The other day our Latin III class was reading Catullus 45, and one of the students commented on the heavy alliteration in Acme's words to Septimius. Suddenly, Marilyn Monroe's breathy, seductive "Happy Birthday, Mr. President," sung to President John F. Kennedy. I quickly found a clip of this on YouTube and showed it to the class to illustrate how I took this passage. On a whim, I posted this to the Latinteach email list. The next day, I received an email from Jessica Lahey, a teacher and author from New Hampshire. A bit of back-and-forth between us via email led to her publishing a delightful piece on one of her blogs.
There will always be connections between the Classical world and modern pop culture for the simple reason that the literature and arts of the ancient Greeks and Romans gave expression to the deepest, universal aspects of human life. It is for this reason that the study of Latin and Greek falls under the humanities. It is why the study of and engagement with these languages and their cultures is an essential part of living a rich life, one that can look with eager anticipation to the future because of its firm foundation in the past.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
The Sword Is Mightier Than the Pen
There is nothing like teaching Caesar's De Bello Gallico to Latin II with authentic Roman weaponry! Now that I have the two mannequins decked out in Roman armor standing in opposite corners of the classroom, this year's teaching of Caesar went to a whole new level. Students got to handle everything yesterday as we explored the structure of the army anyhow a soldier was equipped. Today we did a little re-enactment in the middle of the room.
The first passage we read today was about the early part of the battle of Bibracte.
Milites loco superiore pilis missis facile hostium phalangem perfregerunt. Ea disiecta gladiis destrictis in eos impetum fecerunt. Gallis magno ad pugnam erat impedimento quod pluribus eorum scutis uno ictu pilorum transfixis et conligatis, cum ferrum se inflexisset, neque evellere neque sinistra impedita satis commode pugnare poterant, multi ut diu iactato bracchio praeoptarent scutum manu emittere et nudo corpore pugnare. (BG I.25)*
I asked for a couple of student volunteers to stand one in front of the other, each holding one of our shields in imitation of the Helvetians. I brought one of the spears toward them and demonstrated how it could have transfixed the shields and pinned them together. The students quickly saw the disadvantage and realized the only choice the Helvetians had was to drop their shields.
Then we read this from I.26.
Ad multam noctem etiam ad impedimenta pugnatum est, propterea quod pro vallo carros obiecerunt et e loco superiore in nostros venientes tela coniciebant et non nulli inter carros rotasque mataras ac tragulas subiciebant nostrosque vulnerabant.*
I have always illustrated this by having the students pile up their desks in the middle of the room in imitation of the Helvetians wagons. In the past, we enacted what went on using a yardstick and a golf club I keep in the room (don't ask!). This year we recreated the last stand of the Helvetians using our two real spears.
I'm not sure who had more fun, but I am sure that we all got a better sense of Caesar's writings through roleplaying and the use of authentic weaponry.
*For translations of these passages, see here.
The first passage we read today was about the early part of the battle of Bibracte.
Milites loco superiore pilis missis facile hostium phalangem perfregerunt. Ea disiecta gladiis destrictis in eos impetum fecerunt. Gallis magno ad pugnam erat impedimento quod pluribus eorum scutis uno ictu pilorum transfixis et conligatis, cum ferrum se inflexisset, neque evellere neque sinistra impedita satis commode pugnare poterant, multi ut diu iactato bracchio praeoptarent scutum manu emittere et nudo corpore pugnare. (BG I.25)*
I asked for a couple of student volunteers to stand one in front of the other, each holding one of our shields in imitation of the Helvetians. I brought one of the spears toward them and demonstrated how it could have transfixed the shields and pinned them together. The students quickly saw the disadvantage and realized the only choice the Helvetians had was to drop their shields.
Then we read this from I.26.
Ad multam noctem etiam ad impedimenta pugnatum est, propterea quod pro vallo carros obiecerunt et e loco superiore in nostros venientes tela coniciebant et non nulli inter carros rotasque mataras ac tragulas subiciebant nostrosque vulnerabant.*
I have always illustrated this by having the students pile up their desks in the middle of the room in imitation of the Helvetians wagons. In the past, we enacted what went on using a yardstick and a golf club I keep in the room (don't ask!). This year we recreated the last stand of the Helvetians using our two real spears.
