Write just like the Romans

Other than the sanitation, the medication, wine, public order, roads, and public well being, what have the Romans ever finished for us?

Properly, they taught us how finest to show writing.

Not every week goes by when new apps or AI isn’t promised as the reply to all our academic ills. However what if our up to date literacy challenges should not all solved by the spells forged in Silicon Valley? We are sometimes inspired to look to the long run for options, however maybe they are often discovered by digging into our historical previous?

The Romans developed the primary actual systematic strategy to educating writing. It was specific, fastidiously crafted, and nonetheless important to how we now train writing.

The best instructor to put on a toga

Maybe a very powerful instructor in recorded historical past taught in historical Rome was Marcus Fabius Quintilianus – identified extra generally as Quintilian.

Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (Quintilian) – The British Musuem

Born round 35AD, Quintilian would transfer from the Rioja area of northern Spain to turn out to be a instructor in Rome who grew to become celebrated by emperors and philosophers, mother and father and pupils. He was essentially the most well-known proponent of an specific and systematic strategy to educating that might see kids in historical Rome turn out to be sensible orators and writers.

Quintilian’s views articulated in his books on rhetoric and writing are remarkably fashionable sounding. Notions that historical educating was merely educating writing guidelines by rote are crushed by Quintilian, who argued that studying grammar guidelines outdoors of numerous wealthy fashions of nice writing was like a ship drifting aimlessly and not using a captain.

He recognised that numerous studying and debating was important to supply pupils the ‘abundance of the most effective phrases, phrases and figures’. Quintilian would train with a tonne of follow of Roman rhetoric. There can be numerous imitation of excellent fashions, and much and many effortful follow. On their wax tablets, pupils would have practised their rhetoric and their prolonged writing, earlier than wiping it off and practising some extra (‘Erasure‘ – the act of revising and modifying your writing, was considered as essential by Quintilian).

Writing just like the Romans would have been ok for Shakespeare.

Tons of of years later, the Bard would have been taught the ‘Progymnasmata’ that was promoted by Quintilian (it had its origins in Historic Greece) This fourteen-step system of writing workouts would have seemingly begun with taking a mannequin textual content, reminiscent of Aesop’s well-known ‘Hare and the Tortoise’. Pupils would have copied the story, contracted it, added to it, performed with sentences from it, created clever sayings in response to it, in contrast it, argued about it, and, after all, carried out it aloud.

The 14 Progymnasmata writing workouts

Fable. Pupils got a fable (or related) to abbreviate, amplify, or to create the same fable of their very own.
Narrative. Pupils got a factual or fictional story and needed to retell it in their very own phrases, with shut consideration to the information (who did it? What was finished? And so forth.).
Chreia (or Anecdote). Pupils had been anticipated to jot down a quick anecdote that stories a saying, an ethical motion, or each (e.g. praising the motion & evaluating it).
Proverb. Pupils took a typical proverb and defined its that means, giving examples and contrasts.
Refutation. Pupils had been educated to argue and to criticise an reverse view (e.g. assault the credibility of a legend like ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’).
Affirmation. The alternative of Refutation, pupils needed to show a given view, reminiscent of arguing for the credibility of a given legend.
Commonplace. Pupils would take a vice or a advantage and would amplify it by arguing for or in opposition to it, with examples and contrasts (e.g. criticising the sloth of the Hare).
Enconmium. Celebratory writing about an individual or factor (e.g. celebrating Aesop’s tortoise!)
Vituperation. The alternative of an Enconmium – it’s writing to criticise an individual or factor (e.g. giving Aesop a hammering).
Comparability. You’ll be able to mix a celebration and a criticism, or reward two folks by the use of comparability (e.g. praising the tortoise, while pillorying the hare)
Impersonation. Writing within the phrases of an individual, actual or imaginary, dwelling or lifeless (e.g. taking up the mantle of Aesop himself commenting on his tales).
Description. A full description of an individual or factor.
Thesis or theme. Exploring a balanced argument on a theme, typically utilized to ethical or political questions.
Defend / assault a regulation. Most English academics are conversant in the age-old banning uniform argument and related.

(See this useful on-line useful resource for the Progymnasmata HERE.)

What different approaches would have seemingly been promoted by the Romans to counterpoint writing?

Accumulate and keep in mind (Roman) root phrases. Need to enhance pupils’ writing? Enriching vocabulary is after all important to enhance writing. So, how will we make subtle vocabulary extra memorable? We may help to construct pupils’ vocabulary networks (or their vocabulary schema) by making significant connecting. Figuring out root phrases – lots of Roman origin – supply up memorable connections. There are many Roman Greek root phrase lists obtainable (see HERE). Take the foundation ‘corp‘, that means physique. What number of phrases are you able to generate? Corpus (physique of language), corpse (lifeless physique), corpulent (an enormous physique…or fats!)… what about company (to mix in a single physique)? Now, how concerning the root ‘cardio/cor‘ (suppose ‘cardiac‘, ‘cordial‘ and ‘braveness‘) or ‘carn‘ (suppose ‘carnivore‘, ‘carnage‘ or ‘reincarnation‘).
Sentence stacking. For youthful writers particularly, crafting high quality sentences would have confirmed widespread follow (like writing pithy proverbs). Sentence variation methods would have been deployed to hone and overlearn the grammar strikes that make for efficient writing (utilizing ample modelling). With ‘sentence stacking’, you merely take a single sentence and encourage pupils to range the identical sentence (maybe add a phrase, omit a phrase, edit a phrase, shifting the fashion). You’ll be able to then stack the variations collectively and talk about their results and effectiveness.
‘Write it, learn it, say it, revise it‘. It’s all-too-human to hurry writing and make errors and never meet our goals. For novice writers, we should sluggish them down and encourage revisions that contemplate accuracy and viewers. Quintilian targeted on ‘erasure’ (Roman pupils would wipe their wax slate clear) and the significant repetition of studying written drafts aloud. The straightforward energetic ingredient of slowing pupils down, studying writing aloud, speaking about it, and offering purposeful repetition and revision is probably going of worth. Numerous purposeful modelling of writing was promoted by Quintilian lengthy earlier than Visualisers had been ever imagined.

Numerous these approaches are acquainted after all – in English, but additionally in historical past, non secular training, and throughout the curriculum in numerous delicate methods. Not solely that, as busy academics grapple with the complicated job of educating writing, I believe there’s something profoundly reassuring in kids in the present day studying to jot down identical to their historical friends!

1000’s of years after Quintilian, scientific analysis on writing and the mind would go to show that this specific, step-by-step strategy to writing, with numerous effortful follow, can be important for writing success.

If we need to enhance pupils’ writing, we must always contemplate how they will write just like the Romans.