About the Guest
Dr. John Ahern holds a PhD from Princeton University in historical musicology. He currently teaches at The Wilberforce School as an Upper School Humanities and Latin instructor. He is also faculty at the Theopolis Institute and directs their Te Deum Fellows Program in Liturgical Music. His writings on a variety of topics have appeared in First Things, Ad Fontes, The Lamp, Mere Orthodoxy, Eidolon, the Theopolis Institute blog, and the CiRCE Institute blog. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and four children.

Show Notes
John Ahern has successfully implemented the practice of keeping a commonplace book with his students. In this episode he explains why it is an important practice, how to create time to do it, and how to establish best practices in a school setting.

If you have wondered how to succeed at keeping a commonplace book, this episode is incredibly practical and will help you confidently get started in this beautiful practice.

Resources Mentioned

Link to the Circe Institute article: https://circeinstitute.org/blog/how-to-make-a-commonplace-book/

Notebooks the school uses: https://www.leuchtturm1917.us/classic-notebooks-1.html

Also: https://www.amazon.com/Leuchturm1917-Journal-Hardcover-Notebook-Numbered/dp/B09T75BG8L?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1

The Book of Memory by Mary Carruthers
Leisure the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
To Kill a Mockingbird
Isaac Newton's Common Place Notebook

19C Common Place Notebooks

Bleak House by Charles Dickens
A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt

Authors Mentioned

Charlotte Mason

Plato

Aristotle

St Augustine

Homer

Quintillion

Cicero

Romans

Dostoevsky

Dante

Aquinas

John Winthrop

_____________________________________
Beautiful Teaching online courses & narration conference:

• BT online webinars, interactive courses, and book studies registration: https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/
• 2025  Online Conference with the Beautiful Teaching Team- Narration: The Art of Learning with Keynote Guest, Jason Barney, October 24-25, 2025
• Reading Josef Pieper with Dr. Fred Putnam will take place on Thursday evenings Sept-Dec. Space is very limited. This is a seminar experience. Interaction with Dr. Putnam is essential for this online course. If you are interested in having this immersive experience with him, you can enroll here: https://beautifulteaching.coursestorm.com/course/reading-josef-pieper-with-fred-putnam