Administrative
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Advice for New Teachers in the Yale Program
Some basics to keep in mind when teaching GREK and LATN at Yale. Drafted August 17, 2025. Before the Start of the Semester • The LPD will place book orders for you, and the Registrar will order your desk copy. If they have not arrived when you need them, let us know. • Familiarize yourself…
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Substitutes
For the teacher: If you need to miss class, find a substitute to cover for you rather than simply cancelling class. Your Course Coordinator or Language Program Director should be able to help you find a sub. Only as a last resort (and with your supervisor’s approval) should you cancel class. A substitute is doing…
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Canceling Class @ Yale
Under no circumstance should you unilaterally cancel a class. As soon as you suspect a possible scheduling conflict, contact me. If there is an emergency, contact me. Only if I cannot find a solution to your absence is it permitted for you to cancel class. See here for substitute teachers. —James F. Patterson
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Observations
Everyone hates being observed. It’s intimidating. Sometimes you have to modify class or your instruction in a way that may feel unnatural. But it’s an integral part of professional development at every level of the game. When you are observed, do the following: (1) Give your observer a sufficiently detailed lesson plan. This shows your…
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Office/Student Hours
Office Hours are dedicated times you are available to students to talk about relevant academic questions about your course or the discipline/profession. You are not a qualified psychiatrist and should not pretend to be one. Students—especially incoming Freshman—do not know what Office Hours are. We have started to call them “Student Hours” to welcome students to them, but even…
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Syllabus Design
Page in progress… The attached document, recommended by Yale’s Center for Language Study, provides a useful rubric for creating an effective syllabus. Diversity Statements: https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/DiversityStatements Academic Integrity Statements: https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/strategic-resources-digital-publications/academic-integrity-statements Include Graphic Syllabus
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Advertising
For a field like Classics, where enrollments sometimes determine whether we have jobs or not, and those numbers are perpetually on the fence, advertising is critical. We spend most of our effort—percentage-wise, too much, I think—preaching to the choir-adjacent, namely to students in History, English, etc. We should absolutely keep doing this, but our efforts…
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Book Orders @ Yale
When you are entirely on your own in your future position, you will need to submit book adoptions to your college or university bookstore. Sometimes this is easy. Here at Yale, just email the ISBN to the email below and you are set. Sometimes this is less easy… navigating some burdensome website where you enter…
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Basics of Canvas @ Yale
To get access to your course Canvas page, contact the Classics Registrar. Canvas is mostly but not always intuitive. The Poorvu Center is available for Canvas support if you have questions or want to do something complicated with your page. Feel free also to ask me or any other graduate student who has served as PTAI for…
Classics Teaching 