[journal entry] on Quintilian’s Institutes of Oratory (part 2)

Quintilian was nothing if not thorough.  In this line, he’s referring to the practice of imitation, but it seemed to epitomize his whole pedagogy: “If we gain a thorough conception of all these matters, we shall then be such imitators as we ought to be” (403b). The detail with which he outlines the teaching of [...]

[journal entry] on second part of Murphy’s “The Key Role of Habit in Roman Writing Instruction”

I really like the idea of using incremental steps to teach composition. I love how it helps build up students’ fodder for future writing as well as helps learn “to see both sides of a question” (69). It makes me think there’s got to be a way to accommodate the progymnasmata to the 21st century [...]

[presentation] on Cicero’s De Oratore

Cicero’s De Oratore
The question: To what extent ought the orator also be a philosopher?
Orators are rare because oratory requires comprehensive knowledge (290, also 291b and 292a)
Crassus’ view:
1.    Crassus echoes Cicero’s view by praising the rare power of the rhetorician: “For what is so marvelous as that, out of the innumerable company of mankind, a single [...]

[journal entry] on Cicero’s De Oratore (315-339)

Book III (as excerpted in B&H) of De Oratore is probably one of my favorite sections of this entire anthology, since in it Cicero has Crassus discuss Greek philosophy, the ideal of the orator as philosopher, and lament that what was once joined so fruitfully (philosophy and rhetoric) are not separated.
Crassus speaks of Athenian philosophers [...]

[journal entry] on Murphy’s “Roman Teaching Methods”

It’s hard to read about Roman pedagogy and not feel frustrated that rhetoric is not taught with equal intensity today.  It’s hard to fault any of their steps.
It does makes sense, as Murphy points out, that the “ever-practical Romans” continued this system most likely because it worked 50-51).  And the fact that it was so [...]

more for religion in the writing classroom bibliography

Groppe, John D. “The Writing Classroom as a Spiritual Site of Composing.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (46th, Washington, DC, March 23-25, 1995).
ABSTRACT: The academic setting for many students is frightening, but it is especially so for students with a strong religious background. For such students, [...]