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These are questions/answers to a questionnaire I was given by my UTeach student. Actually, these are follow up questions, edited for this space:
***
> When during your time as a teacher were you able to do this additional
> research? Mainly during the summers?
Constantly. In the beginning it was while I was NOT teaching but nursing my first born. I was constantly reading. I am still constantly reading and brainstorming. I have a fiction book, a non-fiction Latin book, numerous journals and a spiral for ideas always handy.
Journals include _Classical Outlook_ (American Classical League), Classical Journal (though that's usually fairly heavy on academic research and not pedagogy), Archaeology Odyssey (enjoy that tremendously), online articles including the new CPL Forum Online (you can find it by going to www.camwscpl.org and looking for it in the menu), and rereading old articles, even ones I've written because my focus changes from year to year depending upon the students I have.
Absolutely INVALUABLE is the Latinteach list http://nxport.com/mailman/listinfo/latinteach. It's like a conference 24/7/365. It consists mainly of secondary teachers but also some very talented university level instructors from across the country and around the world, including Japan, Australia, England and the Netherlands. I don't think there's any resource as valuable as this one, but it's difficult to explain this to most professors, even those training teachers. The few exceptions include the wonderful Dan McCaffrey in VA, Rick LaFleur in GA, Jeanne Davidson at Davidson College in NC (which is where I would recommend people go currently for the best in undergraduate Latin, honestly, because of her innovative teaching techniques), and Dexter Hoyos of Sydney, Australia. Dexter's book, _Latin: How to Read it Fluently_ is one of the books that I reread from time to time.
But research takes a variety of shapes. It depends what you are interested in. I was obsessed last year with card playing in Latin. I realized that the Romans would not have used cardinal numbers for cards (yes, I know they didn't have cards). I started reading in anything I had about dicing and gaming (precursors, of course, to cards) plus the books I had on the history of cards. I found online a 16th century text by Vives that is a dialog about 5 guys playing cards on a rainy day. I based my I PISCATUM (go fish) booklet on this, making all of the numbers Latinized (some were Greek in the dialog). habEsne UllOs trIniOnEs? habeO. Not frivolous, but a way of reinforcing I vs YOU in verbs, plus accusatives--sing/pl.
I reread old textbooks like Pseudolus Noster (look for it in the classics library) and Principia (both by Peckett and Munday). They used what I believe then was called the direct approach to teaching Latin, which is not too far removed from what many of the newer style textbooks are doing today, except that there was a larger oral component. These are great for mining new ideas (old ideas actually!).
Political graffiti/inscriptions are mentioned unit 1 of CLC and so one year I wanted to know a little more about inscriptions. The ACL Resource guide has some good books on inscriptions/graffiti. I used these books (plus some basic texts on epigraphy that I own) to develop the How to Right Election graffiti booklet that I use with my students (and I hear is used at Cambridge workshops too). Last year I even had teachers of other subjects coming down to my room to write election graffiti supporting their favorite students.
So research comes in many different forms. To me, it is all about broadening my knowledge base and improving my teaching skills. Sometimes what I read seems directly applicable to Latin. But one book I have here near me is a book about teaching English as a Second Language. I learned a lot from it on what we should be doing regarding EXTENSIVE reading in Latin. (All we traditionally do is INTENSIVE reading; more's the pity.) And, as I said, it's ongoing and inspirational. It's not something I feel I must do. It's what I do because it inspires me and feeds my creativity and intellect.
> What conferences do you regularly attend? What associations do I need
> to join?
Finances have limited me lately, but the Texas Classical Association Fall Conference (www.txclassics.org - Nov 4-5 in San Antonio hosted by Trinity U this year), CAMWS (Classical Association of the Middle West and South - www.camws.org) and ACL (American Classical League - www.aclclassics.org). I have also attended a couple of NACCP (North American Cambridge Classics Project) workshops AND THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC and well worth going. But the big summer one is longer than I can be away from my children, so I haven't been in a while. You should definitely join TCA and ACL. Join CAMWS too if you can afford all three. I am also a member of APA (American Philological Association - www.apaclassics.org). I am inconsistently a member of TFLA and ACTFL--they are too expensive and do too little for Latin.
One reason I've been apprehensive about
> teaching is that I feel like I don't know enough. Not enough Latin,
> not enough Roman history, and -really- not enough pedagogy. I know
> the UTeach program is supposed to address the last concern, but do you
> feel those years as an editor were essential to your current success
> as a teacher? Do you think after a Latin BA and the UTeach program
> I'll be equipped enough not to drown? This is mostly a reassurance
> issue for me.
Honest answer? No. But you stick with me and I'll make sure you won't drown. Really. So many of the professors really don't understand the pitfalls at all of secondary teaching.
