CTCWeb Consortium

FREE Materials Developed by Educators from around the world
The Consortium is a growing repository of curriculum materials developed by educators worldwide to support one another by sharing their work and experiences involving technology in education.

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey: Teacher's Companion
by CTCWeb Editors
CTCWeb's editors have compiled assignments that teachers can use as a guide through the Iliad and the Odyssey. Students can learn about the Ancient Greek alphabet, Homeric epithets, depictions of the two epics in art, and the historical and mythological background for both Homer and his epics.

Verb Conjugation PowerPoints
by Sue Shelton
Sue Shelton's PowerPoint presentations will lead students and teachers through a workout with demanding Latin verbs. Using drills, exercises and requiring work from students, these PowerPoint presentations strengthen conjugating muscles and make students fit for any verb task they might face.

Iliad Introductory PowerPoints
by CTCWeb Editors
Understanding Homer's epic the Iliad requires a great deal of background information. CTCWeb Editors have prepared these PowerPoint presentations as a way to offer teachers insight on where to begin. Ranging through historical background to textual history to mythological background, these PowerPoint presentations cover ground designed to help students by filling in information gaps.

Noun Declension PowerPoints
by Sue Shelton
In her Noun Declension PowerPoints, Shelton uses cartoon images, sound, and animation to grab the learner’s attention and reinforce learning the Latin noun declensions. Through clear explanations, understandable examples, and questions designed to test comprehension, Shelton’s presentations clarify Latin noun declensions for students, which in turn clarifies their understanding of Latin grammar.

Greek Gods: The Olympus Twelve
by CTCWeb Editors.
CTCWeb's editors have compiled assignments that students can do to learn the mythological history of the ancient Greek gods. All twelve gods and goddesses are now profiled using a variety of assignments and numerous links to primary text, archaeological evidence, and secondary source materials.

Curriculum Unit: The Gods and the Heroes of the Odyssey by Patricia Dipillo
Dipillo’s curriculum emphasizes fun and creative activities for students that bring the Homeric world alive, while stressing to teachers the curriculum standards that underpin these beguiling activities. Whether creating clay slabs of mythological creatures, brainstorming over mythological words, or generating Odyssey-related jokes, students are encouraged to think critically and creatively about Homer’s ancient text. Supplemental PowerPoint presentations of vivid images of artwork by Dipillo and her students illustrate the creative vibe stimulated by Dipillo’s take on Odysseus’ quest.

Homer: the Iliad and the Odyssey by CTCWeb Editors.
CTCWeb's editors have compiled assignments that students can do to learn the mythological history of the Homeric epics. The two epics will be profiled using a variety of assignments and numerous links to primary text, archaeological evidence, and secondary source materials. Through this collection, students and teachers will learn more about the poet and legend of Homer, the background and representation of the Iliad and the dynamic character of Odysseus. Additionally, paper topics and discussion questions prompt student reflection after completing the assignments.

Teaching Ancient Biography
Margaret Cotter-Lynch
In Teaching Ancient Biography, Cotter-Lynch provides more than just well-crafted lecture notes, historical background, and in-class discussion questions. She demonstrates why public interest in the lives of the major political figures is timeless. Cotter-Lynch’s impressive attention to detail and conversational prose make her insights into the works of ancient biographers accessible to both students and teachers. To aid other educators in preparing to teach a course in ancient biographies, Cotter-Lynch describes how visual materials can amplify students’ understanding of what biography is and what the ancient biographers accomplished.

Centaur Verb Presentations
Ruth L. Breindel
Breindel’s Centaur Verb Presentations provides instructional strategies for educators to teach Latin verb tenses. To support these strategies, Breindel provides a host of technology-based teaching tools, including a short film, a PowerPoint presentation, overhead projection slides, and cut-out cards. Each is ready for immediate use in the classroom. With assistance from Breindel’s virtual teacher, the centaur, Latin educators can use these tools to teach verb tenses with pluperfect clarity. Breindel’s classroom-ready presentations are available now on CTCWeb for all teachers, whatever their level of technology access and acumen.

