Welcome Letter
Specials
eLearning
Digital Did You Know
Links for Classicists
Pompeiiana Comic

Dear friends of the Classics,

What a marvelous site for the American Classical League 2009 Conference, which was held June 26-29 in Los Angeles, hosted by Loyola Marymount University! A big draw this year was a visit to the Getty Villa; attendees were bused there for an afternoon visiting the museum and its gorgeous gardens. Having a sunny day with a temperature in the mid-70s made it even better.

Five Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers staff members staffed the conference: Lou, Marie, and Allan Bolchazy, Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers editor LeaAnn Osburn, and Andrew Reinhard, our eLearning Director, who gave a pre-institute session: A How-To for Using Skype, Podcasts, and Virtual Worlds for Speaking Latin Aloud. 

At the plenary session, titled What’s New in Latin Texts and Teaching Materials,  LeaAnn and Andrew gave an overview of Latin for the New Millennium. Both Levels 1 and 2 are now in print. At the break-out session, authors Milena Minkova and Terry Tunberg discussed the value of oral Latin and the importance of later Latin. Rose Williams gave information about the LNM ancillaries. Conferees then had a chance to ask questions of teachers currently using LNM: Kevin Finnigan (Skaneateles NY), Charles Umiker (Pennington NJ), Katherine Nothrup (Bell Buckle TN), Mary McCarty (San Francisco CA), Sherry Jankowski (Las Vegas NV), and Neil Souther (Mandan ND).

At the Awards Banquet Kevin Finnigan and his student Ryan Callahan were honored. Ryan won a National Latin Examination Scholarship in recognition for his five gold medals and two perfect papers over the five years he took Latin. He will be attending Harvard University in the fall.

Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers cosponsored the President’s Reception; Milena Minkova and Terry Tunberg were there to autograph books and chat with conferees about LNM. In a meeting held earlier on the National Latin Exam, teachers noted that students using LNM performed well on the exam.

At the banquet, Charlie Speck, a retired professor from Southern Illinois University, Kate Rabiteau, who works with Educational Testing Service developing AP tests, and Marty Abbott of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages were among those who received awards. We rounded out the evening with a sing-a-long with Stan Farrow at the piano, always an ACL treat.

Valete,

Marie Bolchazy

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Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers invites its eLitterae subscribers to take advantage of a 50%, single-copy discount on one of the following new releases for June/July:

The Lighter Side of the Dark Ages
154 pp (2006) Paperback ISBN 9781843311928; $23.00, $11.50

Latin Music Through the Ages (now on CD!)
CD (2009) Audio CD ISBN 978-0-86516-706-3; $28.00, $14.00

A Terence Reader (the second book in the BC Latin Readers series)
128 pp (2009) Paperback ISBN 978-0-86516-678-3; $19.00, $9.50

One copy, prepaid, no returns, not available to distributors. Offer expires 07/31/09.

Make sure you mention that you are an eLitterae subscriber if you place your order by phone or fax. If you place your order via the Bolchazy-Carducci web site at www.BOLCHAZY.com, your discount price will be relfected in your online invoice.

Monthly Specials are available on our website, check our "Special Offers" link.

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Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers’ summer series of webinars for Latin teachers is well underway. July and August feature six live, online, and interactive two-hour sessions to help you help your students:
 
July 16: Making Room for History in a Busy Latin Class, Rose Williams, Emerita Latin teacher

July 21: Roman Art and Archaeology for Latin Teachers, Jayne Reinhard, Arizona State University

July 23: Daily Life in Ancient Rome, Jayne Reinhard, Arizona State University

July 30: Latin 2.0: Personal Learning Networks, Laura Gibbs, University of Oklahoma

August 6: Learning Latin Pronouns via Roman Mythology, Rose Williams, Emerita Latin teacher

August 13: Latin Oral Interpretation and Performance via Cicero, Jon Hall, University of Otago (New Zealand)
 
All webinars are scheduled for 6:00 – 8:00 PM Eastern Time. Webinars are priced at $99.00 each, or purchase three for $249.00. To register, visit http://www.bolchazy.com/webinars.html or call 847.526.4344. Questions? Email them to Andrew Reinhard, Director of eLearning, mailto: areinhard@bolchazy.com.

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An Interview with Latin teacher and Moodle User, Ramona Ward

Ramona Ward has been teaching Latin for five years and currently teaches middle school students at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, Texas. I had a chance to catch up with her after this year’s American Classical League Summer Institute to learn more about how she uses the Moodle course management system for her Latin classes.

Andrew Reinhard (AR): When did you start using Moodle for your Latin classes, and why did you choose it over another course management system? Did the school adopt Moodle and ask its teachers to use it?

