UPPER SOUTH REGION
ANNUAL REPORT
2000-2001

 

As always, Classics remains strong in the Upper South Region, but there are the same concerns here with secondary teacher shortage as there are in other areas of the country.  A common thread in this year’s communications has been the need for more communication among those in the secondary schools.  The new majors in Classics at Austin Peay will go into effect in the Fall of 2001 and it is hoped that the availability of these programs will help to relieve the shortage in Latin teachers in the Region.

 

Classics is thriving in Tennessee as Alice Sanford reports that the Tennessee Classical Assn. remains a vital and necessary part of Tennessee’s community of Classicists.  Vanderbilt University’s Department of Classical Studies currently publishes a newsletter, thanks to Tom McGinn, and TCA continues to meet at the ACTFL Convention.

 

Parthenon Symposia/AIA continue to open their programs to the community at large, and these always draw a significant crowd. University of Tennessee at Knoxville’s Latin Day, November 9, 2000, provided seminars, lunch, and campus tours for over 500 Tennessee high school Latin students, who came from the Nashville and Chattanooga areas, as well as from the vicinity of Knoxville. 

 

Nancy Howell took a van of budding Classicists from Franklin Road Academy to the Juan Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, to see a special exhibit of Roman Imperial Portrait Busts.  Mid-State JCL Tournament at Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville on February 23, 2001, hosted over 600 students from 5 counties and 16 different schools for Latin competitions. 

 

The National Latin Exam has been administered in high schools throughout Tennessee.  Rhodes University hosts the Tennessee Junior Classical League Convention

March 30-31st in Memphis, TN.

 

April 21st is the Foreign Language Fair at the University of Memphis.  This is for all languages, but it is also another opportunity to compete with other Latin students from Memphis and the Mid-South.

 

Austin Peay State University will be offering a major in Classics, Latin, and Greek effective Fall 2001 with the Classics and Latin tracks leading to secondary certification.  Numbers continue to increase in the Classics Minor and it is a hopeful sign that as some schools are cutting programs, APSU remains committed to Classics.  Tim Winters is running the APSU study abroad to Greece program again this summer and notes that there still is space available.

 

CAMWS  Brochures and CAMWS information were made available at high school in-services and at the Annual Meeting of the Tennessee Classicists Association. A follow-up letter is being sent to members who have not renewed. 

 

Tennessee’s VP is trying to determine appropriate contacts at colleges with new or small programs for distribution of materials, both for CAMWS membership and for all efforts to encourage teacher certification.  We will ultimately achieve results, but progress is slow.

 

Support from CAMWS CPL monies and from monies made available through TCA allowed Tennessee Classicists to have a wonderful guest speaker at the Annual Meeting of the Tennessee Foreign Language Teaching Association, in November of 2000.

 

Tennessee has an aging population of Latin teachers, and programs where a suitable replacement cannot be found, are vulnerable.  Currently, Cheatham County Central High School needs a replacement.  Phil Angevine, who had provided both the Latin and German at this school for several years, retired this fall because of health problems.  The understanding from him is that the Latin II is being continued this year, but because they were unsure of finding a suitable replacement, there currently may not be any Latin I students.  Cheatham County has been a strong supporter of high school Latin and would like to keep the program.  Any teacher interested would need mixed certification and a strong commitment to a very supportive, rural community.  Cheatham County is a 45 minute drive from Nashville or from Clarksville.

 

In January, Ed Long wrote that a full-time teaching position will be available starting Fall 2001 for a Latin (and possibly Greek) teacher at the McCallie School in Chattanooga.  The position is for grades 9-12, and the classes may range from Latin 1 to AP.  The Latin program is expected to have over 150 students next fall, and the department will include two full-time and one part-time Latin teacher.  In successive years McCallie offers AP Vergil, Catullus-Ovid, and Catullus-Cicero for its upper-division courses.  Greek courses might be added in a year or two.  Coaching ability is also desirable for interested applicants.  For more information contact:

Dr. John Roth

The McCallie School

500 Dodds Avenue

Chattanooga, TN  37404

(423) 493-5865

e-mail:  jroth@mccallie.org

web:  www.mccallie.org

 

It is possible that Clarksville will need another Latin teacher starting in August.  It is unclear whether that position will be in the public or private sector, but information can be obtained either from Tim Winters or Ed Long.

 

Vacancies are possible in Rutherford, Davidson, Shelby, and other large Tennessee systems also.

 

As a state, we may want to look closely at possible ways to encourage present teachers or prospective teachers to add Latin certification.  Currently, someone who wishes to obtain certification must find a Tennessee college which will verify that he/she is qualified to teach. To the best of my knowledge these are the colleges in Tennessee which offer Latin:

Austin Peay (certification possible starting in Fall 2001):  Belmont University (certification possible); MTSU (not sure about certification); Rhodes University   (certification possible); U.T.C  (certification possible); U.T.K.  (certification possible); University of Memphis (not sure about certification); Vanderbilt University  (certification possible).  I am not sure about certification through MTSU, or The University of Memphis.  Also not sure about the status of Latin at King’s College.  (It was recently said that the state policy has again changed and that 21 hours are now a standard requirement for adding certification in Latin.  Verification can be found through the Tennessee Dept. of Education.)

