July 2025 Modules

This is a meeting to support Jackie with her article as per the arrangements established by the Writer's Forge team. Have a great session with Dr. Parke, Jackie!

Note: All Discussion Sessions will be live recorded and shared with all enrolled students afterward for review and to allow those who cannot attend live to still participate in the class.

Beginning Quenya aims to take students with any level (or no level) of previous language experience and introduce them to the quest to learn Quenya, Tolkien's most developed invented language.

The first module of Beginning Quenya will introduce students to the pronunciation and basic inflections of the language, with a dose of vocabulary and basic sentence translation as well as an introduction to the Tengwar system.

Future modules will eventually bring students to a more complete understanding of the language with the aim of eventually diving into "primary source" Quenya and Tolkien's numerous Quenya poems, and even into student compositions in Quenya itself!

Each module of the course will be structured around a weekly lecture and practicum, with a pre-recorded lecture released to the students at the beginning of each week, explaining new concepts and giving (optional) exercises to aid in student mastery of each topic. These lectures will be followed by a weekly discussion section/practicum, where each section can work through problems, clarifying questions, and practical exercises as a group to reinforce each lesson.

Optional learning resources will be provided for the students each week, but the most important part is to simply listen to the lectures and take part in the practicum sessions!

Note: The 8-session structure will be announced once available. Thanks!

In an interactive language course, we will explore the grammar, culture, and vocabulary of the largest Scandinavian language spoken today. From Vikings to Volvos to IKEA, Sweden is internationally recognized as a leader of cultural thought and political neutrality. The Swedish language is from the branch of North Germanic languages, meaning a lot of built in cognates exist for speakers of other Germanic languages (including English).

Kom och tala svenska med mig!

Note: All sessions will be live recorded and shared with all enrolled students afterward for review and to allow those who cannot attend live to still participate in the class.

Avis! Let's read the sixth Harry Potter book!

We will get together twice a week to explore the series, reading through the books at a relaxed pace. Connect with fellow readers and share your insights as we discover (or rediscover) the magic.

Over two months, we will follow sixteen-year-old Harry's adventures as he fights to discover the secret of Voldemort's immortality. Rivalries become deadly and betrayals lurk around every corner...

This book club is all about sharing the moments of unexpected, joyful discovery through close reading. Focusing on the text, we will share our personal readings and experiences. We will learn from our classmates in a kindness-first, supportive environment.

Together, we can tackle some big questions about the series. What was it about the Harry Potter books that resonated with so many people? To what extent is it possible or indeed desirable to separate art from artist?

Most of all, however, we will have an inclusive dialogue that embraces a multiplicity of views and enriches our experience of the text.

Signum Tutorials is a personalized academic mentorship program offering one-on-one support with Signum University preceptors. Whether you’re pursuing a creative project, deepening your academic skills, or exploring a specialized topic, Tutorials provide flexible, month-to-month engagement tailored to your goals.

Simply click the blue "vote to reserve your seat" button to set aside a token here: This confirms your interest in working with a tutor/mentor and secures your spot in the program. After you vote, our team will follow up by email to help you with next steps, whether you're ready to jump into a specific tutorial or whether you'd like to first do an orientation session to begin crafting your individualized learning path.

We will walk through a complete project from pre-writing through writing, revising, editing, (revising, revising, revising), proofreading, and talking about publication options. Are you interested in finally getting down that memoir of your childhood? making a storybook for your grands? turning that daydream into a novelette? This adventure is for you! Whether your story is a draft, an outline, or a daydream, your project is welcome here in a place where we are aiming to finish it!

Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.

Whether you plan ahead or improvise, create the structure to hold your story and amplify its strengths. By studying and practicing different story structure methods, you’ll discover or possibly invent the right structure to deliver your tale. There will be in-class exercises, journaling, and between-session work on your story.

