THE INDIVIDUAL-MAKER CHRONICLES the insights and lessons of a master teacher in the context of his entire life. Laurence McMillin, a teacher at The Webb Schools in Claremont, California for 37 years, won numerous master teacher awards and high praise of multiple generations of students, testifying to McMillin’s life-changing influence.

Through everyday courage and humanity, McMillin embodied a truth; he understood that great subject matter—in his vision, the lives of individuals who moved forward human progress—can inspire students to embrace their own unique callings in life.

McMillin developed a conception of the humanities in his self-created curriculum, called Individual Humanities, which makes use of literary protagonists, biography and “principles of human excellence” to alert adolescents of the individual contributions they can make. The Individual-Maker is about the process by which every human being learns, grows and develops.