Vestigia
Dr. Marny Lemmel
Lemmel’s Vestigia translates into Latin the popular unsigned poem “Footprints”. Teachers looking for short verses to have their students translate and/or more modern texts to translate need walk no further. They can follow in Lemmel’s footsteps to find an original, expertly-done Latin text that provides them with a practical exercise for use in class. Students’ familiarity with the English version of the poem could help them understand the general meaning of the text and instead allow them to focus on verb tenses and noun cases, making this a highly effective Latin teaching tool.

State Mottoes
by CTCWeb Editors.
The fifty-one mottoes in this collection – including the fifty states and the District of Columbia – highlight the states’ individuality. Twenty-five of the states have Latin mottoes, twenty-one are in English, and the others’ mottoes are in Hawaiian, French, Spanish, Ancient Greek and Chinook. As the College and University Latin mottoes published on CTCWeb were able to indicate to students what they sought to achieve, the state mottoes can point their citizens to their own goals. These mottoes highlight democracy, freedom and justice, traits that do not divide the states but rather unite them.

College and University Mottoes
by CTCWeb Editors.
Meant to inspire students to great heights of academic excellence, universities’ mottoes often lack one thing: a translation. With CTCWeb’s extensive listing of college and university mottoes and their translations, students, professors, and alumni finally can learn what their school’s motto means. This collection adds to the large and growing number of Latin mottoes posted on CTCWeb.

Alexander the Great
by CTCWeb Editors.
We reveal Alexander’s life story as a relentless series of deadly intrigues and life-and-death struggles that reshaped the geopolitical landscape of his world. They trace the arc of his life from prophetic birth to world conquest to ignominious death. They reveal Alexander as a brutal warlord, tolerant despot, disciplined military leader, and gifted horseman. They relate his boyhood struggles and bonds with his schoolmates, who later helped him conquer the world. They describe his notorious parents and the colorful women in his life. They tell about Alexander’s epic struggle against his great nemesis, Darius III of Persia. They tell us how Alexander died so young.

Les Jeux Olympiques
écrit par les editeurs du CTCWeb.
A cause des jeux Olympiques qui viennent de se passer, les éditeurs de CTCWeb ont pensé que vous en aimeriez apprendre plus des jeux Olympiques anciens. Ici, veuillez trouver des liens à l’information historique que nous avons ramassé à propos de l’histoire, l’origine et les épreuves des jeux Olympiques anciens.

Le gladiateur romain
écrit par les editeurs du CTCWeb.
A cause du succès du filme « Gladiateur », les éditeurs de CTCWeb ont pensé que vous en aimerez apprendre plus des gladiateurs et du combat gladiatorial. Ici, veuillez trouver des liens aux informations historiques que nous avons rassemblés à propos de l’histoire, l’origine et les vies quotidiennes des gladiateurs.

Teaching Plato in Translation

by Susan Gorman, Boston University
Gorman describes her methods of teaching Plato's Apology, Phaedo, Republic and Symposium. She offers questions to ask students, specific passages on which to focus and a writing assignment. Gorman cites potential problems students may have in their comprehension of Platonic texts and suggests ways to help them understand.

Troy
by CTCWeb Editors.
With a touch of Hollywood flair, Troy recounts the entire saga, from the birth of Helen to the founding of Rome, and it updates the Trojan epic with reports and image of modern day excavations at the ruins of Troy.

Teaching about Greek Men: Beyond the Confines of Traditional Academic Thought
by TammyJo Eckhart, Indiana University - Bloomington.
Eckhart describes both her research in preparation to teach a course entitled Ancient Greek Men: Gender and Sexuality and her experience teaching the course. Eckhart reports that “studies of antiquity have moved beyond [the] model of men as active creators and enforcers of patriarchy or the topic of ‘homosexuality’ in an attempt to decipher what being a man meant in Greece or Rome."

