Don’t miss our symposium on Teaching the Arts Classically, October 7 on the University of Dallas campus. Dr. Gregory Roper, Associate Professor and Chair of the English Department at University of Dallas, will present “Teaching and Learning Writing Through the Ancient Method of Imitation.” Here’s a preview of his talk:

In the Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance worlds—in fact, until very recently—all artists in every medium learned their craft through imitating their masters. In more recent times, this ancient wisdom has been lost.

Dr. Roper will lead conference participants on a journey back to this ancient wisdom and show you how you can incorporate imitation into your own classrooms. Using lessons from his book, The Writer’s Workshop, and others, he will show how, by asking students to imitate closely the great masters, we can lead students into the beauties of a well-crafted sentence, the effectiveness of tightly-constructed prose, and the clarity that comes from mastering grammar, syntax, and rhetorical figures from, as it were, the inside.

And finally, we can lead students into the paradox that, by imitating others, they can begin to find their own beautiful voice on the page.

Conference details and registration information can be found here.