Martia Dementia 2024

Bolchazy-Carducci is now completing its first DECADE of Martia Dementia contests. All sorts of ancient figures, from authors and emperors to gods, monsters, and even birds have entered our gladiatorial arena. Now, monuments of the Mediterranean (and a few farther flung places) are about to strive for a place as Martia Dementia champions! The returning competitors: the non-Olympian deities that battled mightily in 2023, only to succumb to triple-headed Cerberus!

To the victor—whoever finishes with the best bracket—belong the spoils. Before getting to the prizes, here is how the competition will work. Please read through the process carefully. For reference, we are providing a PDF of the bracket that you can use with your classes, but be sure to submit your final choices via the online system.

The Bracket

Starting today, complete and submit a bracket to be eligible for wondrous prizes. Please access and submit your bracket online via the following link: Martia Dementia 2024 Bracket. 

When you access the online Martia Dementia bracket, click the “Submit your bracket!” button to start making your selections. You will be prompted to enter your name and email address; we need this information so that we can track and notify the winners of the competition once Martia Dementia is completed. After signing up, you will be asked to predict a winner for each game in the bracket. 

At the bottom of this post, you will find a link to a PDF showing short descriptions of each of this year’s Martia Dementia participants. You can access the same descriptions by clicking on the photo of a given figure in the bracket.

Once you have completed all of your selections and have submitted your bracket, you will receive a notice thanking you for your submission.

If you would like to view your prediction bracket, simply click on the link to “View My Prediction.” We recommend saving a copy of your bracket at this point so that you can keep track of how you are doing as the competition progresses. With our online submission system, you can also easily share your prediction bracket via email or social media—a great way to show off how you’re doing, or earn some pity points if your bracket is going poorly. 

We are also providing a PDF copy of the bracket here (for reference only) in case you would like to print a copy of the bracket and fill one in with your class. However, we are not accepting scanned brackets, so make sure that you also submit the bracket online.

Brackets will be accepted through Wednesday, March 20.

The Survey

A voting survey will be made available on Thursday, March 21, where you can vote for your picks. Whichever figures have the most votes by the time the survey closes will advance through the round. Actively participating in the survey betters your chances at winning. We will announce via social media when voting for each round has opened.

We cannot stress enough the importance of voting. When the survey goes live, cast your votes! Get your friends to vote for your picks. Teachers, get your students to stuff the survey with favorable votes!

Victori Spolia

This competition is not solely for bringing glory to your favorite ancient writer or bird. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers is offering book prizes for the brackets that most closely resemble the final results; a $100 book credit will be awarded to the first-place participant, a $50 credit to the second-place participant, and a $25 credit to the third-place participant. Feeling like you no longer stand a chance? Do not give up! There will also be a $25 credit for having the most abysmal bracket! 

Stay Connected

Be sure to bookmark this post for future reference. Also, follow us on Facebook for updates as the competition progresses.

Remember, brackets close March 20, and the first round of voting will begin March 21.     

Bracket and Other Resources

• Access the online bracket
• Access a printable bracket (for reference only) 
• Access a description of all Martia Dementia 2024 figures

Voting Schedule

• Round 1: March 21–22
• Round 2: March 23–26
• Round 3 (Sweet 16): March 28–29
• Quarterfinals (Elite 8): March 30–April 2
• Semifinals (Final 4): April 3–5
• Final (Championship): April 6–9

Note that each round of voting will open at 7:30 a.m. central time and close at 4:00 p.m. central time on the designated days.  

3 Martia Dementia In-Class Activities (+ Free Printables and More!)

In Martia Dementia 2020, the mythological monsters have returned—all thirty-two of them! If you'd like some materials to use with your students to provide background information on these ancient figures, look no further. Bolchazy-Carducci has created blog posts addressing the artistic, literary, and historical significance of six of these creatures. These posts are an excellent starting point for completing research or acquiring basic knowledge. We are also providing very short summaries of the mythological figures, all contained within a printable PDF. Find the links to these resources below.

Need some ideas for covering this year's Martia Dementia field in class? One simple, quick activity for ensuring a basic familiarity is the game Two Truths and a Lie. Simply print out the mythological monster biography sheet linked below. Cut the sheet into strips so that you can individually assign each figure to a student (or a group of students). After learning a little about their assigned figure, each student then presents two truths and one lie about the monster to the class, which has to guess which is fact and which is fiction.

