Riding Those Ponies

In this day of quick and easy answers from the internet, it is too easy for our students to give in to the expedient and avoid the honorable. I have seen students take a question and make a bee-line for Wikipedia and not really read the article but scan it and hit the print button. They will read the copy later. On top of that, they also make multiple copies and distribute them to their classmates. They too will read the copies later. I have seen Latin students (gasp!) Google a poem of Catullus, make copies, and pass them around. No problem, though, their homework is done and they can move on to more important things.

O tempora! O mores! What would Cato say? What would Cicero think? What would Quintilian do?

The answer lies in what we expect from our students. They have ready access to all the answers and this resource is not going away. We as teachers need to refocus our efforts and teach our charges how to handle and understand all these answers. What is a good answer and what is bad? Why? How can one tell the difference?

Unfortunately the machines are now the vessels of knowledge. The belief among the students are that there is no longer a need to learn and memorize, regardless of the need to spout forth these seemingly random facts on the so-called high stakes test du jour.

I tell my students that they need to learn how to think, how to analyze, and how to understand what is being said by the author we are reading. If they take the easy path and print out someone else's translation, they are, in fact, defeating the purpose for being in the class. Anyone can read off from someone else's efforts and feel satisfied... but to what end?

More thoughts later -- I think I'm just rambling here.

Essential On-line Resources

There are two on-line resources that anyone teaching Latin in the twenty-first century must be aware of. Indeed, how could you be reading a blog and not know about these sites? I am speaking, of course, about the LatinTeach listserv and the rogueclassicism bulletin board and related services.

When I first started teaching Latin in 1987, I was the only Latin teacher in a very large, rural county. The next year I moved to the county where I teach now and am one of eight teachers. Being able to collaborate and cooperate makes all the difference! The same holds true for those teachers who are part of LatinTeach and subscribe to rogueclassicism. There is no reason that a Latin teacher ever has to teach in isolation again.

The LatinTeach listserv is a constant gathering of hundreds of Latin teachers, Classics professors, students, and others who share a love and interest in Latin. Numerous postings and threads provide valuable ideas and assistance and an opportunity to share what works, what doesn't work, and the latest news and best practices in the field. To subscribe, check out the LatinTeach website at http://www.latinteach.com/.

The rogueclassicism bulletin board is a daily update of articles, reports, comments, and other helpful items concerning what's going on in Latin, the Classics, archaeology, etc. around the world. Each Sunday, David Meadows publishes an electronic newsletter and a listing of the Ancient World on Television (AWOTV). You must take a look at all that is available! Point your browser to www.atrium-media.com/rogueclassicism.