Friday, 28 October 2016

4:00 Special talk by Keynote Speaker:

Jay Samons (Boston University) “Athenian Lessons for American Democracy.”

in 120 Morrison Hall, Baylor University

 

Afterward, Members and Guests are invited to share in a Dutch-treat dinner to be held at a local eatery, TBA.

 

Saturday, 29 October 2016

All sessions today are held in Paul L. Foster building, Room 143/144, Baylor University.

8:00 Registration opens (hallway outside 143/144 on ground floor)

8:00-??? Hot breakfast buffet (upstairs in 250)

9:00-9:15 Simon Burris, welcome and opening remarks

9:15-9:45 “Augustus’s Forum: An Atrium for the Pater Patriae,” by Bryan Carlson.

Many people have considered the iconographic program of the Augustine Forum, as a successor to the Forum of Julius or as a precursor to the other imperial for a, but a compelling argument can be made for looking not at these other monumental projects but to a more humble origin in the Domus of the average Pater Familias of late Republican Rome. Each of the elements of this sculptural and decorative programs can find their own models, albeit on more modest scale, in the atrium complex of a house of these “average” Romans.

9:45-10:30 “Building a proficiency-based Latin class,” by Shelly McCormick-Lane and Michael Waehner.

With the inception of the new Foreign Language TEKS in the fall of 2017, Latin teachers need to consider how they will incorporate proficiency-based learning in their classrooms. No longer are the 5 Cs the highlight of language teaching in Texas; foreign language teachers, including Latin teachers, need to be more cognizant of using interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational modes of communication with their students. [Presidential note: This is a follow-up to M-L and W’s very well-received 2015 presentation!]

10:30-11:00 Break (refreshments in hallway outside 143/144)

11:00-11:30 “Rethinking Grades: Mastery or Standards-based Grading,” by Jennie Luongo, Laura Hudec, and Joan Romanosky.

Much research has shown that grading that focuses on attaining mastery or a set standard can lead to better outcomes in schools. Mastery or standards-based grading systems are one way that teachers can start to help their students focus on mastery of Latin.  Standards-based grading has been tied to an increase in “growth mindset” with all the benefits for students that come along with that… Latin teachers from two schools, St. Andrew’s Episcopal in Austin and Greenhill in Dallas, will talk about their experiences in implementing different standards-based approaches to grading in our classes. We will discuss how this has been implemented both in middle and high school settings while sharing our methods, lists of standards for various level Latin classes, and other practical information.

11:30-12:00 “A feminist lollipop,” by Mike Skupin.

This paper will discuss the Declamatio de Nobilitate et Præcellentia Fœminei Sexus… by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535).  Agrippa is remembered today for the same reason he was known in his time:  as a writer on magic and the occult… There will be a discussion of the essay’s “internals,” such as its genre compared with other writers’ work, the classical and Biblical allusions that Agrippa makes to illustrate his points, and the rhetorical techniques he uses.  There will also be an account of external factors that influenced the work, including the anti-Semitic writings of Johannes Pfefferkorn and the related activities of the Inquisition that must have made Agrippa think twice about his use of Old Testament references.

12:00-1:30 Lunch and business meeting (upstairs in Room 250)

1:30-2:30 Keynote: Jay Samons, “Pericles: Statesman or Demagogue?”

2:30-3:00 “Arma deosque canunt: Vergil as a Kindred (Pagan) Spirit in St. Augustine’s De Civitate Dei,” by Spencer Kyle Smith.

Due to the nature of [Augustine’s] particular rhetorical project in City of God, allusions to Aeneid—the ancient epic most concerned with the rise and fall of earthly regimes, especially of the fall of one particularly hallowed-yet-doomed city of men—become all the more salutary to seeing the actual scope of Augustine’s achievement. Additionally, a critical survey of Augustine’s allusions to the epic allows for elaboration upon some of the sub-arguments that attend upon Augustine’s general argument that history and pagan literature make a decisive case against trusting man-made institutions for protection (at least) or any form of salvation (at most).

3:30-3:15 Break

3:15-3:45 “From the Classroom to the Community: Celebrating the Greek Bronze Age,” by Mindy Wolfrom.

Not every student has the opportunity to visit the Capitoline Museums or the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, and most local museums have limited collections of ancient artifacts that would not warrant a school-sponsored field trip. With this fact in mind, coupled with some flexibility in my curriculum and a personal passion for the Greek Bronze Age, my students and I created a community event at our school celebrating the ancient Greeks of this time period so that students could see artifacts from an assortment of major museums…. I hope to share with other educators how such an event can be undertaken with students, and how involving the community outside of one’s classroom (e.g., local university professors and Greek cultural societies) can build new relationships as well as promote interest in antiquity to a larger audience.

3:45-4:15 “Homer off the top rope: Intersections between oral poetry and professional wrestling,” by William Duffy.

4:15-4:30 Simon Burris, closing remarks, passing of the baton