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Classical Education and the Oracy Tradition

“The perfect orator should be a good man, and consequently we demand of him not merely the possession of exceptional gifts of speech but in all of the excellence of character as well.”                                                                 -Quintillian; Institutio Oratoria

​History of Oracy Training

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  • Oracy exercises used to:

    • Train for life as public figure

    • Develop key literacy skills

    • Fill learner with goodness

    • Upstanding citizens–Embrace responsibility to uphold goodness in community

 

  • During oracy exercises, students would:

    • Read rich literature

    • Analyze carefully selected text

    • Write (progression = mimic, vary, original)

    • Orate their work

​Progymnasmata--the before exercises
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The progymnasmata served as the exercises done in developing an orator. Prior to developing fully, it was understood that scholars needed to become facile with language. The exercises, all with their own purpose, also allowed for a study of virtue. 

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Copia

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Encouraging vocabulary development and sentence variation is the emphasis of copia work. Here students learn a broad set of vocabulary and sentence styles, working to choose the just right word at the just right time. When it all comes together, it is a beauty we celebrate together!

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“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—'tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

                                                                                                     -Mark Twain

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