All Scholars
DEAN, Mildred
- Date of Birth: March 02, 1879
- Born City: Washington
- Born State/Country: DC
- Parents: William Mills & Anna Fieroni D.
- Date of Death: August 16, 1941
- Death City: Washington
- Death State/Country: DC
- Education:
A.B. Goucher, 1900; study at AAR, 1923-4.
- Professional Experience:
Lat. tchr., DC HS, 1900-41; charter mem. ACL; pres. CAAS, 1937-8
- Publications:
“The Catilinarian Orations: A Milestone in the Progress of Democratic Government,” CW 14 (1920-1) 2-3; “The High School Course in Latin,” CW 14 (1920-1) 37-9; “Three Little Playlets: (1) Quomodo Amici Diligendi Sint. (2) De Regina et Equite. (3) De Virtute et Clementia,” CW 14 (1920-1) 71-2; “Latin Playlet: De Rege et Rustica,” CW 15 (1921-2) 61; “De Regina et Equite: A Playlet for the First Semester,” Latin Notes 3 (1925-6) 1; “Some Helps in Teaching Prose Composition. A First Discussion of the Sequence of Tenses,” Latin Notes 4 (1926-7) 6-7; “The Oxford 'Smalls' and Some Other Matters,” CW 22 (1928-9) 58-60; “Poet Farmer Two Thousand Years Ago,” Nat. Hortic. Mag. 9 (1930-1) 4-7; “Carpe Diem,” Latin Notes 10 (1932-3) 3-4; “Technical Grammatical Terms: An Aid or a Stumbling Block?” Latin Notes 10 (1932-3) 2; “Correction of Enunciation by the Study of Foreign Languages,” Sch. & Soc. 37 (1932) 359-60; “Barriers or Hurdles in the Latin Course?,” Latin Notes 11 (1933-4) 1-2; “Old-Fashioned Fathers and New-Fangled Schools,” CW 27 (1933-4) 49-51; “Hints for Teachers,” CJ 30 (1934-5) 53-7, 121; “A Classical Teacher Looks at the Modern Language Report,” ibid., 85-92; “Suggested Readings from Horace,” ibid., 185-86; “Ponies in Latin Classes,” ibid., 335-8; “The Evolving Latin Course,” ibid., 411-7; “Learning,” Sch. & Soc. 39 (1934) 479-80; “To All Professors and Teachers of Latin,” CJ 31 (1935-6) 352-5; “The Second Gentleman Farmer,” Nat. Hortic. Mag. 14 (1935-6) 59-63; “To Foreign Language Teachers and Professors of Education,” Sch. & Soc. 42 (1935) 464-5; “Why We Need the Functional Approach,” Latin Notes 13 (1935-6) 1; “The Four Stages of a Caesar Class,” ibid., 1-2; “To Educational Theorists,”'Sch. & Soc. 43 (1936) 202-3; “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” Sch. & Soc. 44 (1936) 303-4; “Projected Vocabulary Study,” CJ 32 (1936-7) 53-6; “Latin and the New Curriculum,” ibid., 352-8; “Latin in the New Philosophy of Education,” Education 57 (1936-7) 472-8; “Getting a Fresh Start to Vocabulary,” CJ 33 (1937-8) 371-4; “How One Teacher Reformed Her Class Programs,” CO 15 (1937-8) 21-2; “One Way of Reviewing Vocabulary,” with E.V. Stearns, ibid., 45; “What Is It All About?,” CJ 33 (1937-8) 435-41; “Possibilities of Our Latin Course in the Light of Our New Needs,” CO 16 (1938-9) 13-4; “It Happened in a Latin Class,” ibid., 66-7; “First Aid for the Latin Teacher,” CJ 34 (1938-9) 247-51; “Curriculum Revision and the Latin Course,” CJ 37 (1941-2) 275-80; “Basic Ideas for Our Latin Course,” CJ 38 (1942-3) 413-9; “The Value of Foreign Language Study for Tenth Grade Pupils,” with Bernice Wall, Sch. & Soc. 51 (1940) 717-20.
- Notes:
In her long teaching career in the District of Columbia public schools Miss Dean became one of the most widely known and influential secondary-school Latin teachers in the United States. When the American Classical League, of which she was a charter member, conducted a study of the teaching of classics under a grant from the General Education Board between 1921 and 1924, she was one of nine members of the Middle Atlantic States Regional Committee, one of the eight Regional Committees making the national survey. When preparations were being made in this country to celebrate the bimillenary of the Latin poet Virgil's birth, she was appointed chairman of a committee to stimulate the reading and/or rereading of Virgil's poetry. When preparations were being made to celebrate the bimillenary of Horace's birth in 1935, she was appointed chairman of a committee to suggest courses in Horace.In the meantime, in 1931 she was appointed supervisor of the Latin Department in the District schools, a position she held at the time of her death. The Washington Evening Star (18 August 1941) said in an editorial following her death, “It is not an exaggeration to say that Mildred Dean was a woman of excelling genius. Her powers of creative intelligence were manifest in the work which she did as a scholar and as a teacher. But to the natural endowment of her mind there were added rich spiritual gifts that were evident even to those of her contemporaries who were only casually acquainted with her. To study under her direction was a privilege which thousands of young people were delighted to share.” Her “national influence on pedagogy” (CW) was gained by a number of short but effective articles covering a wide range of subjects and filled with practical suggestions based on reading and her own experience.
- Sources:
CJ 37 (1941-2) 122; CW 35 (1941-2) 2; Washington Evening Star (18 August 1941); Who's Who in the Nation's Capital 1938-9:221-2.
Image credit: Goucher College Donnybrook Fair yearbook 1901
- Author: John Francis Latimer
