Here is Bob Patrick’s report from Orlando:
Robertus amicis collegisque, s.p.d.
Babae! Quid dicam nisi maximas gratias omnibus! Wow! What should I say if not the greatest of thanks to everyone!
I am going to be leaving the ACTFL conference this evening after being here for the Teacher of the Year Awards and the unbelievable wealth of sharing among language teachers. If you think you are overwhelmed by too many choices at ACL or CAMWS or CAAS or other conferences you go to, then be prepared to have your head explode at the next ACTFL conference. I hope everyone here will think about going to Antonio, TX next year. This year there are 165 Latin teachers at ACTFL, and plenty here for us to learn from and contribute to!
As you all know, I was not selected as the ACTFL teacher of the year. Linda Egnatz, a Spanish teacher from Chicago, was, and she is so perfect for this. Linda and I spent hours the first two days talking about what we do (Comprehensible Input) and how we do it. So much in common, and she knows ACTFL like the back of her hand. She will represent us all beautifully.
I have learned so much from this two year process. I want to offer some thanks here. I like to think of my classroom as a soft and safe place where students can land each day. My deepest thanks go to my own family: Lydia, Miriam, Hannah, Chris, Buster and Jewel (our dogs) who provide me my safe and soft spot to land at home every day. They are my loves, and they have made it possible for me to be involved in this TOTY process which has often demanded my time and attention away from them.
My thanks to my own students at Parkview high school, my colleagues both in and beyond the Foreign Language Department–with special thanks to my long time co-conspirator in all good things–Caroline Weathers Olmstead Miklosovic, my administrators who have been so supportive, and to Gwinnett County Public Schools leadership who have encouraged me and supported me in these endeavors!
My thanks to my “tribes” who have gathered around me and helped me, practiced with me, challenged me and enriched me with teaching and leadership ideas, from The Georgia Classical Association, my Latin colleagues of GALTA, the Foreign Language Association of Georgia (Joe Frank Uriz!), the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (with special thanks to David Jahner and Pete Swanson), the Latin clan of both The American Classical Leeague (www.aclclassics.org) and SALVI (www.latin.org) who became the “black shirt people” here at ACTFL, and the TPRS/CI clan, people showing up here from all over the US who I “know” and who “know” me either through MoreTPRS or Ben Slavic’s PLC–with faces and smiles and hugs to share, now in the flesh.
When my name was announced and a video clip of me teaching went on screen yesterday at the General Assembly, there was a huge roar that went up. It was just stunning! I cannot tell you how it felt to be supported “clamoribus”.
Finally, thanks to ACTFL. In 1992, in my 3rd year of teaching, I put myself in a FL methods class at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. The professor was Dr. George Ann Parker who would become, over time, a good friend and colleague with whom I taught at Mountain Brook Junior High School. She put a newly minted copy of the first National Standards book in my hand. I flipped through it and said: but I teach Latin. And she said: yes, and you need to be a Latin teacher who is teaching from these standards. ACTFL has been shaping me as a teacher of languages ever since.
My family and I are headed to our traditional Thanksgiving spot this next week: the beach. Expecting to relax a lot, I have much to be thankful for.
E profunditate cordis,
Bob Patrick