APA Awards for Excellence in Teaching at the Precollegiate Level
Call for Nominations for 2010

The Joint Committee on the Classics in American Education invites nominations for the 2010 APA Awards for Excellence in Teaching at the Precollegiate Level. Up to two winners will be honored with $300 cash awards. The winners will be announced at both the APA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX January 2011 and the ACL Institute in June 2011, and winners may select the meeting at which they wish to receive the award.

Eligibility is open to teachers, full- or part-time, of grades K-12 in schools in the United States and Canada who at the time of the application teach at least one class of Latin, Greek, or classics at the K-12 level. Membership in the APA is not required.  Nominations may be made by a colleague, administrator, or former student, who is thoroughly familiar with the teacher's work.  (Additional guidelines for nominators are offered below.)

The nomination packet should consist of three components and should be submitted collated in sextuplicate under one cover. The components are 1) a letter of nomination; the letter may come from someone within the educational institution of the nominee; 2) a letter of support from someone in the field of classical studies; and 3) the candidate's current curriculum vitae. Nomination letters should indicate how the candidate meets the criteria of the award.  The letter is the key to the candidate's continuation in the selection process.

The Committee reviews nominations and invites the submission of full dossiers for selected nominees. Note these new instructions for the full dossiers:  These dossiers must also be submitted collated in sextuplicate and will include

  1. a short cover letter with a one-paragraph summary of the nominee's key achievements as a teacher.
  2. a curriculum vitae – no more than 2 pages.
  3. a personal statement of no more than 750 words in which the nominee explains his or her achievements in terms of vision, strategies, and methods.
  4. letters of recommendation:
    1. no more than two letters from a supervisor or colleague in the field of classics or foreign language teaching;
    2. no more than four letters from students and/or recent graduates or parents.
  5. portfolio materials—e.g., pedagogical materials, program flyers, class memorabilia, news clippings.  The complete portfolio should contain no more than 10 items and should not exceed 20 pages or the electronic equivalent.

Applicants will be compared and judged by quality rather than quantity of application materials and are asked to be selective rather than comprehensive.

Award winners are selected by a subcommittee of the Joint Committee on the Classics in American Education, whose membership is selected equally from both the APA and the American Classical League. September 13, 2010 is the deadline for the postmark of nominations.

Applications should be submitted to the ACL/APA Joint Committee on the Classics in American Education, c/o The American Philological Association.  The APA's current address is 292 Claudia Cohen Hall, University of Pennsylvania, 249 South 36th Street, Philadelphia PA 19104-6304, but we anticipate that its office will move during the Summer of 2010.  Please check the APA's web site (www.apaclassics.org) for an up-to-date mailing address.  Questions about the competition may be directed.to apaclassics@sas.upenn.edu .

Additional Guidelines for Nominators

The key to a successful nomination is detailed information about the nominee's teaching practices and results. The nominator plays a crucial role in gathering and presenting this information. The additional letters of support should be from students, colleagues, administrators, parents, etc. who can also speak in detail about the nominee. Due to the fact that all of the nominees are usually highly qualified, letters of nomination must move far beyond general statements that the nominee is an excellent teacher.

Supporting Materials for the Second Round

Finalists in the competition will be invited to submit additional supporting materials such as innovative teaching units, Latin publicity items, additional testimonials and recommendations, etc. As noted above, these materials must be submitted collated in sextuplicate and cannot be returned except under special circumstances.

Every application should address at least four of the following criteria:

  • success, size, and growth of the classics program in the candidate's school
  • outreach and promotion of the classics
  • innovative and creative classroom activity
  • evidence of improved student learning
  • student success in contests and competitions
  • movement of significant numbers of students to the next level of study
  • student travel and field trips ranging from study of local architecture to study abroad
  • the teacher's professional service and professional development including workshops (both taken and given), papers presented, offices held, awards received, etc.

American Philological Association
www.apaclassics.org