Classical Conferences and Meetings in 2014
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NB: As best as possible, we also note presentations by B-C authors.
ACL—American Classical League
June 26–28, 2014
College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, VA
Representatives: Allan and Marie Bolchazy, Jody Cull, and Bridget Dean
Presentations:
Thursday, June 26
- "Aeneas, Augustus, and Rome" Barbara Weiden Boyd, author, Vergil's Aeneid Expanded Edition, Vergil's Aeneid: Selected Readings from Books 1, 2, 4, and 6; coauthor A Vergil Workbook 2nd Edition, and others
- "The Second Time Around: Teaching Latin as a Second Career" panelist Judith Hallett, coauthor of the forthcoming BC Latin Reader: A Roman Women Reader
Friday, June 27
- "Gaming the System: 21st Century Technology for Teaching Ancient Greek" Wilfred Major, coauthor of Plato: A Transitional Reader
- "Gauls and Other Others: Latin Readings on Foreign Cultures" Marianthe Colakis, author, Excelability in Advanced Latin
- "Responsible Popularization: A Publisher's Perspective" Bridget Dean, Editor
Saturday, June 28
- "Sentence Mapping and Vocabulary Strategies to Improve Reading Strategies for Authentic Latin" David Pellegrino, coauthor Caesar and Vergil AP* Vocabulary Cards
- "Teaching Those Who Will Teach Latin" panelist Ronnie Ancona, author, Writing Passion: A Catullus Reader 2nd Edition, Writing Passion Plus: A Catullus Reader Supplement, and Horace: Selected Odes and Satire 1.9, 2nd Edition; coauthor, A Horace Workbook and Horace: A LEGAMUS Transitional Reader
- "Caesar the Unexpected" Rose Williams, author, Caesar's Blood and Julius Caesar: Master of Surprise; coauthor Caesar: A LEGAMUS Transitional Reader and A Caesar Workbook among others.
NJCL—National Junior Classical League 61st Annual Convention
July 28–August 2, 2014
Emory University
Atlanta, GA
Representatives: Allan Bolchazy and Laurel Draper
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Next week, my Latin 1 classes are working on a project that I have enjoyed assigning for a number of years. The students will select an aspect of Roman history or daily life that they find interesting then research and report back on the project. Until about four years ago, my students created poster boards as visuals for this project. After amassing a sizeable stack of beautiful poster boards, I decided to look for a digital alternative. I’ve used edu.glogster.com for the assignment for the last couple of years and will be using it again this year. Glogster is a web-based tool that allows the user to create a virtual poster board that contains a variety of different features. Using Glogster, students can create their poster with text and images, just like a traditional poster. In addition, they can easily embed video clips, audio recordings, scrolling text boxes, and hyperlinks. The finished multimedia poster is called a “glog.” When I assign this project to my students, their first task is to research their chosen topic and complete a graphic organizer with their findings and works consulted list. Then, they begin creating their glogs. I start by directing them to the gallery to find a really great example and also to locate a weak example. We then have a conversation about what element makes a glog really work well. At that point, they begin constructing their glogs. I allow them three fifteen-minute work sessions to complete the glog. My students generally have found the tool simple to use and were easily able to create quite impressive visuals for their projects. In a world that seems to place more and more emphasis on graphics, design, and visual appeal, the creation of a glog is a great opportunity for students to practice these 21st century tech skills.
To get started, try it out with a free account by visiting edu.glogster.com. Check out the gallery of completed glogs for inspiration. If you like, check out the premium accounts—they offer additional features for managing classes and students that have proven to be very helpful.
Lynne West
Editor’s Note: Check out this terrific student glogster poster, created by Milan Wilson, a student in my spring 2014 Humanities 202 class at Kennedy-King College. |
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Here’s a joke best appreciated by a classicist.
Check out how the Internet is saving Latin and some other languages.
Teachers of humanities and the classics will find their experience resonates with this piece from The Atlantic.
Did you catch this interesting analysis prompted by the new 9/11 Memorial Museum. Should we also take issue with how Vergil's name is spelled?
