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Overwhelmed.
labore oppressa sum.
I grew the program here so that we now have a second teacher, and she's gonna be marvelous. She has one prep--all Latin 1--a perfect way to get her used to teaching. But I have Latin 1, Latin 2, Latin 2preAP, Latin 3preAP, and AP--with all the new Caesar.
The latter is kicking my Latin 4 students' collective butt. My two natural linguists (bilingual speakers) are enjoying it, but sadly class is mainly a mad dash through the Latin. Maybe if I didn't quiz two out of 5 days (one a passage quiz, which forces them to learn small sections cold and answer grammar questions, the other an in context vocab quiz which I make up quia for)... but if I didn't do that, they probably would prepare very little.
Of course, college Latin really is only interesting and exciting because we are INTERESTED in the topic. I, for instance, totally liked the Caesar class this summer. It was truly interesting to me, interesting because I wanted to see whether all the reading theory I say I try to teach works, whether I could build up reading fluency, etc. I wish I had had the SPQR app at the time because I could have made up flashcards for myself too.
<yawn>
My preps are all a jumble, one different class after another, with next to no time to really prep for them. I prep for AP at lunch, often making warm-ups and quia vocab just in time for class. I have the students run the quia vocab drill during passing time and the first minute or two of class. There is never enough time. And I have NO IDEA why AP thinks they made the amount of reading smaller. It doesn't seem like it.
I have so much to do, like writing their first test, plus website I need to be totally revising for my friend, not to mention just daily stuff (when did I last buy groceries? when did I last eat at home?). Yeah, I'm a bit stressed.
But with all that said, I'm enjoying Caesar, and I'm enjoying forcing myself to find a way to be a better teacher for my 3 Latin 2 classes. I've always liked Latin 2 the least--the weak students who weren't going to take more than the bare minimum required would just be struggling or causing disruptions because they don't understand, the stronger students causing disruptions because they are bored....
I'm glad to have a preAP Latin 2. I haven't decided how to really make it preAP, quite honestly, but it's nice to have all the smart kids together and thus feel like I'm teaching a group that really *gets* stuff and when they want MORE stuff I can give them more. I can do more oral work with them, I can require a greater demonstration of noun/adj agreement and such.
Anyway. I don't know if anyone really reads this. I really started this blog as a place to put some of the things/rants I used to have on some of the teaching lists--about metaphrasing or quizzing in context or stuff like that. I think of things now, but never have time to write. I shouldn't be writing now. I just wanted to say, I'm still here. I'm still thinking about better ways to teach Latin (or chastising myself for not using the better ways that I learn at Rusticatio in the summer).
More later. Maybe. About some fun little things in my room this year.
labore oppressa sum.
I grew the program here so that we now have a second teacher, and she's gonna be marvelous. She has one prep--all Latin 1--a perfect way to get her used to teaching. But I have Latin 1, Latin 2, Latin 2preAP, Latin 3preAP, and AP--with all the new Caesar.
The latter is kicking my Latin 4 students' collective butt. My two natural linguists (bilingual speakers) are enjoying it, but sadly class is mainly a mad dash through the Latin. Maybe if I didn't quiz two out of 5 days (one a passage quiz, which forces them to learn small sections cold and answer grammar questions, the other an in context vocab quiz which I make up quia for)... but if I didn't do that, they probably would prepare very little.
Of course, college Latin really is only interesting and exciting because we are INTERESTED in the topic. I, for instance, totally liked the Caesar class this summer. It was truly interesting to me, interesting because I wanted to see whether all the reading theory I say I try to teach works, whether I could build up reading fluency, etc. I wish I had had the SPQR app at the time because I could have made up flashcards for myself too.
<yawn>
My preps are all a jumble, one different class after another, with next to no time to really prep for them. I prep for AP at lunch, often making warm-ups and quia vocab just in time for class. I have the students run the quia vocab drill during passing time and the first minute or two of class. There is never enough time. And I have NO IDEA why AP thinks they made the amount of reading smaller. It doesn't seem like it.
I have so much to do, like writing their first test, plus website I need to be totally revising for my friend, not to mention just daily stuff (when did I last buy groceries? when did I last eat at home?). Yeah, I'm a bit stressed.
But with all that said, I'm enjoying Caesar, and I'm enjoying forcing myself to find a way to be a better teacher for my 3 Latin 2 classes. I've always liked Latin 2 the least--the weak students who weren't going to take more than the bare minimum required would just be struggling or causing disruptions because they don't understand, the stronger students causing disruptions because they are bored....
I'm glad to have a preAP Latin 2. I haven't decided how to really make it preAP, quite honestly, but it's nice to have all the smart kids together and thus feel like I'm teaching a group that really *gets* stuff and when they want MORE stuff I can give them more. I can do more oral work with them, I can require a greater demonstration of noun/adj agreement and such.
Anyway. I don't know if anyone really reads this. I really started this blog as a place to put some of the things/rants I used to have on some of the teaching lists--about metaphrasing or quizzing in context or stuff like that. I think of things now, but never have time to write. I shouldn't be writing now. I just wanted to say, I'm still here. I'm still thinking about better ways to teach Latin (or chastising myself for not using the better ways that I learn at Rusticatio in the summer).
More later. Maybe. About some fun little things in my room this year.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-05 05:57 pm (UTC)Anne
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-12 09:31 pm (UTC)