Chair of the Education Department Daniel Coupland will release a book this month about how to teach in a classical liberal arts classroom.

“Tried and True: A Primer on Sound Pedagogy” is a short book offering instruction on how to teach K-12 students. Modeled after William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White’s “The Elements of Style” in both its brevity and format, the book offers advice and information about classroom management, classroom procedures, and lesson planning in 14 chapters.

According to Coupland, the book has more nuts-and-bolts advice than big picture ideas about the nature of classical education, but it is deeply informed by the classical liberal arts tradition.

“We’re not trying to reinvent pedagogy here,” Coupland said. “There are some common sense things we know about good teaching and they’ve been tried and, over generations, they’ve been proven true. We need to get back to those.”

Coupland said “Tried and True” is meant to be a companion to the K-12 department’s “Program Guide,” which outlines a classical curriculum for every grade level. He said he thinks neither curriculum nor pedagogy can stand alone.

“You actually need to have both,” he said. “You need to have the ideas, but you also need to have a method or multiple methods of delivery in order to truly provide a good education.”

Coupland said he got the idea for the book after speaking about pedagogy at Hillsdale’s summer teacher conferences for years. 

When he was on sabbatical a year and a half ago, he started writing it. 

“Our country’s schools have not only forgotten what to teach, but they’ve forgotten how to teach,” said Eric Coykendall, director of operations for the K-12 education office. “A few teachers are born good at teaching, but most of us have to learn it. Dr. Coupland’s book is an important and simple tool for helping to form and sharpen good teachers.”

Matt Bell, executive director of programs for external affairs, helped with the book’s publishing. 

“One of the chief purposes of the college is to teach all those who wish to learn,” Bell said. “This book is a concise guide for teachers who want to teach well, while managing their classrooms in such a way that their students are able to learn well—and it is sorely needed.”

Coupland said Hillsdale College Press is publishing the book in mid-September. The eCommerce department does not have an official release date yet, according to its director John Quint. It is currently available for pre-order on shop.hillsdale.edu.