Pursuing Calefaction

I received the news on Friday about my car’s condition. It was determined to be a total loss–the axle damage sent problems all the way up into the transmission. (That’s about what I figured. But it’s still a minor shock to have confirmed such a drastic event from so small a span of time. Seriously, [...]

So, casting about for useful online Latin resources as I was wont to do earlier this fall, I stumbled across a little corner of the Web. I was just looking for something to help my struggling level Is practice their noun declensions. At first I scoffed, thinking it was some teacher’s personal pet Latin Web [...]

I’m grateful to be writing this post, and grateful to be sitting here on this couch typing it, and grateful to have had a full day’s work done before coming home to do so. The things we own can do mighty works. This laptop is my tool to communicate, to express with the written word, [...]

So, I’ve been trying to find some good apps for my students to use as electronic Latin dictionaries. I finally got around to it, and here’s the results of my search. I have tested all the Android apps, but I don’t have an iPhone; if you have good suggestions to supplement this list or have [...]

Travel this winter break was nowhere near as exhausting, and much more greatly refreshing, than it has ever been for me. A calendrical accident allowed NC teachers a full 2 weeks of vacation this year, and I used it to the fullest extent. Two major stops: Asheville, NC and roundabouts Ellicott City, MD.
Asheville is…amazing. First [...]

So, I’m trying out a new thing. I have been attempting to-do lists for most of my life unsuccessfully–I lose them if they’re on paper, or they constantly need updating. And to-do software is only as good as my actual use of it. I tried ToodleDo, and it was ok, except that it didn’t really [...]

One of the great emotional hurdles I’m discovering in a full classroom setting is the anxiety of sufficiency. I don’t mean just whether we’re engaging the material that Latin students ought to know. Though blending culture lessons evenhandedly into the grammar is a distinct challenge, we are not doing too terribly for my first real [...]

So I had my last visit with my intervention subject the other day.  For our last session together, I brought for her a present of a pack of glittery pencils in various colors. (She chose a pink one. It was a good choice.) She has been a real trooper, with my inconsistent scheduling (thanks to [...]

Sometimes the drive to begin something is just utterly lacking. Dread overcomes me, and I want to find anything else to do than the thing that I must do. Thinking about doing the task consumes me, even though actually  beginning is the one thing that would fix it. Ambition is so easy to the mind, [...]

Well, the semester is coming rapidly to a head, both in Latin and at NC State. I have discovered over this spring break a prodigious capacity within myself for doing nothing while feeling like I’m working my ass off. Running the Red Queen’s race, they call it. I find myself doing things to buy time, [...]