Why Latin?

Every year (and throughout the year) I revisit the question: “Why learn Latin?”. I don’t just teach the subject because my skill set and the people willing to pay me for it happened to match. I truly believe that there is something special about Latin that makes it uniquely valuable to students. And I’m not alone. Where I teach it is a required language, which means that somewhere along the line, someone else also firmly believed that Latin was uniquely valuable. But as schools begin to look more closely at STEM and start to get really engaged in the purpose of the subjects their students learn, I feel I owe my parents and my students an explanation.

Effort, Stress, and Mindset

How do I help my students find a healthy balance between effort, stress, and success? I read this article on facebook today and it got me thinking about what I can do to help my students take a step back when they’re being hard on themselves. I started wondering if a constant emphasis on effort stemming from growth mindset and grit might have something to do with the worrisome pride I notice in my students when they talk about late nights, being over-worked, and getting upset over A’s and A-‘s because they weren’t A+’s.

1st Quarter Reflections

Being a first year teacher feels a bit like being a college freshman. I’m all bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, full of energy, enthusiasm, ideas, starry-eyed about the opportunities, and filled with complete joy. My Facebook friends are tired of my “I love my job” posts. When I visit the faculty room for tea, I can’t help but share every new and exciting discovery I’ve made with the poor teacher who really just needs to make some quick photocopies and get out. I can’t help myself – this blog is (quite shamelessly) a way for me to channel that energy.

My first quarter has been full of experiments, errors, and exciting ideas. This has been terrific for me, but I’m worried that my students are feeling a little whiplashed.

Learning from Failure – Practicing What I Preach

At the beginning of the year, I gave my students a very strong talk about the importance of failure and learning from mistakes. I told them that I hoped they all had the opportunity to fail, to make mistakes, so they would gain the much deeper understanding that comes from correcting those mistakes. I even gave us a strong class motto: “cadere est crescere”- to fail is to grow (far more elegant in Latin).

So I cannot wait to tell them on Monday that I have just had that opportunity.

Reflections from CAAS

I’ve just gotten back from the 2014 meeting of CAAS. Though I wasn’t able to attend the papers and panels on Friday (I did make it there in time for wine and dinner, of course), today’s pedagogy sessions were terrific and have given me quite a lot to chew on. Below are some of my takeaways from the various panels, as well as links to websites with related information should something sound as intriguing to you as it was to me!

Grading that Encourages Learning?

I hate grading things & I hate testing. It’s not the pile of papers, it’s the concept itself. I hate assigning them a number that they often interpret as, “This is how good I am at Latin” and I hate that flurry of panic as students frantically try to remember as many things as possible by a given deadline. I hate it because it says, “now you have either learned this or not, and as soon as you finish taking this assessment, we’re moving on”. I know that they will be tested and graded in college and isn’t that what we’re preparing them for? Honestly, no. I want them to care about learning. When they do that, the college and life-rewards will follow.

Can We Teach Latin Without Translation?

Translation has been the center piece in Latin classrooms since the dawn of time…or well, the 1800s at least. The primary purpose of teaching Latin (I stand by this strongly) is and has been to create readers of Latin. And when we need to assess whether or not students can read Latin, the answer has almost religiously been to have students produce a translation.

Why?