For a more complex activity, ask students to use the Bolchazy-Carducci materials as a starting point to complete additional research on an assigned monster. Using what they have learned, they then craft a persuasive presentation on why their monster should win all of Martia Dementia. After students have sufficiently debated each figure's merits, they can then vote on which figure "deserves" to win. (In fact, this activity can be used to determine a full-class bracket, though you may want to also incorporate the ancient military leaders into this activity; we will be posting biographies for these figures as well at the bottom of the page.)

Looking for other ideas? This year, we are also pleased to provide some free printables and online activities: we have created all of the pieces for a mythological monster Guess Who?–inspired game, Quis Est? If you have the boards at hand, all you will need to do is print out two sets of small cards to insert in the boards and one set of larger cards. We have also provided colorful backings reminiscent of the color scheme of the original game—print these on the back of your cards if you'd really like to have that 1980s-feel. (If you want a simpler set-up, we can confirm that simply printing the small cards on regular paper and then slipping the paper in front of the game's original cardboard pieces works as well.) Regular Guess Who? rules apply, but with this unusual cast of characters, game play is quite challenging. Students will need to know a lot about these monsters to be able to ask incisive questions (and then, understand the answers and accurately flip down the incorrect monsters). To assist with game play, we are also providing a worksheet that students can complete to assess their knowledge.

As an added bonus, we have a short online activity that students can play to practice what they have learned about the mythological monsters before or after playing Quis Est? This activity, which we are making freely accessible, is built on our Lumina platform. Note that the crossword puzzle is replayable: merely hit "re-start," and a new configuration (with varying sets of words) becomes available. Click here or see the link below to play these online games.

Do you use any class or Latin club activities that incorporate Martia Dementia? Let us know in the comments!

Monster of the Month Blog Posts

• Argus
• Manticore
• Cerberus
• Chimera
• Griffin
• Hydra

Printable Materials

• Quis Est? package (all game cards, colorful backings, short summaries describing the twenty-four monsters in the game)
• Quis Est? printable worksheet
• Martia Dementia 2020 ancient figures biographies (short biographies for ALL ancient figures in this year's contest)

Free Lumina Online Activities

• Mythological monster matching and crossword activities

Mythological Monster of the Month: Manticore

October’s Roman Calendar Feature

The 2019–2020 Roman Calendar features twelve mythical monsters from the 2019 edition of Martia Dementia, Bolchazy-Carducci’s annual spring bracket tournament. Visit us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, and our blog) for announcements regarding the 2020 Martia Dementia.

Manticore, thirteenth-century CE manuscript (Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program)

The manticore is a mythical leonine creature with the body of a lion, the head of a human, and a tail resembling either that of a scorpion or the quills of a porcupine. Tales of the manticore originated in Persia (where it was known as the martikhoras) and spread to Greece (called μαρτιχόρας martichoras or μαντιχώρας mantichoras) and Italy (adapted into Latin as mantichora).

Medieval authors often included manticores in bestiaries, following the description in Pliny the Elder’s Historia Naturalis. The Roman Calendar’s October image accompanies a Latin description of manticores found in the Northumberland Bestiary, a mid-thirteenth-century work produced in England.

Teachers may wish to ask students to name additional mythological or fictional creatures that are composites of real animals.

Manticore chasing a man, ca. ninth–tenth century CE sculpted sandstone monument, Meigle Museum 

Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) describes the manticore in his Historia Naturalis (8.34 in the Latin edition; 8.30 in the English edition):

Apud eosdem nasci Ctesias scribit quam mantichoran appellat, triplici dentium ordine pectinatim coeuntium, facie et auriculis hominis, oculis glaucis, colore sanguineo, corpore leonis, cauda scorpionis modo spicula infigentem, vocis ut si misceatur fistulae et tubae concentus, velocitatis magnae, humani corporis vel praecipue adpetentem.