The Chicago Tribune's regular feature “Ten Things You Might Not Know . . .” recently gave examples of fictional mothers. It included an interesting note about the Latin term noverca for stepmother.
Editor’s Note: I am grateful to my editor colleagues Dr. Bridget Dean and Laurel Draper who sent a number of these tidbits my way.
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2014 Summer Schedule
Tuesday, June 10, 2014 6:00–7:00 PM EST
eyeVocab: A Revolutionary Approach to Vocabulary Acquisition & Retention
Presenter: Thaddeus Lisowski
Frustrated that your students so frequently forget the vocabulary they need to know and supposedly "learned"?
This webinar will present the documented success of eyeVocab, an innovative second-language acquisition software program, in stimulating Latin vocabulary learning and retention. Master teacher Thaddeus Lisowski will share his enthusiasm using eyeVocab with his own Latin classes.
eyeVocab maximizes state-of-the-art technology and revolutionizes second language vocabulary acquisition. Far more than an electronic flashcard, eyeVocab uses "distinctive affective images in isolation" in combination with audio recitation and keyboard input so that students hardwire the new vocabulary in their memory. Classes using eyeVocab, designed for the language lab as well as for individual use at home, experience dramatically significant improvement in vocabulary retention.
What Equipment Do I Need for B-C Webinars?
To participate in Bolchazy-Carducci Publisher sponsored webinars you will need high-speed internet access, computer speakers/headphones, current web browser with updated “Flash Player”*, and the link to the webinar virtual meeting space, which is provided in your webinar invitation.
Webinars Make for User-Friendly Professional Development
Participation is free. All webinars provide opportunity for participants to ask questions. Learn lots—attend as many presentations as you can. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers provides documentation for your participation. You can share this with your supervisors. Many webinar presenters provide handouts, etc.
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The Pompeiiana Newsletter created and edited by Bernard Barcio ran from 1974 through 2003. The newsletter offered a place for Latin students to publish comics, stories, games, and articles, and was a beloved resource for Latin teachers. In 2008, Barcio granted Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers the rights for all of the Pompeiiana Newsletter. B-C is proud to serve as curator for this archive and has made the issues available for teachers, students, and friends of the classics. Check out http://pompeiiana.blogspot.com/
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Preview Bolchazy-Carducci Titles
Preview Bolchazy-Carducci titles before you purchase using Google Preview.
Downloadable Products
iPodius - Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers online shop for: audio, software, video, and a treasure trove of teacher-created materials in the Agora.
BCP Facebook Fan Page
Become a FAN of Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, visit our Facebook Fan page for the latest news from BCP.
BCP Blog
Visit the BCPublishers Blog for BCP news and information.
*AP is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse this product.
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Bolchazy-Carducci textbooks are now available through GooglePlay and MBS DirectDigital eBookstores. Each eBook offers a variety of tools to enhance the learning process.
What do B-C eBooks currently offer?
eBooks have the same content as our traditional books in print, with these enhancements:
• Searchable
• Adjust text size, typeface, line space
• Free samples of books
• Worry-free archive
• Available on any computer with an internet connection
• Readable on:
- the web (via Windows or MAC computers)
- iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
- Android
- eBook Devices: Barnes & Noble Nook and Reader™ from Sony
GooglePlay ebook information
GooglePlay ebook store
• Searchable
• Adjust text size, typeface, line space
•Add notes, customized highlights, and other annotations—all of which are added to the embedded annotation manager for convenient access
• Worry-free archive
• Available on any computer with an internet connection
• Readable on:- the web (via Windows or MAC computers)- tablet computers
DirectDigital ebook information
DirectDigital ebook store
How do I purchase a B-C eBook?
Simple! When you are browsing through www.Bolchazy.com, any time you see GooglePlay or DirectDigital link, click on the link, and you will automatically be directed to a webpage where you can purchase the eBook.
Can I purchase direct from the distributor?