 

Eight Tennessee high school Latin teachers were among the forty-two nationwide recognized by the National Junior Classical League for unusual service: Kaye Warren, Grady Warren, Laura Long, Virginia Baird, Wayne Duff, Joyce Ward, Nancy Howell, and Alice Sanford.

 

Maria Marable (marablem@meigsmagnet.org) attended an Institute on Classical Washington last summer.  She felt that this was poorly organized and administered.

 

JoAnn Haughton, Memphis writes that the Latin Pedagogy Workshop in Evanston, IL on July 5-8, 2000, was fantastic.  3 1/2 days were spent learning about oral Latin, reading theory, comprehension and translation techniques, and many other teaching and learning strategies for the Latin classroom.  In addition, one whole day was given to touring Chicago to see the Classical influences on the city's architecture, as well as, the wonderful Greek temples and columns built as memorials in Graceland Cemetery.  As always, it was enriching to exchange ideas with other Latin teachers.

 

Ed Long and Kaye Warren attended the Summer 2000 ACL Institute in Bloomington.  Ed Foster is now pursuing a PhD at the University of Virginia.  Trey Suddarth in Memphis and Ed Long in Clarksville, have worked with Latin Distance Learning Programs.  From Tennessee, Nancy Howell, Alice Sanford, Chris Craig, David Tandy, Susan Martin, and Susan Wiltshire (and possibly others) attended CAMWS, Southern Section.  Susan Wiltshire addressed the Naval Academy and continues to serve on the Board of the NEH.

 

Anthony Lombardy is currently on leave from Belmont University to consult on development of CAIS and web sites as an instructional tool.  Christopher Brunelle writes that Vanderbilt continues its Dramatic Latin Competition for undergraduates.  Dr. Harry Rutlledge was honored with a splendid, new ACL award for meritous service to the profession. 

 

John Svarlien, State V.P, for Kentucky, submits the following report.  At the University of Kentucky, the Classics Department is reviving its chapter of Eta Sigma Phi. We are in the process of putting together a list of master teachers who can speak with Classics majors and encourage them to pursue a career in teaching. Unfortunately, the UK program is the only program in the state that can prepare students for teacher certification. The UK program is beefing up efforts to recruit and train more Latin teachers. Latin enrollments are up in the state, but we are anticipating a shortage of Latin teachers in the near future.  A scholarship to support teacher training has been established and is slowly accumulating funds. The other news is that the new UK Institute for Latin Studies is now getting underway. The Institute has two primary purposes: 1) to provide aspiring teachers with a thorough command of Latin in reading, writing, and speaking, along with a substantial exposure to the cultural riches of the entire Latin tradition; 2) to provide graduate students the opportunity to gain a superior grounding in Latin before going on to a PhD program in Classics or some other discipline. The enrollments in the Classical languages at UK are holding steady; enrollments in the translation courses (Mythology and Classics and the Film) are increasing at an astronomical rate.

 

At Transylvania University, enrollments in Latin have been rising (over 40 students are enrolled in beginning Latin this year); enrollments in Mythology and Ancient History courses are high. We are in the process of reinventing the Classical Studies minor and establishing a Classics society on campus.

 

The Kentucky Classical Association met on Sept. 23rd in Louisville and new officers were elected. Plans were worked out for next year's essay contest. Volunteers agreed to compose new Foreign Language Festival tests (many Latin students across the state continue to participate in the regional and state festivals).

 

The Kentucky JCL convention met in Louisville Nov. 17-19. Professors

Terence and Jennifer Tunberg read from and discussed their translations into Latin through works by Dr. Seuss. The NJCL will be held in Lexington, KY in 2002. Planning for that event is underway. Local chapters of JCL remain active. At Daviess County High School, for example, the JCL chapter put together a commercial for the school in an effort to recruit kids for Latin, and they sent some current Latin students to the middle school to increase Latin enrollments from the 8th grade. They also organized a Foreign Language Olympics every year.

 

The KET (Kentucky Educational Television) distance-learning in Latin is in the process of expanding programs in middle schools and revising the video programs.

 

CAMWS membership remains steady in Kentucky. The lowered initial membership dues have helped to bring more high school teachers into the organization.

 

Svarlien is in the process of setting up better lines of communication among teachers in the state, starting with compiling a complete e-mail list of teachers. Many of our teachers continue to be out of the loop (the State Vice President just learned recently of a teacher at Tates Creek High School in Lexington who has succeeded in building Latin enrollments astronomically, but never attends meetings of our state's Classical Association). Ways need to be sought to be able to reach more teachers with CAMWS materials in the future.

 

The state of Arkansas submitted no report for 2001.

 

 

This material was posted on the web by CPL Chair, Tom Sienkewicz, at Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois. If you have any questions, you can contact him at toms@monm.edu.

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