Latin text from the edition of Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff (1906) available at Perseus

Ctesias informs us, that among these same Æthiopians, there is an animal found, which he calls the mantichora [manticore]; it has a triple row of teeth, which fit into each other like those of a comb, the face and ears of a man, and azure eyes, is of the colour of blood, has the body of the lion, and a tail ending in a sting, like that of the scorpion. Its voice resembles the union of the sound of the flute and the trumpet; it is of excessive swiftness, and is particularly fond of human flesh.

translation by John Bostock (1855) available at Perseus

A manticore featured on the album cover of Pictures at an Exhibition by the rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1971)

Although the works of Ctesias (late fifth century BCE) are now fragmentary, his description in Indica of the manticore is summarized by Photios I of Constantinople (ca. 810–893 CE) in his Bibliotheke (57.7):

Καὶ περὶ τοῦ μαρτιχόρα τοῦ ἐν αὐτοῖς ὄντος θηρίου, ὡς τὸ πρόσωπον ἐοικὼς ἀνθρώπῳ μέγεθος μέν ἐστιν ὥσπερ λέων, καὶ χρόαν ἐρυθὸς ὡς κιννάβαρι· τρίστιχοι δὲ ὀδόντες· ὦτα δὲ ὥσπερ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς γλαυκοὺς ὁμοίους ἀνθρώπῳ· τὴν δὲ κέρκον ἔχει οἵανπερ σκορπίος ὁ ἠπειρώτης, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τὸ κέντρον ἔχει, μείζω ὑπάρχουσαν πήχεος. ἔχει δὲ καὶ ἐκ πλαγίου τῆς κέρκου ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα κέντρα· ἔχει δὲ καὶ ἐπ’ ἄκρῳ ὥσπερ σκορπίος, κέντρον. καὶ τούτῳ μὲν, ἐὰν προσέλθῃ τὶς, κεντεῖ τῷ κέντρῳ, καὶ πάντως ὁ κεντηθεὶς ἀποθνήσκει· ἐὰν δέ τις πόῤῥωθεν μάχηται πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ ἔμπροσθεν ἱστὰς τὴν οὐρὰν ὥσπερ ἀπὸ τόξου βάλλει τοῖς κέντροις, καὶ ὄπισθεν ἐπ’ εὐθείας ἀποτείνων. βάλλει δὲ ὅσον πλέθρον εἰς μῆκος· καὶ πάντας οὓς ἂν βάλῃ πάντως ἀποκτείνει, πλὴν ἐλέφαντος. τὰ δὲ κέντρα αὐτοῦ ἐστι τὸ μὲν μῆκος ὅσον ποδιαῖα, τὸ δὲ πλάτος ὅσον σχοῖνος λεπτότατος. μαρτιχόρα δὲ Ἑλληνιστὶ ἀνθρωποφάγον, ὅτι πλεῖστα ἐσθίει ἀναιρῶν ἀνθρώπους· ἐσθίει δὲ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ζῷα. μάχεται δὲ καὶ τοῖς ὄνυξι καὶ τοῖς κέντροις. τὰ δὲ κέντρα πάλιν φησὶν, ἐπειδὰν ἐκτοξευθῇ, ἀναφύεσθαι. ἔστι δὲ πολλὰ ἐν τῇ Ἰνδικῇ. ἀποκτείνουσι δὲ αὐτὰ τοῖς ἐλέφασιν ἐποχούμενοι ἄνθρωποι, κἀκεῖθεν βάλλοντες. 

He describes an animal called the martikhora, found in India. Its face is like a man’s—it is about as big as a lion, and in colour red like cinnabar. It has three rows of teeth—ears like the human—eyes of a pale-blue like the human and a tail like that of the land scorpion, armed with a sting and more than a cubit long. It has besides stings on each side of its tail, and, like the scorpion, is armed with an additional sting on the crown of its head, wherewith it stings any one who goes near it, the wound in all cases proving mortal. If attacked from a distance it defends itself both in front and in rear—in front with its tail, by up-lifting it and darting out the stings, like shafts shot from a bow, and in rear by straightening it out. It can strike to the distance of a hundred feet, and no creature can survive the wound it inflicts save only the elephant. The stings are about a foot in length, and not thicker than the finest thread. The name martikhora means in Greek ἀνθρωποφάγος (i.e. man-eater), and it is so called because it carries off men and devours them, though it no doubt preys upon other animals as well. In fighting it uses not only its stings but also its claws. Fresh stings grow up to replace those shot away in fighting. These animals are numerous in India, and are killed by the natives who hunt them with elephants, from the backs of which they attack them with darts.

translation in Ancient India as Described by Ktêsias the Knidian (1882) by J. W. McCrindle

—Laurel Draper, Editor

5 Reasons to Learn Latin with Lumina: Artes Latinae

What makes Lumina: Artes Latinae the best choice for learning (or reviewing) Latin on your own, at your own pace? Artes Latinae features a comprehensive scope and sequence that gives students all the tools they need to master Latin.