I'm not sure who had more fun, but I am sure that we all got a better sense of Caesar's writings through roleplaying and the use of authentic weaponry.
*For translations of these passages, see here.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Crastinus Recruits Middle Schoolers
On January 20, 2012, primus pilus Gaius Crastinus spoke three times to the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at Northview Middle School in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was fortunate to have with him his nephew Trevorius (Latin III senior from North Central High School, Trevor Lanahan). With Trevorius, he presented the ins and outs of the fiercest legion ever to fight for the eagles of Rome, Legion X. As you can see, the students had a great time, especially when they got to check out the armor and learn to battle on stage!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Forging a Centurion, Part V
So what does a young man who has just graduated with a B.A. in Classical Studies and gotten married do next? Go teach Latin in the inner-city! My wife, also a soon-to-be Latin teacher, and I had applied in several different school districts, but one in particular showed promise, the Kansas City Missouri School District, and the reason was the Martin Luther King, Jr. Latin Grammar Magnet Middle School. Now an elementary school, King was part of KCMSD's magnet program to fight segregation. It had two Latin teachers in each of grades 6-8, and two Latin resource teachers as well. Our first thought was that this was heaven on earth. Eight Latin teachers in one school! A public school where students wore uniforms and were required to take Latin! Classical culture infused throughout the curriculum!
We soon learned that this was not Elysium, but then again, it was not Tartarus, either. We worked with many wonderful colleagues and learned the true craft of teaching, something that cannot be learned in education courses or even while student teaching. Our school was at 42nd and Indiana, just inside the 43rd Street gang zone that belonged to the Crips. While we taught there, I teaching 8th grade Latin and my wife teaching 7th, we learned about the Crips and Bloods and gang life in general. We discovered that the year before we arrived, there had been a gang lynching one block from our school and the body had still been hanging from the tree as the school buses full of children arrived at school. One of my own more disturbed students was eventually withdrawn from the school after being arrested for armed robbery the night before. Remember, I was teaching 8th grade. One of my students took off the tie from his uniform, lassoed another student with it, and began dragging him across the floor while shouting, "Come on, dog!" The mother of one of my students showed up for a parent conference wearing a pink leather mini-skirt and bustier, complete with bunny ears on her head. Another showed up at the school with a belt and chased her son around the second floor in an effort to deal out punishment.
As I say, we learned a lot while we were there. I learned just how much I love children. I learned how to control a classroom while attempting to deliver instruction. I learned the deep truth of the French essayist Montaigne when he wrote, "It is the achievement of a lofty and very strong soul to know how to come down to a childish gait and guide it. I walk more firmly and surely uphill than down." (Of the Education of Children)
I also began to develop more fully my beliefs about Latin instruction. We used a book called Cambridge Latin Course, which remains a popular textbook today. Pedagogically speaking, it is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the books I had in high school, Latin for Americans and Our Latin Heritage, and from the approach taken by the professors at Indiana University. In short, the Cambridge series presents stories on the assumption that students will pick up the grammar as they go. The books and instructors I had present the grammatical foundations of the language first, building up to more interesting stories. I began to be convinced, and remain convinced to this day, that two students who start out with each approach and complete an undergraduate degree in Classics will end up in about the same place. Most students, however, do not complete such a degree, and by the end of high school, the two students from the two different methods will be about as far apart as they could be. In the end, a great many students will not go on to read Latin fluently, but the student who has been trained in the grammatical foundations will have a structure by which he can learn well not only other languages, but any other subject.
