From Your President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Tess

From Your President ...

ach spring, I have the unique opportunity of studying theEAeneid with my seniors. Some of them have been studying Latin since seventh grade, and it, of c ourse, a nostalgic, joyous, and yet bittersweet conclusion (for most students) to their classics track. Some of them continue their studies in college, perhaps as a minor or a double m ajor, but for many it’s the end of the v ia.

Vergil would be an ACTFL s uperior/ distinguished author which, in theory, has no business being a part of high school curriculum, but the poem absolutely needs to be one of the las t things a senior gets a chance to read, translate, question, rehearse, memorize, despise, and enjoy. Most students only excerpt about 10% of the whole poem in Latin. But that 10% is so fascinating that one c an use it as a springboard into s ome of the more ignored sections or keep on revisiting it in future readings .

It has prosaic elements although it is almost 10,000 lines of poetry, and it is both art and propaganda. Thos e inherent contradictions allow for endless discussion. The author's rhetorical style and bias cannot be avoided, and students get a chance to study their own in addition to Vergil’s .

Yet for all its grandiosity, the granular moments shine. Between Olympian discussions and prophecies about boundless empire, there are c ountless meditations on love, suffering, and virtue. Who is the more destructive monster: Rumor or one of the Furies ? Can one control the fates ? How do heroes sound and act? Vergil waxes grandiose when needed and gets very small and perspicacious as he considers the workings of minds and hearts.

Many of us who select the canon for classroom consideration every semester are in constant search for both: grand them es and focused inquiry—the experience of which might just have some life following ex ams. In UbD language, we are purs uing essential questions and enduring understandings.

I can’t pursue those EQ’s and EU’s without my WAFLT colleagues. Whether it’s a major event like Fall Conference or FLESFEST, or a casual roundtable like our Power Hour zooms, the opportunity to get together with colleagues helps me revisit my practice and continually interrogate what, how, and why we do what we do. Will I ev er dispense with Vergil and pursue another author? It’s hard to imagine, but I’d love to hear a colleague convince me to try another source. We are very much looking forward to our first in-person conference in three years. In previous evaluations, many teachers expressed how fatigued they had become with a purely virtual format. November will be the perfec t opportunity to visit an abundanc e of topics—from the lacrimae rerum, the tears of our current situations, as Vergil put it, lik e injustice and war, to the sine qua non, the indispensable “I can” gears of our daily lessons. No matter what you’d like to discuss, the epic, the ephemeral, or both, WAFLT is here to support that forum for continual profes sional development. Dan Tess

Dan Tess

WAFLT Statement on Equity and Inclusion As the state language teac hers' association, WAFLT values inclusion, compassion, open-mindedness, unity, peace, and hope in our inc reasingly interdependent world. So much of our work is predicated on our commitment to these values. We stand united with our BIPO C colleagues and students as we continue to work together to achieve a global society that ensures equity and justice for everyone. We see you. We support you. We stand with you.