Hello everyone!
I am Judi Martin (A.K.A. "Magistra").
September 2007 marks the start of my
26th year of teaching Latin for the
Somerset Hills School District. I am
looking forward to another wonderful
year full of adventures for myself and
my students.
Originally from Massachusetts,
in 1980 I
received my B.A. in Mediterranean
Archaeology from the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst. I stayed on at
UMass., where I received my M.A.T. in
Latin two years later.
Certified to teach Latin, Greek, and
Spanish, I left Massachusetts to start
work in Bernardsville. I have been
teaching Latin here ever since.
While I am saddened by
the fact that I will no longer be
teaching Latin at the Middle School, I am very pleased
by the growth in the Latin program that
warranted the need for a part time
teacher. During the 2007-2008
school year, I will be located solely at
the High School (Room A-302) where I will
teach all five levels of Latin. I
have always counted myself
among the most fortunate of teachers
because I am able to see students as
they grow from 6th or 9th grades right through
their high school graduation! Some
students who stay with the program from
the Exploratory course in 6th grade
through Latin V in their senior year
will have
had me as their teacher for 7 years
(more than half their academic careers)!
Travel is one of my prime joys. How
lucky I am to be able to say that I have
been to Italy so many times that I have
lost count! It seems as if I need a fix
of Rome almost on an annual basis. Often,
I travel with other Latin teachers
through an organization named the Vergilian
Society. With the Vergilians, I have
explored North Africa (Tunisia and Morocco), Greece, Portugal, Spain,
Turkey, Italy (especially Rome as well
as the region of Campania in
the Bay of Naples), France (Provence),
Israel and Jordan. I have also taken at
least twelve trips with Somerset Hills
students (to Italy, France, Spain and
Costa Rica) and one trip with the
"People to People" (to France,
Switzerland, Austria and Italy). During the summer of
2003, I had
the pleasure of traveling with 7
students from the SHSD!
Information about my next trip can be found
on the Italy 2008 link found in the menu
on the left of this page.
Photography is another one of my
interest. As my students can tell you, I
frequently snap pictures of them. I
often display them in my classroom (High School
Room A-302). This year, I will display
pictures via a digital photo frame
located at the front of the room. I also make slides
of the photos to share at "Back to
School Night" (via PowerPoint
presentations). In addition to slides
and still photographs, I enjoy making
video tapes of my students which I keep
for several years. As a matter of fact,
I don't think that I have yet destroyed
a video tape! I have been known to
provide parents with copies of their
children's video tapes as wedding or
21st birthday presents.
Obviously,
I am very interested in computers.
Since 1992, I have been one of the district's technology
trainers both for staff development and
for the Partners In
Education program. Through these
programs I have taught Computer Basics, PowerPoint, Word,
Front Page (web site developing), Excel,
QUIA
(a homework hotline site), Edline, Fun
With Graphics (I & II) and Easy Grade
Pro (a computerized grading system),
just to name a few.
I
also make use of a PDA in the classroom to aid in
record keeping with Easy Grade
Pro. I have been testing the
EGP Clipboard program to see if other
teachers would like it. The
program is wonderful and I highly
recommend it for all teachers who are
fortunate enough to own a PDA.
In addition to the Latin taught in my
classes, I bring a mix of my
interests: archaeology, photography and
computers. Students also learn the
important art of organization in my
classes. Through all these
approaches, I hope my students not only
learn Latin, but have some fun
experiences along the way!
Indeed, no one can say
"Latin is a dead language" in
the Somerset Hills!
VIVAT
LATINA!