Ramona Ward (RW): I began using Moodle last September. I didn’t have the time, inclination, brains to learn Dreamweaver and keep up a website which I had already designed in my head. Several teachers at my school had been using Moodle for a few years, and I was finally convinced that it was an acceptable alternative that could get the information out to the students and would be much easier to use and maintain. Faculty are not required to maintain Moodle pages, but I would say that the majority of teachers do so, and students have come to expect their teachers to post everything on there, which has its pros and cons.

AR: How easy is Moodle to use, and how long did it take for you to figure it out?

RW: Moodle is very easy to use. A member of our tech squad usually offers a Moodle class once or twice a year, but there was always a conflict for me. Finally, a middle school colleague/Moodle expert offered an informal class for other middle school teachers. I attended, took a few notes at her demonstration, and then went to work on my own page.

You can invest as much or as little time as you want. I only use a few of the components.

AR: What Moodle features do you use/like the most?

RW: I like visuals, so I have a lot of pictures on my pages. I get these from Google Images.

For my classes, I post syllabi, worksheets, test reviews, grammar notes, a few web links. There is also a calendar so I can post test dates, and a forum where students can post study ideas, questions, etc.

AR: Have you used other course management systems for Latin, and if so, how does Moodle compare?

RW: No, this is it. My department chair keeps a website, and for the first 2-3 years I would send him my syllabi and he would post it online for me, but students couldn’t find it, and it was a real pain to have to rely on someone else to get out the information. Again, if I could figure out Dreamweaver, I could have done it myself.

AR: Do your students actively use the Moodle pages for Latin? Is this done on a voluntary basis, or is Moodle participation expected (or part of the course grade)?

RW: Participation on the Moodle site is not part of their grade per se, but they are required to “enroll” in the course so that they receive email updates whenever I make changes or add new material. This way I can also tell when students log in to my pages. Some use it frequently, others only once.

I have several reasons for using Moodle. If a student is absent, he or she can check the syllabus from home. I do not accept excuses for, “I didn’t know we had homework or that you did that in class.” Worksheets are posted in case he or she did not bring home the workbook.

Moodle helps keep things organized. Students are required to keep all materials for a unit in a folder and submit it for a grade on test day. If they lose the syllabus or other handouts, they can mostly recreate the folder and turn it in for a better grade than saying, “I lost my folder” and getting a zero.

To help students review grammar, I post practice verb conjugation charts and noun declension charts for at-home practice. I also post answer keys.

Moodle also allows me to post trip information. I offer a trip to Italy for our upper school Latin students during our spring break. I have a Moodle page that is dedicated to the trip. I can post all of the trip information here: flight and hotel information, forms that need signatures, weather links, etc. There is a forum where students and parents can share ideas or things they have discovered for the trip like information on cell phones and phone usage in Italy, currency information, and more.

While we don’t really have a formal “Latin Club,” I created a Moodle page for the students where I post regional Junior Classical League information, old exams and answer keys, directions, participant lists, and which exams the students are registered for, dates and times. The same holds for the National Latin Exam. I post the date for the test, the link to previous exams and answer keys, and study packets.

Lastly, I post books that students are reading that have Classical references, and anything else that students request.

AR: For how long have you been teaching Latin, and do you find that Moodle has improved your experiences as a Latin teacher?

RW: Five years. This year definitely went very smoothly: fewer missing assignments.

AR: If you had the time, what else would you do with Moodle for Latin?

RW: Argh! I can’t even imagine at this point! I’d probably post additional at-home practice work for students for grammar and reading.

[NOTE: To learn more about the free course management system, Moodle, and how educators are putting it to work for their classes, visit http://moodle.org.]

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Like the song says, “school’s out for summer” (even if some of you readers are at Latin camp this month). So instead of providing eLitterae readers with useful, pedagogic links, we are taking a break to share some Classically-informed silly sites to see:

For those of you who have been online in the past five years, you have probably stumbled upon the “LOL Cat” phenomenon: pictures of cute kittens captioned with “kittyspeak,” an imagining of how cats speak English. This phenomenon has transitioned to Homer: http://lolnotes.blogspot.com/2008/11/iliad-and-odyssey.html

Who doesn’t love a good (or bad) summer blockbuster movie? You can watch 300 student-created films on Classical themes (some in Latin, some in Greek, most are hilarious) here: http://eclassics.ning.com/video/video. That’s over 30 hours of continuous viewing!

Columbia University’s Augustine Club hosts a webpage dedicated to fun and silly Latin phrases, slogans, bumper stickers, and more: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/omnibus.html

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Comic from When In Rome, Best Cartoons of Pompeiiana Newsletter.
Comic a Day Pompeiiana Blog

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See the Bolchazy-Carducci web site for classroom tips on teaching Catullus and on using children's books translated into Latin, Christmas carols in Latin, and Latin proverbs to teach grammar. In the search box, type "teaching tips" to see all that are available (click on a title to view and click on the teaching tip link).

Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers Affiliate Web Sites

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