Today I received a bio from a Latin teacher in Cincinnati, Jeffery Bricker. Jeffery combines his personal interests in the method with where he is professionally and that is what we want to hear about each other.
The tone of what he wrote is wonderful. It says, “O.K. that old stuff doesn’t work so come hell or high water I am going to make what I know intuitively does work (TCI) fly in my classroom.” Here it is:
Ben –
I do want to apologize for not introducing myself to you and the other blog readers. I have been doing much reading and research this year and I have really pushed myself to change what I am doing. I only recently heard about you from some other Latin teachers. I bought your books and now subscribe to your blog. I am way behind the curve on CI/TPRS. I am trying to immerse myself (pun intended) in the learning. Like almost all Latin teachers, I was not trained to speak Latin and it is proving very challenging, but I am tired of how things have been going and I want to solve the problem. I am a problem solver and I want to fix what is broken.
As for introductions, here it is. My name is Jeffery Brickler and I teach Latin in Cincinnati, Ohio. I have been teaching for 8 years. I have been teaching with traditional methods. I have even achieved some success with them as one of my students is majoring in Latin next year and even won a full scholarship in Latin. However, he is one of the 4%. I know it in my bones. I am proud of him, but I want to reach the others and I know I cannot do it in the ways that I have been teaching. It hasn’t worked for the others for 8 years. That fact is never going to change. Now I am seeking to change. I want others to love Latin like I do. They won’t love it because they know grammar.
I also want to apologize for my lack of participation in the blog. I have a 8 month son at home and a number of other responsibilities. I also teach in two schools and I have all levels from 1-5. Needless to say, it is very challenging. Although I enjoy it, I have enjoyed it even more as I have been experimenting with TPRS. Unfortunately, yesterday my story lesson bombed completely. Wow, it was embarrassing! However, I am undeterred in my resolve to continue. Like everything else, it’ll take a while before I can learn this skill.
I do want to express my deepest thanks for allowing me to learn from you and others. I enjoy learning and finding solutions and I truly think that I have found one here.
Jeff