In Erie habitō. Habitō cum uxōre meā et fēlibus duōbus….Ita…Minimē…Dormīvī bene….Ubi habitās? Mihi placet cibus….Ego….vīdī….Anglīcē “deer”….in silvā!
On my first day (or two….or three) at Rusticatio Tironum, I was largely confined to communicating basic (and rather boring) ideas. I wanted to say more—I was seeing good friends again and wanting to make new ones…but I could not produce much more than my name, where I was from, that I had a wife, and that I liked food—what food? All food, so it seemed. I was demoralized and exhausted—I had studied Latin for years, earned advanced degrees….but now I could barely string together a respectable sentence. What was going on? Did I actually know Latin at all?
I soon realized that I was a student again—and not just any student, but that student: struggling, burdened by a high and spiraling affective filter, ready to give up Latin I and enroll in Span….I now knew more so than ever how so many Latin students in my classroom must have felt over the years. I was them. I wanted to move to the back of the room, put my head down, and check out.
After my first day, I was ready to leave. I had given up a valuable week of my summer for this?! I only decided to stay (and enjoy myself) after speaking with incredibly supportive and sympathetic listeners—people who encouraged me to say what I could, forget the rest (id est: mitte difficiliora, one of the three cardinal rules of Rusticatio), and actually enjoy speaking—talk about my loved ones, tell funny stories, et cetera. I felt confident again—sure, I could not say everything I wanted, but I could communicate—and how wonderful that was. Over the course of the week, I progressed in my Latin ability and enjoyment of the process thanks to the love and support of those around me.
Now in retrospect I realize the dual benefits that attending Rusticatio Tironum (thanks to the generous support of the Amy High Fellowship) generated for me. First, my “Active Latin” abilities increased—sure, I may have only advanced slightly in my proficiency and in my “Travels with Charlie”…but I moved. Second, and honestly more valuable than any new communicative abilities: perspective. In returning to my classroom in late August, I had a valuable new perspective on what it is like to be a student again, sitting down with and trying to make sense of this difficult language that we all love. It may seem like a simple thing—but in reality it is a total shift in approach and pedagogy, a shift in thinking about the purpose and value of secondary language education as a whole, and a shift in recognizing the efficacy of a supportive, loving, and and intellectually engaging environment: it can save our students, just like it saved me.
I am enormously thankful to SALVI and the Amy High Fellowship for the generous support that allowed me to attend Rusticatio Tironum. I have tried to bring not only many of the approaches and lessons back to my program, but also the encouraging atmosphere and loving mindset of the event. I am confident that my program is stronger, more dynamic, and more welcoming to all students of all levels. I strongly encourage all teachers and students to apply for future Amy High Fellowships and allow themselves the valuable opportunity to be a vulnerable student once again. It may be scary, but true growth—in our Latin, pedagogy, and hūmānitas—is all but inevitable.
Update—February, 2017
As I approach the two-year anniversary of receiving the inaugural Amy High Fellowship, I am struck by how impactful my time at Rusticatio Tironum has been for not only my development as a Latin teacher, but also for my ever-evolving relationship with Latin as an active and living language. The pedagogical basis of the Rusticationes still forms the foundation for my own teaching approach, while I still constantly strive to approach in my own classroom as closely as possible the communal and supportive environment that imbues the entire Rusticatio experience. For example, within the past month I decided to “go deskless” and attempt to create a classroom where all students sit together as one, united by a common focus and pursuit of linguistic knowledge. While I am still working on optimizing this new technique, so far the results have been largely positive and have allowed me to enrich our classroom with many aspects of the Rusticatio atmosphere and approach.
In addition, I have also benefitted greatly from maintaining the tremendous friendships that I formed while at Rusticatio. I speak on a regular basis with many of the participants: sharing lessons and ideas, critiquing our approaches, discussing classroom management techniques, and simply enjoying the communal aspect of Rusticatio in a digital format. As the sole Latin teacher in my district, it is difficult to accurately express just how valuable these relationships are to both my personal and also professional health. It is a great gift to know that even on the most frustrating days there are people out there also pushing themselves to bring living and vibrant Latin to their students, and that they are all only a tweet or Facebook message away.
In closing, I am still immensely grateful to SALVI for allowing me to experience a Rusticatio Tironum and garner all of the positive aspects described above. Without the Amy High Fellowship, none of these experiences and their subsequent positive benefits would have been possible. I thus encourage any potential applicants to apply for the fellowship: your knowledge and appreciation of Latin will grow as you enter into a professional community unlike any other.