Aperite Libros: We See What We Seek

Robert B. Patrick (Parkview High School, GA)

Teachers of Latin, whether at the secondary or university level, like all human beings, are shaped by our experiences. Our experiences with Latin shape what we do, what we expect, and what we attempt to help others do. Our experiences depict our past, tend to govern our present, and tend to shape how we see the future.

This paper will attempt to depict what happens when a teacher, traditionally trained in Latin grammar and translation methods, opens for the first time one of the reading-approach texts (e.g. Cambridge, Ecce, Oerberg’s Lingua Latina, Oxford). The paper will ask about what the grammar-translation experience does, what it expects, and what it attempts to help others do. The paper will reflect on how a grammar-translation teacher sees the reading-approach text and how that sight reflects his/her past experience, present practice and concerns for future students.

The presenter, like most Latin teachers, began in the grammar-translation mode, and is in sympathy with what it has to offer students. He will also be honest and point out what it does not offer students. Finally, he will offer some specific steps for teachers of both approaches to reflect on their own experiences, what they currently practice, and what goals they may work toward in the future.