Using Authentic Latin Poetry in Lower Level Language Classes
by Mary English, Montclair State University.
English provides ten “techniques” for helping first and second year Latin students read Latin poetry. The techniques include practical advice on the use of the poems of Martial, Catullus, and Ovid with students who are new to the study of Latin. To bolster her guidance, English provides actual Latin poems and an annotated bibliography of resources educators can use to put her techniques to practice.

The Roman World
by Matthew Webb, University of Maryland.
Webb provides five exercises for elementary school students that help them learn about the Roman gods and goddesses, Roman art, architecture, and drama, and the Latin language. According to Webb, students who use his online exercises “discover how the ancient Romans lived, who they worshipped, how they entertained themselves, and the kinds of buildings and art that they made, and even learn a little Latin.”

Back to the Future: Teaching Latin in Cyberspace
by Sue Shelton and Kay Ruhle, The Florida Virtual High School.
Shelton and Ruhle describe their techniques for teaching Latin in a virtual environment via the Internet. They use virtual characters to introduce students to new material. The Florida Virtual School’s education philosophy is “any time, any place, any path learning” and is the basis of their methods for teaching Latin online. Examples of virtual assignments, students’ work, a grading rubric, and the online environment in which students learn are provided.

More Latin Mottoes & Phrases
by CTCWeb Editors.
CTCWeb's editors have compiled three lists of Latin mottoes and phrases. One list is pure fun. Another list is of Latin military and personal mottoes. It includes mottoes of armed forces around the world, as well as the Latin mottoes of the Olympics and NASA space shuttle missions. The more serious list is an extensive compilation of Latin abbreviations used throughout history in both ancient inscriptions and modern texts. Included in this list are the Latin meanings of the abbreviations and their English translations.

Pasajero a Ítaca
by Eduardo Fernández-Fournier, Madrid, Spain.
Fernández-Fournier takes a unique approach in his reevaluation of Odysseus by writing as Phemius, Odysseus’ court poet. Fernández-Fournier believes that Pasajero a Ítaca may be useful when interpreting Homer’s Odyssey, because “it offers a critical, alternate version of events, and compares it with texts from the Odyssey.” Through the juxtaposition of Pasajero a Ítaca with Homer’s Odyssey, Fernández-Fournier points out the double standards the hero Odysseus visits upon others in the Odyssey.

Excellence Through Classics (ETC): More than Just a Name Change
by Susan Senechal, Cape Henry Collegiate School, VA, and Kris Tracy, Ricks Center for Gifted Children at the University of Denver.
Senechal and Tracy explain the process and rationale they use in developing each year's Excellence Through Classics instructional packet and provide a complete instructional package with worksheets and graphics in printable form. The instructional packet includes mythology readings, questions and answers about the readings, craft activities, and numerous other activities..

You really expect me to read all that Latin! - Strategies for Reading Latin Texts
by Caroline Kelly, Covenant Day School, NC.
Kelly discusses issues that students encounter when faced with a long Latin passage. She offers educators insights on “prior knowledge” that students may or may not bring to the reading of a Latin passage. To demonstrate to educators what students face when reading long passages of Latin, Kelly provides a poem in Russian and encourages educators to use textual cues to decipher as much as they can about the text without actually translating it. This “pre-reading” demonstrates that with the prior knowledge educators have of languages they can get the gist of the text.

Manipulating Nouns & Adjectives
by Prof. Rebecca Harrison, Truman State University, MO.
Harrison provides educators with two different exercises for classroom use to help their students master Latin noun and adjectives endings. Available on CTCWeb are printable templates for color-coded puzzle cards that students can use to aid their memorization of Latin noun and adjective endings. In addition, Harrison provides a color-coded template of Latin noun and adjective endings for printing on mailing labels that students can use to create their own study guides. Harrison provides instructions for use of both sets of templates and for creating additional templates.

Why did they do that? ... Takes on the Punic Wars
by David E. Woody, Parkersburg Catholic High School, WV.
Before launching the simulations in Woody’s Punic Wars game, students read about the events leading up to the Second Punic War. They begin the game by choosing either to play the role of the Carthaginian ruler Hannibal or his opponents, the Roman generals. At critical junctures in the conflict, students decide on a course of action by choosing one of two options. If they make the historically correct choice, they move on. If not, Woody provides students with a hypothesis of what may have happened if their character had made the same choice.

