The Classical Outlook Review

Professor Cabrera Ortega specializes in the influence of Greco-Roman literature on modern Hispanic culture and literature. In this webinar, he will share his insights on the adaptation of both Medea and Oedipus in a contemporary Latinx world.

 

Every student has the right to see themselves in their classroom, content, and context. This webinar will focus on ways that Latin teachers can bring multiculturalism into the classroom through choosing appropriate visuals, choosing authentic materials, and reconsidering the context of the Latin language.

 

With the onslaught of COVID-19, we are all challenged to accommodate, adjust, and rework. All of us at Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers send you positive energy as you, your families, your students, your students’ families, your schools, and your communities deal with the outbreak of this virus.

 

 

B-C’s Martia Dementia is off to a great start! Have you downloaded the materials we’ve made available? Don’t forget to submit your brackets by March 18. Voting begins on March 19. For more details, please check below.

 

Our lead article is regularly a teaching tip. Some of you may recall that Sherwin Little penned a monthly piece entitled “Little’s Bits” for a couple years before he began his tenure as the chief administrator, subsequently titled “Executive Director,” for the American Classical League. This month we bring back Sherwin’s piece from January 2014 in which he encourages teachers of Latin and Greek to become involved in the professional organizations. The value of such involvement is perennial! So we again provide Sherwin’s insights. May they encourage you to become more involved or affirm your involvement. Also check out our suggestions for online networking.

 

As always, reach out to us with your questions about our learning materials, including eBooks and online options

 

Due to the increased need to close many schools, our LUMINA hosting company has made it possible for us to offer LUMINA: Latin for the New Millennium, Levels 1 and 2 content at no charge to schools closing in response to the COVID-19 virus.

 

LUMINA: LNM, Levels 1 and 2 will be available at no charge March 13 through May 31, 2020 to schools that are closed due to COVID-19 social distancing requirements.

 

If your school is closing due to COVID-19 and you would like to use LUMINA LNM content please email lumina@bolchazy.com. LUMINA content does require internet access.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lumina online content offers new resources to support LNM, Levels 1 and 2. The interactive guided Language Fact sections provide immediate feedback to students as they preview or review each chapter of Latin for the New Millennium Level 1 or Level 2. Mouse-over vocabulary lists allow a new format for vocabulary mastery. Infinitely replayable crossword puzzles engage students in derivative work. Automatically graded quizzes free up student-teacher interaction time for translation, oral/aural work, discussion, and other learning activities. For a brief overview of the program, check out this video.

 

 

Lumina offers a revamped Artes Latinae. This fully interactive online program teaches all of Latin grammar in two courses. Purchase the program at a special discounted price of 25% off! For a brief overview of the program, check out this video.

Based on the program developed by Dr. Waldo E. Sweet of the University of Michigan for Encyclopedia Britannica, Lumina: Artes Latinae is an easy-to-follow course that includes all the tools a student needs to achieve a firm command of Latin. The course was carefully crafted and refined to suit the needs and abilities of a broad spectrum of students. Lumina: Artes Latinae meets existing foreign language requirements for high school graduation.

Contact us for an individual consultation on either program: bridget@bolchazy.com.

As I have recently attended the ACTFL Convention, and we at ACL are busily planning for the annual Institute, it seemed appropriate to reflect on professional involvement and how professional networking can help you as a teacher. Even if it is not in your personal budget or your school’s budget to attend the meetings, you can readily contribute to the profession in other ways. For example, you can serve your school as a mentor for new teachers or you can serve on one of your school’s many committees. However, this month we will focus on involvement with the wider world of classics teachers.

 

From my earliest time as a teacher I made sure to join national, state, and local organizations. I always joined the classical associations, and when I started working as a department chair I made sure to join the Ohio Foreign Language Association and ACTFL, the national organization for foreign language teachers. I have never regretted any of the money spent on these memberships. Not only does your dues money sustain the organization’s mission, but your very membership shows the strength of classics in your city/state/region.

 

Professional meetings offer participants a wide variety of opportunities. The foremost is the opportunity to attend sessions that feature scholarly and pedagogical topics. Organizers work hard to put together diverse and interesting topics for their sessions. Attending these meetings is reenergizing by itself, but definitely consider giving a presentation. The national and regional organizations normally have a review process, so watch for deadlines about submitting proposals. Read the guidelines carefully but don’t let them keep you from submitting an idea. If you get a rejection, revise and try again.

 

Another important benefit is networking. Teaching is often a very solitary profession, and for classicists it is intensely so. No matter how supportive your mentors or your modern language colleagues are, if you are the only Latin or Greek teacher at your school, you still feel alone. When you attend a conference, you’re surrounded by other Latin teachers! There is no equivalent to sitting at a table during a break with your new Latin teacher friends talking about an issue that has been bothering you for a while, or helping a colleague by sharing your own experiences. You forge the friendship with the face to face time and you strengthen it afterwards via email, Skype, or social media. Social media readily facilitates developing an ongoing professional friendship with a colleague and supporting each other.

 

Always visit the exhibit area at any meeting you attend. It’s usually a hub of activity, and the vendors dearly want to talk with you. They want you to be able to see their materials and to ask your questions. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers and others also want to hear from you and learn what you would like to see them develop. Publishers want to fill the needs of the profession, but if you don’t talk with them, they won’t as readily know what those are.

 

Attending your state organization will likely be easier and less expensive than attending the larger meetings. The national and regional organizations move their meetings around the country—that makes them more costly. However, many organizations provide scholarship money for members, especially for first timers, to attend conferences. Of course, when the larger groups meet in your city or state, the costs are not as great for you.

