On Saturday, February 28, educators from across the region gathered at John Burroughs School for the inaugural St. Louis Classics Teacher Colloquium, an event organized by Jennifer Ice, Modern & Classical Languages Faculty at St. Louis University High School. The colloquium brought together Latin and Greek teachers from secondary schools, colleges, and universities for a day centered on community-building, professional development, and the continued strengthening of Classics education in the St. Louis area.
A Day of Collaboration and Shared Practice
The event featured a lineup of presentations aimed at offering concrete resources and sparking collegial exchange. Among the presenters was our own Tom Keeline, who delivered a talk titled “Why You Should Care About Maximizing Compelling and Comprehensible Input in Your Classroom.” His session invited teachers to reconsider the ways in which students encounter Latin, highlighting how meaningful, high-interest input can deepen engagement and accelerate acquisition.
Participants also shared strategies, classroom materials, and teaching resources, continuing conversations that had begun informally among local teachers in recent years but had not yet been hosted in a dedicated gathering.
Given the success of this first meeting, Ice expressed hope that the Colloquium could become an annual or semi-annual tradition. Her vision is to make the gathering a regular anchor point for the region’s Classics teachers, fostering a supportive and dynamic professional community.
A Continuation of Classical Conversation: The St. Louis Classics Club
Following the Colloquium, many attendees remained at Burroughs for the regularly scheduled meeting of the St. Louis Classics Club, which welcomed Chris Erdman, Associate Professor of Classics. Professor Erdman’s talk challenged the common belief that flaws in the Roman Republic’s constitutional structure caused its collapse. Instead, he highlighted recent scholarship on the Republic and the civil wars of the 40s BCE, arguing that its decline is better understood through the lens of political culture rather than institutional design. His talk provided a fitting intellectual capstone to a day defined by shared curiosity and scholarly energy.
Looking Ahead
The first St. Louis Classics Teacher Colloquium demonstrated the strength and vitality of the Classics community in our region. From innovative pedagogical conversations to thoughtful historical debate, the day reflected what is best about our discipline: a commitment to learning, to collaboration, and to keeping the ancient world vibrantly alive in today’s classrooms.
The Biggs Department looks forward to supporting future iterations of this event and to continuing our engagement with the dedicated teachers who make St. Louis a thriving center for Classical studies.
