I have taught a number of Latin and ancient history classes (see below) in the USA and Australia, from Classics Departments to my current home in the Department of History at Rutgers University – Camden. This page is really just designed as an ongoing repository of resources for college-level Ancient History and Classics teachers, because I think we can all benefit from sharing our teaching successes and also the lessons we have learned along the way.
My interest in professional development initiatives for teachers, both within and outside my field, goes back to my time as a co-organizer of pedagogy workshops for my colleagues through the Team Teaching Pedagogy Colloquium (Department of Classics) at Columbia University. I also participated in pedagogical training at Columbia's Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) as a Lead Teaching Fellow (LTF) for 2016-17, and as a Senior Lead Teaching Fellow (SLTF) for 2017-18 I developed an interdisciplinary learning community on applying inclusive teaching methods to course design and assessment with another fellow (Luciana de Souza Leão in Sociology), as well as mentoring the current Lead Teaching Fellows. At Georgetown, I continued to cultivate my inclusive approach by receiving a curriculum diversity enhancement grant through the Doyle Seminar program by designing a course that brought issues around contemporary immigration and displacement into dialogue with Roman migration and mobility .
Students in my Intensive Elementary Latin class (summer 2015), using the Latin inscriptions from the Olcott collection, Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML). Students each chose two inscriptions and conducted an autopsy of their inscription, working up a rough edition and then translating their text. Besides providing fairly simple texts to read and a further introduction to Latin epigraphy, the session also presented an opportunity to discuss Roman social life and how these inscriptions commemorated not only the dead, but advertised complex social relationships and dependencies, such as slaves commemorating their fellow slaves (“conservi”), a father commemorating his foster-son (“alumnus”), or some students (“discentes”) commemorating their teacher.
More generally, my pedagogy encompasses a wide range of approaches aimed at promoting primary source-based, active and inclusive student learning, including artefact studies, engagement with digital humanities resources and assessments (e.g. website/blog building), role-playing (inspired by Barnard College’s Reacting to the Past), research essays and on-site oral presentations. Part of my approach explicitly integrates material culture into both my ancient language and history classes, wherever possible, to facilitate more direct connections with ancient Greece and Rome. To take one example, I have made a point of bringing less studied, documentary texts into my classes, such as graffiti, coins and inscriptions, particularly from Columbia's Olcott Collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML) at Butler Library or using the ancient collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Penn Museum. Besides offering students a tangible portal to the ancient world that engages them more directly with the content they are learning, I do this with several aims in mind: to create a dialogue between the literary and documentary forms of texts; to encourage questions about the development of the Classical cannon and social history issues, such as literacies, demography, status-based and gendered relationships; to impart basic epigraphy skills and a familiarity with the materiality of language; to highlight linguistic points of change and more besides.
Teaching Experience & Syllabuses
Rutgers University – Camden
Immigration in the Ancient World (Spring 2022)
Athens - the Golden Age (Spring 2022) [Reacting to the Past historical role-playing class]
Gender in History and Theory (Fall 2021, Fall 2023: Graduate Seminar)
Rise of Rome (Spring 2021)
Perspectives in History: Cleopatra - Race, Gender, Power, and History (Spring 2021)
Western Civilization I: Prehistory to Charlemagne (Fall 2020, Fall 2021)
Growing Up in Ancient Greece and Rome (Fall 2020, Fall 2023)
Georgetown University
Roman History: Empire (Fall 2019).
The Age of Augustus (Fall 2019).
Roman Youth (Fall 2019).
Rise of Rome: Alexander to Actium (Spring 2020).
Sallust (Advanced Latin Seminar) (Spring 2020).
Migration and Mobility in Rome (Spring 2020). [Part of the Doyle Seminar Program for the diversity enhancement of the curriculum.]
The Ancient City of Rome. Study Abroad course (2 weeks) - Rome, Italy, May 2020. [cancelled due to Covid-19]
Columbia University
Instructor of Record
Youth in Ancient Rome (Fall 2016).
Intermediate Latin II (Fall 2015).
Intensive Elementary Latin (Summer 2015).
Intermediate Latin I (Fall 2014).
Teaching Assistant
Worlds of Alexander the Great (Spring 2017).