The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:

Outline	8-Session Structure
Week 1	Session 1: Starting with Scenes
	Session 2: Basic structures and the Plots they would support
Week 2	Session 3: Basic Shapes and the Plots they would support
	Session 4: Story & Structure Check-In
Week 3	Session 5: Basic Character Arcs and the Plots they would support
	Session 6: Complex Character Arcs and the Plots they would support
Week 4	Session 7: Leveraging the MICE quotient in short stories
	Session 8: Story & Structure Check-In

Summary of Kayla’s Tutorial Project – Novel Revision & Preparation for Publication

Kayla is undertaking a focused, multi-stage project with two key goals:

1. Revise her novel manuscript: This would include both structural/developmental editing and chapter-level refinement.
2. Prepare for traditional publishing: This would include crafting a compelling query letter and synopsis, with the eventual goal of pitching to literary agents.

To support these aims, Kayla is hoping to work regularly with both Christopher Bartlett and Dr. Julian Barr as part of her customized tutorial plan.

Monthly Participation Tier

Kayla is uncertain which Tier of participation will be the best fit yet, but she's open to adjusting her Tier level month-to-month depending on the phase of the project (revision vs. feedback vs. prep for submission). She's ready to invest significant time and is eager to work with both of you to bring her novel to its fullest potential.

Working With Christopher Bartlett:

Kayla envisions an ongoing collaboration focused on revision. This may include reviewing chapters incrementally or conducting an additional read-through of her current draft to identify structural and developmental improvements. The process is still flexible, but she is ready to commit regular time and effort.

Working With Dr. Julian Barr:

Kayla would deeply value your expertise on two fronts:

1. The mythological component, as she is reimagining the Greek Fates in her narrative.
2. The world-building and cultural backdrop of her fictional empire, which draws inspiration from Byzantium.

Once her manuscript is complete or near-final, she would also love your input on pitching materials—particularly her query letter and synopsis.

The Hieroglyphics series will present students with a basic understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs, grammar, and knowledge about how to proceed with further study. In this sequence of courses we will discuss how to translate steles that you are likely to encounter in museums, as well as their cultural significance. As student progress, the class will tackle more complex translation. Each one-month module builds on the previous one, so students ready to learn Hieroglyphics will communicate with our Director and Professor Gaffney to make the right placement for everyone.

This module explores three short, stand-alone tales from Le Morte Darthur, depicting Arthur, his knights, and the wider world they inhabit.

“The Tale of the Noble King Arthur that was Emperor,” shows Malory’s version of King Arthur as military leader and conqueror of Rome. Adapted from the late Middle English alliterative tradition, this tale was not included in Caxton’s original 15th century printing, but only discovered in 1934 with the finding of the lost Winchester Manuscript.

“A Noble Tale of Sir Launcelot du Lake,” shows Lancelot’s kidnapping by Morgan Le Fay, and the political and romantic complications that arise as a result. Alternating between high romance and low farce, this tale shows key Arthurian players at their best and worst.

And finally, “The Tale of Sir Gareth,” follows Gawain’s younger brother Gareth from obscure and seemingly-lowly origins, through dangers, trials, and mockery, to his eventual triumph as full-fledged knight. It is also, evidently the only tale, in the complete Morte Arthur that Malory invented himself!

Note: Students may participate in this series in any month even if they did not take a previous class in the series.

Picking up from where we left off in the first module, we will continue to explore the basics of Japanese religious history.

As classical mythology is often the gateway into mythological studies, so too will this course be your gateway into classical mythology. We will explore the mythology of the Greco-Roman world in broad strokes, familiarizing ourselves with gods and heroes, before ending the module by dabbling in a bit of comparative mythological study. In doing so, we'll look at excerpts from a few classical authors (in translation), as well as some artifacts and possibly even some historical sites.

