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This is another essay I wrote for the Disney Award application that I realized didn't answer the question correctly. The original question was asking for events WHILE TEACHING that effected what I do now, not events that happened before I was teaching.
Nevertheless, I think one should always acknowledge how one got to where one is today, and this essay does explain that.
***
Two events greatly effected who I am as a teacher today. One event, which I will describe first, goes back only a dozen or so years. The second goes back to my own high school days.
I first began teaching immediately out of college, overdid it, and quit at the end of the year because of stress and a feeling that something I was doing was not “right.” My evaluations from the time period were high, and no one else could understand my frustration. I left teaching for more than a decade and turned my interests to desktop publishing.
A few years after I left teaching, I was reading an article in the American Classical League journal, Classical Outlook, by Dexter Hoyos called “Decoding vs Sight-Reading” which, quite frankly, changed my life. Within this article was the secret to building true reading skills in Latin. I immediately began corresponding with Professor Hoyos who taught in Sydney, Australia. He shared with me further insights regarding developing an ability to read Latin from left to right, as one would do with any language and to forever leave behind traditional thinking regarding Latin language acquisition. Hoyos’ insights were later printed and distributed by the Classical Association of New England (CANE) in Latin: How to Read it Fluently. I even presented a paper at a classics conference (“Fluent Latin”) based on his work, and this article was then published. (This article can be found at www.txclassics.org/ginny_lindzey.htm.)
From this point on I knew I would return to the classroom. I read everything I could get my hands on regarding reading methodologies applied to Latin. I attended conferences and workshops, all at a time when I was not teaching but doing desktop publishing. I learned the concepts of metaphrasing and using a simple device referred to as a reading card. (Many of these concepts are explained in detail at a blogsite I began this year for the benefit of new and future teachers called “The Latin Zone” at http://www.livejournal.com/users/ginlindzey.)
During this time period I had also become the editor for the Texas Classical Association, a position which I held for 10 years putting my desktop publishing skills to good use by designing and editing a professional-looking, semi-annual journal. My personal quest for pedagogical materials which promote reading Latin (as opposed to decoding it) provided me with ample material for articles for the journal. Along the way I was also exposed to many other concepts that I incorporate in my classroom, including linguistical shifts from classical Latin to Spanish, which greatly help my native Spanish speakers.
The second event which has made me the Latin teacher I am today goes back to high school when I competed in the dramatic interpretation of Latin poetry for the National Junior Classical League, an event which I won three years in a row. Latin is a beautiful sounding language, rich in creative expression and word play. My love of the sound of Latin carried on into my teaching to good effect. I firmly believe that one cannot greatly improve one’s ability to read in Latin without being able to pronounce Latin correctly. It also develops a heightened phonemic awareness which carries over to English.
I have become an avid promoter of using oral Latin in the classroom. Each year I try to incorporate more oral Latin, both conversationally and instructionally. I take great delight in reading Latin to the students, whether it is from our delightful textbook, the Cambridge Latin Course, or even from Green Eggs and Ham (in Latin). When I do my Vergil project with the 8th graders, I read the sea serpent scene repeatedly to them until we fully comprehend the scene. There is no jigsawing together of Latin in my classes as if it is some bizarre secret code.
So I use these two passions—how Latin sounds and learning how to read fluently—in tandem to produce what I hope are superior Latin students who appreciate Latin as a language and not a means to improving SAT scores. Without my background in dramatic interpretation of Latin poetry and my obsession with learning how to read Latin like one would read any other language, I would not be the innovative, creative teacher that I am today.
Nevertheless, I think one should always acknowledge how one got to where one is today, and this essay does explain that.
***
Two events greatly effected who I am as a teacher today. One event, which I will describe first, goes back only a dozen or so years. The second goes back to my own high school days.
I first began teaching immediately out of college, overdid it, and quit at the end of the year because of stress and a feeling that something I was doing was not “right.” My evaluations from the time period were high, and no one else could understand my frustration. I left teaching for more than a decade and turned my interests to desktop publishing.
A few years after I left teaching, I was reading an article in the American Classical League journal, Classical Outlook, by Dexter Hoyos called “Decoding vs Sight-Reading” which, quite frankly, changed my life. Within this article was the secret to building true reading skills in Latin. I immediately began corresponding with Professor Hoyos who taught in Sydney, Australia. He shared with me further insights regarding developing an ability to read Latin from left to right, as one would do with any language and to forever leave behind traditional thinking regarding Latin language acquisition. Hoyos’ insights were later printed and distributed by the Classical Association of New England (CANE) in Latin: How to Read it Fluently. I even presented a paper at a classics conference (“Fluent Latin”) based on his work, and this article was then published. (This article can be found at www.txclassics.org/ginny_lindzey.htm.)
From this point on I knew I would return to the classroom. I read everything I could get my hands on regarding reading methodologies applied to Latin. I attended conferences and workshops, all at a time when I was not teaching but doing desktop publishing. I learned the concepts of metaphrasing and using a simple device referred to as a reading card. (Many of these concepts are explained in detail at a blogsite I began this year for the benefit of new and future teachers called “The Latin Zone” at http://www.livejournal.com/users/ginlindzey.)
During this time period I had also become the editor for the Texas Classical Association, a position which I held for 10 years putting my desktop publishing skills to good use by designing and editing a professional-looking, semi-annual journal. My personal quest for pedagogical materials which promote reading Latin (as opposed to decoding it) provided me with ample material for articles for the journal. Along the way I was also exposed to many other concepts that I incorporate in my classroom, including linguistical shifts from classical Latin to Spanish, which greatly help my native Spanish speakers.
The second event which has made me the Latin teacher I am today goes back to high school when I competed in the dramatic interpretation of Latin poetry for the National Junior Classical League, an event which I won three years in a row. Latin is a beautiful sounding language, rich in creative expression and word play. My love of the sound of Latin carried on into my teaching to good effect. I firmly believe that one cannot greatly improve one’s ability to read in Latin without being able to pronounce Latin correctly. It also develops a heightened phonemic awareness which carries over to English.
I have become an avid promoter of using oral Latin in the classroom. Each year I try to incorporate more oral Latin, both conversationally and instructionally. I take great delight in reading Latin to the students, whether it is from our delightful textbook, the Cambridge Latin Course, or even from Green Eggs and Ham (in Latin). When I do my Vergil project with the 8th graders, I read the sea serpent scene repeatedly to them until we fully comprehend the scene. There is no jigsawing together of Latin in my classes as if it is some bizarre secret code.
So I use these two passions—how Latin sounds and learning how to read fluently—in tandem to produce what I hope are superior Latin students who appreciate Latin as a language and not a means to improving SAT scores. Without my background in dramatic interpretation of Latin poetry and my obsession with learning how to read Latin like one would read any other language, I would not be the innovative, creative teacher that I am today.
