THE LATIN YEARS: 1994-201

Philip William Hickey
This passage penned by Dr. Patrick O’Brien, a Latin teacher at St. Paul’s Episcopal School, summarizes my first years of teaching Latin:

“I confess - when I was a new teacher, my Latin classes were boring! 
This passage penned by Dr. Patrick O’Brien, a Latin teacher at St. Paul’s Episcopal School, summarizes my first years of teaching Latin:

“I confess - when I was a new teacher, my Latin classes were boring! Because my own Latin teacher had used very (shall we say) traditional approaches to Latin, I utilized the same methods. This was limited almost exclusively to assigning students a passage to translate . . .  with a class period spent in a teacher-centered review of their translations. One day, one of my best and kindest students raised her hand and, in the sweetest possible way, asked ‘Mr. O’Brien, can we maybe do something different today?’ The question floored me, but I was devastated to recognize that she was right. My class was boring, and I needed to shake things up. My dismay deepened as I attended a few North American Cambridge Latin Project workshops and learned all the exciting and innovative things other teachers were doing. Things that I wasn’t doing.”

While I did try to capture the attention of my students with my distinctly Hickey style of teaching, it did not always work. Some grasped what the language offered and delighted in the often predictable structure of the language, made connections to the foreign language they had previously studied, and dutifully accepted that which some deemed dull. Since I loved translating passages from Latin, declining nouns, conjugating verbs, and memorizing vocabulary, I assumed everyone would.

I was losing some of the students who were coaxed into studying Latin. The program -- at least, the program I knew -- existed for those students for whom a spoken language was difficult. In addition, it attracted new students who had not studied a foreign language or were a bit behind in the studies of French and Spanish (and did not wish to spend the summer prepping for the demands of our foreign language program). Of course, the class did attract some students who wanted to take Latin. This was a curious melange in some ways -- not that other academic classes did not face this issue.

Studying some Roman mythology and history helped-- not to mention, some videos that enhanced the study of these areas. Projects boosted the grades for the students who struggled with translations or anything else in the class.

As I became more familiar with the concept of differentiation and experimented with different types of assessments, I became less anxious about my classes that met during the day. Thanks to computers -- not my strength by any means -- there were many ways to demonstrate knowledge of material and prepare for quizzes and tests.

Latin was beginning to move into the twenty-first century. Many of my students, especially during its last years, pushed me to rethink and redo what oft I thought was best. Using the Cambridge Latin  program was a marvelous way to study the language, even though I did not “buy into” the philosophy of the program as quickly as I should have.

I enjoyed the morning classes since these were the students who wanted to learn another language. However, the highlight of my years in Latin was adding a once a week Latin class in fifth grade. I do not recall the reason why we added the class, but it was so much fun spending time with fifth graders. Their eagerness was infectious. Before the Latin program ended, we modified the class and added more mythology. Despite my abnormal affection for myths, I longed for the previous set-up.

I wish I could boast that I upheld the excellence established by previous Latin teachers, especially Diana Wilson and Bev Noia-- I tried my best. 


 
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Graland Country Day School is a private school in Denver, Colorado, serving students in preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school. Founded in Denver in 1927, Graland incorporates a rich, experiential learning approach in a traditional classroom setting, emphasizing the development of globally and socially conscious leaders who excel academically.