I, Caesar
by Lee Burnett, Germantown Academy, PA.
In I, Caesar, Burnett provides directions for his eighth grade students to investigate a Roman emperor or an influential Roman matron. Project components include creative writing of historical fiction and research and reporting by students on Roman life. Examples of student probes of 11 Roman emperors and the Roman matrons Livia and Agrippina are available on CTCWeb, along with a brief biography of each emperor or matron.

Reading Exercises on Roman Gods & Gladiators
by Kathy Braden, Bow High School, NH.
Braden provides three Latin reading exercises and three reading comprehension exercises, which are also in Latin. The reading exercises focus on the ancient Roman gods and Roman gladiators. The reading comprehension quizzes that accompany each reading include questions about the grammatical function of verb forms and syntax to which students must respond in Latin and English.

Introduction to the Sphakia Survey
by Dr. Simon Price, Oxford University, England.
Archeologists reveal that Greek history flows with honey, according to a survey of bees. Price provides a description of the Sphakia Survey Website as well as step-by-step instructions for using the Sphakia Survey databases to learn about beekeeping in Sphakia, a remote and rugged area of Crete, which is the focus of the Sphakia Survey. Numerous images accompany the step-by-step instructions to guide users in their use of the Sphakia Survey and its databases.

Ancient Egyptian Gods
by CTCWeb Editors.
Ancient Egyptian Gods includes articles on 28 Egyptian gods. Each article includes a list of the symbols associated with a god or goddess, descriptions of how the ancient Egyptians depicted gods or goddesses in their art, and an explanation of the mythology and patronage of each god or goddess. In addition, there are numerous images of various ancient Egyptian gods as well as Egyptian art and monuments.

Olympus
by Lee Burnett, Germantown Academy, PA.
Burnett provides descriptions and directions for two projects; one involves researching a single god or goddess and the other is part of a nine-week online course called "Zeus Speaks." Project components include creative writing, oral presentations, trivia contests, and original artwork. As infrastructure for each Olympus project, Burnett furnishes project instructions, requirements, grading procedures, and a list of tools and resources students can use to complete their projects.

The Asclepion
by Prof. Nancy Demand, Indiana University - Bloomington.
The Asclepion provides information on health and medicine in the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Using translations of ancient medical text, historical facts, and images of ancient medical instruments, Demand presents the history of ancient medicine in layman's terms.

A Guided Tour of Ancient Egypt
by Darlene Bishop, Kent School District, Kent, WA.
A Guided Tour of Ancient Egypt covers over 1,500 years of ancient Egyptian history. Bishop provides brief but thorough explanations of ancient Egypt's culture and landscape, including Egyptian temples, tombs, pyramids, hieroglyphics, and even the nine stages of mummification. In addition, Bishop presents nine lesson plan ideas for use by educators at the primary and secondary school levels.

Latin Derivatives Exercises
by Marilee E. Osier, Sacopee Valley High School, ME. Two amusing stories are in Latin Derivatives Exercises. One is about Felix the Cat Burglar. The other is about Professor Horatio Porcius McGillicuddy. The first one is for beginning Latin students and the second is for Intermediate level students.

Roman Living
by Anne Starkey, University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Read the article about Anne in UMass' The Campus Chronicle. Roman Living is a comprehensive five-day lesson plan for use with beginning Latin students. It introduces them to various aspects of ancient Roman culture centered on the home. Though each daily lesson plan, teachers lead students on an exploration of the places where the ancient Romans lived and how the Roman home was the epicenter of political, social, and business activities.

Virtual Ancient Museum
by Pam Van Walleghen and Renee Cooper, Urbana Middle School, Urbana, IL. The Virtual Ancient Museum presents nine ancient civilizations on pages containing classroom activities and WWW resources to support middle school social studies curriculum. Civilizations include Early Man, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ancient China, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Maya and Inca, Ancient Africa, and the Middle Ages.

