1. Teaching Philosophy

Like many successful activities, effective teaching appears effortless, as the teacher instructs, challenges, and motivates engaged and enthusiastic students. Yet effective teaching is neither alchemic nor automatic; it results from meticulous preparation, a passionate interest in student success, a love of the learning process, and an intoxicating enthusiasm for the material. Above all teaching is a serious intellectual activity, demanding the same inquisitive disposition, persistence, and attention to detail as other scholarly activities... [read more]

2. Teaching Experience

In addition to reviewing grammar and morphology and increasing student facility with reading Attic prose, this course serves as an introduction to the literary and cultural appreciation of Greek texts. This semester, we focused on two main themes: the trial and execution of Socrates, and Plato’s criticism of poetry. To supplement their close reading of Plato’s Crito and Ion, students read (in English) additional Platonic dialogues, and Socratic works by Xenophon and Aristophanes. Classes featured a mixture of textual analysis, translation, discussion, and student presentations. At the request of students this course met daily, with extra classes mostly devoted to grammar review and vocabulary acquisition. To assist students with pronunciation and improving their ability to understand complete thoughts in Greek, developed Podcasts (audio-recordings distributed via RSS) of the Ion... [read more]

3. Pedagogical Development

In the fall of 2001, while teaching two sections of introductory Latin, I witnessed how even subtle differences in preparation and presentation can have a profound impact on the development and success of a course. As a result, I began to cultivate what I later learned was called a reflective style of teaching, constantly monitoring and recording what was effective and ineffective in the day’s first class and applying this experience to the other section... [read more]

4. Selected Quotations From Teaching Evaluations

"The instructor was super! Great availability. Extremely fair and open-minded. Prof. Mulligan is always available, whether in person or by email. Originally, my own interest brought me to Greek. But Prof. Mulligan would keep me with Greek. My favorite teacher ever."
"The energy of Prof. Mulligan was excellent. More than any other professor I have ever had he treated students individually and collectively with sensitivity and respect] . Evaluations were fair but homework was a bit much to handle. He was always available the through email and office hours. I do feel like I would like to pursue Greek after this course."[read more]

5. Course Websites (includes syllabi, handouts, and web resources)

	View entire Teaching Portfolio (in PDF format, large file)