Yes! If you prefer, you can link directly to our eBook providers’ websites and search by title, by author, or by Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers to locate the title you would like to purchase. The GooglePlay ebooks store offers a preview of the book, including the table of contents and select pages.
What hardware is required?
You can read eBooks on a Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, Android, or a variety of eReaders.
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Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers heartily congratulations those teachers and students who spent the year preparing for the AP Latin Exam.
Whew! Another year is winding down. I remember well that feeling of satisfaction over the course of nineteen years that accompanied my students’ comments about the AP Latin Exam they had just written. As I’m sure you’ve experienced as well—it was always gratifying when they pronounced that they were well prepared or that we had “nailed” a potential question in class. I then looked forward to receiving the infamous green sheets of free response questions so that I could assess for myself how well prepared we had been for the exam . . . or not.
Some of my colleagues teaching other AP courses chose not to meet with their classes after the exam had been administered. However, I steadfastly chose to meet and relished using the remaining days of May to address some Latin or classics activities that did not readily fit into the ordinary sequence of lessons. So, with that in mind, I encourage you to seize these last days to explore other topics, read some Latin not regularly covered in your sequence, and discuss with your students the value of the humanities as they look ahead to their college studies. Consider using our new text The Thebaid of Statius: Women of Lemnos with its Vergilian parallels for some post-AP Latin lessons. We highlight it in this issue with a special discount.
While we’re on the topic of the AP Latin Exam, we call your attention to the interview in this issue of eLitterae. Stephen Distinti, Latin and Greek teacher at Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx, NY, has developed a set of notebooks that help students organize their notes, vocabulary, and translation work. The notebooks will be available for the coming school year.
We have entered partnerships with several new eBook providers. So, we encourage you to look carefully at the eBook options delineated in this issue.
Our best wishes as you wrap up the 2013–2014 academic year!
Don Sprague
Editor
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Just as you do for your students, I am going to suggest a project for teachers. This assignment is helpful for those of you starting out and just getting into the job market as well as for those of you who are established teachers and comfortable in your many roles. My suggestion is for teachers to develop a professional portfolio. This is not the same as a CV or a resume, either of which can certainly be part of the portfolio. Resumes and CVs are lists of items, whether it is your job history, articles written, or awards received. They don’t, however, allow for any narrative that can give context to your professional activities.So why do you need to create a portfolio? For all teachers, any time you reflect on your philosophy of teaching and learning, you remind yourself about why you do what you do. I consider this to be similar to the value of meditation. It is easy to get lost in all the stuff and events and activities and demands of everyday life, but quiet reflection helps you remember what is important. With all the thousands of decisions that busy teachers make in a day, we can lose perspective on what really matters and on what we can let go. Taking time to think intentionally about what is most important to you as a teacher can help you regain that perspective.For young teachers just starting out, a portfolio can show a potential employer that you are a thoughtful, reflective educator even at an early point in your career. When I worked as a department chair, I appreciated seeing a portfolio from a candidate. I can readily recall a few specific times where a candidate’s portfolio sealed the deal as it separated him or her from the other candidates. The portfolio gave me a clear picture about what this teacher thought was important, and I was able to see that our expectations about teaching and learning were aligned. For more veteran teachers, the impact on job search may or may not apply. But if you take the time at the end of every academic year to update your narrative, you are helping yourself to do that reflection on your practice that is so valuable. Logging your accomplishments will help you down the line when you apply for scholarships or grants. In the next few years, Latin teachers will likely be eligible again for National Board Certification. When NBPTS rolled out the World Languages standards, we tried to convince them that individual standards for every language at every level was not a sustainable model, but they didn’t listen. And of course it didn’t work, so now only French and Spanish at certain levels are available. After a lot of pressure they are actively pursuing a generic World Languages certification with some validation of the candidates’ language proficiency. That way, teachers of all languages can be involved. It is too early to give you any more information, but rest assured that this is in discussion. When I went through the NBPTS process, it felt very much like the portfolio concept. I wrote narratives that reflected my teaching philosophy, and documented