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SCS Committee Panel

Organized by the Committee on College and University Education

Organizers: Ariana Traill

Topic: Greek and Latin Texts

Call for Papers

In this age of textbook proliferation, we are constantly called to decide on the ‘best’ textbook for beginning Latin or Greek – for our own classes, our programs, online teaching, students in other programs, community members, outreach programs, and ever more unusual course configurations, whether print, online, hybrid, or a class that “throws out the textbook” in favor of instructor created materials. We encounter students who have learned from all conceivable methods – not just the old standbys of grammar translation. reading methods, and hybrids of the two), but variations of Rouse’s “direct method”, comprehensible input, videogaming (e.g., Operation Lapis) and even commercial products like Rosetta Stone. This panel offers an opportunity for short, but intensive conversations about the books we rely on to introduce our students to Latin and Greek. The lightning talk format will maximize the number of texts treated, thus facilitating comparison across methodologies and formats. We envision that participants who have had experience with different texts/curricula will be lively contributors to the discussion. Any elementary ‘book’ (print, online, hybrid) is eligible, new or old, but the focus is intended to be on relatively recent options or older texts that have been significantly revised in recent years. We expect these short talks will begin as mini-reviews and personal narratives of working with a specific text and then shift into a larger conversation about what we look for in the materials we are asking students (or districts) to purchase, and what role a set curriculum (print, electronic, hybrid) should play in 21st century classes.

We hope to attract contributions from classicists across a range of institutions: K-12 teachers, graduate instructors, program coordinators, online teachers/tutors, and veteran Latin/Greek 101 instructors from higher education.

Proposals may be submitted to traill@illinois.edu. Deadline: April 7, 2020. Abstracts will be reviewed anonymously by the other two organizers.