Romans in Germany

A Workshop/Seminar held at Temple University, Ambler Campus
March 24, 2001

12 March 2001

Dear                             :

We are looking forward to welcoming you to the Ambler Campus of Temple University for the first in a series of workshops for elementary and secondary school teachers concerning the interaction of ancient Romans with the peoples in their provinces and those they were not able to include in their provincial structure. Our topic for Saturday, 24 March 2001, is "Romans in Germany."

This series is a joint project of Martha Davis of the Department of Greek, Hebrew and Roman Classics and Margaret Devinney of the Department of French, German, Italian and Slavic. It is an outreach project of the Pennsylvania Classical Association, partially designed to meet the needs of teachers for completing certain hours in continuing education as prescribed by the State Departments of Education of Pennsylvania and New Jersey (PA Act 48). The area included in our outreach efforts encompasses southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and northern Delaware. The workshop series is supported by our two departments and Morris Vogel, College of Liberal Arts Dean, and has received encouragement and financial easement from Sophia Wisniewska, Dean of the Ambler Campus. Funding is through a generous grant from the Public Projects Committee of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States (CAAS), with additional funds from the Pennsylvania Classical Association (PCA), the Philadelphia Classical Society (PCS), the two academic departments, and Zavelle's Bookstore. We also appreciate support from the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG).

Included in this mailing is a complimentary copy of the Penguin Classics version of Tacitus' Agricola and Germania. We hope you will read the Germania before the workshop, in order that we may all participate in a discussion of the text most important for understanding ancient Roman attitudes toward the Germanic peoples. Also included here are directions to the Ambler Campus and a program for the day's activities.

Parking is available without charge in the Visitors' Parking Lot, located directly across Meetinghouse Road from the main entrance to Temple Ambler.

There will be complimentary box lunches for our nourishment while we enjoy a "working lunch." A few vegetarian boxes will be ordered. If you need special dietary consideration, please let Martha Davis know as soon as possible. For the lunch time, we ask that you bring any materials on the topic "Romans in Germany" that you may already have developed, so that they can be shared with others. Temple faculty will also provide materials. We expect forty elementary, middle and secondary school teachers and six Temple faculty members to be present. If you would like to have us photocopy something for distribution, please mail it to Martha Davis in advance of the workshop if you can.  We would also like to discuss elements of pedagogy pertinent to the content of this potential or actual class unit.

In anticipation of possible hourly attendance credits from your school districts, we will provide survey sheets (What needs has this workshop met for classroom teachers? What is suggested for future workshops? And so on.) and a sign-in sheet at our sessions. We will also issue certificates of attendance for your use, and will report our activities for the day to CAAS and to the Pennsylvania Department of Education and other professional groups you may wish to notify.

In our advance materials we mentioned CDs as possible "souvenirs" of the day. Instead, we have already begun constructing a website, for which we will furnish the address to you at the workshop. Janice Siegel, who is responsible for the website, will introduce us all to its contents and use. We think you will be very pleased with this teaching resource, to which you also may contribute, and which can be expanded for future workshops in our series. There also will be printed materials, such as a large map of ancient Germania with Latin geographical and topographical labels. (German equivalents are on the website!)

We would also like to prepare a list of names and addresses, especially e-mail addresses, of attendees for distribution. Is there anyone who would object to his or her name and address being circulated to our participants at the workshop and on the website?

We would like to start at nine o'clock. Coffee, tea, and light refreshment will be available at 8:45 a.m.  Please assemble in Widener Hall 115.

Looking forward to seeing you soon,

Martha A. Davis, GHR Classics
madavis@unix.temple.edu
(215) 204-8202

Margaret Devinney, FGIS
devinney@astro.temple.edu
(215) 204-8266

web-edited by Dr. Janice Siegel