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I was reading an article at Rogueclassicism about Monmouth College's Latin teacher prep program. A great article, very encouraging, but was stunned to see someone saying this:
"I tell people that I have the easiest job in the world," she said. "Latin students are highly motivated and are usually bright. They're taking Latin because they want to."
EASIEST job in the world?
EASIEST? What planet does she live on? And what school district does she work in? Public? Private?
Ok, let me just say I am in a good school district and I do get a large number of highly motivated kids. BUT I also get every other type of kid out there. I get it all. If you are training to be a new teacher, you will probably get it all too.
Don't believe lines like this, that it's the easiest job and all the students are highly motivated.
My Latin 2's whine and moan, my Latin 3's take too many shortcuts in their work. (They are together in the same class with a sole Latin 4.) My Latin 1 students, all *75* of them (up from 13 last year!), seem pretty game, but we're only 2 stages into the book. And I need to pick up the pace. I do a lot to keep EVERYONE with me and to build confidence in me and in themselves early on in the year, but I can't do it all. I can't hold their hands the whole time.
And work.... damn, I'm going to hate myself later for taking the time out to write this. I have no time to myself. And everytime I think I have time to do something at school, that time gets eaten up by other things.
Take today. I had an ARD meeting (Admission, Review, & Dismissal) for a student that's in Latin 1. I don't know what all his issues are, but let's just say he's got a bunch. And I like the kid. He's squirrelly and funny. Not the academic type, clearly, but for the most part happy to be who he is. And frankly, I think he feels no one is willing to accept him the way he is--that everyone wants to change him. (He doesn't see it as help.) Of course, I only realized much of this because I attended the meeting. He was there on his own, no parent (don't know why), and clearly feeling ganged up on by adults. I had resented giving up my time to run scantrons and prep for tomorrow's classes, but when I saw how lost he looked, I just sat down next to him.
He had a tablet in front of him, as if to take notes. Instead, I wrote on it "tu es puer bonus." We hadn't gotten to most of those words, actually, so I had to then write an explanation. But then he replied perfectly, "tibi gratias ago." Then I wrote back "quis est XXX?" referring to other adults at the table. And so it went, communicating half in Latin, half in English. But I wanted him to feel like I was his ally.
He had struggled earlier in the day with the first test--not that he can't do the material, but I think he has a history of choking on tests so he started to zone just looking at it. I'm hoping that my time spent in the ARD will buy me some good favor with him and a little more trust, which may mean his finishing the test successfully tomorrow.
THEN, of course, I have my own family to deal with (and my children do present plenty of serious challenges on their own).
I'm behind in grading (sooooo far behind!) and I need to bite the bullet and get my projects rubrics organized.
NOTE TO SELF (and to all others): ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS do as much as you can in the summer to prep for the year! (like I don't...ha!). But there are things I'm supposed to be implementing (like phone in Latin readings, which I used to do at the middle school I taught at), that I just can't get to now that the year is underway.
I'm exhausted by it.
And yet, with all that, I'm also fired up about this year. I"m really enjoying the Latin blog, especially with the Latin 1's. I'm *learning* with them; learning how to compose fun and interesting stories.
In fact, tomorrow we will be looking at the stories they wrote on Tuesday while I was away at a workshop. I wrote an OK story for Latin 2 the other day too, but not much of one for Latin 3. Maybe CLC just lends itself better to stories than Ecce (because there are more stories in CLC than Ecce). I dunno.
But I'm liking this. I'm liking composing stories in Latin MUCH MORE than translating from English into Latin, esp the totally tedious stercus that we used to have to do in school. Mind-numbing stuff. Fit only for those masochistic souls that feed off of perfection. Maybe that's what the woman meant by "highly motivated"? Ok, I'm giving that person too much grief.
I do know what she means, but I also encourage the bottom of the barrel to come to Latin. WHY NOT?! It's just another language. Why should we act like it's superior and only the stuff for smart folks? I hope the kid I referred to above manages to pass the year, manages to put in the work. Let him take for as long as he can, even if he doesn't end up to be my smartest student.
Geez, what a sap I am.
Anyway, teaching isn't easy. Too many preps, teaching some courses you don't want to, never enough prep time, always more duties and whatnot thrust on you by the state and fed government and all their unfunded mandates....
but there are rewards....there are definitely rewards....
"I tell people that I have the easiest job in the world," she said. "Latin students are highly motivated and are usually bright. They're taking Latin because they want to."
EASIEST job in the world?
EASIEST? What planet does she live on? And what school district does she work in? Public? Private?
Ok, let me just say I am in a good school district and I do get a large number of highly motivated kids. BUT I also get every other type of kid out there. I get it all. If you are training to be a new teacher, you will probably get it all too.
Don't believe lines like this, that it's the easiest job and all the students are highly motivated.
