A Community of Latin Pedagogues
Teaching Latin can be hard. For some of us, we're the only teacher at our school, and, aside from the loneliness of not having others to talk to about what we do, there is the constant pressure to justify our existence. Perhaps we are part of a modern languages department, which already puts us at a rhetorical disadvantage in justifying our role. For others, various rules and educational outcomes hamper the application of what we consider to be the best methods for our students' actual progress. And for all of us, there are the students themselves, the best of whom are rarely more than one frustrating sentence away from questioning the point of it all.
Professional development in the form of the study of and engagement with Latin is essential for fueling the passion that remains our best apology to our students for the study of this language. Yet it is hard to find time and money in the context of heavy teaching loads and often non-competitive salaries.
What is need is a place for teachers to gather to read Latin together, to be challenged to grow in their understanding of the language, to ask questions and share ideas, and to simply fellowship with others who get it.
Welcome to Convivium, a monthly gathering of like-minded friends.
Some of us are battle-hardened from years in the trenches, and some of us have yet to get dirt on our shiny new uniforms as we take up our first assignment, but all of us are committed to the notion that we will be better teachers if we spend time reading and discussing Latin, if we have a safe place to ask about things we still don't understand, and if we don't do these things in isolation.
On this journey, I am your host and your guide. I will draw upon my own extensive experience teaching, reading, and publishing translations of Latin to bring forth texts for our common enjoyment, present on difficult questions of grammar, and comment on helpful elements of pedagogy. But this is not a classroom where I am the teacher; this is a fellowship for which I serve as guide, as one who has been up and down the road to be traveled many times. But I am like you, which means that I long to learn from the wisdom you have gained in your travels as well.
Convivium is open to all teachers of Latin, whether they teach in a public school, private school, homeschool, or in tutorials, by invitation or application. There is no cost whatsoever. Whatever your situation, your journey begins by filling out the form below. We look forward to having you join us!
Second Tuesday of every month, 7:30 pm Central Time
by invitation or application