My teaching in 2019 has had its ups and downs. There were times in the spring when I felt that I might need to leave the profession for my mental health, so I spent a lot of time over the summer in reflection. I am in a much better place now, but I still have days when I feel like pulling a Ginger Spice.
Teaching:
- Writing my own novice-level Latin texts - I wrote about this for 2018 and I am still doing this for Latin II this school year. I love going back to the ancient texts and writing novice-level versions for my students. Right now I prefer it to teaching with novellas because I find that novellas get stale for both the students and me, so students are always getting new myths to read. This semester we read myths about Vulcan/Hephaestus, Mars/Ares, Venus/Aphrodite, Diana/Artemis, and Atalanta. In 2020 I plan to write novice-level stories about myths of Apollo, Mercury/Hermes, and Roman history.
- Procedures - Over the summer I read Jon Cowart's new book on classroom management in the CI classroom. My biggest takeaway this year has been to include warm-up activities for every class to prepare students for class, review previous vocabulary, and offer comfort through predictable routines.
- Google Forms - I'm slowly but surely getting better at creating open-ended activities with Google Forms. In the spring, students solved a mystery with various possible endings. In the fall, students learned what the dreams meant according to ancient Roman interpretations of various types of dreams.
- Dressing up as Banjo and Kazooie for Halloween!
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| 20 years in the making! |
Greek & Latin:
- My first ACL - I attended the annual ACL Institute in New York City in June and enjoyed meeting many, many faces I had only known online.
- I haven't read much in the way of Greek and Latin texts (beyond those I use to create my novice-level myth stories for Latin II), but I did enjoy Ken Dark and Jan Kostenec's new book Hagia Sophia in Context: An Archaeological Re-examination of the Cathedral of Byzantine Constantinople. It was the closest I could get to one of my lifelong dreams - getting access to all of the Hagia Sophia.
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| Highly recommended! |
Travel:
- Macon and Valdosta, GA - A quick two-day trip during my spring break to explore the swamps of Georgia. Unseasonably cold, but still fun, even though I didn't see the wildlife I wanted to see in Valdosta. I did see two massive gators in Macon though!
- New York City - ACL Institute. My third time in NYC, so less pressure to go sightseeing this time. The highlight this time was visiting the Nintendo Store.
- Augusta, GA - Visiting more swamps. Great place to see alligators. I finally had my first encounter with a Georgia snake too!
- Chicago - Back home for Thanksgiving and my 4 F's of being home: friends, family, fur babies, and food. I visited the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture for the first time, despite the fact that my mother's side is 100% Lithuanian. An unexpected highlight: ancient artifacts from or found in Lithuania, such as amber found in Egypt and Roman coins found in Lithuania.
Annum novum faustum felicem tibi, lector!
