A question for those in the field: High School Latin teacher

[Phillip Ray]

Hey, I am presented with a bit of a dilemma. I go to the University of Colorado At Colorado Springs where Classics is only offered as a Minor, but my dream is to be a High School level Latin teacher. I was wondering if, without changing schools, there was any way that I could achieve this goal? From what I hear getting work in the Classics department is tough these days, so having a minor would really put me at the stercus end of the stick... I'm going to be speaking with the advisers here but I thought I'd just see what you guys had to say...

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi Phillip, unfortunately, this wonderful eClassics Ning is little used by large numbers of high school Latin teachers - the place to go for advice if you don't get a lot of replies here is the LatinTeach listserv, which is very active. I wish people would use the Ning more - it has great search feature, things are organized in discussion threads, you can include images and videos, all things which are not possible on the very very very old-fashioned listserv. But the listserv is what Latin teachers prefer to use, so you are bound to get more responses to your query there. Here's the information for how to sign up for the LatinTeach listserv.

Do you want to stay in Colorado? For public school jobs, the situation is very different from state to state so it would be good to think about which state(s) you would most like to live in after you graduate.

Of course, aside from bureaucracy and red tape and hunting for jobs, the very best possible thing you can do is read lots and lots and LOTS of Latin... no matter what the red tape, the more Latin you read now, the more confident and excited you will be in your teaching! I'm a big fan of fables and proverbs, because they are short, and you can learn new fables and proverbs every day without putting too much of a strain on the Latin part of your brain. I use Blogger.com for my blogging (Bestiaria Latina), and you could blog your own Latin reading progress and discoveries here at eClassics or at Blogger.com - both are FREE... and learning where to find free things is always good preparation for a career in teaching - I try to use all free tools in my online teaching. :-)

[Keith Massey]

Greetings. I'm a high school Latin teacher. I had majored in Classics as my undergrad, but then had pursued Semitic language study. But I was able to get a job as a Latin teacher in what is known as the "Alternate Route" in NJ because I had 40 credits of Latin on my transcript. I started teaching and then went to a late afternoon class twice a week for teaching methodology. So the key, for many states, is just going to be the number of credits in the subject that you have. And you can even mix and match that, meaning that you could take some courses online and it would likely count for you. It's very doable and, I must say, I enjoy my position very much. Good luck and keep us posted!

[Jocelyn Demuth]

I am a high school Latin teacher. I did not major or minor in Latin in college. In fact, I didn't take any Latin in college at all. I taught latin I and II for many years based upon having taken Latin 7-12 and both AP classes . Later I went back to school to get more credits and learn how to teach Latin III and IV. I have found that most schools really need Latin teachers and are willing to help you find alternative certification if they want you.
I have never had difficulty finding jobs as a Latin teacher. When I was an English teacher, I was hired because I could teach Latin and since I decided that I only wanted to teach Latin, it hasn't been difficult to find positions. You really have to like to teach high school students though to make it work - teaching never works as a fallback career or a part-time thing - you really have to love it or you won't last. Hope this helps. - Jocelyn