everything with examples. I had to submit lessons that reflected different aspects of teaching and learning. Some examples were recordings of an actual lesson, while others included a pre- and post-assessment with analysis of student performance. What are some of the elements of a portfolio? Well, that is up to you. I had a file on my computer into which I would put some of these reflections. Then I would pick and choose from those what was most appropriate for the situation. For my job evaluation, when we were asked to document professional involvement or communication with parents and community, it was easy to pull that documentation because I had taken the time to record it. I would not include the information about parent contact, however, in a grant application. Instead, I would demonstrate competence in the area of the grant. Having taken the time to think this through in advance meant that I was not scrambling to cobble something together. I was able to thoughtfully create the portfolio I wanted. Some portfolios, such as the NBPTS one, ask for video documentation. I suggest you only do that when required. In order to show images of students you need to provide consent from parents, and you must keep that on file. NBPTS provided a release form, but otherwise it is risky. A search on the web will provide you with many examples and suggestions. More than anything else, take the time to actually write out your philosophy of teaching and learning. That is a homework assignment that will help you become a more reflective teacher.If you need feedback or advice, I am happy to read what you have written. Just contact me at slittle6@cinci.rr.com
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Stephen Distinti began his career studying Latin at the Genesis Program in Brooklyn and Xavier High School in New York City. He went on to earn a BA and MA in Classics at Columbia University. He currently teaches Latin and Ancient Greek at Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx.
DES: Stephen, what inspired you to construct the A Notebook for Vergil's Aeneid and A Notebook for Caesar's De Bello Gallico?
SDD: Like pretty much all of the successful ideas I’ve had as a teacher, it came about as a result of listening to feedback from my students.
Three years ago I started teaching a class at Fordham Prep called Latin 3 Advanced, which is designed to transition students from studying forms and constructions to reading and translating actual Latin literature. The focus of the class is therefore on the mechanics of translation: teaching the students how to take the vocabulary, forms, and rules they had learned over the two previous years and apply them to real texts, beginning with Caesar's Commentaries and moving on to Book 1 of the Aeneid.
Now, I was dealing with very bright and motivated students who, with something like the Pharr text in front of them for vocabulary, and perhaps a little guidance from their teacher, could piece together the beginnings of a decent translation on their own, which we would then correct in class together.
But despite their dedication, the students were still having a hard time with note taking in and outside of class, both in terms of what to write down and how to do it. When it came to preparing for class at home, they knew that I did not want them to come in the next day with nothing in hand but a written translation of the assigned passage; but, they asked, if they weren’t supposed to write out a translation, then what were they supposed to do—I mean physically, actually, do—other than, as it felt to them, stare at the Latin for an hour each night and try to decipher it in their heads? And in class, the problem was even more acute: if they didn’t write down a translation, they were entirely too reliant on the vocabulary notes in their textbooks, they had no way of keeping track of their mistakes (and so maybe learning from them), and they would have very little to study from later on when it came to getting ready for tests and quizzes (a very fair point, and one I think many teachers are too quick to overlook, especially given that these kids are often taking several difficult courses in addition to our own). And then of course there was the perennial battle antagonizing all high school students and teachers alike: organization. For all of their wonderful benefits, the textbooks that follow the model developed by Pharr leave very little room to make notes on the text itself, which many students and teachers, myself included, find helpful; worse, with the Latin text in one book, their notes and translation in another, and graded work in a folder of binder somewhere, the students have to keep track of—i.e., not lose—lots of different material and at least two books, a task which for many high schoolers is downright Herculean!
In listening to my students' concerns and reflecting on my own experience struggling with the same problems myself in college, I realized there were four main issues here: one, the students needed space to annotate the text, both so they could graphically denote grammatical constructions that might otherwise be hard to understand, and so they could highlight any important content in the text; two, as beginning translators, they still very much needed the benefit of being able to write down a translation, not only their own, but also a corrected version produced in class; three, and most importantly, they needed to break the habit of over-reliance on the vocabulary notes in the textbook and instead formally incorporate vocabulary acquisition into part of their nightly preparation; and four, everything, text and notes, needed to be in one place.