The Complete Certaminer
by Steve Perkins, North Central High School, Indianapolis, IN. Perkins examines the competitive goals of certamen, the classroom connection, and the mores of competition. He reveals insights on how to develop a game-winning curriculum and divulges tactics for recruiting students to participate in certamen, versus other extra-curricular activities.

Ancient Olympics
by CTCWeb Editors. Because of the Olympic games in Sydney, Australia, CTCWeb editors thought you might want to learn more about the ancient Olympic games. Here you will find links to historical information that we collected about the history, origins, and events of the ancient Olympics.

Ancient Weddings
by Jennifer Goodall Powers, SUNY Albany. Powers' work covers the history of ancient wedding, types of ancient wedding ceremonies, and provides descriptions of ideal marriages in ancient Greek and Roman culture. In addition, Powers takes a close look at the wedding poetry of the ancient Greek lyric poet, Sappho, and the Roman poet Catullus.

Fictional Rome: A Case Study in the Development of a Useful Website
by Prof. Fred Mench, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Mench's description of the origins, development, and staffing of the Fictional Rome Website is a study in the development of a topic-oriented Website that can be useful to a wide audience.

The Roman Gladiator
by the CTCWeb Editors. Because of the movie "Gladiator," CTCWeb's editors thought you might want to learn more about gladiators and gladiatorial combat. Here you will find historical information that we collected about the history, origins, and daily lives of gladiators.

Scratch, Glue, Foil & Paint: Connecting Classics and the Art Curriculum
by Newell Fleming, Enfield High School, Enfield, CT. Here are three assignments that require students to research ancient Greek and Roman pottery, architecture, mythology, and history and to use this knowledge to complete the assignments. Students design their own "classical" vases and transfer their designs to scratch board, illuminate letters on tooling foil using motifs, themes, and designs from ancient Greek and Roman art, and create reliquary sculptures in the form ancient buildings using elements from ancient architecture.

Figures of Speech Exercises
by Linda Fleming, St. Thomas Episcopal School, Houston, TX. These exercises test students' knowledge of rhetorical and syntactical figures of speech. The second part of each exercise requires students to translate lines from Vergil's Aeneid and match each figure of speech to the line of Latin text in which the literary technique is applied. Answer to the exercises are provided.

Ms. Rose's Latin Phrases & Mottoes
by Rose Williams. Click here to read an interview with Ms. Rose in the Abilene Reporter News. Here are 76 university mottoes and common Latin phrases with translations collected by Rose Williams. In addition to the phrases and mottoes, there are examples of samplers, by Ms. Rose's students, embroidered with Latin phrases and mottoes.

The Modern Student’s Guide to Catullus
by Raymond M. Koehler, Brunswick School. Koehler's guide brings the poems of Catullus and the Latin language to life through song and story, like a radio production, on CTCWeb. There are 19 recordings of Catullus' poems performed by Koehler and his students in both Latin and English. An explanation of each recording is included along with links to the Latin text and English translation of each poem. There is even a song to help you learn Latin noun endings.

The Life and Labors of Hercules
by Ellen Sassenberg, Mayo High School, Rochester, MN.
This project helps students to to discover the original legend of Hercules. It was originally intended for middle school students with no Latin language background, but it can easily be modified to be appropriate for students at any level.

Forward to the Past
by Corrie Schumann, Academia Latina, Pretoria, South Africa.
Schumann leads students Forward to the Past to empower learners by enriching their command of the English language through cross-cultural and linguistic studies based on the Roman world. Forward to the Past includes writing, speaking, reading, and listening activities whereby learners develop increased ability to communicate meaningfully in English.

Ad Astra: Using Latin in a Cross-curricular Science Program
by Nathalie R. Roy, Episcopal High School, Baton Rouge, LA.
The links between the universe and the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome are revealed in this project. Roy provides a full curriculum, a complete collection of project worksheets, and links to space-oriented Websites for educators to use in their own classrooms.