 

Every organization relies on an army of volunteers who give their time and expertise to help the organization flourish. Many committees function electronically and do not require your attendance at a meeting. It may seem that committee members are exclusively the more experienced teachers. Committees that deal with financial matters understandably have members with experience in the organization. Most other committees welcome teachers who are early in their careers as members. I can tell you from personal experience that our organizations try to get a balance of committee members representing different genders and geographic location as well as teaching level and experience.

 

Check out the committee structure for one organization to which you belong and find a committee that appeals to you and requires a time investment that fits your personal circumstances. Email the chair of the committee indicating your interest. There may not be a position open at that time, but you have made your interests known.

 

By helping to evaluate scholarship applications, to plan a program, or to help with a publication, you are contributing to the profession in a profound way.

 

We are all familiar with the scholarly publications that our different organizations publish. If you have an area of scholarly interest and you write a paper that could become an article, prepare it and submit it. You can find the guidelines for submissions on each journal’s website. Your article may not be accepted, but you are likely to receive valuable input on how to improve the article.

 

But don’t forget that there are places where less academic writing is encouraged. Look for journals that feature articles on pedagogy. Some teachers have given presentations at meetings, and then turned their presentations into articles. Others have taken an article and expanded and adapted it for a presentation. Contact the editors and see if they are interested in your topic. ACL regularly receives and considers teacher-made materials for publication. Bolchazy-Carducci has been enthusiastic about working with teachers to see if their ideas would be marketable for publication. I cite only these two because they are the ones with which I am most familiar. CANE and other regional organizations, however, also publish materials, so just look around! You have something important to say, and you can find a place to say it.

 

I have only scratched the surface of this topic. The relationship between the classical organizations and general foreign language organizations is a topic for another column. I hope I have encouraged you to start exploring professional organizations in your city, state, and region, if you haven’t yet done so.

 

As always I enjoy hearing from you. My electronic door is always open.

 

Sherwin Little

Executive Director

American Classical League

 

Editor’s Note: Let’s also keep in mind the opportunities available for online professional engagement, learning, and networking. More than a decade ago, Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers launched its webinar series as a teacher-friendly vehicle for professional development. Organizations like the American Classical League, the Women’s Caucus of the Society for Classical Studies (SCS), and the SCS Classics and Social Justice group have developed mentorship programs that invite online participation.

 

Additionally, a great way to see what’s happening in the field is to follow certain hashtags on Twitter; two popular ones are #LatinTeach and #ClassicsTwitter. For those who are hoping to learn more about implementing distance learning, #RemoteLearning is a good hashtag to follow as well. Facebook also offers several sites such as Latin Teacher Idea Exchange, Greek Teacher Idea Exchange, IB Latin Teacher Idea Exchange, AP Latin Teachers, Latin Best Practices, LNM Idea Exchange, and others.

Don't leave your students out! Carpe Martiam Dementiam! Encourage them to enter the sixth annual Martia Dementia contest that will pit mythological monsters and military commanders of the ancient world against one another. Students can enter individually or make it a class activity and submit a class entry.

 

 

Thanks to editor Amelia Wallace, B-C has developed a terrific set of learning materials to accompany Martia Dementia! You’ll definitely want to download these materials: 1) printable game pieces to play mythological monster Guess Who? (includes game cards, character descriptions, and a worksheet); 2) free mythological monster–related online games hosted on Lumina; 3) ancient figure biographies for ALL figures in this year’s Martia Dementia. Check them out!

• Veteran teacher and AP Latin consultant Jill Crooker is offering two workshops for teachers of AP Latin.

 

• The Classical Association of New England offers a wonderful week of learning each summer. Check out the CANE Summer Institute 2020.

► Celebrating Women’s History Month

• Share this list of ancient women authors with your students.

 

For a change of pace, feel free to use these Latin readings chosen for Women's History Month.

 

• Your Latin 1 students will be able to handle this letter from Terentia (created based on what modern scholars know of the relationship) to Cicero (excerpted from the workbook for Latin for the New Millennium, Level 1).

 

• Latin 2 students can read a Latin letter from the polymath Elizabeth van Schurman (excerpted from the workbook for Latin for the New Millennium, Level 2).

 

• For Latin 3 and Latin 4 students, have them try Tibullus (Sulpicia) 3.14: background essay, Latin poem, and notes from Sheila K. Dickison and Judith P. Hallett's A Roman Women Reader: Selections from the Second Century BCE through the Second Century CE.

 

Translations for the Terentia letter and the van Schurman letter are taken from the Teacher's Manual for the respective workbooks.

 

Editor's Note: All the above PDFs from Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers' texts are provided for classroom use only as downloaded by the eLitterae subscriber and are not to be otherwise copied or distributed. These were first shared in the March 2018 eLitterae.

 

• Greek Comedy Examines Women’s Sexuality

 

• Ancient Women Scientists

 

• Groundbreaking Female Archaeologists

 

• Norwegian Choir Cantus’s Rendition of Dona Nobis Pacem

 

• Sounds of the Hagia Sophia

 

• New Temple Found in Rome

• House of Lovers Reopens

• Three Pompeiian Houses Reopen

• Yet More on the “Skull of Pliny”

• A Roman Dagger to Die for

• Silver Beauty Fit for a Queen

• Exploring Dirty Rome

 

 

Chicago’s Newberry Library hosts a treasure trove of goodies.

Check this one out.

It’s a milestone when you make Jeopardy! Unfortunately, this title is out of print, but Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers takes great pride in the other titles it has published in its popularization of the classics efforts—titles like Ubi Fera Sunt, Arbor Alma, and Quomodo Invidiosulus nomine GRINCHUS Christi natalem Abrogaverit.

 

Selections from the Second Century BCE through the Second Century CE.
 
by Sheila K. Dickison, Judith P. Hallett
 
xxii + 225 pages, ISBN 13: 978-0-86516-662-2   $19.00   $11.40