A Centurion Recruits For the Legion

What can I say?  I love Latin and all things ancient Roman, so what could be more fun than to dress up as a centurion and recruit for one of Caesar's legions?

In 2011 I was fortunate to receive the Lilly Endowment's Teacher Creativity Fellowship, which allowed me to research and purchase authentic reproduction Roman armor.  You can read more about that on my Roman Personas website, but the primary result was bringing to life Gaius Crastinus, first-rank centurion of Legion X, which fought under Julius Caesar.  Although he died at the battle of Pharsalus in 49 B.C., Crastinus has been recruiting at middle schools and high school throughout the Midwest for the past few years, and recently he spoke to a group of sixth graders at Scottsburg Middle School.

I met sixth grade social studies teacher Ken Bracey when I visited SMS in several months ago.  He had some ancient artifacts in his room that caught my eye, and I mentioned my work as a re-enactor. When I received an email invitation from him to speak to 200 sixth grade students, I passed the word on to Crastinus, who made immediate plans for the Roman army to visit Scott County, Indiana.

Caesar himself would have been proud that day.  The sixth graders of SMS were perhaps the most attentive audience I have ever seen.  Despite sitting on the floor for a 40-minute presentation, their attention was riveted on what was happening on stage.

 

After learning about the training regimen of the Roman army, the rewards and the pay, and how to utilize the weapons that conquered the known world, it was time for some practice.  Crastinus asked the students questions, and there was a flurry of hands to answer each one.  (One a side note, I must confess that without my glasses, I do not see much at all.  Calling on students in a setting like this mostly involves pointing in the general direction of motion and calling out, "Yes!  You there!")

Eight students were selected in all, and when they were on stage, Crastinus presented them with a spear, sword, helmet, or shield.  That's pilum, gladius, galea, or scutum for you Latin-speakers!  He then put them through the paces of forming a battle line and following basic directions.

When it all was over, Ken and his colleague Martha Clapp were brave enough to take a picture with Centurion Crastinus, who was a bit puzzled over what was happening.  Someone stood in front of them holding what looked like a wax tablet. In fact the device was even called a tablet, yet the person merely tapped it with her finger rather than using a bone stylus to scratch on its surface.

Ken later shared with me the single best comment I have ever received after a reenactment.  One of his students came up to him and asked, "Is he really a real soldier?"  I am glad that for one young man I seemed so, and it was truly a thrill for me to be among such excited and eager young learners.

Southern Indiana Schools, Part 3

On Friday, September 19, 2014, I visited eight schools in three southern Indiana counties.  Traveling with me was Andy Bosk, Director of Career Connections for the Indiana University School of Education.  This is the third in a series of posts about those visits.

Three middle schools in Scott and Floyd counties all share one goal...high student achievement.  They approach their goal in different ways, but the effect is the same.  Students are learning, and I saw evidence of it when I visited their schools.

At Scottsburg Middle School, the students all use district-issued iPads.  There are no textbooks.  Having made the move to a 1-to-1 model, Scottsburg schools rely on technology not just to deliver instruction, but as the very environment in which students work.  I know this because Mark, an 8th grade student, led me through a demonstration on his iPad of what school looks like for him.  While I was certainly impressed with the content of what he showed me, I was more taken by the mature, capable manner of this young man, proof that what Scottsburg is doing is working.

Highland Hills Middle School in Floyd County, Indiana, has an unofficial slogan.  They call themselves the GMS on the P.  I asked Dawn Boling, top 10 finalist for 2015 Indiana Teacher of the Year, what that meant, and she said, "Greatest middle school on the planet."

This was not the usual educational hype and spin.  In Elizabeth Murphy's room (above left) and in Doug Elmore's class (above right), I saw students actively engaged in learning life.  Liz, a 2009 top 10 finalist for INTOY, has an English classroom bursting with interest.  At first I thought it was a music class, but then I learned she had brought in music as a way of setting up that day's reading.  As for Doug's orchestra, well, let's just take a listen.

My visit to Hazelwood Middle School held some nostalgia for me.  When I attended, it was Hazelwood Junior High, grades 7-9.  Now it is a middle school of grades 5-8.  Much had changed thanks to physical renovations, and we were fortunate to have Jessica Waters, the Bullpup principal, to guide us.

What I noticed in classes like Ms. Thurston's ELA/Social Studies room (above, left) was light and enthusiasm.  Our visit was late on a Friday, shortly before dismissal, yet whether they were in the classroom or in the gym, these students kept their focus on where their teachers were leading them.

Three different middle schools, one goal.  More than any data chart could show, these schools contain life, and that life is flourishing in Scott and Floyd counties.