1. Artes Latinae is a time-tested, award-winning Latin program that uses a variety of strategies to empower students as they learn Latin.

Artes Latinae, the self-teaching Latin program designed by Dr. Waldo Sweet, has been helping students succeed in their Latin-learning endeavors for nearly sixty years. The innovative program employs a structural approach to language, incorporating research about the deep inner workings of Latin in order to help students more confidently tackle distinctive elements of Latin syntax. At the same time, Artes Latinae makes use of a wide variety of teaching techniques to facilitate internalizing the vocabulary and grammar of Latin. Many of these strategies remain remarkably relevant to today’s students and adhere to key principles of second language acquisition theories. Artes Latinae is now offered as an online interactive program via Lumina: Artes Latinae, giving students even more flexibility in learning Latin.

2. Artes Latinae employs innovative and effective Latin pedagogy.

Notably, Artes Latinae treats Latin as a language that was (and continues to be) spoken aloud, not just written and read. Students routinely listen to Latin recordings of individual words, traditional sayings and maxims, and questions; in turn, students respond to prompts orally and can check their answers against model audio. Furthermore, Artes Latinae offers the option of three pronunciation styles: American Scholastic (the default pronunciation), Restored Classical (an attempt to reconstruct how Latin would have been spoken c. 100 bce–100 ce), and Ecclesiastical.

With an emphasis on an “active Latin” learning process, Artes Latinae employs methods that require students to think in Latin without using English as an intermediary. When introducing new vocabulary, the program relies on images, Latin synonyms and antonyms, and eventually, more involved Latin definitions. Use of Latin questioning techniques (today, commonly referred to as “circling”) ensures that students receive repeated input of new vocabulary and target forms, while also gently leading students to a fuller understanding of ancient and medieval Latin sayings (and later, longer poems). 

3. Artes Latinae’s programmed learning design helps students learn how to learn.

In its use of active Latin methodologies, Artes Latinae always provides extensive scaffolding for students. On a micro level, this program repeatedly scaffolds new pieces of information. In each unit as students answer questions in Latin, they are first asked to echo questions and responses based on the model recordings. They then respond to similar questions with only one word in Latin, before finally giving longer responses based on the original models. Students at last transform models through substitution and transformation. Another such technique involves beginning with short “kernel” sentences and gradually adding modifiers to create a much more complex thought (what is sometimes called amplificatio, or expansion).

Similarly, the structure of the program as a whole is firmly rooted in principles of scaffolding. In early units of the program, English is frequently used to introduce words, concepts, and grammatical terms. But as students progress, Artes Latinae begins to slowly fade out English explanations, replacing them with Latin words and phrases. By the end of the first course, students have even begun to use Latin grammar terms to describe morphology and syntax!

Additionally, the program begins with explicit instruction on how to approach and study new material, asking students to think about techniques that they personally find helpful (i.e., helping build metacognition). Artes Latinae then gradually “vanishes” some of the help once provided. For example, when first introducing students to Latin sentences, Artes Latinae breaks down the structure of each sentence word-by-word, giving explanations about how to think about and interpret Latin sentences. This sort of explicit instruction fades away, although the program continues to remind students to think about previously learned principles and study methods.

4. Artes Latinae features rich and varied content from classical, medieval, and Renaissance Latin. 

The content of Artes Latinae offers students immense benefit. In particular, the program introduces authentic ancient and medieval Latin from the beginning, using such sentences as models for students to get a sense of Latin’s structure. While Artes Latinae draws from many of the “greats” (e.g., Cicero, Horace, Ovid), the course also makes clear the rich and varied history of Latin literature: using excerpts from the Latin Vulgate, for example, and comparing Renaissance-era epigrams with those of Martial.

Another emphasis of Artes Latinae is word building, both in Latin and in English. English derivatives are always introduced alongside Latin vocabulary. But perhaps more importantly, the course frequently breaks down Latin words into prefixes, roots, and suffixes and shows how new words can be made from these building blocks. As students encounter these key elements of Latin words, they also learn how they changed as they came into English. For instance, as students encounter the word avaritia in Latin, they learn that the –tia suffix is used to turn adjectives (in this case, avarus) into abstract nouns. Likewise, they learn that –tia became the suffix –ice in English (here, avarice).

