By Victoria John
Latin Teacher, Lakehill Preparatory School
HOPE
All hope is gone
Not as long as we have Latin,
Latin is a dead language, my friend,
Not for Hogwarts, it isn’t!
A student recently showed me these lines written on a wadded-up piece of notebook paper. In the center was the outline of a large red heart encircling the word, “HOPE.” Under that was written, “All hope is gone.” By the time I reached the fourth line I realized that five different students contributed to the above graffiti. It made me laugh.
While Latin has been a constant at Lakehill for 40 years, it was J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter that revved up the spirit of the language for a new generation of students. The creative stories combined the enchanting world of wizardry with myth. Given my love for the classics, the students’ excitement upon learning that the spells and other ancient references were written in Latin, recharged my own creative spirit.
I love teaching Latin at Lakehill. Since I teach all 7th and 8th grade students for two years, in 2002, I decided to jazz it up a bit toward the end of the 8th grade experience. I wanted to challenge students to study the lessons in new ways and to give them more ownership of the material. From this sprang the Latin Teaching Projects, whereby small groups of students would each teach one of the remaining five chapters to the class. When I announced this, they responded with shock.
Following several weeks of preparation and paperwork, the students began teaching by the end of February. I was amazed. Each student’s individual presentation plus the group work went beyond what I envisioned. They met the original requirement of approaching the material in a different way. As one student wrote in her evaluation, “When you learn something for yourself, it is one thing. But when you teach it, you have to learn it differently. You are not just doing it for yourself, you have to be able to explain and demonstrate it to others.”
Their presentations showed incredible enthusiasm and respectful treatment of their classmates. Words of praise for their peers like, “good job,” and “thank you for your great comments,” rang throughout the room. Their lessons were organized, taught with clarity and motivated the students. Everybody won. I witnessed qualities I had not previously observed. Some emerged as group leaders. Some showed creativity and variety in their lessons. Some wowed the class with their own Latin web sites, power point lessons and review games. Others went above and beyond requirements by developing translation and grammar handouts as well as detailed study guides. They worked together, encouraged one another, and learned the Latin.
I learned from them. I know we are all teachers and learners, but this project really brought that to my attention.
Since that first experiment, the assignment has grown in its scope and in technological sophistication and has taken on a life of its own. Each year I tweak the requirements based on my evaluations and feedback from students.
It is April and nearing the end of my 12th class of 8th grade Latin students at Lakehill. With two more chapters, they remain engaged and excited. What started as a way to spice up the end of the year has morphed into an incredible teaching and learning experience.
Hope – all is not gone! Not as long as there are Lakehill students with a creative spirit.