Mrs. Tess Viox

Mrs. Tess Viox is a Kindergarten teacher at Cincinnati Classical Academy. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with a minor in Music Composition from Miami University and has pursued additional study and professional development in elementary education, classical education, early literacy, and the science of reading.

Before entering the classroom, Mrs. Viox spent more than a decade teaching and creating in the performing arts. Her work as a choreographer and instructor took her from Cincinnati to the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the UK, and Ireland and included professional, collegiate, and school productions. She brings this background in theatre, music, and movement to her classroom and to CLASSICAL’s dance program, which she leads for the school’s youngest students.

Mrs. Viox believes that young children are especially deserving of excellent things: beautiful language, enduring stories, great art and music, purposeful movement, and firsthand encounters with the natural world. She seeks to cultivate wonder while giving her students the strong academic foundations and habits necessary for the years of learning ahead.

Her particular interests within classical education include early literacy, children’s literature, history, and the formation of the moral imagination. Inspired by Plutarch’s Lives, she is especially drawn to biography as a means of introducing children to history and human nature through the choices, virtues, failures, and accomplishments of real men and women. She believes that the humanities belong even to the youngest students and that stories, poetry, music, art, history, and movement help children begin to recognize and love what is true, good, and beautiful.

Outside the classroom, Mrs. Viox enjoys collecting antique books, studying Church and intellectual history, exploring nature with her family, and continuing her own study of the liberal arts.