There are 2 Latin teachers at Jefferso City High School in Missouri, & this editorial tells the difference in them. Doctor Tim Roberts teaches Latin I & I believe should be in charge of Latin II, III & IV. The reasons are simple; actually, the REASON is simple; he is a better teacher than James Farris.
James Farris should be a collage professor at Lincoln, because, much like the teachers at Lincoln, Farris spends most of his class time telling "intriguing" stories & trying to prove himself smarter than his students. This is not an unreachable goal because his students are about 7-4 years behind him in Latin Study. If you choose to be of the elite & prove him wrong, which isn't an unreachable goal (grab a Latin dictionary & hide), you generally get on his bad side as I demonstrated as a student of his. Farris insists that his students call him "Magister", or for non-Lats, the Master. I refuse to this day & still call him Farris, as he calls me Geary. The day he calls me Magistra or Domina, I will rebuke & call him what he wills. Farris does know his Latin very well, I will give him that, but non-the-less, he spends more of his time entertaining with odd stories & tests of knowlege as opposed to reviewing what the declensions mean or re-reviewing words. He would generally go on a list once, list the tense-endings & noun endings, then continue with hopelessly questionable stories or hopless questions. Farris, my eyes, seems to be a watered down Doc; he often uses the same phrases & damn near talks like him. would take a straight-up-full-fledged Roberts over any "Magistra" any day of the week. I'm sure Farris has his good points & I look over them as, in my mind, the bad ones outdo them.
Doc Roberts, on the other hand, teaches with wit & finesse. He reviews & re-reviews the words as well as any endings. For extra-credit, instead of questions that could be missed because the student body didn't finish 8 years of mythology & training, he reviews words, declensions, endings & translations. He also goes by "Doc". No bowing down in this class.
The first year I had Doc, I wrote an editorial on my favourite person & he won that straight out. My teacher woldn't except it... it's a long, LONG story, but here's the document:
In my life I have met many people that could be considered unforgettable, but I have forgotten mostly all of them. The only person currently in my mind that made any difference in my life is Doctor Tim Roberts of the J.C. Foreign Language Department. Of all the people I have crossed in my years of schooling, Doc Roberts is by far the only person I respect as an educator as well as an individual.
I've had many people that I have called teachers, but none have taught me so well as Doc. With his indomitable sense of humour and propensity for slamming trashcans when someone cannot conjugate a noun in its proper declension, he can take the most alienated students and captivate thier attention long enough to teach them one of the hardset languages. I can vouch for this for I am the most alienated student I know of. Not only in the classroom but after school hours, like on certain Friday afternoons before tests, Doc is willing to rearrange his schedule to come help a student who wants to learn or is just trying to pass. In his teachings he also includes snippits of his knowledge that he has gleaned from his many years of study and incorperates them into class discussion so that he exposes the class not only to the study of Latin, but brings the horizon closer to Jefferso City.
I will always remember Doc for what I consider a dedicaton to learning and knowledge; it seems that he is always searching for new knowledge to pass on to others. ny person that in such a limited number of years can write and co-author so many books, deserves some sort of recognition, in my mind. I also respect the fact that he holds a doctorite whereas many high school teachers I know of can't be called "Doc£ for the fact that they didn't put in the time and dedication to further their education to that point. That doctorate degree in and of its self is something I look to to know my goal and his attainment of that degree gives him more of my respect.
Thus far I have listed many reasons I respect Doc and will never forget him as a teacher as well as an outstanding person. From his past knowledge of variagated subjects to his use of "Oscar", his prized bugle used for playing out sadly malpracticed consecutive notes, if you will, to highlight the failure or success of a student, Doctor Tim Roberts is a man that has not only taught me for this past school year, but will continue to touch me life for many years to come.
This was written my Freshman year for Honours English, I never showed it to Doc because I think it would embarass me to have him know how much he did for me in that one year.
In conclusion, if you can't have such a good relation with one or more of your students as to make them strive for knowledge of any subject, quit high school & teach at a community collage. (Hint: Farris)