Butts, Sugar, Latin
From-recent-experience teaching lesson No.1: high school boys (not unlike pre-school and elementary and middle school and college boys) are endlessly fascinate with body humor. And so, should you ever find yourself attempting to explain the case system of an inflected language like Latin to a class of ... well one with boys in it, and one of them makes a joke about their gluteus maximus, run with it.
From-recent-experience teaching lesson No. 2: the placebo effect of giving middle schooler's sugar in the form of fun-sized Milkyways lasts more than the hour between when you send them away from Latin and when they return for grammar and composition.
In news less applicable for the rest of the world ::dignifiedly clears throat:: I hate sight translation. I really hate the part where one of my all time favorite teachers actually deluded himself into thinking that his glossing of names (which have no real effect on the meaning of a sentence) would actually be helpful.
From-recent-experience teaching lesson No. 2: the placebo effect of giving middle schooler's sugar in the form of fun-sized Milkyways lasts more than the hour between when you send them away from Latin and when they return for grammar and composition.
In news less applicable for the rest of the world ::dignifiedly clears throat:: I hate sight translation. I really hate the part where one of my all time favorite teachers actually deluded himself into thinking that his glossing of names (which have no real effect on the meaning of a sentence) would actually be helpful.