5. The Lumina platform for Artes Latinae offers extensive student support.

In addition to providing students supportive scaffolding, Artes Latinae ensures that students receive immediate feedback as they go frame by frame. Moreover, Bolchazy-Carducci is proud to offer Artes users several options for obtaining additional Latin support as needed. On the Lumina site, users can access a general discussion forum to chat with others using Artes Latinae. A Q&A forum invites students to ask questions of a Bolchazy Latin instructor, who will regularly respond to queries. As B-C expands and builds on Lumina: Artes Latinae, we anticipate adding more options for students to receive individualized support.

3 First-Year Teachers Tell Their Stories: Meet M.

(For an introduction to this blog series, see our first post. To read our first two teacher profiles, click here and here.)

Memento mori! M. has enhanced her classroom
door with skeletons for Halloween.

Meet M., a first-year Latin teacher at a small private K–9 school in the metropolitan New York area. M. teaches fourth through eighth grade; her class sizes tend to be small, fewer than ten students each.

Classroom setup: M. has her own classroom; while small, it accommodates her classes well. Her tables are arranged in a square so that everyone can see one another. Because her students are younger, she wants to make sure the room seems “fun”—she has hung up posters showing Pompeii, Roman monuments, and classical art. She also has posted key Latin vocabulary for students to reference during class, including a days of the week poster illustrated using Lego scenes.

Goals: M.’s goals for the year center on organization and communication:

1. Stay organized—there are so many different things to remember in all aspects of teaching!

2. Implement effective communication with parents.

3. Learn how to use movie talks to engage students while preteaching vocabulary and target structures.

Like K., M. also hopes to maintain her work-life balance as she learns all the requirements of her new school, develops curricula for multiple grade levels, and creates a classroom community.

Methodologies and Approaches to Teaching: M. has already begun using comprehensible input (CI)

methods with her younger students. While fourth grade is more of an exploratory class featuring plenty of games and introductory activities, she is experimenting with different active Latin techniques in her fifth and sixth grade classes. Because her seventh and eighth grade students are already accustomed to a grammar-translation approach, she is maintaining a more traditional teaching style in order to avoid derailing them.

Tips and Tricks: M. highly recommends using the Facebook forum Latin Teacher Idea Exchange for inspiration when planning classes. She notes that collaboration is essential; while she is the only Latin teacher at her school, she has a group of Latin teacher friends across the country who can offer support and suggestions when needed.

Most Looking Forward To: M. is most excited about building good relationships with her new students. She is looking forward to the time when her classes know each other well enough to have inside jokes and when her students feel like they can trust and confide in her.

First Day Hook: M. didn’t have a specific means of “hooking” students on the first day of class, but rather focused on getting to know her students and using her energy—and her experience with techniques from the theater—to engage her students.

M.’s first week of school went by in a blur, challenging yet satisfying. She explains:

The first day felt like a whole week. I was utterly exhausted. The spoken Latin with the fifth and sixth graders is a blast, and they are awesome. Hearing students speaking Latin in the halls makes my day—and they aren’t doing it to impress me, I hear it off in the distance! I want to keep this up with them and improve my own spoken Latin abilities.

M.’s enthusiasm and passion for teaching is readily apparent. Good luck during the upcoming school year, M.!

—Amelia Wallace, Editor

3 First-Year Teachers Tell Their Stories: Meet K.

(For an introduction to this blog series, see our first post. To read our first teacher profile, click here.)

Students colored in images depicting the foundation myths of Rome.
Many chose to use whimsical color schemes; they then labeled the colors
using the Latin terms.

Meet K., a first-year Latin teacher at a public middle school in the northeast. Students at this school come from a mixture of suburban and rural areas. K. teaches two sections of Latin 1A (seventh grade) and two sections of Latin 1B (eighth grade); she also travels to the neighboring high school, where she teaches Latin 2. K. has explained some of her strategies and goals for the year, as described below.

Classroom setup: While K. has her own devoted classroom for her middle school students, she shares a classroom with two other teachers at the high school. Her middle school classroom has desks set up in pairs to facilitate group work. To brighten up her room, which lacks windows, she is using colorful bulletin board backing. She is leaving some wall space blank in hopes of decorating extensively with student projects, but has already posted a word wall as a helpful reference for students.