After two years of teaching at King, my wife and I decided to make the move to graduate school. I remember a defining conversation about this decision taking place at the Pizza Hut near where we lived. My first act was to contact my good friend and former Greek professor, Dr. Tim Long, at IU. He gave me a list of the best graduate schools for Classical studies, and then drew a line, separating the top notch ones from those that were good and would hold almost guaranteed admission for me. I applied to several and visited the University of Illinois, where I would have had a teaching position immediately as part of my financial aid package. I had looked at The University of Texas, which was above the line on Dr. Long's list, but had decided not to apply. After going out to a movie with a colleague from King who had gone to U.T. for her graduate work, she convinced me that, based on my G.R.E. scores, I would be guaranteed financial aid. On a whim, I applied, and was accepted.
The next chapter in this story takes us to Texas, but I shall never forget the lessons I learned teaching inner-city middle school Latin my first years out of college. Whatever ability I have to relate to students and present material in a way they can understand was forged in that crucible.
We soon learned that this was not Elysium, but then again, it was not Tartarus, either. We worked with many wonderful colleagues and learned the true craft of teaching, something that cannot be learned in education courses or even while student teaching. Our school was at 42nd and Indiana, just inside the 43rd Street gang zone that belonged to the Crips. While we taught there, I teaching 8th grade Latin and my wife teaching 7th, we learned about the Crips and Bloods and gang life in general. We discovered that the year before we arrived, there had been a gang lynching one block from our school and the body had still been hanging from the tree as the school buses full of children arrived at school. One of my own more disturbed students was eventually withdrawn from the school after being arrested for armed robbery the night before. Remember, I was teaching 8th grade. One of my students took off the tie from his uniform, lassoed another student with it, and began dragging him across the floor while shouting, "Come on, dog!" The mother of one of my students showed up for a parent conference wearing a pink leather mini-skirt and bustier, complete with bunny ears on her head. Another showed up at the school with a belt and chased her son around the second floor in an effort to deal out punishment.
As I say, we learned a lot while we were there. I learned just how much I love children. I learned how to control a classroom while attempting to deliver instruction. I learned the deep truth of the French essayist Montaigne when he wrote, "It is the achievement of a lofty and very strong soul to know how to come down to a childish gait and guide it. I walk more firmly and surely uphill than down." (Of the Education of Children)
I also began to develop more fully my beliefs about Latin instruction. We used a book called Cambridge Latin Course, which remains a popular textbook today. Pedagogically speaking, it is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the books I had in high school, Latin for Americans and Our Latin Heritage, and from the approach taken by the professors at Indiana University. In short, the Cambridge series presents stories on the assumption that students will pick up the grammar as they go. The books and instructors I had present the grammatical foundations of the language first, building up to more interesting stories. I began to be convinced, and remain convinced to this day, that two students who start out with each approach and complete an undergraduate degree in Classics will end up in about the same place. Most students, however, do not complete such a degree, and by the end of high school, the two students from the two different methods will be about as far apart as they could be. In the end, a great many students will not go on to read Latin fluently, but the student who has been trained in the grammatical foundations will have a structure by which he can learn well not only other languages, but any other subject.
After two years of teaching at King, my wife and I decided to make the move to graduate school. I remember a defining conversation about this decision taking place at the Pizza Hut near where we lived. My first act was to contact my good friend and former Greek professor, Dr. Tim Long, at IU. He gave me a list of the best graduate schools for Classical studies, and then drew a line, separating the top notch ones from those that were good and would hold almost guaranteed admission for me. I applied to several and visited the University of Illinois, where I would have had a teaching position immediately as part of my financial aid package. I had looked at The University of Texas, which was above the line on Dr. Long's list, but had decided not to apply. After going out to a movie with a colleague from King who had gone to U.T. for her graduate work, she convinced me that, based on my G.R.E. scores, I would be guaranteed financial aid. On a whim, I applied, and was accepted.
The next chapter in this story takes us to Texas, but I shall never forget the lessons I learned teaching inner-city middle school Latin my first years out of college. Whatever ability I have to relate to students and present material in a way they can understand was forged in that crucible.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Soldiers in the Classroom
Over the weekend my family helped me set up Centurio primus pilus Legionis X Gaius Crastinus (First-Rank Centurion of Legion X Gaius Crastinus) and miles Publius Sempronius Tuditanus Legionis VI Ferratae (soldier Publius Sempronius Tuditanus of Legion VI Ferrata).