Catullus: Tuffy the Tugboat meets the Brave Little Toaster
by Ruth L. Breindel, Moses Brown School, Providence, RI.
Catullus can be approached through many media: song, dance, art projects, videos, and even games. The students in Ruth Breindel's 1998-99 Latin Literature class did several multimedia presentations around Catullus and his poems. Here you will find examples of their work and links to the text and translations of Catullus' poems.

Prince Perseus Power Exercises
by Steven Prince, St. Joseph High School.
Here's a great set of exercises to help students bulk up their abilities to sort through and utilize the mass of information on the Perseus Website. With Prince Perseus Power Exercises, students "learn by doing" to enhance their agility on the Perseus site.

Classics as a Cross-Curricular Core in the Middle School with CTCWeb as the Technological Foundation
by Roger Stone, Alexandra Garcia-Mata, Nicholas Naso & Nathan Piccini, Austin Preparatory Middle School, Reading, MA.
Austin Prep's blueprint champions the Classics as the thematic core for a middle school curriculum. Incorporated in the blueprint are links to CTCWeb materials, including Global Glossary entries, exercises, and teaching guides.

The Iliad: Through the Eyes of Achilles
This exercise takes you through the events before, during and after the Iliad by following Achilles' life from birth to death. There are numerous links to texts and images that describe and depict the events of the Iliad from Achilles perspective.

Connections between Ancient Greek Theater & Religion
by Peter Baiter, Betty Banks & John Burke, Taft Educational Center.
This exercise is the basis for the study of the connections between ancient Greek theater and religion. Students can examine the religious origins of theater, the role of sacrificial rites in literature, and the role of Comic theater in religious festivals.

The Aftermath: Post Iliad through the Odyssey
by Donna Patrick, Sylvia Simms, Robert Sohrweide, Taft Educational Center. This exercise takes students through twenty events that happened following the death of Patroklos in the Iliad. They will find links to artwork and text depicting the end of the Iliad through Odysseus' journey home to Ithaca.

Unearthing the Lost City of ABurbe-Suburbe
by Pat Dipillo and Priscilla Kotyk, Acton-Boxborough Regional High School.
Students play the roles of an architect, a mythologist, a political scientist and an anthropologist to expose the secrets of the fictitious ancient city of ABurbe-Suburbe. Join them on their quest!

The Kylix in Context
by Erin Clossey, Mount Holyoke College.

Research Assignment
Betsy Lifschultz, Mt. Kisco, NY.
Lifschultz developed this research assignment at the Perseus course at the Taft Educational Center in Watertown, CT.

Herakles the Hero
by Joanne Hwei Ping Lim, Mount Holyoke College.
In response to your requests, Ms. Lim's submission of an academic paper has been posted in HTML format. Throughout Ms. Lim's paper are direct links to the Perseus resources she mentions in her paper, such as text and images.

Task Orient Assignment with Answers
Betsy Lifschultz, Mt. Kisco, NY, and James Lowe, John Burroughs School, St. Louis, MO, developed this task oriented assignment at the Perseus course at the Taft Educational Center in Watertown, CT.

Introductory Perseus Assignment with Answers
Betsy Lifschultz, Mt. Kisco, NY, and James Lowe, John Burroughs School, St. Louis, MO, developed this introductory assignment at the Perseus course at the Taft Educational Center in Watertown, CT.

Arlington High School Introductory Assignment
Geri Tremblay, Arlington High School, Arlington, MA.
Tremblay has put together an "Introduction to Perseus" assignment for her students. The assignment introduces students to Solon and Athenian coinage while teaching them how to use Perseus. Students must answer questions and take notes to complete the assignment.

Prof. David S. Potter's Classical Civilization 372: Sport & Daily Life in the Roman World
David Potter, University of Michigan. Prof. Potter shares with the Classics community a complete on-line course on sport and daily life in the Roman World. Prof. Potter's work includes a course syllabus, lecture notes, images, translations, sample tests, and actual assignments.

= Bronze Chalice winner. = Silver Chalice winner. = Gold Chalice winner.