The layout of the notebooks is, then, my attempt to resolve these issues for my students: the Latin text is triple-spaced to allow them plenty of space for any annotations on the text itself they want; on the facing page opposite the text are two blank lines, keyed to and aligned with the Latin, one for their own translation and the second so they can write down whatever corrections they need to make without erasing their mistakes; and at the bottom of each page below the Latin text there is space for them to copy down from their textbooks any vocabulary in the passage they do not know, turning the process of vocabulary building from one of passive recognition to active recall by creating personalized vocabulary lists for them to study from.
In essence, the goal was to make the students responsible for building their own Pharr-style student edition—complete with translation and individualized to their own particular needs. My job as the teacher was simply to give them an organizational structure that would enable them to do so. So I designed the notebooks and introduced them into the class in November of that year. In an experience I'm not likely to enjoy again as a teacher, the students' response was overwhelming positive, even grateful, even though I made a major change—in the middle of the year, no less—and the notebooks actually forced them to do more work each night. The next year I was asked to take over the AP course following the revision of the exam, and based on the success of the design the year before, I developed packets along the same lines for all of the readings in the AP syllabus.
DES: Please share your favorite anecdotes about student reception to the notebook approach.
SDD: One comment that immediately jumps to my mind comes from my friend and former classmate from graduate school, Kristin Webster, who is one of the Latin teachers at the Marymount School in Manhattan. Kristin has been kind enough to pilot using the notebooks with her students for the last year, particularly when she teaches Caesar, whose vocabulary was much less familiar to her students. And in fact it was her positive and supportive feedback that encouraged me to consider sending them to Bolchazy-Carducci. In that vein, she emailed me a few weeks ago to tell me that on the day she was going to start Book 6 of Caesar, she was running late and came to class without having photocopied the packets, and her students "were honestly put out about where to take notes and not being able to mark up their texts." That for me was very validating—it's nice to know the students find the notebooks so helpful and that they work as intended—and I'm grateful to her and her students for their support!
DES: Do you have any favorite moments from teaching AP Latin this year? One of those moments where you learned something new about the texts from your students?
SDD: One thing I really like about teaching Caesar and Vergil in particular is that even though they’re only two authors and two texts, as great writers they do give scope to address other aspects and genres of ancient literature to which the students might not yet otherwise have been exposed: so, for example, we can look at Book 4 of the Aeneid in comparison to the forms of Greek tragedy, or Ambiorix’s speech in Book 5 of the Commentaries as an example of persuasive oratory, etc., etc. We also have a great teacher in our AP English Composition class, so my students come in very well prepared to do this sort of rhetorical analysis.
So: at the end of every year, I assign my students an essay comparing Aeneas’s first two speeches from Book 1: his soliloquy during the storm and his pep talk to his followers on the beach in Africa. In putting this essay at the end of the year, I am looking for the students to consider questions of Aeneas’s character and history, and his sense of mission and leadership. But one of my students turned the first paragraph of his essay into a rhetorical analysis and pointed out that even though the two speeches say completely contradictory things, they begin with the same structure: Aeneas opens with an address in the vocative, and then recounts previous hardships that he and his people have endured and compares them to the storm (though with an opposite purpose in each instance). That was one of those great moments where you see a student bring to bear what he’s learned across courses and across disciplines and make a nice observation about the text that I at least had never noticed before.
DES: What's your best "outside the box" activity for AP Latin?
SDD: I wish I could say that my own activities were all that creative, but I feel I still have a lot to learn in moving beyond the paradigm of translation all-day, every-day. I can share one exercise that I have found very useful but isn't my own: Dr. James Hunt, who teaches at Fayetteville-Manlius High School in Syracuse, NY, gave a great talk in January 2013 to the New York Classical Club about the new AP syllabus, in the course of which he mentioned that he will have his students reverse-engineer sentences of indirect discourse from Caesar back into direct speech. I had only done such an exercise myself in Latin and Greek composition in college, and the idea of getting my high school students to try it intrigued me. Having tried it in my class this year, I find it's a great exercise for getting students to wrap their heads around particularly tricky concepts, like, for instance, seeing an indirect command as a reported imperative, or how Latin would render a potential subjunctive in reported speech. I can’t say that the kids have always relished the work, but even if we only did it for a few sentences here and there, I think it was beneficial, and I'm always grateful for any exercise that lets the kids see a thorny concept, perhaps one they've struggled with before, from a new angle.