These are just pictures I snapped with my phone. I should have better ones uploaded early next week.
They make a fine addition to our classroom. I don't think we will have too much trouble with classroom discipline now...not that we ever did with the best students at North Central!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Forging a Centurion, Part IV
It only seems right that I post this next installment on a day when I have been doing Classics research at Indiana University. Whenever I have a Classics research need, I head to the Main Library at IU. If I have a Classics-related question, chances are good my first email is to a friend on the fifth floor of Ballantine Hall, the home of Indiana University Classical Studies. As I have often told my parents over the years, their putting me through college has produced dividends that far outlasted their four-year investment. My wonderful experience of IU Classics, however, almost never happened.
I enrolled as a freshman at IU with several scholarships under my belt, including ones from the Indiana Junior Classical League and the National Latin Exam. A placement exam I took during freshman orientation, however, said that I earned no credit in Latin. I explained to the advisor that I had several Latin scholarships and was planning to be a Latin teacher. He double-checked the scores, and there had been a computer glitch that cut all the scores in half. I actually had earned enough credit to start my first year of college Latin in a 300-level Cicero course.
That first course was with Prof. Betty Rose Nagle. I was fortunate to continue my study with Prof. Ted Ramage for Livy, Prof. James Halporn for Latin prose composition, Prof. Eleanor Leach for Horace and Catullus, Prof. Louis Perraud (now at the University of Idaho) for Plautus and Terence and again for Ovid/Propertius/Tibullus/Catullus, Prof. Mark Damen (now at Utah State University) for Vergil's Eclogues and Georgics, Prof. Tim Long for Greek, and Prof. Betty Rose Nagle for Ovid. It is interesting that the first and last Latin classes I took at IU were both taught by Prof. Nagle.
Not only did my appreciation and passion for Classical Studies grow by leaps and bounds with such instructors, but I gained long-lasting professional relationships. I have remained in contact with Professors Long, Nagle, and Leach over the years, and both Long and Leach attended the wedding when I married the girl I had met in Prof. Halporn's class. My friendship with Tim Long is truly one of the treasured parts of my life. As I have acknowledged elsewhere, he has been a teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend, and I was very happy when we established a scholarship in his name at North Central High School.
After graduation with a B.A. with honors in Classical Studies, I immediately went into teaching and soon after pursued graduate work, all of which will be the subjects of upcoming posts. To this day, however, I can say that IU Classical Studies prepared me well to live my dream, and it is to its resources and to its faculty in Ballantine Hall that I still return as I continue to learn and grow in the greatest discipline within the liberal arts.
I enrolled as a freshman at IU with several scholarships under my belt, including ones from the Indiana Junior Classical League and the National Latin Exam. A placement exam I took during freshman orientation, however, said that I earned no credit in Latin. I explained to the advisor that I had several Latin scholarships and was planning to be a Latin teacher. He double-checked the scores, and there had been a computer glitch that cut all the scores in half. I actually had earned enough credit to start my first year of college Latin in a 300-level Cicero course.
That first course was with Prof. Betty Rose Nagle. I was fortunate to continue my study with Prof. Ted Ramage for Livy, Prof. James Halporn for Latin prose composition, Prof. Eleanor Leach for Horace and Catullus, Prof. Louis Perraud (now at the University of Idaho) for Plautus and Terence and again for Ovid/Propertius/Tibullus/Catullus, Prof. Mark Damen (now at Utah State University) for Vergil's Eclogues and Georgics, Prof. Tim Long for Greek, and Prof. Betty Rose Nagle for Ovid. It is interesting that the first and last Latin classes I took at IU were both taught by Prof. Nagle.
Not only did my appreciation and passion for Classical Studies grow by leaps and bounds with such instructors, but I gained long-lasting professional relationships. I have remained in contact with Professors Long, Nagle, and Leach over the years, and both Long and Leach attended the wedding when I married the girl I had met in Prof. Halporn's class. My friendship with Tim Long is truly one of the treasured parts of my life. As I have acknowledged elsewhere, he has been a teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend, and I was very happy when we established a scholarship in his name at North Central High School.
