Ben Revkin


FREE VIRTUAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: ETC’S FALL FORUM

ETC is excited to announce its First Annual Fall Forum on Saturday, October 15 from 12:00 PM – 4: 00 PM EST. The theme of this FREE one-day online conference is: Championing Community: Captivating and Empowering Young Learners. This programming will be elementary and middle school focused, but all are welcome. There are three planned sessions, several breaks, and a take away roundup and share.

Please see the following session topics and titles:

Presenter: Wesley Wood, “Tua, Mea, Nostraque: Embracing Student Voices in the Classroom”

What does a student-centered Latin classroom look like? In this session, participants will reexamine the roles of student and teacher, play with examples of student choice, and reflect upon the ways they currently solicit (and act upon) feedback from learners. Often, student feedback comes in the form of an end of year survey, which does not help the current cohort of learners. By embracing our own humility and engaging in honest conversations with our students, we can foster communities where students know that their voices are being heard and can actually impact their immediate experiences. Moreover, participants will leave the session with practical strategies and resources to use the following school week.

Wesley Wood is a middle and high school Latin teacher at Bullis School, a private K-12 school in Potomac, Maryland. He is in his sixth year of teaching, with Master’s degrees in Classics from the University of Colorado Boulder and in Foreign Language Education Miami University in Ohio. Last year, Wesley was honored to be chosen as Teacher of the Year for the Greater Washington Association of Teachers of Foreign Language as well as a Mead Leadership Fellow (alongside ETC Chair Stephanie Krause) for the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. In addition, he serves on the ETC Awards committee and the ETC ad hoc Nominations committee.

Presenter: Keith Toda,“Using Communicative-based Activities to Build Community”

So often we have a giant tool box of activities which we implement in our classrooms, but these activities neither facilitate communication in our classrooms nor develop a community. Learn some new activities (and how to modify others) to achieve both!

Keith Toda has been teaching Latin for over 20 years and currently teaches and serves as the World Language department head at Parkview High School in Lilburn, GA. A self-professed recovering grammar-translation teacher, Keith has been implementing CI in the Latin classroom since 2013 and regularly writes about his experiences on his blog Toda-lly Comprehensible Latin. He is always looking for new, innovative ways to implement technology for the delivery of Comprehensible Input and of higher-level thinking. Keith enjoys long walks on the beach at night.

Presenter: Nathalie Roy, “Crowdsourcing Catapults: Using Classical STEM as an Outreach Tool”

Want to promote your program to students at your school or to the general public? Look no further than catapults, an easy classical STEM device that anyone can make and enjoy. They’re cheap, fun, and engaging for all ages. They can even be customized with promotional stickers to help participants remember your program. Join Magistra Roy as she shows you a simple catapult design and activity while running an actual outreach event. She’ll be live-streaming from her city’s Mini Maker Faire, an event that draws thousands of people to the library to experience all kinds of hands-on maker exhibits. Her Roman Technology students will be running a classics outreach event, and you’ll get to see it in action!

Nathalie Roy teaches Latin, Myth Makers, and Roman Technology at Glasgow Middle School in Baton Rouge, LA. Her classes center STEM, experimental archaeology, and making. A National Board certified teacher, Nathalie was named the 2021 Louisiana State Teacher of the Year, an experience that allowed her to meet President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden at the White House. She runs a Website of STEM activities for classics teachers: www.CreativeClassics.org. Her Roman technology students are currently planning this year’s big project – building a Roman road through their school’s campus!

To register, please click here. Find out more information and see the line-up here.  N.B. All resources and videos will be made available to ACL members on our website.