DES: Tell us about your own first encounter with AP Latin.
SDD: My high school unfortunately did not offer AP Latin, so my first encounter with the course was actually though classmates in college who had taken AP in high school (as a result of which they were ahead of me by a year in Latin). Then, after I was hired for my first job teaching after graduate school, I was asked to take on the AP course since the teacher who previously taught it was leaving. Ironically, I had taken classes on both the Eclogues and the Georgics in Latin, but I had only read the Aeneid once, in English, in the "Great Books" seminar all freshmen had to take! So I spent the summer before starting the job preparing the course, and I think I got a little too into it, because looking back on it now, I came off so strong that by the end of the first week, the students in that AP class didn't know what to do with me! Hopefully I've learned a few things by now, and calmed down a bit.
DES: If you were advising a teacher about to teach the AP Latin curriculum for the very first time, what would be your top three teaching tips?
SDD: The first is just a very concrete, practical matter: don't neglect vocabulary. However you can, you've got to incorporate it into your teaching, preferably as part of the students' grades to give them an incentive to stick with it. This is obviously easier said than done—there is just so much ground to cover and it’s rare that a student in AP Latin isn't also in at least two or three other APs, and there is a real limit to how much we can ask these kids to do. I for example do a major vocabulary project using online tools that counts as the students' summer work heading into AP, and then do a similar project in the third quarter, once my seniors have their college applications in. But however you work it out, vocabulary is essential, because without working on vocabulary building, it’s going to very difficult for most of our students to get past the plateau of recognizing vocabulary only in the context of previously prepared passages or, even worse, simply memorizing the translation.
Second, it's important to remember that our students most often have almost no background in Roman history whatsoever, beyond maybe one unit in their freshman year global studies course that covered from Romulus to Atilla in about two weeks. And in my experience, it has been those moments where I have been successful at fully situating the texts in their historical contexts—not just Caesar, but Vergil as well—that they have really come alive for the kids. So if teachers have the time and the kids seem amenable to it (and I can almost guarantee they will be), I strongly encourage assigning and discussing short readings to fill in the gaps in the students’ history. A few personal recommendations: the first chapter of Richard Billow's biography Julius Caesar: the Colossus of Rome provides an excellent and short summary of the crisis in Rome in the second century and the rise of generals with extraordinary commands like Caesar's uncle Marius; his chapter on Caesar's consulship is likewise very accessible. Adrian Goldsworthy, in his similarly titled Caesar: Life of a Colossus, has a great chapter on society in Gaul in the first century before Caesar's arrival, helping us to see Caesar's war at least somewhat from the perspective of the colonized, not just that of the colonizer. Bolchazy has recently published Julius Caesar: Master of Surprise by Rose Williams that provides an engaging overview of Caesar's accomplishments drawn from the ancient sources. And lastly, the introductory chapter to Jasper Griffin’s Virgil from the Oxford Past Masters series gives a wonderful and again accessible summary of both Vergil's works and his life and times, reminding us that until the Battle of Actium, nearly all of Vergil's life was spent under a state of civil war in both Italy and the Roman Empire at large.
Last would be what I would tell all teachers, AP or not, and have to tell myself all the time: be willing to try new things and change things that aren't working, even in the middle of the year and even if they have worked in the past, and be patient with yourself. Teachers are, by and large, former top students ourselves, and so we're used to it being the case that the hard work we put into something translates in a more or less linear fashion into a great finished product. But that just isn't the case with teaching, and sometimes we put in a lot of effort into a lesson or activity or lecture, and it just falls flat. And that's okay. Unlike, say, a seminar paper, a good lesson, a good course, takes years to hone and craft, and I know that that was a lesson in patience that I at least struggled with when I first started teaching, and still do today.
