I was encouraged to join this group by John Piazza, of San Francisco, before the winter break. Here’s my bio. I currently teach Latin at Westlake High School in Southwest Atlanta. I use TPRS and some WAYK methods in my classroom – as well as just random shit that I think works and that kids like. I strive for comprehensible input to students. I do some grammar instruction with charts and such – mostly for forms, and only after students have heard the forms I am teaching them hundreds of times and I feel that they are acquired. I view this as a sort of differentiation strategy for those who are more analytically inclined – and it never takes precedence over communication. This is my 5th year of teaching – and I have already passed through a few different schools. I first became interested in CI/TPRS observing David Maust in Whittier, CA. I grew up on the other side of the hill from there, and was very familiar with his school’s culture, and was amazed that he could get so many students from Eastern LA county (i.e. not the stuck up movieland part) to be speaking and understanding Latin. Moreover it is the social justice and utility of CI that has kept me interested.
I’ve been cultivating my CI skills and spoken Latin skills ever since. I also speak Spanish (parents are from Mexico and East LA).
My last job in CA was at a high performing school that pressured me to teach Grammar Translation and run a massive Junior Classical League program. I felt like more of a bureaucrat than a language teacher. They pretty much just used me, since their old teacher retired suddenly in September, and they were desperate for somebody who could actually read Latin literature and teach it to teenagers. They laid me off for thinking differently from them, so I am definitely aware of the battles that go on in this world.
