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There's been a debate on Latinteach about which is better, Oerberg or Cambridge Latin Course. If you are new to teaching or even been in it a while and don't know what Oerberg's Lingua Latina is, you need to take a look. (Google Focus Publishing) This is a text which would make immersion in Latin entirely possible. I'm currently reading it to try to get my brain wrapped around just *reading* in Latin, something I still struggle with.
I like the text, don't get me wrong. In fact, I'd love to teach from it. And those who have experience with it have been piping in with their support of the text. (Someone who is restarting a HS Latin program has been given a choice in picking texts.)
I am the ONLY person that has asked what other people are using locally.
We do NOT teach in isolation in most cases. We might be the only Latin teacher at our school, but we are most likely NOT the only Latin teacher in the school district or city or area. We serve students and those students move and shift to other schools and we get kids from other schools. How fair is it to them to move from one school to another and feel like they are totally struggling with their Latin because of a different textbook?
How selfish are we to make such decisions unilaterally? Yes, I think it would be ABSOLUTELY COOL to teach from Oerberg. But if I were to do that then how many of my students would struggle when they went on to high school because I decided that my way was better? I am already pushing it with my model sentences instead of making my students decline nouns from day one. But we use the same text, and I do hammer home morphology in my own way, I think.
If I taught from Oerberg instead, my students would know all the cases but not much in the way of tenses. They would know nothing about Pompeii, gladiators, theater, etc. Not that this is good or bad one way or the other, but I am only one step in their continuity of education.
We are part of a team when we teach in a big district or city, whether we want to be or not. And if you don't do JCL, for instance, and you don't attend conferences and try to enrich yourself and your classes and the end result is that your program shrinks and eventually closes, you haven't just hurt yourself. You haven't just hurt your school. You've hurt others in the district.
I have no place to teach Latin next year. None. No openings, except the 2 classes back at my old school under an administration that lost control of the discipline last year and the gangs ended up ruling the school. That's not a job. I have no place to go because we've been killing off Latin programs in my district at the middle school level, in part because the people put in those spots to teach middle schoolers really didn't want to be there, had no training for middle schoolers, and had no interest whatsoever in competitions.
Heck, I don't go hog wild with competitions. We do certamen, but a lot of that depends upon whether my students can even go. I had my best students cancel on me for Area JCL so I didn't take anyone this year. Part of it was my fault, part theirs. BUT they get a taste of it. I get to meet parents. I get to develop relationships.
This is not a job to go to from 8-4 and wash your hands of it after that. I'm not saying that you can't have a life. By all means DO HAVE A LIFE. Have hobbies, interests, adventures. But make time for Latin club and JCL if you can. Get to know your parents. Build a strong program; don't slowly kill a program.
And that includes if you have, for some reason, the option to pick whatever textbook you use. Pay attention to what others around you are using. If it is something that can fit in with your teaching philosophy, then don't fight for the one that no one uses. If I could start a Latin program at a private school and pick any book I wanted, I'd still pick CLC because if I want to attract students from public schools to my program, I want them to be able to switch out of whatever program their in and into mine with the least amount of stress and difficulty.
BESIDES, the book is nothing more than a TOOL! *YOU* are the teacher, not the text. I know of people who've taught grammar style with Cambridge, and near total immersion with it. What you want in a textbook is something that will make the students WANT TO READ LATIN. That's why we're here: to teach students to read Latin.
There's a lot to think about when picking a textbook and I do recommend reading Gareth Morgan's article on it which you can find at http://www.txclassics.org/exrpts2.htm. But don't forget your audience: your students and your parents.
I like the text, don't get me wrong. In fact, I'd love to teach from it. And those who have experience with it have been piping in with their support of the text. (Someone who is restarting a HS Latin program has been given a choice in picking texts.)
I am the ONLY person that has asked what other people are using locally.
We do NOT teach in isolation in most cases. We might be the only Latin teacher at our school, but we are most likely NOT the only Latin teacher in the school district or city or area. We serve students and those students move and shift to other schools and we get kids from other schools. How fair is it to them to move from one school to another and feel like they are totally struggling with their Latin because of a different textbook?
How selfish are we to make such decisions unilaterally? Yes, I think it would be ABSOLUTELY COOL to teach from Oerberg. But if I were to do that then how many of my students would struggle when they went on to high school because I decided that my way was better? I am already pushing it with my model sentences instead of making my students decline nouns from day one. But we use the same text, and I do hammer home morphology in my own way, I think.
If I taught from Oerberg instead, my students would know all the cases but not much in the way of tenses. They would know nothing about Pompeii, gladiators, theater, etc. Not that this is good or bad one way or the other, but I am only one step in their continuity of education.