Of course, at the same time it is important to always be willing to adapt and change if something's not working for the kids; even with those changes, it still may not work, but the kids will see you trying, and not only is it great role-modeling, they'll appreciate your effort to meet them halfway. The Caesar and Vergil Notebooks provide AP® students the perfect platform for preparing homework and for studying for quizzes and tests. The Latin text is triple-spaced to allow plenty of space for annotations. On the facing page opposite the text are two blank lines, keyed to and aligned with the Latin, one for students’ own translation and one so they can write down whatever corrections they need to make without erasing their mistakes. The bottom of each page provides space for students to copy down from their textbooks any vocabulary in the passage they do not know, turning the process of vocabulary building from one of passive recognition to active recall by creating personalized vocabulary lists for study.Click to see an example of a student’s work with the Notebooks. |
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Historically, Waco, Texas served as an important center for the annual cattle round-up. From April 2–5, 2014, Waco’s Baylor University hosted the 110th annual meeting of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. Bolchazy-Carducci proudly displayed six tables bursting with its texts and ancillaries. One table showcased the dozen new books published over the course of the previous year. Allan Bolchazy, Dr. Marie Bolchazy, Dr. Bridget Dean, and Donald Sprague staffed the exhibit. All were pleased with the steady stream of folks who came to chat and look at the B-C offerings.
A bronze sculpture of a cattle round-up along the Brazos River pays tribute to Waco’s history.
Marie was thrilled to be interviewed for CAMWS's oral history project. She responded to such questions as "What are some of your most vivid, most pleasant, or most amusing memories of CAMWS?" and "Overall, how and why has CAMWS been important to you in your life?"
Don and Marie attended popular author Steven Saylor's keynote address, entitled "Mystery, Fact & Fiction: The Joy of Writing Novels Set in Ancient Rome." The full crew attended the annual banquet and awards ceremony. Saylor received a distinguished award for his significant role in popularizing the ancient world. Thelma Matthews was recognized with a Special Service Award. Renowned Latin orator James May of St. Olaf College delivered stirring Ovationes in Latin for Owen Smith, Robert G. White, and Georgia Irby. Monica Cyrino of the University of New Mexico in her presidential address entitled "The Antonies I've Loved, or: Why Does Classical Reception Matter?" provided commentary on clips from movies made about Marc Antony in 1934, 1963 (the one starring Eliz Taylor and Richard Burton), and 2005.
Author Steven Saylor and Marie Bolchazy catch up with each other's lives.
On Saturday morning, Don Sprague, LeaAnn Osburn (retired Barrington High School and Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers), and Elza Tiner (Lynchburg College) presented a workshop entitled "Helping Students Make Connections Between Latin Texts." He provided examples from LNM 1, Ecce Romani, and Cambridge. Elza showed how her students find connections between an LNM 2 author and a classical author. LeaAnn demonstrated how the literary works of Horace, Catullus, Ovid, Vergil, Caesar and Cicero are interconnected on multiple levels. Discussing these connections helps students develop critical thinking and literary analysis skills. Additionally, learning to document such connections is a skill emphasized in the Core Curriculum.
B-C congratulated Elza Tiner on being recognized as teacher of the year at Lynchburg College. We were gratified when she attributed her success, at least in part, to the fact that she was using LNM. Mark Haynes, Creighton Prep (coauthor of A Cicero Workbook and TM) enthusiastically announced that, after ten years of concerted effort, he had successfully persuaded the administrators at the University of Nebraska at Omaha to start a Latin program. The program, the university's first has been granted three years of deans’ funding and the professors will use LNM. Kudos to both!
Bolchazy-Carducci organized a raffle of the entire set of B-C Latin Readers. Lucky winner David Hewitt graciously poses for this photograph.
