When Students Lead

It was a simple warm-up activity.  I put a verb on the board for the students to conjugate in a particular person and number.  Recently, I have been inviting students to go to the board to put up their answers as they felt led to do so rather than raising their hands and waiting on me to call on them to write their answers.  Today, however, that took a different twist.

After a few students had begun writing their answers, one young man just stayed at the front.  He sat in my swivel chair and gave occasional directions to his peers.  When we got ready to discuss the answers, I told him to stay where he was and lead us.  He invited a friend to join him, and together they led the class in a discussion of the forms.  Classmates offered corrections when necessary.

In his poem "Horatius," Thomas Babington Macaulay describes the Etruscan army marching on Rome and uses a phrase that I have often found applicable in teaching.  He says the army was "right glorious to behold."  This was the expression that came to mind as I watched these two young men show great leadership in guiding our class through the activity.

I was so impressed that I asked if any student would like to lead the discussion in the next class, and one of our young ladies stepped to the plate.  What impressed me this time was how she handled a difficult question from one of her classmates.  Rather than turn to me, she said, "Let me get my notebook."  Another student joined her in trying to answer their classmate's question.

Am I proud of these students?  You could say that!

Who's Your Juno?

Our Latin I (Latin 1/2) class has started an IB-MYP unit that is exploring the legend of Aeneas.  This foundational story for Roman history comes back to us in AP Latin when we read Vergil's Aeneid, and the version in our Latin I textbook is our introduction to it.

Today we read that the hero of the story, Aeneas, had fled from Troy with a small band of refugees.  The Greeks were winning the Trojan War, and Venus had told her son, Aeneas, to take a small band and flee.  Their mission was to find a new homeland, but Juno, the queen of the gods, held a grudge against the Trojans and brought them endless trouble as they sailed the Mediterranean.

After we had translated our story from the Latin and had drawn maps to detail where Aeneas traveled in the Mediterranean, we paused for something different.  A key component of the IB-MYP is reflection, and our guiding question for this unit is, "How do I handle unexpected obstacles to reaching my goals?"  I asked the students to spend a few minutes jotting down who was their Juno.  I suggested that their Juno might be a particular person, a group of people, or even someone from the past, someone who had made a hurtful comment that has lingered in the mind.  I also asked them to write how they had dealt with this Juno.  I pointed out that not everyone has a Juno, and this was fine, too.  I also stated that no one would need to share anything he or she did not want to.

After they had taken a few minutes to reflect, a few students in each of our Latin I classes did choose to share.  For one person, her Juno was people she had thought were her friends, but really were not.  She chose to dissociate herself from those people.  Another student said she herself could be her own Juno by doubting her abilities.  She dealt with that by thinking of the bigger picture.  Other students took a different approach.  One said that his Juno was personal laziness.  One said her Juno was the challenging schedule of athletics.

As is always the case, two things came of this.  Students thought in broader ways than I could have imagined, and Classical literature provided the raw material for important understandings of life.

Something Better

Heu, regni rerumque oblite tuarum!
Alas, you who are forgetful of your kingdom and your affairs!  (Aeneid 6.267)

As we read this line yesterday in our AP Latin class, I was struck by how appropriate it is for many of our students.  Teachers will be quick to think, "Ah, yes.  This is indeed a great line about students who fail to study and do their homework."  Yet I would say there is more here than just that.

Let's start with some context.  In the Roman poet Vergil's epic Aeneid, he tells the tale of a Trojan hero who sails from the burning remains of Troy with his family and friends.  This band of refugees flees across the Mediterranean en route to new homeland in Italy.  Blown off course by storm of divine origin, they land in Carthage where the hero, Aeneas, meets Queen Dido.  An affair begins, also prompted by divine machinations, and Jupiter finally sends Mercury to tell Aeneas he must leave and get on with the business of establishing the Trojans in a new home.

All of us, like Aeneas, become distracted from our true mission.  This is true for the ancient hero, the modern adult, and the child in the classroom.  Many of us may rail against the temptations of technology, but let's face it.  There is a lot of fun stuff out there!  I was on the moon when the lead singer/lead guitarist of my favorite '80s hair metal band retweeted my tweet about their new album recently.  Imagine, then, the challenges our students face when it comes to a choice of:  a) study for the quiz or b) text a friend while listening to music and updating Facebook.