We are part of a team when we teach in a big district or city, whether we want to be or not. And if you don't do JCL, for instance, and you don't attend conferences and try to enrich yourself and your classes and the end result is that your program shrinks and eventually closes, you haven't just hurt yourself. You haven't just hurt your school. You've hurt others in the district.
I have no place to teach Latin next year. None. No openings, except the 2 classes back at my old school under an administration that lost control of the discipline last year and the gangs ended up ruling the school. That's not a job. I have no place to go because we've been killing off Latin programs in my district at the middle school level, in part because the people put in those spots to teach middle schoolers really didn't want to be there, had no training for middle schoolers, and had no interest whatsoever in competitions.
Heck, I don't go hog wild with competitions. We do certamen, but a lot of that depends upon whether my students can even go. I had my best students cancel on me for Area JCL so I didn't take anyone this year. Part of it was my fault, part theirs. BUT they get a taste of it. I get to meet parents. I get to develop relationships.
This is not a job to go to from 8-4 and wash your hands of it after that. I'm not saying that you can't have a life. By all means DO HAVE A LIFE. Have hobbies, interests, adventures. But make time for Latin club and JCL if you can. Get to know your parents. Build a strong program; don't slowly kill a program.
And that includes if you have, for some reason, the option to pick whatever textbook you use. Pay attention to what others around you are using. If it is something that can fit in with your teaching philosophy, then don't fight for the one that no one uses. If I could start a Latin program at a private school and pick any book I wanted, I'd still pick CLC because if I want to attract students from public schools to my program, I want them to be able to switch out of whatever program their in and into mine with the least amount of stress and difficulty.
BESIDES, the book is nothing more than a TOOL! *YOU* are the teacher, not the text. I know of people who've taught grammar style with Cambridge, and near total immersion with it. What you want in a textbook is something that will make the students WANT TO READ LATIN. That's why we're here: to teach students to read Latin.
There's a lot to think about when picking a textbook and I do recommend reading Gareth Morgan's article on it which you can find at http://www.txclassics.org/exrpts2.htm. But don't forget your audience: your students and your parents.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-02 07:04 pm (UTC)I agree with you in the "teachers as community" concept, however, it if is a real community, then the communication works in two directions. My own experience has been that those who teach with outmoded methods and outmoded texts just as often act in isolation as anyone else--perhaps moreso. And, in our teaching area (Latin) "outmoded" is often status quo. Therefore, those who teach in ways that do not meet every student's needs, who do not even try to get every kind of learner engaged, have the power of "doing nothing differently" behind them.
I've been teaching 17 years. I expect, all things being equal, to teach at least that much longer--as long as I remain committed to doing whatever it takes to help every kind of learner learn. So (finally--he gets to a "so") I am willing to make choices based on best practices, best materials, etc regardless of what those around me are doing. To do otherwise is to allow what is outmoded to rule the day--and that's not very Roman!
AS far as best materials go, toss a coin--Lingua Latina (Oerberg) or Cambridge are both excellent materials. The real question is HOW they will be used.
Bob Patrick
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-02 08:07 pm (UTC)And I'm sure in some areas of the country that there isn't as much mobility. But I'm constantly concerned about whether I've equipped my students to do well with other teachers. If I had them from 7-12th grades, I could "fix" any gaps I had in early years that I'm currently unaware of. But I don't.
And I would hate to throw one more thing in the mix by teaching from a different textbook without any thought to the rest of the district. I know you're not currently on Latinteach, but my concern regarding the actual discussion was simply that NO ONE had spoken up about concern for the community aspect of teaching.
Of course, in other parts of the country teachers may be in much greater isolation and this may totally be a moot point. On the other hand, I remember when a new teacher was hired for a middle school nearby (which no longer has a program) who wanted to use Wheelock's Latin. My objection was not about Wheelocks per se, but that he wouldn't have all magnet students but neighborhood students who would (and did) switch schools and who needed to be in the district adopted textbook. I think the fact that the school no longer has Latin (I was hoping to restart it this year but that didn't happen) tells you how well this teacher understood middle school students.
I guess what I'm rambling on about is that there are, well, too many people interested in Latin but not interested in truly TEACHING Latin. They don't explore new pedagogical theories, don't try to expand their own horizons, and never consider their audience/the students in their teaching.
This guy wanted to choose Wheelocks because that was what he knew. And for a grammar approach book, it's not a bad book. But did he even consider what the students would be like? What was used in the district? What was being used at the school his students would go to for high school? Whether there was an AP program there, and if so whether it was primarily a Vergil AP or a Cicero AP?
We aren't islands. I refuse to accept that.