The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:

Outline	8-Session Structure
Week 1	Session 1: Welcome to Classical Mythology Lecture
	Session 2: Discussion about the Myths of the Twelve(ish) Olympians
Week 2	Session 3: Living in a World of Humans and Gods Lecture
	Session 4: Discussion about Myths of Love & Daring
Week 3	Session 5: Heroes & Demigods Lecture
	Session 6: Discussion about Myths of Herakles
Week 4	Session 7: Comparative Mythology Lecture
	Session 8: Discussion about Mythic Forms and Archetypes

Join us as we continue learning (advanced) basic Japanese, focusing on the areas of reading and listening comprehension, with some attention to speaking and writing. Over the course of this module series we will work our way through the Genki II textbook, building upon the foundation built from the Genki I text. 一緒に日本語を勉強しませんか

Recorded Series: All sessions of this series are being recorded and provided afterwards to enrolled students in order to support the learning of the group.

In this series we’ll study Japanese using different tools such as videos, games, and different exercises. We’ll explore different aspects of Japanese culture and work on more complex vocabulary, grammar, and sentence patterns. We’ll also watch lots of videos, play games, and read graded readers among other things.

Note: Japanese Through Culture is for students who already have a basic level of Japanese.

Summary of Teresa’s Tutorial Project – Language Continuing Education & French Translation Work

Teresa is pursuing two interrelated goals through Signum Tutorials:

1. Continuing Education for Teacher Recertification: As a certified teacher in Modern and Classical Languages (French) in Vermont, Teresa is seeking affordable, high-quality continuing education hours to meet her state’s five-year recertification requirement. She is especially interested in Hebrew, which aligns with her current role teaching Scripture and Tradition to high school freshmen. Tutorial engagement in language learning—particularly Hebrew—would both enrich her teaching and contribute to her formal professional development.
2. French-to-English Translation Project: Teresa also aims to resume and complete a long-standing translation project: the biography of a French Carmelite priest who founded a religious institute in 1932 and whose cause for canonization is progressing. She hopes to use Signum Tutorials to gain accountability, structured support, and formatting guidance as she works through the translation. The Institute of Carmelite Studies has already expressed interest in publishing the finished work.

Together, these goals will be supported through personalized tutorial sessions, beginning with an Orientation meeting to shape her plan and ensure alignment with her professional and creative aspirations.

This fourth unit of Signum SPACE's Latin in a Year sequence expects students to be familiar with present, imperfect, and future forms of all regular verbs (and sum/esse); nouns and adjectives in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd declensions; and demonstrative and personal pronouns, using these new forms to translate sentences and short Latin passages. Building on these skills, students will learn the perfect active system of verbs (including pluperfect and future perfect), reflexive pronouns and possessives, several ablative forms, and numerals. As ever, students will translate sentences and short Latin passages as they apply and learn these and previous grammatical techniques. This module covers chapters 12-15 of Wheelock's Latin.

The Horned God, alongside being modern paganism's most popular deity, enjoys a rich heritage in speculative fiction and popular culture. In this module, we will explore his ancient (and modern) origins, his appearances in both esoteric and popular literature, and his surprising role as an environmental figure. Throughout the module, students will gain familiarity with the four core figures that make up the Horned God (Pan, Cernunnos, the Sorcerer of Trois Freres, and Herne the Hunter), and key narratives associated with him. They will also have an opportunity to ponder the complex web of influences between modern paganism and speculative fiction.

This module builds on the work of Margaret Murray and the module 'The Witch-Cult Hypothesis', but does not require prior knowledge of the material covered there.

This series of modules introduces you to the vocabulary and grammar of Old Norse, preparing you to read medieval sagas, eddic poetry, and even Viking-Age runic inscriptions. Each one-month module builds on the previous one, so students ready to learn Old Norse will communicate with our Director and Professor Anderson to choose the right placement for everyone.

Note: All sessions will be live recorded and shared with all enrolled students afterward for review and to allow those who cannot attend live to still participate in the class.

Have a project or tutorial desire that doesn’t fit into a traditional category? We’d still love to hear from you!

At Signum Tutorials, we recognize that great ideas often live at the edges of categories—and that it is sometimes necessary to invent new ones altogether. Whether your interests are highly interdisciplinary, unconventional, or simply hard to describe, this is your space to tell us more.

