Category Archives: Teaching

The 9 Types of College Teachers

There are more than nine, but this School is Hell cartoon covers the most important ones (þ Colby Cosh). I link it here partly for you, dear readers, partly so I can find it again myself, since Cosh’s twittery link … Continue reading

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Modern Education

Aunt Bernice: “The government’s been overthrown, and guess who’s responsible.” Ajax: “Wait! I know this. Eli Whitney? Harriet Beecher Stowe? Aaron Burr?” Aunt Bernice: “No, Ajax.” Ajax: “Unless it’s someone named Isosceles Triangle, I’ve wasted a whole year of school.” … Continue reading

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What Does This Even Mean?

Seen on a T-shirt worn by an 8th-grade Latin student (male): Satan is a nerd.

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High School Humor

One of my Latin II students, a 9th-grader, told the class that she wants to have three sons so she can name them Alvin, Theodore, and Simon. I told her that if she does that she’ll end up spending tens … Continue reading

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Pamphlet: Androclus and the Lion

I have been experimenting with making pamphlets for Latin and Greek texts that are too short to fill a whole book. The first one finished is a teaching text of Androclus and the Lion, which I used with my Latin … Continue reading

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Overheard while Waiting to Take the PRAXIS Latin Test

Dramatic dialogue recounted by a man who teaches in a small town in the country (T = teacher, S = student): T. What’s 60 divided by 15? S. Four. T. What’s 15 divided by 60? S. We can’t do that, … Continue reading

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Two Things I Didn’t Know

My school has a ‘service day’ every semester, when students are sent out to do good works of various kinds. Tomorrow, high-schoolers over 16 will be demolishing a house for Habitat for Humanity, while those under 16 (HforH has an … Continue reading

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Cruel, But Not Unusual

Many of my students — especially a couple of 7th-grade boys — show a great deal of interest in ancient forms of capital punishment. Today I put together a model to illustrate the Athenian practice of apotumpanismós, or ‘planking’, which … Continue reading

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A Must-Have For Latinists?

Next Tuesday, the Criterion Collection will be coming out with a five-DVD collection of Ingmar Bergman’s earliest movies. Here’s the IMDB plot summary of the earliest of all, Hets or Torment (1944): Jan-Erik Widgren is a high-school senior. His Latin … Continue reading

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I’m Back

The main reason for my long silence is that I’m now teaching full-time instead of 3/5ths, due to a sudden and unanticipated personnel change three weeks ago. Besides Latin IV (AP Vergil) and 6th-grade Geography (fall only), I’m now teaching … Continue reading

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Five Years Ago Today . . . .

. . . was my first day as a High School teacher. Of course, I didn’t get much done other than meet the students, hand out syllabuses, and begin to learn their names. I got even less done on the … Continue reading

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Reading Notes: Trollope

From Chapter I of Anthony Trollope’s Dr. Wortle’s School, I learn that British schools provided their pupils (aged 11-17) with beer every day, and with wine and even champagne when they were ill. In Chapter III, a boy who falls … Continue reading

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