pride?

• Deconstructing Paintings: How do we turn the Brancacci Chapel into a dynamic lesson on perspective, narrative, and a changing worldview?

This is the core of my solution. When you have the expert historical context and the pedagogical frameworks at the same time, something clicks. You can go home not just with photos, but with a ready-to-implement curriculum and a complete teaching toolkit.

What to Expect from This Blog

Think of this blog as the official "notes from my workshop." It's where I'll be sharing the strategies, insights, and practical tools I use in my 6-day intensive in Florence.

I'll be posting:

• Teachable Moments: New ways we've found to look at historical artifacts from pedagogical perspectives.

• Curriculum Frameworks: How we structure our own "Florence courses."

• Shared memories: Connecting real professional community experiences of the Renaissance Education Praxis workshop participants.
  

Renaissance Revisited is my space to build a community with fellow educators and share experinces. It’s for people who believe, like I do, that the best way to learn how to teach history is to stand right where it happened.

I'm so glad you're here. Let's start the praxis.