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Resources & Teaching Tips
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√ College Outreach ActivityWhile “on holiday” in Ireland, a meeting with two Latin teacher friends prompted this tip. My friends were at Trinity College, Dublin, on a Saturday morning with some of their Latin students as part of an outreach activity sponsored by Trinity’s Classics Department. Students learned about such topics as epigraphy and inscriptions, ancient numismatics, and ancient pottery. They created their own inscriptions and made their own clay sculptures. The outreach program exposes students to Trinity and enhances the cocurricular learning opportunities of their own secondary schools. High school teachers should consider reaching out to their local college classicists and help them develop outreach programs. Doing so is a “win-win.”
Loreto College, Dublin, students Louisa Naughton and Hephzibah Fubara proudly pose with their clay creations.
Trinity College tables equipped for the inscription writing activity. (Note the famous Trinity College Library, home of the Book of Kells, through the window.)
The outreach program ran until midafternoon. Afterwards Latin teachers Louise Potter Ryan (Loreto College, Dublin) and Latin teacher Mary Boissel (Willow Park Junior School, Blackrock) pose during lunch at Dunne & Crescenzi, noted for its fine Irish and Italian food.
√ Caesar Film
 Your students have taken the AP Latin Exam (congratulations to students and teachers!) and you're looking for some enrichment activities? Check out this film—it's both very engaging and time-friendly—running just 76 minutes. Directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani take their cameras inside the high security wing of Rome’s Rebibbia Prison. The film documents the prisoner-actors response to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and their moving production of the classic. For more background, check The Guardian's review.
√ Roman MarriageMay, the traditionally special month for weddings, is the perfect time for your students to learn about Roman marriage and related topics. We offer an excerpt from To Be a Roman by Margaret Brucia and Gregory Daugherty that you may download and reproduce for your students.
√ CANE EmporiumOur colleagues in the Classical Association of New England take pride in finding various resources for the Latin classroom. At the annual CANE meeting this year, they were offering a beautiful set of seven posters that illustrate various aspects of the Caesar's Gallic campaigns—the entrenchments at Alesia, military formations, military garb, etc. For specifics, see CANE's pages on Etsy.Use this order form for the Caesar posters and other items.
CANE has also published a beautiful full color calendar for the 2014–2015 school year. Each month has its own color image. Bolchazy-Carducci will be selling these calendars at ACL for just $13.
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Myth Is Truth: A Radio Series
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The Death and Resurrection of Gods
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers takes great pleasure in providing this fourth installment as a free download for classicists and students of mythology across the globe. Myth Is Truth, a series of interviews with Dr. Nancy Boyle as host and Dr. Lou Bolchazy as comparative mythology scholar, was broadcast by WLUC, Loyola University Chicago, in 1977, and by WRRG, Triton College, in 1978.In this audio program from the Bolchazy-Carducci archives, Dr. Bolchazy reflects upon the origins of the concept of the death and resurrection of a god. This program also discusses the roots of the concept of baptism, specifically in relation to the various mystery religions that existed within the ancient Mediterranean world. In this context, the story of the theology of the Dionysiac mysteries is told. We also discuss the unique theological aspects of Christianity, particularly its concept of resurrection rather than deification. Join us as we discover the fragments of ancient Greek religion that lie within the modern Judeo-Christian religious experience.
The famous Altieri Chiaramonti sculpture of Attis depicts him performing a dance as part of the Cybele cult. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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Special Discount for eLitterae Subscribers
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A perfect complement to a Vergil course, this text provides the unadapted Latin text of the Thebaid 5.1–637. Same- and facing-page vocabulary and notes facilitate student reading while discussion questions stimulate thoughtful reflection on the high-interest tale of Hypsiple and the women of Lemnos.
by Patrick Yaggy
xxviii + 242 pp. Paperback ISBN 978-0-86516-819-0
$31.00 35% discount $20.00
(This offer is valid for one copy, prepaid, no returns, special price is
not available to distributors. This offer expires 06/15/14)
Make sure to mention that you are an eLitterae subscriber if you place your order by phone or fax. If you place your order via www.BOLCHAZY.com, enter coupon code eLit0514 on the payment page. The special eLitterae offer pricing will be charged at checkout. |
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