Here's one of the things I would plan on doing before you graduate if I were you. I would attend some conferences. If you intend to teach in Texas, I would go to a Cambridge workshop. There's going to be one in Dallas, I think, soonish? Let me see... http://www.cambridgelatin.org/ -- Oct 8th http://www.cambridgelatin.org/worktrip.html. There will be others including some in the summer. If not Cambridge, do ACL this summer.
But more important than your Latin, believe it or not, will be whether you can control your class. I'm telling ya, Harry Wong's _The First Days of School_ is a must. Methods courses, I think, should include a day or two of discussion of how the things in this book would help structure a Latin course. Ok, this book plus my last article The Principles of Learning in a Middle School Classroom. Even if you don't teach middle school, your Latin 1 classes are your bread and butter. If you can't get the students to sit down and work for you in a positive, productive way, you'll feel like you're struggling all year. And you will run away screaming.
All the Latin you've learned will kick in as you teach. It really will. In that area you'll probably be ok. Try to avoid any place that wants to hire you for multiple preps your first year. No need to kill yourself with stress and overdoing it.
I'm not trying to scare you, but I'm not going to be like the others that believe teaching is sink or swim. It doesn't need to be. You CAN be prepared!
[regarding writing lesson plans]
> I spent the summer making my own lesson plans for three kids I was
> tutoring once a week, and gah. It was a time eater.
Yeah, that's why I don't write detailed lesson plans. REALITY: No teacher does unless some stupid administrator demands it. Too time consuming. We have better things to do.
***
[added for here]
I write an outline of what I'm doing--nothing more than an agenda or list. If someone needs me to elaborate on what I'm doing and why, I'll tell them. But I don't write up formal lesson plans.
The only time an administrator questioned me on it and said that I needed to make them more detailed in case I was ill or something, I looked at her and asked her, "Do you honestly think if I'm sick you'll get a sub who can teach Latin?" She had to admit that it was unlikely.
HECK, right now some of my notes are in Latin. A casual observer wouldn't know that I do warm-ups unless they know the word I'm using for warm-ups is praeparatio.
;)
probatio for test, probatiuncula for quiz.
IN FACT, let me add this too. WHEN YOU ARE interviewing for a job, YOU should interview the principal on his/her policy for lesson plans and other paperwork. Find out if you're going to end up being with some anal retentives who will waste your time with nonsense, or someone reasonable that just wants you to get to work.
You don't want to be miserable. Better to work at Borders than to feel cornered into taking a job with a year long contract that's going to make you miserable!!!!
***
> When during your time as a teacher were you able to do this additional
> research? Mainly during the summers?
Constantly. In the beginning it was while I was NOT teaching but nursing my first born. I was constantly reading. I am still constantly reading and brainstorming. I have a fiction book, a non-fiction Latin book, numerous journals and a spiral for ideas always handy.
Journals include _Classical Outlook_ (American Classical League), Classical Journal (though that's usually fairly heavy on academic research and not pedagogy), Archaeology Odyssey (enjoy that tremendously), online articles including the new CPL Forum Online (you can find it by going to www.camwscpl.org and looking for it in the menu), and rereading old articles, even ones I've written because my focus changes from year to year depending upon the students I have.
Absolutely INVALUABLE is the Latinteach list http://nxport.com/mailman/listinfo/latinteach. It's like a conference 24/7/365. It consists mainly of secondary teachers but also some very talented university level instructors from across the country and around the world, including Japan, Australia, England and the Netherlands. I don't think there's any resource as valuable as this one, but it's difficult to explain this to most professors, even those training teachers. The few exceptions include the wonderful Dan McCaffrey in VA, Rick LaFleur in GA, Jeanne Davidson at Davidson College in NC (which is where I would recommend people go currently for the best in undergraduate Latin, honestly, because of her innovative teaching techniques), and Dexter Hoyos of Sydney, Australia. Dexter's book, _Latin: How to Read it Fluently_ is one of the books that I reread from time to time.
But research takes a variety of shapes. It depends what you are interested in. I was obsessed last year with card playing in Latin. I realized that the Romans would not have used cardinal numbers for cards (yes, I know they didn't have cards). I started reading in anything I had about dicing and gaming (precursors, of course, to cards) plus the books I had on the history of cards. I found online a 16th century text by Vives that is a dialog about 5 guys playing cards on a rainy day. I based my I PISCATUM (go fish) booklet on this, making all of the numbers Latinized (some were Greek in the dialog). habEsne UllOs trIniOnEs? habeO. Not frivolous, but a way of reinforcing I vs YOU in verbs, plus accusatives--sing/pl.
I reread old textbooks like Pseudolus Noster (look for it in the classics library) and Principia (both by Peckett and Munday). They used what I believe then was called the direct approach to teaching Latin, which is not too far removed from what many of the newer style textbooks are doing today, except that there was a larger oral component. These are great for mining new ideas (old ideas actually!).
