Pat’s Polemics

I am happy with where we are. I got my first syllabus written and am waiting for approval (an informal process). I wrote it for (Continue Reading)

This is starting week 6 of the school year. Last week got off to a rocky start b/c I missed Monday. Today I was supposed (Continue Reading)

I put up butcher paper along the walls, one for Spanish and one for Latin. Of course, Sp 1st hour sets things up and I (Continue Reading)

In my attempt to keep up-to-date with this, I may collapse some days, but today in Spanish was a challenge because first period I was (Continue Reading)

Yesterday marked the end of the second week with kids. It was much better than the first week. I seem to have the admins off (Continue Reading)

First week of school……… done. But it was a doozy. The first thing to say is that the kids are great. Let me give a (Continue Reading)

Yesterday was the worst day at school since the time my old school told me in the morning that I had to be out of (Continue Reading)

Daily lesson plans Yesterday I had a chance to look at some classrooms. It was my choice: the new one I’m in now or either (Continue Reading)

To demonstrate my commitment to maintaining a semi-daily running blog of classroom activities and lesson plans, I’m starting well before school starts. Just a few (Continue Reading)

Recently I read a post by a highly educated person who wrote the following: “The Ottomans even had a struggle for whom would run the (Continue Reading)

One day I got the idea of taking the students around the campus and pointing out various sites and what went on there. They had (Continue Reading)

For all my classes this second week I selected a plan for them to draw and label: a Roman villa for first year, a Roman-British (Continue Reading)

Knowing I would be working with students in a noisy environment and with some not having text books, and yet wanting to start immediately with (Continue Reading)

My first contribution to my own blog in some time. I’m trying to swear off the listservs and add a blog entry every day.   (Continue Reading)

I got the idea of a bingo game using the characters from the stories in the textbook (Cambridge Latin Course) in place of the numbers (Continue Reading)

My 5 year old grandson hasn’t got down the inversion of “be” + subject, so he snuck aka sneaked up on me in disguise and (Continue Reading)

My 8 year old grandson was running around playing with his brother when he stopped for a minute, “Wait, Logan, I’m on pause.” Thus technology (Continue Reading)

Usually I blog on this topic after I’ve done something and I report on it. But I have been using a “Conversation profile” guide for (Continue Reading)

My students are pushing through, reading a story a day. I have slowed down with my second year students because it is clear they have (Continue Reading)

My students are pushing through, reading a story a day. I have slowed down with my second year students because it is clear they have (Continue Reading)

I had my first year students take a section of the story (Caerimonia) and act it out, drafting students outside their group if necessary. It (Continue Reading)

Recently I took a story and had students get into groups to which I assigned a section of the story. They then had to explain (Continue Reading)

My granddaughter, 8, was asking about the music coming from over the backyard fence. She at first said, ’the music next door’, then, realizing that (Continue Reading)