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As if I don't have enough to do already I thought that, hey, I should keep a blog on what I do with teaching Latin.
For those who care, I use the Cambridge Latin Course and teach Latin to 6th, 7th and 8th graders at a poor public middle school in Austin, Texas.
How did I spend my summer vacation so far? June was spent writing an article to rebut an article in CJ (Classical Journal) Forum that was rather demeaning to competent secondary teachers of Latin everywhere, though I don't think the author intended that. He was just another example of how we fail to properly prepare future teachers and why so many run away screaming.
Anyway, the article was over 5000 words long. We'll see if it gets printed. I'll probably put it up on my CV page soon, if I get around to updating it. haha. But the article was good to write; it described most every aspect of what I do from Latin pedagogy to classroom management, not to mention suggestions on fixing teacher preparation.
I've sworn off holding offices, at least for a while. I got my fingers burned a bit as CPL chair for CAMWS. Part was my own fault for taking on too much, especially when not having money to fund my office (I expected my expenses to be covered). But part was realizing that I still had to work in a bureaucracy that really doesn't want to move forward at a fast pace. Everything is FESTINA LENTE but we can't wait any longer. We are about to hit a crisis with Latin teachers retiring and we have people that want progress to slow down? They ought to be damn grateful that someone is coming up with ideas for truly addressing the ISSUES and not just more stop-gap measures.
But tenures aren't built upon the training of secondary teachers for Latin.
So, no more offices for me. I swore when I left the CPL chair that I would just write articles and do websites. Who knew I'd have to put my money where my mouth was so soon with that rebuttal article. I felt obligated to write it; that no one else was in the same position to address the issues as clearly as I could (or so I perhaps arrogantly think). Plus, I had the OVATIO--I had earned the respect of my colleagues in CAMWS. Those professors will read that article and maybe, just maybe, they will listen. Maybe.
And this month I've been madly revising my first week materials (classroom procedures, policies, etc) to include Latin for everything. I'm going to do MUCH MORE oral Latin this year. This is for me as much as for my students. So I've been obsessing over my procedures sheet (and rereading Harry Wong's _The First Days of School_), bathroom permits, policies and all sorts of stuff--all the while not even sure of my employment! Our beloved principal was pulled (and our whole administration) last year because of TAKS scores and other nonsense. I just met the new principal last week. I *should* still be at 80% parttime (ideal for me so I can pick up my own kids from school instead of needing extend-a-care) but the schedule's being altered again. I may have to move my room, so I can't start setting up the desks and room with Latin labels, etc. I feel like I can't finish ANYTHING while so much is still up in the air.
But I still obsess over it.
I think about what things didn't go well last year, what I wasn't good at. For instance, I worked last week on my late paper policy. My goal is always to figure out how to make life EASIER FOR ME. I refuse to do something/create something that takes me excessive times to grade or deal with. That's why I have a student (rotating) writing down names during class each day so I can keep teaching. That's why I check warm-up spirals while students take major tests. I don't have time to take spirals home and grade. I can't stay after school because I have young children. Therefore, my solutions are practical, useful, and make my life easier as well as being productive and fair for the students.
But enough of this. Time to wear my petatsus matris (mom hat). Maybe next time I'll talk about my obsession with playing cards in Latin or slugbug in Latin.
For those who care, I use the Cambridge Latin Course and teach Latin to 6th, 7th and 8th graders at a poor public middle school in Austin, Texas.
How did I spend my summer vacation so far? June was spent writing an article to rebut an article in CJ (Classical Journal) Forum that was rather demeaning to competent secondary teachers of Latin everywhere, though I don't think the author intended that. He was just another example of how we fail to properly prepare future teachers and why so many run away screaming.
Anyway, the article was over 5000 words long. We'll see if it gets printed. I'll probably put it up on my CV page soon, if I get around to updating it. haha. But the article was good to write; it described most every aspect of what I do from Latin pedagogy to classroom management, not to mention suggestions on fixing teacher preparation.
I've sworn off holding offices, at least for a while. I got my fingers burned a bit as CPL chair for CAMWS. Part was my own fault for taking on too much, especially when not having money to fund my office (I expected my expenses to be covered). But part was realizing that I still had to work in a bureaucracy that really doesn't want to move forward at a fast pace. Everything is FESTINA LENTE but we can't wait any longer. We are about to hit a crisis with Latin teachers retiring and we have people that want progress to slow down? They ought to be damn grateful that someone is coming up with ideas for truly addressing the ISSUES and not just more stop-gap measures.
But tenures aren't built upon the training of secondary teachers for Latin.
So, no more offices for me. I swore when I left the CPL chair that I would just write articles and do websites. Who knew I'd have to put my money where my mouth was so soon with that rebuttal article. I felt obligated to write it; that no one else was in the same position to address the issues as clearly as I could (or so I perhaps arrogantly think). Plus, I had the OVATIO--I had earned the respect of my colleagues in CAMWS. Those professors will read that article and maybe, just maybe, they will listen. Maybe.
And this month I've been madly revising my first week materials (classroom procedures, policies, etc) to include Latin for everything. I'm going to do MUCH MORE oral Latin this year. This is for me as much as for my students. So I've been obsessing over my procedures sheet (and rereading Harry Wong's _The First Days of School_), bathroom permits, policies and all sorts of stuff--all the while not even sure of my employment! Our beloved principal was pulled (and our whole administration) last year because of TAKS scores and other nonsense. I just met the new principal last week. I *should* still be at 80% parttime (ideal for me so I can pick up my own kids from school instead of needing extend-a-care) but the schedule's being altered again. I may have to move my room, so I can't start setting up the desks and room with Latin labels, etc. I feel like I can't finish ANYTHING while so much is still up in the air.
But I still obsess over it.
I think about what things didn't go well last year, what I wasn't good at. For instance, I worked last week on my late paper policy. My goal is always to figure out how to make life EASIER FOR ME. I refuse to do something/create something that takes me excessive times to grade or deal with. That's why I have a student (rotating) writing down names during class each day so I can keep teaching. That's why I check warm-up spirals while students take major tests. I don't have time to take spirals home and grade. I can't stay after school because I have young children. Therefore, my solutions are practical, useful, and make my life easier as well as being productive and fair for the students.
But enough of this. Time to wear my petatsus matris (mom hat). Maybe next time I'll talk about my obsession with playing cards in Latin or slugbug in Latin.