Yet if we are simply offended that they have failed to do the work that we have assigned and if our response is solely from the perspective of "you should do this work because it's good for you," then we have missed something greater, something better.  I am reminded of the scene in Braveheart in which, just after the battle of Stirling, William Wallace has been knighted by the Scottish nobles.  They want him to declare his allegiance for one of the clans in their bid for kingship against the cruel English monarch Edward the Longshanks, and the room erupts into arguments and accusations.  Wallace shouts in reply, "You're so concerned with squabbling for the scraps from Lonshanks's table that you've missed your God-given right to something better."

Education, including the hard work of study, is about helping students discover the glories of creation.  Think about it.  Snow, quasars, atoms, the Fibonacci sequence, dactylic hexameter poetry, democracy, verb formation, hypertext markup language...are you kidding me?  The world is an amazing place, filled with natural and human-invented wonders that stagger the imagination, and education introduces children to such a place.  But wait!  There's more!  Education is also about helping students discover and develop their gifts for making their own contributions to this miraculous world, this marvelous play called life.

Coming back, then, to missed homework assignments and the failure to study for quizzes and tests, we see that not doing such work is not just a dereliction of duty, but rather a missed opportunity.  Mercury reminds Aeneas that in his distraction with Queen Dido he has not just forgotten his duties, he is missing out on the kingdom destined to be his.  A missed assignment, while seemingly nothing more than a workbook exercise not completed, is actually much more.  Because homework and paying attention in classs and group work and class participation are all part of education, students who fail to be fully engaged are ultimately cheating themselves of their right to something better.  For Aeneas, the destined kingdom lay across uncertain waters.  The kingdom for our students lies all around them.  It is theirs for the taking, if only they will.

Nobody's Fault But Mine

Nobody's fault but mine
Nobody's fault but mine
If I don't read, my soul be lost
Nobody's fault but mine

So runs the chorus in the classic Blind Willie Johnson song.  I was reminded of that this morning as one of my sophomores talked with a friend before first period.  My student and her friend came into the classroom, and the friend began asking her about Latin.  She immediately began to talk about how much fun it was, and that made me tune in a bit.  I listened as she shared with her friend activities we do and even taught her friend how to say hello to one person, Salve, and to more than one person, Salvete.

My student then took out her vocabulary list and explained to her friend that all the vocabulary for the quarter is available on our website, as is a course outline that lists all the homework assignments, tests, and quizzes.  She said to her friend, "I have no excuse not to do well."

Needless to say, such a conversation was music to a teacher's ears.  This is the kind of responsibility we want to see students take for their learning.  I have done my job by making resources available, but she is also doing her job by utilizing those resources.  Lest anyone think this is a rare student, I would venture to say the majority, perhaps even a large majority, of my students take her approach.  Does everyone get an A?  No.  Is every student prepared every day with every assignment?  Of course not.  They are human beings.  They do, however, know the right way to approach their studies, and I could not have been more proud of this student sharing that with her friend.

Teens Will Be Teens...And That's a Good Thing

Make no mistake, the students in my classes are genuine teenagers.  Some bring to class a stunning array of colored pens so they can take notes in alternating colors.  Others write in multi-hued Sharpies on their backbacks.  They wear t-shirts promoting their favorite bands, are quick to talk about movies like The Avengers, and display all the enthusiasm and humor of young people trying to discover their place in the world.

It is important to preface this post with such words, for when I describe the depth of thought displayed recently in our Latin II (3/4) and Latin IV (7/8) classes, one could easily think I teach an elite group of savants.  This is not the case.  These are normal teens, and this is what normal teens are capable of.

