10 Quick Ideas for a New Year

I thought I'd share some ideas and questions I've been working on this year.

First... some reflective questions for the new year that I have been pondering. I'd love to hear your thoughts on them!

1. How am I going to foster community this year in my classroom?
2. How can I turn my space into our space?
3. How can I encourage play and risk taking with the language?
4. How can I ensure everyone's safety?
5. How can I engage my students' interests in class?
6. What privileges do I enter the room with this year?
7. What struggles are my students facing?
8. How can I create a space where they feel safe and free to explore?
9. How can I make a better pot of coffee?
10. How can I ensure I take care of myself this year?

And, secondly some quick ideas for the new year!

• Put up a graffiti wall for students to decorate (courtesy of Christopher Emdin).
• Share about yourself. Whatever you ask students to do, you should also be willing to do. 
• Try out new ideas (AKA future blog posts ;) )
• Always offer alternatives for students who need more time to process or who have disabilities/are disabled. 
• Bring something you love into the classroom.
• Try the Fly Swatter Game :) 
• Consider adding aspects to games that involve chance. Also, consider allowing students who need extra support or extra time with things to be judges in games. You get to go over the material again with them and they get to feel good about what they know. 
• Research Acceleration (AKA another blog post I'll be writing soon)
• Don't tell your kids they are welcome to your room. Tell them they belong. 
• Go ahead, enjoy that second cup of coffee, or whatever. You deserve it!

What of these topics would you like to see expanded into a blog post or a podcast episode? What about a reflective video? Let me know in the comments below!

Announcing! Pluto: fabula amoris

Salvete! Hola! Bonjour! Assalam wa Aleikum! Anyeonghaseyo! Shalom! Guten Morgen! Caio!  (and that about exhausts the languages I can say hello in easily and confidently) Rachel and I wanted to take this opportunity to announce, rather excitedly I might add, the publishing of our first Latin novella - Pluto: fabula amoris (from Amazon and Create Space).

I mean for this to be a short announcement post, as I will follow in a few months with a more detailed post and some teacher's resources, but there are a few things I'd like to point out on behalf of Rachel and myself.

This project has been a long time dream of both Rachel's and mine and we are so excited to get to share it with you. In the process of publishing, Rachel and I also decided to take the leap and add our name as publishers. We are officially opening Pomegranate Beginnings Publishing for business.

We've added a page to the blog discussing the novella a little more as well as Pomegranate Beginnings' other upcoming resources. You'll also notice an about us page with a specific contact form.

When we published, Rachel and I were hopeful to receive support, but I can safely say that both she and I are so thankful for all the support and congratulations we've received from, not just the Latin community, but from the teaching community as a whole. So, from the bottom of our hearts, Thank you! Thank you for reading, sharing, and responding. Thank you for letting us succeed and fail in front of you! :) Maximas gratias vobis agimus!

Getting to know the Pomegranate Girls: Miriam

I feel like my blogging experience has been much like my teaching: new, growing, and fascinating. I've been a teacher for two years (will be two and a half in May), and a blogger for 4-5 months. I am constantly amazed by both my blogging and teaching experiences and by all the new things I learn each day.

I am a firm believer that any student can learn a language and, more specifically, any student can learn Latin. The issue is not that the student must find a way to to fit Latin, but that I, the teacher, must work with the student to find a way to make the material accessible to them. Much like Rachel, I thrive in technology. I love combining pictures, video, PowerPoint, etc. to make the learning experience as accessible by as many people as possible.

I have spent many years hearing, and believing, that Latin is a certain way and must remain that way. I no longer subscribe to this belief. One of the first things I tell my students when they make the "ewww" face at such an idea as spoken Latin is this: "The Romans most certainly did not walk around chiseling out conversations on tablets or writing on scrolls. They spoke the Latin... They LIVED the Latin. Feel the Latin. Trust the Latin. BE THE LATIN!" Okay sure, it is a bit cheesy and no teenager in their right mind would ever admit to smiling at my goofiness, but they do and they do... feel the Latin that is... and that... is what it is all about :)

I am a bit behind Rachel in the public speaking area. I have presented at local and state student conferences and I am due to present at my first regional conference for teachers this Spring. Even though I am just beginning my journey, I am finding myself frustrated at just how little there is for me as a Latin teacher who speaks the language. The first thing I was told by my instructors, mentors, and administrators was "don't reinvent the wheel", but if the wheel is missing pieces... maybe it needs some work.

My goal in this project, much like Rachel's, is to start to provide some of what I seek, materials that teachers can use to reach as many students as possible. I hope that others find this blog and what Rachel and I have to share useful (you can see some of my work at my website: www.sites.google.com/site/magpatlatin) and that others start to join us and share their ideas.

Miriam

Getting to Know the Pomegranate Girls: Rachel

I am very new to blogging. I was there for the ubiquitous advent of the internet and spent my downtime during college studying HTML (because html is fun. no, really!) but blogging is just something I haven't tried. I've just started following blogs and learning the power of blogs--not as a social diary, which I originally thought blogs were, but as a learning tool. As I build my own list of blogs which I follow and from which I gain amazing insight and tips that I can use in my own classes, I begin to feel the wish, or need, or whatnot, to try to offer something similar to other teachers and posterity.

I have been teaching for nine years--at least, I'll be finishing my ninth year this May (unless another snowstorm this year decides differently). I love teaching, and my goal is always the most learning for the most students at the best quality I can provide. This of course means my nine years have been spent reading research and attending professional development and creating my own materials which I share online for anyone else who can find them useful. I found early in my career that there just aren't enough materials for Latin teachers. I want technology. I want pictures. I want everything the modern language teachers have. Luckily (or not, if you ask my oft-neglected family) I have grown up with the belief that if you don't like something, you should do something about it. Every year I redesign my approach based on what I've read, discussed, or trained in (only if it seems like it would really and truly improve my classes), and that almost always means I have to create my own materials. It also means that I started presenting at conferences early on, because there just wasn't enough Latin-based professional development at my disposal to make me happy.

What I'm hoping to do here is really just to offer the guidance that I so often seek. Miriam and I have similar directions in our classrooms and, I think, we are both relatively creative teachers. I always believe in sharing what I have created (I have a website here: http://www.mrsash.com/ and a youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/magistracinis?feature=mhee) but I am usually pretty overwhelmed by school and family needs, so my updates are irregular at best. Having a blog, especially one shared with another person, is an exciting way to force me to regularly look at my classes and see if I can offer insight to others.

I am excited by this new venture and feel like the New Year is the perfect time to begin a new blog.