Sapere Aude: Beginners Level Latin for High Schoolers (Part Three)

I fell in love with classics as an undergraduate. During high school, I had taken a few Latin courses, and I had a genuine interest in the language (as a child, I had even attempted to teach myself Latin from a book, which didn't go so well, but clearly I had an attraction to Latin from an early age!), but it wasn't something I imagined myself pursuing in any serious way in higher education. In the first semester of my freshman year at college, however, due to a mix up with my schedule, I ended up in a Roman history course, and it transformed my world. I was entranced by both the subject matter and the teacher, and when the second semester came around, I made sure to sign up for as many classics courses as I could take. By sophomore year, I was learning ancient Greek and declaring my major in classics. I received my BA in Latin Language and Literature (with an undeclared minor in ancient Greek) from Oberlin College. 

During my senior year of college, I made the decision to apply to graduate school. By that time, I had decided that I wanted to share my excitement for the classical world by becoming a teacher, and given my passion for classics, I preferred to deepen my knowledge of the subject rather than to attend a master's of education program. I received a merit-based classics fellowship from the University of Virginia, from which I received my MA in Classics. 

I have been a Latin language tutor for my entire adult life, I have taught Latin language and literature courses on the college level, and as a teacher at a private school in Virginia, I taught Latin language courses (intro Latin all the way through AP Latin) for middle schoolers and upper schoolers; because the school gave teachers control over course curriculum, I structured my classes so that mythology, Roman history, and classical civilization played an integral role. 

I am passionate about all things classics, and I love what I do. I love to build bridges between ancient Rome and the modern world, to help students to feel connected to a language and a people from which so much of Western civilization stems. I want to see students excited about classics, to feel that they are discovering something mysterious and thrilling, to see the ancient world come to life in front of their eyes!

Successful language learning requires student effort outside of class. Students may be assigned textbook reading, translation, composition exercises, or other activities in between class meetings. As this course meets only once per week, students are also strongly encouraged to "touch" the material every day, even for short (5-10 minute) periods; the teacher is happy to provide suggestions as to what activities might be helpful, but students are also encouraged to explore what works for them. Formal homework assignments could range from an hour to two hours outside of class each week, with "touch" activities left to the students' discretion. Occasionally, students may be asked to complete an online activity at Quia.com; such activities are designed to help students to think about the fundamentals of the language in a different way than a textbook can provide.

55 minutes per week in class, and an estimated 1 - 2 hours per week outside of class.

This course makes use of Wheelock's Latin textbook (7th edition). Supplementary materials may be provided by the teacher in the form of shared documents or slides.