Yesterday, our Latin IV Advanced Placement class was reading Aeneid VI.594ff in which Venus speaks to the hero Aeneas.  She tells him that it is not Helen who is responsible for the fall of Troy, but cruelty of the gods.  One of our students observed that humans often made reference to the gods in a vague way when in fact they were speaking of the fates, some unseen force above them directing the circumstances of life.  He asked if the fates were above the gods, as they often seem to be in ancient stories, and if so, whether the gods would refer to them as gods.  The answer to this with regard to this particular passage comes in lines 610ff, where Venus points out specific deities who are undermining Troy, but this young man's question was a good one, and it led us to consider three scenarios:  (1) humans-gods-fates, (2) humans-fates-gods, (3) humans-gods/fates, with gods and fates being at the same level in the third option.  We also discussed the how our answers would differ whether the gods and fates were seen as anthropomorphic characters or purely as metaphors.  I had not anticipated this line of discussion, but it was just one more in a long line of meaningful digressions that we often encounter in this class thanks to the brilliance of normal, everyday teens.

Then today, one of our freshmen in Latin II (3/4), who began her studies as an 8th grader coming to our high school last year, asked a brilliant question in our introduction to the perfect subjunctive.  We drew the comparison in form between the perfect passive subjunctive and future perfect passive indicative.  This young lady offered a hypothesis as to why these forms are so similar.  She noted that the subjunctive already carries with it an uncertain, almost future feeling, and that it made sense for the perfect passive subjunctive to share forms with the future perfect passive indicative.  That one stunned me.  It was not that this young lady has not said brilliant things before.  It was the breathtaking depth of linguistic speculation.  In a freshman.

As I said at the beginning, my students are just regular kids.  They joke and act silly just as we would expect.  Yet they are also capable of intellectual engagement like what I have described.  Such behavior really can be the norm.

Diverse Brilliance

We are fortunate in Washington Township to allow our eighth grade students to come to North Central from their middle schools to begin their first year of study in one of our seven world languages.  As a result, we have students in Latin V (Latin 9/10) as seniors.  Some of them prepare for the International Baccalaureate diploma, but others take the year as an opportunity to engage in independent study of areas of particular interest to them.

This year we have eight Latin V students, and after spending the first quarter reading Ovid with those who are preparing for the IB diploma, some of them are now planning what they want to pursue this quarter.  It is impossible to say how intelligent and creative this group of seniors is.  As juniors they were already engaging our studies at a collegiate level.  Their insights are at times breathtaking.  It comes as no surprise, then, the depth and diversity of their thinking about independent study.

One young man has been reading about Stoicism.  I asked him some guiding questions, and he replied with a detailed approach to how he wants to explore this important school of ancient thought.  From his early research, he knows what he wants to read and from what authors.  He has developed his own guiding framework.  I suggested he incorporate a piece in which he explores his own thoughts about the tenets of Stoicism.  Largely, this was just for me.  I am eager to see how his mind works.

Another student, inspired by this, wants to pursue Epicureanism through the work of Lucretius and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.

One young man wants to marry his Latin work with his passion for theatre.  He will be exploring the works of Roman comedy and tragedy.

I met with one young lady from the class today to discuss her own philosophical interests, but the discussion quickly turned to the composition of Latin poetry.  She is an author and poet, but wanted to compose more Latin poetry in an extension of a project we had done last year.  I introduced her to Vates:  The Journal of New Latin Poetry and the Gradus ad Parnassum.  We talked about the standard dactylic hexameter and the variety of other meters used by Horace and Catullus.  It was clear from the light in her eye that this is the direction she wants to go.  I cannot wait to see what she produces.  I encouraged her to keep notes on her process, for this will make a fine introduction to the small book of Latin poetry that is her goal.

To say that I am excited by what these students will pursue is an understatement.  It is all part of the joy and old-fashioned fun of teaching Latin!

Where To Begin?

It is quiet now.  I am sitting in my classroom during my conference period.  There are still a few papers yet to mark before submitting grades for the end of the quarter, but I wanted to share a few words.  It has certainly been a  Friday like no other.

