Beyond Books: Service-Learning in Classics

As American institutions of higher education increasingly recognize a responsibility for producing good citizens as well as educated students, service-learning, has begun to play a more important role in college curricula.  As defined by the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, service-learning “is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.”  Last year, the organizers of this panel developed and team-taught their first Classics service-learning course, and found it to be a uniquely challenging and satisfying form of teaching.  Because Classics and service-learning might not appear to be natural pedagogical partners, we hope that our panel will provide a forum for exploring the disciplinary potential of this civically engaged approach to education. We believe that service-learning offers valuable opportunities for Classics departments both to expand the scope of general education courses within the academy and to prove, through civic outreach to non-specialist constituencies in local communities, the relevance of the study of the Classical past.  Moreover, a wider discussion of service-learning can benefit Classics teachers at all levels who have experience in service-learning or are interested in experimenting with its pedagogy, either through dedicated course offerings or through service-learning units in broader Classics courses.