Goals: K. has several goals for her first year:

1. Cultivate a love of Latin and the ancient world among her students.

2. Create a classroom environment that feels safe and inclusive for all of her students.

3. Achieve a work-life balance so that she not only meets her students' needs but also attends to her own.

Methodologies and Approaches to Teaching: K. will be building off a curriculum that was already in place when she came to her school. She also will be working with the high school teacher in her district to ensure that her students are well-prepared for high school. The curriculum is fairly traditional, but she also plans to include some spoken Latin components and will read a novella with her eighth grade students.

Tips and Tricks: K. is excited to implement a variety of activities and techniques that she learned through pedagogy coursework and student teaching. To reinforce vocabulary, she likes using online tools such as Quizlet and Memrise, in addition to games such as Reverse Pictionary and charades. She also appreciates the use of word walls to ease students into speaking Latin. 

Most Looking Forward To: K. is most excited about sharing her love of the ancient world with her students. In particular, she is extremely passionate about archaeology and material culture and hopes to include both disciplines in her classes.

First Day Hook: K. presented an “About Me” PowerPoint in Latin to introduce herself to her students. She is hoping that sharing things about herself will be the first step toward encouraging a strong community in the classroom. Students also had the chance to pick animal terms as their Latin names. [editor’s note: I sincerely hope that at least one student has chosen Camelopardalis as their name]

K.’s passion for ensuring student well-being and encouraging student curiosity in the ancient world clearly comes through. Here’s to a great year, K.!

—Amelia Wallace, Editor

3 First-Year Latin Teachers Tell Their Stories: Meet C.

C.'s bulletin board featuring the B-C calendar,
Latin postcards, and more!

(For an introduction to this blog series, see our first post.)

Meet C., a first-year Latin and English teacher at a suburban public high school in the western region of the United States. Students at this school come from varied socioeconomic backgrounds. C.’s course load includes two sections of Latin 1, one section of Latin 2, one section of AP Latin, and two sections of English 10. C. has explained some of his strategies and goals for the year, as described below.

Classroom setup: C. has his own classroom and has approached setting it up according to the principle that nothing should be “decorated for the sake of being decorated.” To facilitate learning, he is posting a word wall of Latin I’s nova vocabula and is also using signs to remind students of key question words and useful phrases. C. further notes that he has hung up the B-C Roman calendar, scilicet.

Goals: C. has three major goals for his first year:

1. Create units and learning materials that he can use long term.

2. Increase his program’s visibility and grow his enrollment.

3. Expose his students to spoken Latin and language acquisition strategies.

Methodologies and Approaches to Teaching: C. is trying to provide balance in his class activities, hoping to devote just as much time to comprehensible input (CI) and spoken Latin strategies in a day as he does grammar-focused instruction. Due to his A/B block schedule with 75-minute class periods on alternating days, he can provide a real variety of activities in a single class session.

Tips and Tricks: Here’s how C. describes one of the favorite classroom activities he learned as a student teacher:

Teach your students Latin words for classroom objects and verbs in the imperative, then tell them that you are a robot that only understands commands given in Latin. Students must command you around the room to do things like walk to the door, pick up the book, stand up, sit down, etc. When students see what power they have, shenanigans ensue, and they forget they're using Latin because they're loving the activity so much. The next day, divide them into teams to command their team's robot to accomplish a task before their opponents'.

Most Looking Forward To: C. is most looking forward to his spring Latin Fair field trip. The Latin Fair will give his students the opportunity to interact with other Latin students across his region; his students will present Latin videos at the event and will participate in certamen tournaments.

First Day Hook: To hook students on the first day of Latin, C. played a ball game with students in which they threw a ball to one another while introducing themselves using nomen mihi/tibi/ei est.

C. has been teaching at his new school for several weeks and feels that so far, he has been pretty successful at working toward his goals. He summarizes his teaching philosophy as follows:

C.'s word wall, with nova vocabula and a
continuum of how to say yes and no.

What I really want for my students is for them to leave my class every day forgetting that they were in a high school class. Students spend hours and hours sitting in desks, facing a screen, or listening to a lecturer. This behavior would drive any adult mad. No wonder cell phones and other distractors in classrooms are becoming an epidemic! Kids are craving novelty, excitement, humor, movement, and genuine deep learning. This is what I hope to give them every day.

C. clearly hopes to help his students learn and grow as individuals. Here’s to a great year, C.!


—Amelia Wallace, Editor