Round Table Discussion Topics
Precipitating Change in the SCS: A Focus on Undergraduate Education
Moderator: Helen Cullyer (Society for Classical Studies)
This roundtable centers on a large question. How can the SCS best support undergraduate Classics programs? Topics might include: the role of the Classics Advisory Service; learning outcomes and career development for Classics BAs; updating “Careers for Classicists in the Modern World”; and how to create a diverse and inclusive environment in undergraduate programs. However, the organizer would start the roundtable with an attitude of receptivity, and allow attendees to bring up issues for discussion. The session will end with discussion of feasible approaches to the issues that have arisen.
The AP Latin Exam: A Conversation
Moderator: T. Davina McClain (Northwestern State University)
This roundtable is a chance for Advanced Placement Latin teachers to meet and to pose questions and get insights about the exam from colleagues with experience scoring or writing the exam. Topics will include the discussions, short answer, essays, and anything that can help teachers with their Advanced Placement Latin classes.
Promoting Diversity in Classical Studies
Moderator: Amy N. Pistone (University of Notre Dame)
In the current context of challenges to the Humanities, Classical Studies must examine its culture and climate for diversity and inclusion. Less than three percent of all graduate students studying classics in the U.S. hail from underrepresented groups, which raises many pressing issues for our field. We invite Classicists to share ideas about causes and discuss possible solutions. Does the undergraduate student population in Classics even approach the numbers for students of color at our institution? If not, why not? What can we do about it?
Experiential Learning in the Latin and Classical Humanities Classroom
Moderator: Nancy Antonellis (Brockton High School)
My classroom is evolving into a more interactive learning environment as I begin to experiment with 3D printing of museum objects. In recent years due to increased cutbacks field trips for my students have become impossible. The urban district has no money to provide them and the students cannot afford the retail cost of them. My goal is to bring the ancient world to them through the use of lesson plans I have collaborated on at ancient Corinth and incorporate 3D technology allowing for the printing of museum pieces. Together I am bringing the museum into my classroom for my students.
Mind the Gap: Aligning Secondary and Post-Secondary Latin Expectations
Moderators: Peter Anderson (Grand Valley State University) and Ryan Joyce (International Baccalaureate)
We will engage participants & develop areas of inquiry on skills & knowledge students moving from secondary to post-secondary Latin programs might be expected to have. Impetus for discussion arises from a common scenario: college programs happy to receive students with high school Latin that struggle to place them appropriately. We will consider what the perceived “gap” in knowledge and skills might be; and how we might align the desired outcomes of secondary and post-secondary programs, driven as they are by the varied philosophies of teachers, governments, and external organizations.
Graduate Student Issues Committee
Moderator: Sarah C. Keith (University of New Mexico)
In this roundtable, I will advertise the CAMWS workshop and panel put on by the Graduate Student Interest Committee, as well as our social media and blog presence. I will also sollicit suggestions for future panel and workshop subjects, and how graduate students feel we could serve them better.
Let The Past Serve The Present: Classics and Service Learning
Moderator: Erin Warford (Canisius College and Hilbert College)
This roundtable discussion will focus on developing workable ideas for incorporating service learning activities into Classics courses, in ways which are useful to and respectful of the needs of local communities. While excellent initiatives like the Aequora program are already bringing Latin to underserved high schools, this roundtable will also consider service learning opportunities for Classical history or civilization courses. Participants will be encouraged to share their own experiences and brainstorm new ideas.
Ph.D. Surplus, Adjunctification, and Other Inconvenient Topics
Moderator: Karl Galinsky (University of Texas at Austin)
Non-attainment of a tenure-track position in Classics is now the new normal and there is a growing, and huge, disproportion between the number of job seekers and the number of jobs available; for recent stats see the SCS Newsletters and, for some suggested solutions, see https://classicalstudies.org/professional-matters/scs-newsletter-may-2017-ne-plus-ultra-jason-pedicone. Some touchy subjects here: should classics grad programs unilaterally disarm? Or (disingenuously?) preach the virtue of self-fulfillment to their students? How realistic is it to “take administrations to task” etc.?
Moderator: Adrienne M. Hagen (Washington and Lee University)
Participants will discuss the current state of scholarship pertaining to the environmental history of the ancient world and will share their experiences researching and/or teaching within this interdisciplinary subfield. Those who have taught a relevant course (including those related to Animal Studies) are encouraged to bring copies of their syllabus to share, but no prior experience is necessary to join the discussion.