After graduation with a B.A. with honors in Classical Studies, I immediately went into teaching and soon after pursued graduate work, all of which will be the subjects of upcoming posts. To this day, however, I can say that IU Classical Studies prepared me well to live my dream, and it is to its resources and to its faculty in Ballantine Hall that I still return as I continue to learn and grow in the greatest discipline within the liberal arts.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Forging a Centurion, Part III
My senior year of high school saw a new Latin teacher, Miss Marcene Holverson. She came to us from Illinois a young teacher, and we were eager to see how she would follow the legend that was Miss Ranck. The answer soon came as she introduced us to new activities in Latin Club, and we quickly found a new friend in her.
Miss Holverson led my class through Vergil's Aeneid and asked us to do something I thought horribly inappropriate. She asked us to write a paper. My eighteen year old arrogance knew that the sole activity of a Latin student was to translate. Papers were for English class. Yet Miss Holverson not only required us to write a paper, but to deliver it in front of our peers. As a teacher who regularly assigns challenging papers to the upper level class, I look back on that episode and laugh.
Miss Holverson also took us to the the Indiana Junior Classical League State Convention at Indiana University and saw to it that we took the National Latin Exam. I remain forever grateful for those opportunities, for not only did I win several scholarships through these activities, but I have led hundreds of my own students to state conventions in Texas and Indiana and always make sure my students take the NLE.
That year I was elected co-consul, or president, of our chapter of the Junior Classical League, and we engaged in many fun activities. Not only did we continue our participation in certamen events around the state, but we ended our year with a trip to King's Island amusement park in Cincinnati. The downside for me was that I had my wisdom teeth removed the day before the trip, and stitches in my gums prevented me from opening my mouth very wide, a considerable handicap on roller coasters. I did, however, use Latin in my dental adventure, for as I came out of the anesthesia, I began conjugating the irregular verb fero in my head.
Several years later, Miss Holverson got married and became Mrs. Marcene Farley. She returned to her native Illinois and teaches at Pekin Community High School, where I recently had the opportunity to present Gaius Crastinus. Marcene and I have remained in contact over the years as colleagues and friends. Her assistance with scholarships my senior year was a huge help as I made the transition to collegiate Latin, which will be the subject of the next post.
Miss Holverson led my class through Vergil's Aeneid and asked us to do something I thought horribly inappropriate. She asked us to write a paper. My eighteen year old arrogance knew that the sole activity of a Latin student was to translate. Papers were for English class. Yet Miss Holverson not only required us to write a paper, but to deliver it in front of our peers. As a teacher who regularly assigns challenging papers to the upper level class, I look back on that episode and laugh.
Miss Holverson also took us to the the Indiana Junior Classical League State Convention at Indiana University and saw to it that we took the National Latin Exam. I remain forever grateful for those opportunities, for not only did I win several scholarships through these activities, but I have led hundreds of my own students to state conventions in Texas and Indiana and always make sure my students take the NLE.
That year I was elected co-consul, or president, of our chapter of the Junior Classical League, and we engaged in many fun activities. Not only did we continue our participation in certamen events around the state, but we ended our year with a trip to King's Island amusement park in Cincinnati. The downside for me was that I had my wisdom teeth removed the day before the trip, and stitches in my gums prevented me from opening my mouth very wide, a considerable handicap on roller coasters. I did, however, use Latin in my dental adventure, for as I came out of the anesthesia, I began conjugating the irregular verb fero in my head.
Several years later, Miss Holverson got married and became Mrs. Marcene Farley. She returned to her native Illinois and teaches at Pekin Community High School, where I recently had the opportunity to present Gaius Crastinus. Marcene and I have remained in contact over the years as colleagues and friends. Her assistance with scholarships my senior year was a huge help as I made the transition to collegiate Latin, which will be the subject of the next post.
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