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“It's a really hands-on school. There's a lot of applying what you learn in creative ways.” - Iron Academy Student

Iron Academy is firmly committed to male-centered and biblical education. Young men are different and must be built differently. Our academic goal is to maximize the learning potential of each student. Iron Academy is on the cutting edge with employing teaching techniques that help us convert the essentials into working and long-term memory and organically enabling them to think at the highest levels (see Targeted Learning).

Educational psychologists are increasingly publishing evidence of the advantages available in a single-sex educational environment. We have known for many years of the value of girl-only schools. As we approach our tenth year, we know firsthand the same is true for the all-male environment of Iron Academy.

 

What builds a “male-centered” educational environment?

Engaging Classroom Activities

Creating highly engaging (often active) linkages to the material has been proven to boost the learning outcome for young men. Iron Academy teachers are excellent at creating male-centered classroom activities. Examples of activities include: dissections, food projects, designing/building structures, creating and designing superheroes, and more!

Brain Breaks

Young men’s brains work more efficiently when rigorous academic sessions are interspersed with short, vigorous exercise. Our teachers conduct Brain Breaks at appropriate moments in the middle of 90-minute classes and our gentlemen take advantage of multiple opportunities throughout the day for being outside and active.

Male-Centered Literary Content

The emphasis upon virtue literature in all English Language Arts classes from sixth through twelfth grade cultivates a desire for the good life—a God-honoring life of virtue, wisdom, and excellence. Our students will explore virtue through reading, writing, and speaking. All classes prepare our young men to think and communicate rightly about the cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, justice, and courage; the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love; and the heavenly virtues of chastity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. To frame the virtues attractively for young men, all staff members are trained how to recognize, encourage, and build people in the virtues and their dispositions from an honor code perspective. 

This approach to our English classes has resulted in measurable improvements in our student's love of reading and writing. 

Relationship Focus

Young men respond much more favorably to a joy-filled and loving environment. That may not sound like what you expected in an all-male school, but please visit. You will see a school filled with genuinely happy, respectful, kind young men who love one another well. They also have teachers who truly know them and love them. Knowing the students at Iron Academy is a core calling for all staff members. The small classrooms, the rites of passage, and the emphasis on biblical manhood are all dependent upon the purposeful development of strong teacher/student relationships. In order to develop meaningful relationships with every student and to address the unique needs of our young men, Iron Academy has chosen never to be a large school.