Simply add this "tutorial" to your wish list, submit your idea on our Student Interest Form, or email us at [email protected]. We’ll evaluate whether we can match you with a preceptor who can guide and support your journey. We love working with creative, curious learners—and we’re always open to projects we haven’t yet imagined.

Let’s explore new paths together.

Old Saxon, the continental cousin to Old English, was the language spoken in Northern Germany from the ninth to the twelfth century. It is closely related to and mutually intelligible with Anglo-Saxon, so Old English students will easily be able to read and understand it. The language boasts a number of smaller texts, but the Hêliand, an epic poem of nearly 6,000 lines, remains its most prestigious literary monument. It tells the story of Jesus Christ (the “Hêliand,” meaning “Savior”) reimagined as a Saxon lord with a retinue of twelve thanes, and it is comparable to the Old English Beowulf. In this module, we will read and discuss selections of this poem. Some familiarity with Old English is required.

Note: All sessions will be live recorded and shared with all enrolled students afterward for review and to allow those who cannot attend live to still participate in the class.

Module description from Dr. Sara Brown (Lecturing Preceptor):

In this triad of modules we explore Volume 2 of The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien: Three-Volume Box Set, edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. All are welcome to join the class whether new to the series or continuing from a previous module!

JRR Tolkien one of those rare authors whose poetry is as accomplished as his prose writing. Up to this point, though, those who wished to focus primarily on Tolkien’s poetry had to access a significant number of books and online resources to do so, as they were scattered far and wide. But now for the first time, a collected volume of Tolkien’s poetry is available, and it is a Tome of Significant Size!

In this hybrid course, we will read and discuss a selection of these poems, enjoying them for their aesthetic appeal as well as analysing them for Tolkien’s style, use of language, and the poetic forms he employed. This is a hybrid course, in which one class per week will be a lecture and the second class will be group discussion.

There are so many poems in these volumes that the intention is to spread the course over several months. If you can’t make one or more of the months, feel free to dip in and out as suits you!

Module description from Dr. Sara Brown (Lecturing Preceptor):

In this triad of modules we explore Volume 2 of The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien: Three-Volume Box Set, edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. All are welcome to join the class whether new to the series or continuing from a previous module!

JRR Tolkien one of those rare authors whose poetry is as accomplished as his prose writing. Up to this point, though, those who wished to focus primarily on Tolkien’s poetry had to access a significant number of books and online resources to do so, as they were scattered far and wide. But now for the first time, a collected volume of Tolkien’s poetry is available, and it is a Tome of Significant Size!

In this hybrid course, we will read and discuss a selection of these poems, enjoying them for their aesthetic appeal as well as analysing them for Tolkien’s style, use of language, and the poetic forms he employed. This is a hybrid course, in which one class per week will be a lecture and the second class will be group discussion.

There are so many poems in these volumes that the intention is to spread the course over several months. If you can’t make one or more of the months, feel free to dip in and out as suits you!

Module description from Dr. Sara Brown (Lecturing Preceptor):

In this triad of modules we explore Volume 2 of The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien: Three-Volume Box Set, edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. All are welcome to join the class whether new to the series or continuing from a previous module!

JRR Tolkien one of those rare authors whose poetry is as accomplished as his prose writing. Up to this point, though, those who wished to focus primarily on Tolkien’s poetry had to access a significant number of books and online resources to do so, as they were scattered far and wide. But now for the first time, a collected volume of Tolkien’s poetry is available, and it is a Tome of Significant Size!

In this hybrid course, we will read and discuss a selection of these poems, enjoying them for their aesthetic appeal as well as analysing them for Tolkien’s style, use of language, and the poetic forms he employed. This is a hybrid course, in which one class per week will be a lecture and the second class will be group discussion.

There are so many poems in these volumes that the intention is to spread the course over several months. If you can’t make one or more of the months, feel free to dip in and out as suits you!