Who Am I Writing For?

The more I learn about the world of writing and publishing in Latin/Ancient Greek, the more I ask myself: who is the target audience? 

There are two audiences:

Teachers

• To provide reading materials for teachers (for Free Voluntary Reading, cultural units, etc.)
• To help teachers prepare their students for certain authors (i.e. using particular vocabulary/constructions of certain classical authors)

Students

• To be used as provided by the teacher for the reasons above
• To be used by independent learners to gain reading proficiency through self-study

When I write my publications, who is my audience? The student who plans to study Latin/Ancient Greek for 1-2 year(s) (e.g. to satisfy a graduation/language requirement). 

Of course I have my fellow teachers in mind, but I have never sought to align my publications with any textbook (I have very limited familiarity with the major textbooks anyway), curriculum (eww, AP Latin), or authors. I hope that my fellow teachers do, however, find my publications useful and enjoyable as readings, either for the whole class or for Free Voluntary Reading.

Why do I write for students who plan to study Latin/Ancient Greek for 1-2 year(s)?

The reality is that these students have traditionally been neglected by our field. The vast majority of learners do not wish to become philologists or read classical authors (seriously, how many of our students know who Vergil or Xenophon is when they sign up for our classes?), but Latin/Ancient Greek programs typically seek to prepare students for such a future from day one. Is philology an unworthy pursuit? Absolutely not. But students enroll in our classes for other reasons. 

Alongside this, many teaching materials prioritize students who wish to reach higher levels of reading proficiency. Again, there is nothing wrong with wanting our students to reach Intermediate High/Advanced (for, say, the ALIRA, the Seal of Biliteracy, etc.), but what about those students for whom that is not a goal?

How do I write for students who plan to study Latin/Ancient Greek for 1-2 years?

The following are considerations that I always have in mind when I write my publications:

Humor - Classics, unfortunately, has the popular perception that it is serious, formal, snobbish. Yet, when you look just a bit deeper, you find a world full of obscene humor. The corpora of Greek and Latin literature are full of funny moments! I remember laughing out loud to myself when I first read the "Nobody" scene in the Odyssey. Why do we prioritize "serious" authors/texts like the tragedians/philosophers/orators when we could be adapting from the comedians/Martial/graffiti? Some students will enjoy discussing the nuances of pudicitia and pietas, but I know I don't! Humor has always built connections and strengthened communities, so why not use material that helps humanize persons from cultures and time periods different from those of our students? I was inspired to write my publications with humor in mind because, in my opinion, far too many materials for learners focus on serious and moralizing content. How about more fart jokes in our curriculum?

User-Friendly Resources - In my publications, readers will find the English definitions for all words either in the glossary or in footnotes. When the reader needs help with a particular word/phrase, all they need to do is look it up. There (hopefully) is no ambiguity. I do not list words in the glossary by their principal parts because not all students are taught principal parts nor should they have to know them (How many native English speakers can name the principal parts of lie, as in iaceo?). If a student wants to look up es, why should I expect them to know to look up sum? 

I do not use the confusing system of symbols devised by Ørberg either. Hear me out - Ørberg-style glosses can work for students who actually want to work through them. In my opinion, they are not helpful for most novice learners. If one needs to learn how to decode a gloss, is it really a helpful gloss to begin with? Ørberg-style glosses also make far too many assumptions, for my comfort, about the reader's prior knowledge of vocabulary. As a writer, I would need to increase the number of lemmata in my publications in order to write Ørberg-style glosses. If a student plans to study Latin/Ancient Greek for 1-2 years, they do not need to know the many synonyms, antonyms, etymologies, etc. that Ørberg-style glosses assume/require. 

Many (most?) of our students will take Latin/Ancient Greek for 1-2 year(s). Of course we would like for all of them to continue on, but sometimes other commitments (e.g. sports, other electives, doubling-up on core subject classes) are higher priorities...and that is okay! Let us be grateful that they decided to enroll in our classes in the first place. As stagnating/dying fields, we in the humanities must consider our students' goals and celebrate the limited time we have with our students. Once we have them, we can make their experience as enjoyable and as enriching as possible. I encourage you to think back on all the classes you were required to take throughout your education, but had no intention of becoming a specialist in. What would have made your experience more enjoyable and enriching?