Many Happy Returns

I am returning to my blog after a nearly five-year hiatus. Of course this statement is technically correct, but I notice I really haven't published more than 10 posts a year since 2011, and that was 12 years ago. I am also quite surprised to see that it has been a little over 17 years since I started this whole on-again, off-again venture. I must admit that my writing has often been abandoned but not entirely forgotten. These breaks from writing have not been intentional, but, as a teacher, penning your thoughts and sharing them to the world has always been one of those activities which has always taken a back seat to more pressing and necessary tasks. Now, though, the urge to write and compose and post has returned. We'll see how this goes.

After opening my neglected blog yesterday, and then resetting the password to regain the ability to make edits, I began to tinker with the site, make some updates, and reread some of my old posts. Oh boy, I really do need to revise and polish some of those earlier articles! The biggest change I made to the site, though, (and this is a doozy) is the addition of the adjective "retired" to the phrase "high school Latin teacher" in the subtitle. Much more about that news later!

All Things Considered

As exam week rolls into view, I find it necessary to take stock of this year which, I must admit, has not been a good one, either for me or for some of my students. I am returning to Marginalia as a means of reviewing, organizing, and analyzing what went right and what went wrong in my classroom and inside my head. I am being purposely vague at the moment; just laying out a general road map of personal discussion. Welcome back to me!

P.S. I will also be editing this blog: making updates, deleting nonsense, and adding commentary. I was surprised to find that I started this twelve years ago, and it has been dormant for much of that time. Perhaps it is time to erupt.

The Blather in Blogging

I wandered back to my blog today after an extended hiatus... of seventeen months! This IS something I am interested in pursuing, but finding the time gets in the way of following through, and then the whole notion slips from your mind until you reawaken.

I am very disappointed in the practice of others making generic, non-specific comments only to advertise their own sites. I am betting that most of this is even done robotically with very little input from the writer other than the original ad. No problem though; just another bother for the modern world.

Anyhow, I have lots to say concerning being a Latin teacher in the modern world. More later.

Tag! You're It! (Or Not)

Since I have returned to my blog, I have been tinkering with templates and layout. I have discovered that nifty gadget called a "label cloud," and installing this and viewing its results has caused me to rethink my practice of tagging or labeling each entry. This cloud reveals, in a graphic way, which topics occur most often by presenting that label in a larger font size. Many labels are the smallest, default size and form a crowd with only a few names more noticeable. Now I am obsessing over each appellation and asking myself whether it is too descriptive, obscure, redundant, not descriptive enough, or just plain wrong. I am going back and changing tags, adding and deleting some, and all this effort is compelling me to find some standard. In all, not only am I moving forward with Marginalia, but I also seem to be moving backward.

Summertime... and the Working is Easy!

Apologies to the original song lyrics celebrating easy summertime pursuits! The July 4th holiday has passed and I can turn myself to numerous projects put aside during the busy school year. I dare to say attention to this nearly-abandoned blog is now high on my list! I admit that I get excited and begin to post, only to become distracted by things which push other projects out of the way.

Labor est etiam ipsa voluptas.

Returning to the Task at Hand

I have been ignoring this blog for way too long. It is time to get back to writing and putting down into words my thoughts and ideas about Latin, the ancient world, and teaching.

Ha! So Much for Therapy!

It is Presidents' Day, February 18, and I am making my first post since August. I had said posting to my blog would be therapy for seven classes with five preps, department duties, Latin Club, certamen, and other outside professional responsibilities... Who has time for therapy?

The year has been very busy (as you would expect) and time just slips away. I can barely keep all my classes up to speed and sometimes that doesn't even happen. I often describe myself as a juggler. I have so many balls to juggle, though, that it takes all my talent just to keep them in the air -- don't expect me to do anything fancy with them. And, yes, sometimes I drop one or two and they may lie on the floor for a little while, but I snatch them up and toss them back into the air.

I really do want to get back to my blogging.

Marginalia

marginalia (MAR-je-NA-le-a) n. pl. Notes, thoughts, ideas, doodles, and the like written in the margins of a book or textbook.

When I began this blog as an experiment over a year ago, I named it "Pro linguae Latinae magistris." My goal was to share ideas and experiences that would be useful for other Latin teachers. I have enjoyed the replies of teachers and (something I find very interesting) others who have an interest in things classical. I have now renamed my blog "Marginalia" not because my purposes have changed, but because it better describes what I actually ended up writing. I hope my past comments have been helpful in some way and that my new postings will continue to be of interest to Latin teachers and others who find such commentary useful or entertaining.

Neptune in Technicolor

As I have been learning the ins and outs of blogging, I've been visiting other sites and discovered that many people include images with their posts. For me, this feature is a must! So, here is my practice post...

This is the Temple of Neptune at Paestum, Italy. I took this photograph in July 2005.

Introductions

I have been teaching Latin for the past 19 years. I graduated magna cum laude from Mary Washington College (now the University of Mary Washington) in Fredericksburg, VA, in 1987 with a B.A. degree in Classics: Latin Concentration, with an endorsement in education. I spent one year teaching at Fauquier High School in Warrenton, VA, before moving to the brand-new Chancellor High School in Spotsylvania County, where I worked for the next 16 years. When Riverbend High School, Spotsylvania County's newest high school, opened in 2004, I made the move there in order to give myself a new and fresh start. I viewed that move as an opportunity to hit the "restart button" on my career, but I find myself returning to my old ways and techniques (that is a subject for a later posting).

I have taught Latin on all levels: Latin I, Latin II, Latin III, Latin IV, Latin V, AP Vergil, and AP Latin Literature, including Catullus, Ovid, and Horace. I have not taught Latin I for quite a long time (perhaps 12 years now?) and remain ambivalent as to whether I miss it or not. I enjoy teaching the advanced levels where I get to share the joys of authentic Latin literature with my students. After all, that is the true purpose of learning Latin -- being able to read, translate, understand, discuss, and enjoy Latin literature in the original language. I prefer the works of Vergil, Ovid, Martial, Pliny the Younger, and Cicero, but have interest in them all.

During my career I have sponsored a very active and fun Latin Club and JCL chapter. I will discuss specific activities at a later time but we do attend our state convention every year and I have had students attend the national convention on occasion. I also sponsor certamen and have competed in this activity since 1989, hosting our own tournament annually since 1990. Professionally, I am a member of the American Classical League, the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, the Classical Association of Virginia, the Foreign Language Association of Virginia, and the founding member of the Fredericksburg Area Latin Teachers' Association. I was "president" of FALTA from 1990-2000, and have served as the editor of the CAV website since 1996. I was also editor of the FLAVA website from 1998-2005. I call the position "website editor" because "webmaster" sounds so pretentious. This school year I became the chair of the World Languages Department at RHS... and this has certainly been a learning experience!

Posting on a blog is something that will take a little getting used to... I feel a bit like Pliny the Younger who wrote his letters with an eye toward publication. What a vain and arrogant thing this could be!

Let's Get Started

This is my very first venture into blogging. It may take me a while to get up to speed but I'm looking forward to discovering the potential for communication in this medium.

The announcement of a day off from school tomorrow due to this weekend's snow storm affords me the time and opportunity to figure out how all this works. Incipiamus...