The Romans and their Empire, 754BCE - 562CE (Spring 2014, 2015, 2016).
Intermediate Latin I (Fall 2013).
Macquarie University / Open Universities Australia
Course Tutor and Online Convener
The Fall of the Roman Republic (HIST 130). Tutor, convener, and grader, with lectures pre-recorded by Prof. T.W. Hillard. Summer 2011-12.
Guest Teaching Lectures/Seminars (External)
“Wayfinding in Ancient Rome.” Guest speaker (in person) for Professor S. Orlandi’s undergraduate class in Latin epigraphy, Sapienza Università, Roma, April 17, 2022.
“Transphobia and the trans* man in the tribas.” Guest speaker (by Zoom) for Professor K. Huemoeller’s graduate seminar on ancient gender, University of British Columbia, February 28, 2022.
“Acting Your Age on the Roman Stage: Plautus’ adulescens in Middle Republican Rome.” Guest speaker (by Zoom) for Professor K. Brassel’s graduate seminar (CLST 607: Roman Humor), University of Pennsylvania, April 26, 2021.
“Pygmies, Somatic Dialogues and Diversity at Pompeii.” Guest speaker (by Zoom) for Professor J. Sheppard’s undergraduate class (Classics 3250: Pompeii: Cultural Mosaic of the Ancient Mediterranean), Washington University in St. Louis, February 26, 2021.
“Performativity, Age and Roman Portraiture.” Guest lecturer and participant (by Skype) for Professor H. Valladares’ graduate seminar, (CLAR 910: Methods in Classical Art History), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, November 20, 2019.
Professional Development
Service
Co-organizer (with Yujhán Claros), Team Teaching Pedagogy Colloquium (TTPC), Department of Classics, Columbia University, 2017-18. Monthly pedagogical development workshop series run by and for graduate students teaching in various aspects of the ancient world (Greek, Latin, ancient history, art history and archaeology, Core Curriculum).
Workshops and Talks
with Giulia Bonasio (Classical Studies / Ancient Philosophy), “Classroom Discussion: from Socrates to the Progressive Stack.” at Team Teaching Pedagogy Colloquium (TTPC), Department of Classics, Columbia University; April 13, 2018.
with Luciana de Souza Leão (Sociology), Leveling the Playing Field: From Inequality to Inclusivity in Assessment, three-part Learning Community, Center for Teaching and Learning, Columbia University; Spring 2018:
“Inclusion by Design: Strategies for Inclusive Assessments,” January 29, 2018.
“Unpacking Inequality in Grading,” February 12, 2018.
“Making Feedback Count: Inclusive Feedback Mechanisms,” February 26, 2018.
“Inclusive Teaching and Diversity in the Classical Classroom.” at Team Teaching Pedagogy Colloquium (TTPC), Department of Classics, Columbia University; November 14, 2017.
"Role-playing with Reacting to the Past: Athens Besieged 405-404 BCE Game Sampler" at the Innovative Teaching Summer Institute, by invitation of the Center for Teaching and Learning, Columbia University, June 14, 2017.
“Role-playing in the Classical Classroom: From Richlin (2013) to Reacting to the Past.” at Team Teaching Pedagogy Colloquium (TTPC), Department of Classics, Columbia University, April 25, 2017.
“Undergraduate Research as Pedagogical Tool.” at Team Teaching Pedagogy Colloquium (TTPC), Department of Classics, Columbia University, November 22, 2016.
“Pedagogical Strategies for Teaching Post-Traditional Language Students.” at Team Teaching Pedagogy Colloquium (TTPC), Department of Classics, Columbia University, October 13, 2015.
Fellowships
Senior Lead Teaching Fellow (SLTF), Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University, 2017-18.
Teaching Scholar, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University, 2016-17.
Lead Teaching Fellow (LTF), Center for Learning and Teaching (CTL), Columbia University, 2016-17.
Undergraduate Research Scholar, Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), under Professor Angela Brew (Macquarie University / University of Sydney), 2009-10.
Pedagogy Related Publications
(2012), [as an undergraduate] with Angela Brew, "Enhancing quality learning through experiences of research-based learning: Implications for academic development", International Journal for Academic Development 17(1): 47-58.