Just for Fun: The Comedy of Errors Audio

by | Aug 20, 2010 | Education for Fun

When my children were younger I introduced them to Shakespeare by reading them several of the prose renditions (of Shakespeare’s plays)  by Charles and Mary Lamb from their collection Tales from Shakespeare, first published in 1807.  They very much enjoyed the stories, which are literary achievements in their own right, and were better prepared for the study of Shakespeare himself in their later education.  Here is an audio recording of The Comedy of Errors by Charles and Mary Lamb.  Gather your young ones around and see if they don’t enjoy it as mine did.

Comedy of Errors

Interview With Ashton Murphy, Named as a Top-Performing Latin Student by the National Junior Classical League

by | Aug 12, 2010 | Interviews & Podcasts

Ashton Murphy has been studying Latin since the fourth grade at Grace Academy in Georgetown, Texas.  After seven years of Latin studies, she was named as an overall top-performing Latin student at the national convention of the National Junior Classical League this August.  In this interview, Ashton describes her love of Latin, the benefits and fun it has brought here and even recites a portion of a speech by Cicero (in Latin) that she recited in recent Latin oratory competitions.  Interestingly, she cites observing the enthusiasm for Latin in older students as a primary cause of her early love of Latin.  Now as a rising junior, she is sure to inspire younger Latin students, parents and teachers.  If you have a Latin student or Latin class, be sure to have them listen to Ashton’s Latin adventure.  Ashton says she might be headed for a career in journalism or law…but also loves art.  I imagine she will be able to do several things well… Karen Moore, Ashton’s Latin teacher, also joins this interview.

Ashton Murphy2 8-10

The Lighter Side of Education

by | Aug 2, 2010 | Education for Fun

Not all that classical educators do is grave, somber and serious.  What we do is important, but that should not make us self-important.  In fact in my book, one mark of a good teacher is that she laughs a lot.  And why not?  The classroom is a funny place.

So anyone who has taught children for any length of time will find a good deal to laugh about.  Here is an episode from my headmaster days that set the entire staff laughing.  Colleen, our first grade teacher came bursting into my office with her hand over mouth, trying unsuccessfully to hold back her loud guffaws. She relayed the following… She had been teaching the class that week about the second coming of Christ during the Bible class.  During that same week, a construction crew was completing a job installing new brick outside and had reached Colleen’s second story classroom window.  Now the construction crew had placed thick, protective plastic over the window and also raised the scaffolding level with the base of the window.  Just a few minutes after discussing the second coming,  a student suddenly pointed to the window and shouted, “Look, it’s Jesus!”  Sure enough, there was man with a long beard striding across the air in front of the second story window.  Another student shouted, “And he’s smoking!”  And indeed he was.

If you have a comic classroom story–let’s hear it.