I arrived this morning a little before 6:30, eager to get in a bit of grading before classes began.  I quickly set up the "Do Now" or warm-up activity for our Period 1 class, and then settled in, pen in hand.  Once students began to enter the room, grading took a back seat to answering questions, and then I looked up to see Mr. Akers, one of our assistant principals, entering the room.  He asked for a few students to join others from other classes, and I called them over.  There was nothing unusual in this, for North Central students are often called upon for various opportunities outside the class.  As they left, I joked with the class that being taken away by an administrator is what happens when students are not working on their "Do Now!"  A few minutes later, I found out the real reason.

My door opened and our room was invaded by news crews, administrators, teachers, and friends.  Indiana Superintendent Glenda Ritz was leading my two children by the hand, and I saw my wife among the crowd.  Mrs. Ritz then announced that I was the 2014 Indiana Teacher of the Year and that I would be leaving my class for a press conference.  My first thought was about the "Do Now" activity on the board, and I asked if they had secured a class cover.  Our Washington Township superintendent, Dr. Nikki Woodson, assured me that this had been taken of, and off we went.

Upon exiting A526 I found upper A and H halls lined on both sides with students.  There were cheers and applause as I made my way downstairs and through this double line of students that I thought would never end.  For all the flashing of cameras and enthusiasm of the press, it is that line of cheering North Central Panthers that will remain one of my fondest memories.

It is hard so describe all that happened next.  I was mostly just trying to breathe.  Cameras continued to flash and numerous interviews with print and television media ensued.

As I prepare to finish my last bit of grading and try to sort through the barrage of emails and tweets that are coming through, I would like to conclude with this.  I am deeply and abidingly grateful to my family, friends, students, and colleagues for their incredible support and encouragement.  I will name names in another post, for to do so now would take too long and, as I am still overwhelmed, I would undoubtedly forget someone important.  Let it suffice to say that I love you all and thank you so very much for helping me do what I love...teaching.

Tribute to Classical Learning

What follows is precisely the kind of thing I have been talking about recently in my WJEL interview with Superintendent Dr. Nikki Woodson and in my interview with John Strauss for Indiana Public Radio.  It comes in the form of a Facebook message from my former student Jesse Moore.  He took Latin when I taught at LBJ High School in Austin, Texas, and is now an associate at a law firm there.  He offers a beautiful tribute to and raison d’être for Classical learning.

But, what I’m even more grateful for is that general Classical background. I got a lot more in college at UT with my appetite whetted from LBJ—our philosophy classes went heavily into Plato and Aristotle, literature had Homer and Virgil, and I took several Roman and Greek history classes from Palaima and some other great profs, read more Thucydides, Plutarch, Suetonius. Needless to say, being very enthusiastic about these subjects helped me develop the skills being taught. I still use those skills and think about their history—for instance, I was working on a trial recently and brought up Aristotle’s Rhetoric when discussing order of presentation with my boss (and we won.)

But, far more important to me is just knowing about these people and their histories and civilizations. It has made my life more complete and satisfying. I think we all have some questions about where we fit in both individually and as a group, and the Classical world has really helped me in my struggle with some of these questions. I might even prefer the poets to the philosophers—re-reading Catullus and seeing him grapple with love and loss and life and death 2000 years ago, and realizing nothing has changed, is more comforting than the Symposium. I don’t even know if I’d like poetry or have such an appreciation for good music lyrics if I hadn’t been taught scanning….  

Your grateful pupil--Jesse

Reflection and Inquiry

Reflection and inquiry are not just key components of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years, Middle Years, and Diploma Programmes, they are foundational to good education.  This year I started a project in both our Latin I (Latin 1/2) and Latin II (Latin 3/4) classes.  The Latin II students made presentations today, and to say that I was pleased with the results is the understatement of the year.  I could hardly wait to take pictures, upload them, and write this blog post.  What they did with this project exceeded my expectations and has convinced me to continue it in the years to come.

The students were instructed to keep a section of their notebooks titled QHN/QNC, abbreviations that stand for quod hodie noscebam (what I learned today) and quod noscere cupio (what I want to learn).  At the end of each class period, they had to jot down either a QHN or a QNC.  If there was something really interesting, intriguing, or meaningful to them that they learned that day, they would write a QHN.  If something we discussed in class inspired a question, they would write a QNC.

