Summer blockbusters are upon us. “Iron Man 3” boasts more suits than a Nordstrom’s Rack sale. “Star Trek Into Darkness” finds Capt. Kirk wondering why Sherlock Holmes is attacking the Enterprise. The “Man of Steel” seeks acceptance in a complex world where both his fathers played Robin Hood.

And Cicero’s Academy™ is back with a series of workshops and a new ongoing service.

We truly appreciate your patience and continuing engagement. Long story short, Cicero’s Academy™ kept a low profile in recent months while John finished a draft of his dissertation. The draft is done, edits are underway and summer is approaching.

Thank you for your patience. We will now continue with our regular programming.

We’re excited about the summer workshops and look forward to seeing you and your students there. June’s public speaking workshop was designed on the heels of the professional speaking class John led at St. Edwards University this spring. The intermediate workshop in July reprises a workshop from last summer. The August workshop is geared toward preparing high school students for the time-constrained writing efforts required in advanced placement and SAT testing, as well as the art and science of the college application’s personal essay.

We are also experimenting with new ways to stay connected beyond hands-on workshops and tutoring as well as support you in your everyday schooling efforts. This summer we are launching the Essay Doctor service. This is how it works:

You, or your child’s teacher, assign your student an essay project in the normal course of schooling. The subject might be history, science, literature or whatever. If you want an outside perspective on the writing quality of the essay, send it to us and we will evaluate it with specific comments, similar to the portfolio evaluation we do at the end of our Introduction to Persuasion workshop. You might just want a second opinion or to augment another curriculum.  The teacher remains in control of the assignment. We simply provide an extra set of eyes on the quality of the writing and help identify areas of improvement for follow-up assignments.

Responding to your suggestions, we’re also trying to streamline the pesky administrative part of Cicero’s Academy™ by adding payment by PayPal for your convenience. We’ll be upgrading the site further, adding sections with content of interest from around the web.

It’s summer in Austin and things are heating up.