Welcome to our summer course on The Iliad! I can't wait to go on this reading adventure with you!

My name is Ellen Finnigan, and I will be your instructor/facilitator. I have been teaching The Iliad for over twelve years, and I have never grown tired of it! Usually, I teach this book to high school students through my company, Teach to the Text. I'm excited to discuss the book with adults, this time, and to have you as a student and a fellow learner.

I'm going to give you everything I would normally give my high school students in this course. Maybe it has been a long time since you were in school and your study skills, reading skills, and note-taking skills are a little rusty. I know that if I tried to enroll in a high school algebra or trigonometry class, it would feel totally foreign to me and I would take all the "rudimentary" help I could get! So I'm going to include everything here for you. Please just keep in mind that you can skip whatever is not helpful, and know that my videos are geared more towards teenagers. But hopefully that will just make them a little less dry and boring. :)

Also, keep in mind that I treat my high school students like college students (sometimes to their chagrin!)

You'll receive a Study Guide in the mail. There will be quizzes in the course, and maybe an occasional video lecture (geared toward high school students). The Study Guide is meant to help students see things that perhaps they might otherwise miss upon first reading. It's meant to help students read closely and analytically, rather than just reading for leisure. There are no answer keys! The quizzes are there just to check for basic comprehension (and to check to make sure my students are doing their work in the Study Guide); they might act as another helpful way for you to check your own understanding. You can do as much of the work of the course as you'd like, for your own learning, benefit, and enrichment, or as little of it as you'd like. At a bare minimum, you can do the reading each week and show up for our discussion!

Just a little bit more about me...

I live in the mountains of Colorado. In the winter, it's pretty cold and windy! I love to read, write, and of course, teach. In the summer, I love hiking, taking road trips, and riding my bike. I have three godsons, and one niece whom I love to spoil. I also enjoy podcasting, because it gives me an opportunity to have conversations with lots of interesting people I might not otherwise have a chance to talk to.

If you'd like, you can introduce yourself in the comments below. Feel free to tell us where you live, why you joined the course, and if you have read any classical literature before, including The Iliad. Feel free to tell us anything you'd like us to know!

Note: Because I use this platform for teaching high school classes, there is a universal setting that allows me to read comments before they are posted. You can never be too careful with teenagers. ;) If you don't see your comment right away, just give me some time and it will soon appear, once I approve it.