The project required that they produce a poster from one of two options. In option A, they could present ten QHNs.  Each QHN needed to be illustrated and be accompanied by a statement about why it was chosen.  In option B, they could present one QNC.  It needed to be a significant question and had to be accompanied by illustrations, an explanation of what inspired it, and the answer that had been discovered through independent research.

I was blown away by the presentations today for three reasons.  First, the posters looked very good.  I had told the students that these would be displayed in our hallway, and since the posters were representing them...what they had learned or what they wanted to know...they needed to be neat and attractive.  They certainly scored well there!

Second, I was impressed with the variety.  Students who presented ten QHNs offered incredibly different things.  Some focused more on important grammar or vocabulary they had learned or reviewed.  Others reflected on history, culture, or mythology.  Those who pursued QNCs went after an amazing array of topics, from exploring what the Romans ate for breakfast and why they enjoyed the violence of gladiator shows to understanding more deeply the role of the senate during the Republic.

Finally, I was simply stunned with the genuine interest and enthusiasm these students displayed in their presentations.  They did not merely read from their posters, but with great energy talked about what they had written or researched.  Their body language and facial expressions were dead giveaways of their interest, no doubt kindled because they had considerable choice in what they were presenting.

Brilliance in Latin II, III, and V

Today we were working on some review of verb forms in the Latin 3/4, or second-year Latin class.  The depth and brilliance of the questions and comments were truly striking.  For example, after reviewing the difference between the forms of sum when used alone or in conjunction with the perfect passive participle, one student observed that we do not need to talk about voice in the simple uses of sum and then went on to think aloud and come to a conclusion why that was.

In response to our discussion of so-called defective verbs that lack a fourth principal part, another student quickly observed that this meant they could have no passive voice, at least in the perfect system.

In the Latin V (or Latin 9/10) class, which is reading Ovid's Metamorphoses, the discussion of how and to what extent Ovid may have used the Latin passive voice in imitation of the Greek middle voice was outstanding.  Students quickly realized the philological analysis that would be necessary to make a significant conclusion about his usage, and one student asked questions about the composition of the Metamorphoses in relationship to his time of exile and whether or not his encounters with primarily Greek-speaking people would have influenced his style.  This was on top of their deep engagement and genuine enjoyment of the Actaeon story in Book II.

In the final period of the day, which is our Latin III (or Latin 5/6) class, we began Cicero's In Catilinam I.  The first few lines are so rich in rhetorical style that we were flying fast and furiously through anaphoras, tricola, and hendiadys, but the students managed not only to keep up, but to ask significant questions about whether Catiline would have been required to sit through the whole speech and to what extent the senators would have known the details of his conspiracy before Cicero's speech.

Hey, it was just another day with the extraordinary Latin students of North Central High School!

Ancient Romans and I.B.

Our Latin 5/6, or third-year, class recently completed a project in which they were given a list of famous Romans.  Each student picked one and presented a poster that included the person's name, life dates, and the I.B. Learner Profile  that he or she thought best fit that person.  After all thirty-three students presented, several things became cleaer.

First, our students have a great way of looking at history.  Some of the profiles they picked were obvious.  The student who chose Cicero said he was a communicator, and the person who chose Cato said he was principled.  Others were not so obvious.  The person who chose Sulla also said he was principled, on the grounds that he had a clear vision for what Roman morality was supposed to be.  Students who picked the same person did not necessarily use the same profile.  As you can see from the picture, one student saw Cloelia as a thinker, but another saw her as a risk taker.

An interesting feature of this project was that the thirty-three students who presented on twenty-two different Romans overwhelmingly chose the risk-taker profile for their person of choice.  After the students had finished their presentations, I asked what they thought this said about the Romans.  There many good responses, including that the reason these particular Romans was famous was because they needed to take risks to achieve their fame.  Then I asked the students whether it could be possible that the tendency to see the Romans as risk-takers was more rooted in our own culture's celebration of this trait.  Unlike the ancients, who saw community identity as more important than individual indentity, Americans tend to value individuality and daring, bold action.  Unfortunately, the bell rang just as I asked that question, so we will have to see where that discussion takes us in the days ahead.

