Responsible pedagogy means being honest with our students about our subject matter. For Latin teachers, this means not glossing over topics that make us uneasy — like violence, misogyny, and slavery in Roman society, to name a few.
Practice honest and responsible pedagogy
Even though we did not create the cultural norms of ancient Rome, it is our responsibility as educators to acknowledge the difficult material that comes up when we study it, in honest and respectful ways. We must facilitate the practice of expressing thoughts and questions on these hard topics.
Be brave
Difficult topics are just that — difficult. The only way we can begin to cover them is by first daring to cover them; they require some courage.
Planning and preparation help with difficult conversations, though even with preparation, we cannot expect these conversations to be entirely smooth or comprehensive. As Latin teachers, we should still teach them, and the teacher-student relationship is a good foundation from which to be brave, which helps our students take up this challenge, too.
Know that important conversations are difficult conversations
We can help our students prepare for difficult conversations by giving them opportunities to practice the skills they will need. For example, we can discuss school policies or use the start of a new year to encourage students to come up with classroom rules. This is a great way to set a classroom tone and expectations, because it fosters dialogue about important, mutually beneficial topics.
It is a valuable opportunity to help build a classroom culture where students are able to engage each other on topics with personal relevance and impact. A meaningful exchange on an important topic is good preparation for a difficult conversation.
Interrogate the Latin literature
Latin textbooks and Latin texts in general are good material for discussion. Morphology and syntax should not dominate our readings so much that we forget the narrative and context of a particular text.
We can make room to help our students interrogate the behaviors, attitudes and interactions of the characters in readings; they always contain biases and cultural norms of Roman society for our students to uncover. Our texts often naturally prompt the kind of difficult conversations we may want to have; in fact, they can help us address hard topics in small chunks as they appear in the narratives, which can be easier than doing a full lesson on a challenging social topic.
Withhold judgments on language and culture
Teaching a language exposes us and our students to a different culture and its ways of thinking about and seeing the world. For the Latin teacher, this is complicated by a vast gap in time and sometimes space. When we come upon similarities and differences between the respective cultures, it is important that we do our best to reserve value judgments. Judgments can quickly become obstacles to learning and a free exchange of ideas.
Embrace the discomfort of unresolved questions
Definite answers to difficult questions are rare. As much as we may find comfort in labels and categories, and as much as they may help us talk about difficult topics, they do not always offer resolution or comfort. Instead, we are often left with more questions.
Know that we will not be able to answer all of our students’ questions, but that the questions themselves are valuable and helpful in facilitating important conversations. In fact, we can model for our students how to embrace the discomfort of a conversation that doesn’t have an easy answer or resolution.
You can watch a video that accompanies this blog post here.
Runako Taylor teaches Latin at The Brearley School in New York City. He began teaching in England 16 years ago and has since worked in a variety of schools. He has led student trips abroad to Italy and Sicily. Runako holds a B.A and M.A from Hunter College of the City University of New York, and is licensed to teach in New York and holds Qualified Teacher Status in the United Kingdom.
Nota bene! This piece is part of our Diversity & Inclusion in the Latin Classroom series. Please let us know what you thought of this piece.
We are now in our second year and with your feedback, we hope to expand the project into a robust toolkit for teachers, adding resources and perspectives to further learning and effect meaningful change together.
To learn more about the series, please visit the home page.
