If you are on Facebook, why not come on by and show us some love! See Romae’s Facebook page.

We will be organizing various discussions and events from that portion of our every-growing web presence. So hit us up over there or just look at the bottom right of the site here and become a fan!

Also, don’t forget that we have a Twitter account and you can follow our updates on all things lingua Latina there.

Here is a tool that could help. We all probably use PowerPoint to create various presentations but there is an alternative that has more bells and whistles – but you do have to pay for the service. That said, it is worth trying out and if it fits your needs definitely take advantage of it.

I have attached here a presentation on the nasty 3rd declension nouns and tried to summarize some things to guide my students – have a look! This presentation requires a password – its the imperative for “to open” in Latin…

It is to this latter example this resource applies: Google Docs.

Consider using Google Docs for your next group project assignment. Our students are technologically savy (maybe more so than we currently are) and they are pretty good about finding each other online and communicating with one another. Google Docs is free and allows for collaboration on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Check out this short introductory video to get a better example:

Let me know what you think! Post your comments and tell me how you are going to use this project idea in the future. Again, I think a great way to test it out is to use it for a group project and allow your students the freedom to work on their projects – just make sure they invite you to colloborate/view their project by sending you that all important email!

I will use the data to gauge what I need to improve upon as a teacher as well as where I need to push more of my classroom focus towards.

It will be interesting to see the results in light of the fact that the school I currently am working at is eliminating the Latin program. The details of that are forthcoming, but it suffices to say that the administration lacks the vision and intestinal fortitude to keep Latin at their school. Perhaps I am biased, however.

To take the survey just click on the Latin Interest Survey page on the navigation bar above.

What use could this have for teachers? Well, it would allow your students to create a project whereby they could create a montage of images about a particular subject and set it to music. They could even add text and narrate it themselves. The possibilities are endless.

There are some limitations for using Animoto, however. There are two basic tiers to their service – free and pay per use. The free trial version allows you to upload about 15 images for a 30 second clip. You add your own music and can publish your creation in a variety of formats. Here is an example – I created this using images I took while in Italy this past summer at Pompeii:

If you want to create more than just 30 second clips, you will have to pay for it. Also, if you want to coordinate projects for your classroom, you are going to want to create an account that will allow multiple users access the tools to create the project. Take a look at Animoto’s education services. The cost is minimal but the benefits are great. It will be another way to get your students excited about your classes and in particular, help them connect with classical studies.

Check it out:

Vicipaedia

Also, we have a wiki here at Romae.org, but this one is written in English. This, however, gives me an idea to create a wiki for practicing Latin as well. Stay tuned!

Twitter is what is referred to as a microblogging site and allows users of the site to update everyone on what they are up to. The site is not just for social networking, however, as companies are using Twitter to augment their customer service needs.

In fact, Twitter is so popular that I couldn’t even get a Twitter account for Romae! The username was already taken!

Still, the immediate application of this is immense when you consider one application for its use – updating your students with their homework or project deadlines.

You can create a Twitter account and have your students follow your updates. You could even create several accounts (but you need email addresses for each), one for each class if you so wanted.

If you do, I recommend Splitweeter so that you can manage all your class Twitters at once.

I am going to be testing this system out a bit. I would recommend not making this a requirement for your course, but something you can do to augment it and give students an opportunity to keep up with what assignments are do in a format they will immediately understand. You will also get “props” for knowing what Twitter is (and sending out tweets). The students will also have another excuse taken from them as surely, they will be online when they miss class.

Not to mention, you could even update your Twitter from your cell phone, but that is for another time…

Keep your eye fixed on this post for future updates and comments about using Twitter. Follow my Twitter to see how things are going.