Finally, I am impressed with how good these posters look!  Not only did our students present great material, they did so in an attractive and compelling way.  I am genuinely looking forward to grading these projects!

Education for the Future

Today our second-year Latin students looked at a period of Roman history in which the people of Rome had expelled their king and were in the process of establishing a republic.  Rather than reinvent the wheel, they sent a commission to Greece to study the laws of Athens. This group returned to Rome, and a larger commission set about the work of codifying Rome's first laws.  The year was 509 B.C.

As we talked about the value of seeing what others have done and then building on that, I suggested that this is in fact the principal reason why we study history and languages.  The purpose is not a test, whether A.P., I.B., or E.C.A.  We learn from the past and we learn from other cultures so can expand on their achievements and continue the grand human adventure.

To illustrate this, I shared with them a link that a former student had shared with me over the weekend.  This former student earned a double major in physics and mathematics with a minor in Classics at Purdue and about a week ago successfully defended his Ph.D. in nuclear physics at I.U.  The article he shared was this one, which describes recent developments in chemical, DNA, and protein analysis at the University of Illinois that have made use of a discovery made by the ancient Romans.  Somewhere in the 4th century A.D., the Romans created a form of glass that appears a different color depending on whether light is passing through it from the front or from the back.  Researchers at Illinois are now using this technique to make chemical, DNA, and protein analysis able to be understood by the naked eye.

This is what learning is all about.  This is why we offer Latin.  It is why studying Classics, which is the field of ancient Greek and Roman studies, is as relevant today as ever.  While education is never about something as trivial as a test, nor is it even principally about getting a job (that is what training is for, and while necessary, it is quite different from education), it is about making connections and helping students see how to build upon them.  In 509 B.C. the Romans knew this and sent a delegation to Greece to study its laws.  In 2013, we continue their story.

Back to School Night

I love back-to-school night!  It is so much fun to talk about a subject I love and students I enjoy with interested, enthusiastic parents.  If any parents have other questions, please contact me.  Be sure to follow @NCLatinClub on Twitter and join our Facebook group North Central Latin.  It is going to be another wonderful year, and I look forward to working with you all.

The Look of Leadership

This afternoon our Latin Club officers met for the first time.  They were elected in the spring so they could hit the ground running this fall, and did they ever run!  I started the meeting by asking each officer to share what Latin Club could be this year.  After hearing some great, broad ideas, I put three activities on the board that we do ever year.  I then gave them a challenge and left them alone.  Their challenge was to give a broad skeleton to their ideas and to put together some details for August and September.  I strolled down the hall to give them their space.  When I returned, I expected to find six teens engaged in conversation.  What I found was that and more.  My board had been filled with ideas, and genuine leadership was emerging from within the group of officers.  My biggest challenge was to keep the smile from leaping off my face.

This is an extraordinary group of officers.  I cannot wait to see where they will lead us!

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Students Owning Their Education

Let's get this out of the way at the beginning.  Yes, it is true.  A student brought me a bottle of bacon soda today.  Yes, that is exactly what you think it is.  It is carbonated soda pop flavored to taste like bacon.  The tast was only slightly better than the smell, and the smell was...well, never mind.

I love it when students have fun and enjoy school.  Yet as enjoyable as all the bacon-soda-silliness was, nothing could have thrilled me more than the discussion I had with our Latin V students today.  Our school is large enough to offer seven languages (Latin, Hebrew, German, Japanese, Chinese, French, and Spanish), and in most we offer five years of study, since many students begin their language study as eighth graders who come to our school during the first two periods of the day.

This year we have a significant number of Latin V students preparing for the I.B. (International Baccalaureate) diploma, and they meet during the same period as our Latin IV students who are preparing for the A.P. (Advanced Placement) exam.  Today I spent a bit of time with the Latin V students, prepared to discuss ways of approaching the material, since I will not be able to work with them directly every day.  To my pleasant surprise, one of the students had come in with notes she had made, a brainstorm list of ideas on how to engage the material.  Her ideas, expanded in collaboration with her peers, were excellent, and we are going to follow what they have designed.  These are intelligent, creative young people who clearly have taken ownership of their education.  I could not be more proud.