My Latin 2's whine and moan, my Latin 3's take too many shortcuts in their work. (They are together in the same class with a sole Latin 4.) My Latin 1 students, all *75* of them (up from 13 last year!), seem pretty game, but we're only 2 stages into the book. And I need to pick up the pace. I do a lot to keep EVERYONE with me and to build confidence in me and in themselves early on in the year, but I can't do it all. I can't hold their hands the whole time.
And work.... damn, I'm going to hate myself later for taking the time out to write this. I have no time to myself. And everytime I think I have time to do something at school, that time gets eaten up by other things.
Take today. I had an ARD meeting (Admission, Review, & Dismissal) for a student that's in Latin 1. I don't know what all his issues are, but let's just say he's got a bunch. And I like the kid. He's squirrelly and funny. Not the academic type, clearly, but for the most part happy to be who he is. And frankly, I think he feels no one is willing to accept him the way he is--that everyone wants to change him. (He doesn't see it as help.) Of course, I only realized much of this because I attended the meeting. He was there on his own, no parent (don't know why), and clearly feeling ganged up on by adults. I had resented giving up my time to run scantrons and prep for tomorrow's classes, but when I saw how lost he looked, I just sat down next to him.
He had a tablet in front of him, as if to take notes. Instead, I wrote on it "tu es puer bonus." We hadn't gotten to most of those words, actually, so I had to then write an explanation. But then he replied perfectly, "tibi gratias ago." Then I wrote back "quis est XXX?" referring to other adults at the table. And so it went, communicating half in Latin, half in English. But I wanted him to feel like I was his ally.
He had struggled earlier in the day with the first test--not that he can't do the material, but I think he has a history of choking on tests so he started to zone just looking at it. I'm hoping that my time spent in the ARD will buy me some good favor with him and a little more trust, which may mean his finishing the test successfully tomorrow.
THEN, of course, I have my own family to deal with (and my children do present plenty of serious challenges on their own).
I'm behind in grading (sooooo far behind!) and I need to bite the bullet and get my projects rubrics organized.
NOTE TO SELF (and to all others): ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS do as much as you can in the summer to prep for the year! (like I don't...ha!). But there are things I'm supposed to be implementing (like phone in Latin readings, which I used to do at the middle school I taught at), that I just can't get to now that the year is underway.
I'm exhausted by it.
And yet, with all that, I'm also fired up about this year. I"m really enjoying the Latin blog, especially with the Latin 1's. I'm *learning* with them; learning how to compose fun and interesting stories.
In fact, tomorrow we will be looking at the stories they wrote on Tuesday while I was away at a workshop. I wrote an OK story for Latin 2 the other day too, but not much of one for Latin 3. Maybe CLC just lends itself better to stories than Ecce (because there are more stories in CLC than Ecce). I dunno.
But I'm liking this. I'm liking composing stories in Latin MUCH MORE than translating from English into Latin, esp the totally tedious stercus that we used to have to do in school. Mind-numbing stuff. Fit only for those masochistic souls that feed off of perfection. Maybe that's what the woman meant by "highly motivated"? Ok, I'm giving that person too much grief.
I do know what she means, but I also encourage the bottom of the barrel to come to Latin. WHY NOT?! It's just another language. Why should we act like it's superior and only the stuff for smart folks? I hope the kid I referred to above manages to pass the year, manages to put in the work. Let him take for as long as he can, even if he doesn't end up to be my smartest student.
Geez, what a sap I am.
Anyway, teaching isn't easy. Too many preps, teaching some courses you don't want to, never enough prep time, always more duties and whatnot thrust on you by the state and fed government and all their unfunded mandates....
but there are rewards....there are definitely rewards....
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-29 02:54 am (UTC)Eep! What about the ones who take Latin because they're terrified of languages and think Latin will be easier than French or Spanish because they don't have to pass oral-proficiency exams?
I just had more fun putting an exercise together than I've had in a while. The textbook I use (OLC) has a particular type of exercise only ONCE - in Chapter 4 - and the students love it. The exercise consists of sentences each of which has a mistake - e.g. puer irata est - which the students have to identify and correct. So I made up a bunch more based on Chapters 5 and 6, where there are a lot more interesting mistakes to be made. I may try to keep this up for a while if I can.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-29 03:09 pm (UTC)And I agree with you. We get the students who failed a modern language or are terrified of languages altogether. And the counselors know that I really work hard to help kids, so I get troubled kids too.
I was at school past 8 pm last night, grading and lesson planning and whatnot. That's late. I needed to have today a little freer for family time, because I'm hard pressed to find any.
This is NOT an easy job. It's a *good* job; it's a *rewarding* job. But the reason so many people LEAVE teaching is because it is NOT easy.
I would LOVE to have time to exercise each day or, heck, time to relax. Time to soak in a tub or play a computer game or ANYTHING.
I have no down time. I have school and I have family (and mine is work--good work, but work). And I snatch a few minutes online for me time.
It's not an easy job. But it's a good one.