![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
6:30 pm and I'm trying to unwind. I suppose it would help if I had something other than a Dr Pepper within reach.
The pronunciation gig with some local teachers went well, but it also really angered me in regards to what the professors were thinking, why there's no accountability at the university level for pronunciation or even the quality of teacher preparation. Can't get tenure for it, I guess. So then I had a rant on the classics list about it. I'd just like to see a department ANYWHERE incorporate the Oral Exam document TCA developed (http://www.txclassics.org/OralExam.pdf). I swear, I want to cause such a big stink about this that people do something. This is ENRAGING me.
Ok, and this is when I realize it's time to take a chill pill. Reminder to new teachers out there, it's never really worth getting worked up over things out of your control. I can write articles--that's within my control--but I can't force others to change. Hmmm... I feel another article coming on.
So, the pronunciation workshop went ok. We didn't really *do* my handouts/worksheets but we discussed what was there and why. One worksheet, for instance, was only for differentiating long and short vowels. Another worksheet was about dividing into syllables and accents, which follows the one that focuses just on vowel length because you have to understand the concepts of long and short in order to know WHERE the accents go.
OH OH OH... I just thought what would make a REALLY GOOD (ok, half good) emergency lesson plan. Copy a Latin story from the current chapter. Divide and accent ALL of the words. Practice reading the whole story with expression. Phone in the reading that night. No pressure to translate and students can refer to their notes/handouts on dividing words and assigning accent. I better come up with a rubric....
Anyway, it occurred to me when talking to these teachers that they had had the rules explained before and since they seem so logical to those of us who understand them that there seems to be little reason to dwell on them. But to students and, well, other teachers who don't get them immediately, this needs practice and reinforcement. You don't do this in a modern language class. You don't state the rules and then never practice reading or speaking the language. But, hey, we're learning Latin just to read it, silently, perhaps, and let's not bother with speaking it. TONS of practice. Like, in a 1 hour lab. WHY CAN'T ALL LATIN MAJORS be required be in a 1 hour oral Latin lab for their major? Why? What's so hard about that? Oh, don't get me started.
Then I had a run-in with a manager at an office supply store. I couldn't buy school supplies for my classes in bulk at the cheap prices. Gee, I'm just a teacher. I'm not allowed to know what textbook I'm teaching from, what my class schedule is, what room I'm going to be in, and now I can't even buy supplies! What are they afraid of, that I'll SELL them to my students for a profit? Hey, now THERE'S an idea....boy oh boy I'll get rich that way!
This isn't exactly unwinding, is it? Oh, just shut me up.
The pronunciation gig with some local teachers went well, but it also really angered me in regards to what the professors were thinking, why there's no accountability at the university level for pronunciation or even the quality of teacher preparation. Can't get tenure for it, I guess. So then I had a rant on the classics list about it. I'd just like to see a department ANYWHERE incorporate the Oral Exam document TCA developed (http://www.txclassics.org/OralExam.pdf). I swear, I want to cause such a big stink about this that people do something. This is ENRAGING me.
Ok, and this is when I realize it's time to take a chill pill. Reminder to new teachers out there, it's never really worth getting worked up over things out of your control. I can write articles--that's within my control--but I can't force others to change. Hmmm... I feel another article coming on.
So, the pronunciation workshop went ok. We didn't really *do* my handouts/worksheets but we discussed what was there and why. One worksheet, for instance, was only for differentiating long and short vowels. Another worksheet was about dividing into syllables and accents, which follows the one that focuses just on vowel length because you have to understand the concepts of long and short in order to know WHERE the accents go.
OH OH OH... I just thought what would make a REALLY GOOD (ok, half good) emergency lesson plan. Copy a Latin story from the current chapter. Divide and accent ALL of the words. Practice reading the whole story with expression. Phone in the reading that night. No pressure to translate and students can refer to their notes/handouts on dividing words and assigning accent. I better come up with a rubric....
Anyway, it occurred to me when talking to these teachers that they had had the rules explained before and since they seem so logical to those of us who understand them that there seems to be little reason to dwell on them. But to students and, well, other teachers who don't get them immediately, this needs practice and reinforcement. You don't do this in a modern language class. You don't state the rules and then never practice reading or speaking the language. But, hey, we're learning Latin just to read it, silently, perhaps, and let's not bother with speaking it. TONS of practice. Like, in a 1 hour lab. WHY CAN'T ALL LATIN MAJORS be required be in a 1 hour oral Latin lab for their major? Why? What's so hard about that? Oh, don't get me started.
Then I had a run-in with a manager at an office supply store. I couldn't buy school supplies for my classes in bulk at the cheap prices. Gee, I'm just a teacher. I'm not allowed to know what textbook I'm teaching from, what my class schedule is, what room I'm going to be in, and now I can't even buy supplies! What are they afraid of, that I'll SELL them to my students for a profit? Hey, now THERE'S an idea....boy oh boy I'll get rich that way!
This isn't exactly unwinding, is it? Oh, just shut me up.