Contingent Faculty: The New Normal
Moderators: William Tortorelli (Texas Tech University) and David J. White (Baylor University)
Contingent faculty (whether called lecturer, VAP, adjunct, professor of practice, vel sim.) work under a wide range of conditions and contract types, each generating different issues. Non-tenure-track positions account for over 70 percent of all instructional appointments in American higher education, but there are few standards for their use. This round-table discussion, led by members of SCS Committee on Contingent Faculty, aims to provide a forum for sharing experiences, building group identity, and fostering mutual support in the challenges unique to professional life off the tenure track.
Moderator: Keely Lake (Wayland Academy)
Please attend a roundtable lead by the Chair of the Committee for the Promotion of Latin. We have grants and awards to offer as well as fliers and bookmarks to distribute, but we need to hear from the membership about what else would be helpful to you. What issues are you facing at your school or in your community which we might be able to address together? Please attend so that we can learn from one another and keep our profession vibrant.
New Directions in Latin and Greek Prose Composition
Moderators: Seth A. Jeppesen (Brigham Young University) and T.H.M. Gellar-Goad (Wake Forest University
Traditionally, the principal learning activity in prose composition classes is the translation of textbook sentences from English into pristine Latin or Greek; however, as Gruber-Miller points out, translation is not the same thing as composition (2006:190 ff.). This roundtable seeks to open a dialog among instructors who are implementing innovative approaches to Latin or Greek prose composition that get students actually composing in the classical languages, including gamifying the classroom, composition as fan fiction, imitating ancient writing processes, and beyond.
National Committee for Latin & Greek: Your Voice in Washington--and Elsewhere
Moderator: Mary Pendergraft (Wake Forest University)
NCLG is a standing committee of the American Classical League, and is supported by many organizations, including CAMWS. We will discuss the work of this group and how you can participate in our various initiatives.
Ancient Mores and Modern Sensibilities
Moderators: Henry W. Lanphier (Loyola University Chicago) and Stephanie Wong (Loyola University Chicago)
In this roundtable discussion, we will explore the lenses through which we introduce students to the world of antiquity, both domestically and internationally. The customs, values, and behaviors of the Greco-Roman world offer both exciting similarities and deeply distasteful differences from the modern student that we must navigate carefully. We will discuss the intercultural conversations that occur through classical studies and explore ways in which we bridge our differences as the interest in Classical Studies becomes increasingly globalized.
Moderators: Krishni Burns (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Samantha Lindgren (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
The Living Odyssey Project: Greek Myth in 21st Century American Folklore is a reception study that identifies aspects of the Odysseus myth in modern American oral and popular culture. It straddles the divide between humanities and social science by using ethnographic field methodology to examine classical myth. In order to isolate knowledge of the modern myth from knowledge of the ancient Homeric epic, project’s survey population is children in grades 5 through 8. The project invites members of CAMWS and their families to discuss the project’s field survey methodology and preliminary results.
CAMWS Latin Translation Contest
Moderator: William S. Duffy (St. Philip's College)
This session will focus on the CAMWS Latin Translation Contest, an annual competition open to both intermediate and advanced Latin students at both the high school and college levels. This discussion will focus on the impacts of recent changes to the examination, and will consider opportunities for future improvement. This is open to contest committee members, teachers whose students participate in the contest, and anyone else who is interested in the examination.
CAMWSCorps: Recording the Past, Imagining the Future
Moderator: Anne Groton (St. Olaf College)
CAMWSCorps, an oral history project modeled after NPR’s StoryCorps, is now in its sixth year of recording (as mp3 audio files) conversations with veteran CAMWS members. Each half-hour interview is conducted by a Classics graduate or undergraduate student. To date, 74 interviews have been recorded; all are stored in an online archive, accessible by request to researchers and others interested in the history of Classical Studies in North America. At the round table we will reflect on what CAMWSCorps has accomplished so far and brainstorm about what else it might attempt in the years ahead.
Docendo Discimus: Challenges for Teachers Using Living Latin Method
Moderators: Elizabeth Z. Hepner (University of St. Thomas) and Lorina Quartarone (University of St. Thomas)
This roundtable will attempt to both ask and answer questions concerning the difficulties of using the Living Latin method, both at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Topics might include negotiation of meaning (e.g. circumlocution) during class discussions, the role of writing throughout the course, assessing different modes (spoke,written, etc.) of Latin learning, translation as a tool rather than a goal, creating a Living Latin classroom within a non-Living Latin department, preparing students to transition to and succeed in a grammar-translation based program.