An increasing proportion of tenure-track positions in classics are at liberal arts colleges, institutions where excellence as a teacher is the foundational criterion in hiring and tenure decisions. The paper offers the perspective of a faculty member at a liberal arts college who serves on the faculty development committee and is actively engaged in the fora and workshops on teaching and learning issues that occur on a frequent basis at such an institution.
The paper identifies the elements of pedagogical preparation that are particularly critical for effective teaching, highlighting especially those that seem to be largely absent from the formal training of students in classics graduate programs. It stresses the importance of inculcating habits of reflection among graduate student teachers, of introducing them to key resources for continuing professional development, and of encouraging them to develop the willingness to take risks, to be self-critical as a teacher, and to communicate effectively the importance of what they are teaching and articulate the rationale for how they are teaching it. It argues that graduate programs need to provide training in how to identify and serve the needs of students with a range of learning styles as well as learning disorders.
Liberal arts colleges often have an expansive vision of their educational mission; this includes helping students develop transferable skills in critical thinking and analysis, and preparing them to live lives as engaged citizens in an increasingly interconnected world. The paper considers how these goals shape the courses that are offered and the ways in which they are designed. It considers how we might prepare future teachers to assess the effectiveness of textbooks in terms of learning outcomes, and also considers desiderata for textbooks in the new millennium. It suggests that classics can learn from pedagogical approaches widely used in modern languages that make effect use of technology to enhance language learning and appreciation of cultural context.