Classics, Ancient History, Linguistics, Academia and more
Developing and teaching new modules is probably one of my favourite parts of my job. It doesn't come around very often, and it's hugely fun to think about presenting cutting-edge research to undergraduates, who are so open to new ideas and take them to pieces very effectively. So I was very excited to be asked,... Continue Reading →
I've held off posting about my new module, Italy Before Rome, for two reasons. Most importantly, I've been extremely busy writing and teaching it! But I've also held back because, although I had a vision for what I wanted the module to be like, and the ideas I wanted to get across, I didn't know... Continue Reading →
One of my academic specialisms is the study of inscriptions, otherwise known as epigraphy. Most of the material I work with is epigraphic, and sometimes this is one of the biggest challenges in my work. Learning how to read inscriptions is a skill that you need to learn by trial-and-error and, ideally, by having someone with... Continue Reading →
This term has involved a lot of lecture writing for me. Planning, writing and teaching two brand-new courses at the same time has been brilliant fun so far, but also lots of work. Talking to colleagues, I've realised that not all of us take the same approach to writing new courses - and talking to... Continue Reading →
This term, I've been doing something pretty new for me - planning an 11-week course on Roman Death for 70 first and second year students, complete with 22 hours of lectures and 5 seminars. It's a big task, both for me and for the students, so it's lucky that our subject is completely inexhaustible. We've... Continue Reading →
This is the first week of teaching at Exeter, so I'm putting the finishing touches on my first few lectures and seminars of the year. Since both of the undergrad modules AND the MA mini-module I'm teaching this year are all brand new courses that I'm writing and teaching single-handedly, it's been a busy few weeks.... Continue Reading →
I'm following the lead of the excellent Liz Gloyn and Ellie Mackin and looking back over the past year. It's all too easy to forget all the achievements and milestones of the past year - when I was a PhD student I was encouraged to write a list of everything I'd done at the end of... Continue Reading →
Around this time of year, academics are breathing a sigh of relief that exams (and exam marking) are over. At about the same time, newspapers often invite people to send in their students' funniest "exam howlers". Rather than revealing their students' mistakes, academics on twitter have generously responded to this yearly demand for "howlers" by... Continue Reading →
Katherine McDonald 