This upcoming year, I am teaching Latin to the incoming 9th grade freshman at the exam school, which serves mostly urban students of color from the 7th – 12th grades. The BLA students are bright, hard-working and tenacious in their pursuit of knowledge. For the incoming 7th graders, their journey for Latin lasts four years until the 10th grade. However, I am in constant awe of those students who are required to learn the language over a course of three years, starting from the 9th grade – they are called BZs. They do not have the advantage of the majority of their peers that had an extra year. The patience and commitment to maintain strong grades in a subject that most consider to be “dead” and not useful for the modern world is no small feat, but the BZs are a strong, consistent and reliable group.
I have taught Latin over the course of my years using a strict grammar method, but have gradually transitioned to the reading method - learning Latin through the context of stories.
The reading method promotes engagement and more buy-in when students are first learning the language. However, the big problem with the reading method in the world of learning Latin and the Classical world in the beginning years is that there is a lack of engaging Latin texts for the students to read. After attending a Latin teachers’ institute this past summer, I found a set of various Latin short stories that a colleague shared with the teachers at the institute. I would like to fund the binding of the stories so that the students now and years to come can have a classroom set of booklets with these stories.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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