(Formerly “recitation”)

Exordium: What it is and why we do it.

Twice a year, ACA hosts an event during which students in each grade (starting with preschool) share small samples of what they've been learning. Most Exordiums last approximately 60 minutes, and we invite you to stay for the entire event (as it's important for our students to have a community of listeners).

Sharing and reciting knowledge is an important skill: It requires different mental faculties from writing or reading, typical ways of evaluating learning in the 21st century. A memorized and recited piece is more easily "accessed" in the student's mind than, for example, a string of words encountered in a novel. And learning to speak a poem or a jingle -- with clarity and expression -- is a foundational skill for all public speaking, useful for the student's entire life.