Great First Day!

If Alexander the Great had enjoyed a first day as general of his army as great as our first day of school, he would not have been content to conquer the world, but would have set his sights on the stars.  As always, it is great to see returning students and to meet our Latin I students.

An upper level student asked me how things went with our first-year classes, and I remarked that the laughed at my jokes.  While it is nice to have an appreciative audience, my pleasure in the reaction was about much more than mere accolades for a comedian.  Laughter indicates a sense of comfort, and on the first day of school, one can hardly ask for more.

A fun and exciting year stretches before us.  There will be the things that legions of Latin students have come to expect...the Spartacus slap, ancient weapons of mass destruction, and life lessons wrapped in laughter.  There will also be new things for all of us to explore.  Some of the students laughed at my excitement over our new technology, but in a couple of classes I paused to encourage them never to lose their sense of wonder.  It is true that I am easily amused.  This is because I find the world an endlessly fascinating place and take true joy in even the humblest discovery.  Hopefully all of us in A526 can taste a bit of that wonder this year.

National Club of the Month

I just received a copy of the Torch, the newsletter of the National Junior Classical League.  As most of you know, we are not just an isolated high school Latin club.  We often refer to ourselves as NCLC, or North Central Latin Club, but we are actually the North Central chapter of the Junior Classical League.  The NJCL has been around since 1936.  Composed of local and state/provincial chapters across the United States, Canada, and Australia, it is the largest Classical organization in the world today with over 50,000 members.  Our state chapter is the Indiana Junior Classical League, or IJCL.  North Central's club regularly achieves Century Club status with more than one hundred members.  Last year we were the largest chapter in the state.

In the current issue of the Torch, I read that we were selected the national club of the month for December in the 2012-2013 school year.  Congratulations to all Panther Latin students!

New Tech

Room A526 is getting back into shape for another year of Latin. Centurion Gaius Crastinus and legionary Publius Sempronius Tuditanus have taken up their places in opposite corners of our room, ready to protect the Republic once more. What our authentically armed and armored mannequins may find strange is the cool new technology at the front of our room.

Our room, along with all classrooms at NC, now has an incredible new projector mounted above our whiteboard. It displays everything from my computer much more sharply than before. I tried it out with a scene from Gladiator today, and it looks fantastic.

Ho, hum, you say. Big deal, you say. But wait! There's more! We now have four speakers mounted in the ceiling for strong, clear surround sound. No more of Mr. Perkins turning up the volume to max on cheap plastic desktop speakers that distorted the sound even as they amplified it. Picture and sound combined give us an almost theatre-like experience.

But wait! There's still more! We also have pens that allow us to write on the board. No, I am not talking about our dry erase markers, although we still have those. These pens will interact with whatever is displayed. They are like a combination of mouse and pen. For example, if my desktop is displayed, they can be used to drag icons.

Okay, that's pretty cool, Magister P., you're thinking. But I haven't even gotten to the REALLY cool part! Each teacher has received an iPad. I can interact with my desktop and what is being projected onto the board from anywhere in the room via the iPad. I also send what is on the iPad through the projector for display. Think about it. There we are, talking about some point of Roman history, poetry, mythology, philosophy, politics, military, art, architecture, or whatever, and you have this brainstorm. You remember some great image you once found while researching a project for another class. I hand you the iPad, you call up the image, and we are all seeing it projected almost instantly.

I think the Romans would have appreciated all this. They were the onese gave us the technological innovations of arches made from concrete. I think they would have loved what we are using to study their world.

Welcome Back!

Welcome back, everyone!  I hope you all had a great summer!

There are some new and exciting things in store for Panther Latin this year, including this blog.  In addition to our website, our Twitter (@NCLatinClub), and our Facebook group, we now have a blog where I will update students and parents on what is going in on in the world of room A526.  Any student or parent who wishes to leave a comment here must fill out a form, which you can obtain from me.  This will allow us to keep barbarians from spamming our comment box.

Check back often, as there will be many highlights to post throughout the year!