Political graffiti/inscriptions are mentioned unit 1 of CLC and so one year I wanted to know a little more about inscriptions. The ACL Resource guide has some good books on inscriptions/graffiti. I used these books (plus some basic texts on epigraphy that I own) to develop the How to Right Election graffiti booklet that I use with my students (and I hear is used at Cambridge workshops too). Last year I even had teachers of other subjects coming down to my room to write election graffiti supporting their favorite students.
So research comes in many different forms. To me, it is all about broadening my knowledge base and improving my teaching skills. Sometimes what I read seems directly applicable to Latin. But one book I have here near me is a book about teaching English as a Second Language. I learned a lot from it on what we should be doing regarding EXTENSIVE reading in Latin. (All we traditionally do is INTENSIVE reading; more's the pity.) And, as I said, it's ongoing and inspirational. It's not something I feel I must do. It's what I do because it inspires me and feeds my creativity and intellect.
> What conferences do you regularly attend? What associations do I need
> to join?
Finances have limited me lately, but the Texas Classical Association Fall Conference (www.txclassics.org - Nov 4-5 in San Antonio hosted by Trinity U this year), CAMWS (Classical Association of the Middle West and South - www.camws.org) and ACL (American Classical League - www.aclclassics.org). I have also attended a couple of NACCP (North American Cambridge Classics Project) workshops AND THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC and well worth going. But the big summer one is longer than I can be away from my children, so I haven't been in a while. You should definitely join TCA and ACL. Join CAMWS too if you can afford all three. I am also a member of APA (American Philological Association - www.apaclassics.org). I am inconsistently a member of TFLA and ACTFL--they are too expensive and do too little for Latin.
One reason I've been apprehensive about
> teaching is that I feel like I don't know enough. Not enough Latin,
> not enough Roman history, and -really- not enough pedagogy. I know
> the UTeach program is supposed to address the last concern, but do you
> feel those years as an editor were essential to your current success
> as a teacher? Do you think after a Latin BA and the UTeach program
> I'll be equipped enough not to drown? This is mostly a reassurance
> issue for me.
Honest answer? No. But you stick with me and I'll make sure you won't drown. Really. So many of the professors really don't understand the pitfalls at all of secondary teaching.
Here's one of the things I would plan on doing before you graduate if I were you. I would attend some conferences. If you intend to teach in Texas, I would go to a Cambridge workshop. There's going to be one in Dallas, I think, soonish? Let me see... http://www.cambridgelatin.org/ -- Oct 8th http://www.cambridgelatin.org/worktrip.html. There will be others including some in the summer. If not Cambridge, do ACL this summer.
But more important than your Latin, believe it or not, will be whether you can control your class. I'm telling ya, Harry Wong's _The First Days of School_ is a must. Methods courses, I think, should include a day or two of discussion of how the things in this book would help structure a Latin course. Ok, this book plus my last article The Principles of Learning in a Middle School Classroom. Even if you don't teach middle school, your Latin 1 classes are your bread and butter. If you can't get the students to sit down and work for you in a positive, productive way, you'll feel like you're struggling all year. And you will run away screaming.
All the Latin you've learned will kick in as you teach. It really will. In that area you'll probably be ok. Try to avoid any place that wants to hire you for multiple preps your first year. No need to kill yourself with stress and overdoing it.
I'm not trying to scare you, but I'm not going to be like the others that believe teaching is sink or swim. It doesn't need to be. You CAN be prepared!
[regarding writing lesson plans]
> I spent the summer making my own lesson plans for three kids I was
> tutoring once a week, and gah. It was a time eater.
Yeah, that's why I don't write detailed lesson plans. REALITY: No teacher does unless some stupid administrator demands it. Too time consuming. We have better things to do.
***
[added for here]
I write an outline of what I'm doing--nothing more than an agenda or list. If someone needs me to elaborate on what I'm doing and why, I'll tell them. But I don't write up formal lesson plans.
The only time an administrator questioned me on it and said that I needed to make them more detailed in case I was ill or something, I looked at her and asked her, "Do you honestly think if I'm sick you'll get a sub who can teach Latin?" She had to admit that it was unlikely.
HECK, right now some of my notes are in Latin. A casual observer wouldn't know that I do warm-ups unless they know the word I'm using for warm-ups is praeparatio.
;)
probatio for test, probatiuncula for quiz.
IN FACT, let me add this too. WHEN YOU ARE interviewing for a job, YOU should interview the principal on his/her policy for lesson plans and other paperwork. Find out if you're going to end up being with some anal retentives who will waste your time with nonsense, or someone reasonable that just wants you to get to work.
You don't want to be miserable. Better to work at Borders than to feel cornered into taking a job with a year long contract that's going to make you miserable!!!!
