Awards
for Excellence in the Precollegiate Teaching of
Classics for the Year 2003
Perhaps the best words to describe
Scott Ettinger's success with teaching Latin are those
of John Johnson, writer of his nominating letter and
headmaster of the Riverdale Country School: "Scott has
worked a miracle for us." In 1995 the Latin program at
Riverdale Country School was "near death". Mr. Ettinger
"single-handedly rescued" it. Since Mr. Ettinger's
arrival in 1995, Latin enrollments have dramatically
increased and students are once again choosing to take AP
Latin. Students have not only flocked to Latin classes;
they have demonstrated greatly improved results as shown
in scores on both the Latin AP and the Latin SAT II. The
program at RCS has grown so much that the school has had
to hire another Latin teacher part-time to help with the
teaching load. What seems to have produced this welcome
change is a teacher who is characterized as "engaging,"
"thoughtful," and "creative". Eager to share his
enthusiasm for his subject, he promotes it with style to
students, parents, and administrators alike. In the words
of one parent, he is "committed, inspiring, and
principled" and "combines rigorous academic demands with
detailed, wide-ranging knowledge of the classics".
His creativity has been used in the
development of his school's first "active teaching web
site" and his colleagues have benefited from his computer
knowledge through workshops he has taught. He has started
taking students on a regular basis to Rome and documents
the trips at the school's website. Denise Hoffman,
Language Chair at Riverdale Country School, comments on
the hours of extra help he offers students, his
excitement about explaining to a peer the derivation of a
particular word, and his establishment of "good
relationships with his counterparts in...feeder schools"
which creates students who enter RCS ready to continue
with their Latin. Eager to develop further his own Latin
abilities, Mr. Ettinger has attended both the
Conventiculum Latinum and the Schola Aestiva Romae to
study oral Latin, an area of Latin study that has become
more prominent as National and State Standards have
happily incorporated some of the tools of the modern
languages.
In the words of one of his AP Latin
students: "Why is Mr. Ettinger my favorite teacher? There
are few teachers in the world who can turn a language
which has been 'dead' for a thousand years into a fun and
truly exciting subject. Like the Catullan poetry we read
every day, Mr. Ettinger's teaching methods are infused
with humor, charm, and wit. Make no mistake, our daily
classes are pillars of productivity and efficiency. I
have never met a teacher more organized or aware of what
needs to get done. Yet it is the little moments of fun,
the little bits of laughter which Magister enjoys with
us, that makes Latin class so great."
Mr. Ettinger received his A.B. Magna
Cum Laude in Classics from Harvard University in 1990 and
then continued with graduate course work for a year at
University of Michigan. Before beginning his teaching
career at Riverdale Country School in 1995, he worked in
the business world. From everything the Committee read
about Mr. Ettinger, the field of Latin at the secondary
school level is fortunate that his interests took him in
the direction of teaching. He is truly a teacher who has
proven himself early on in his career. We look forward to
many more years of Latin teaching from this promising
member of our profession.
In the words of Charles Lloyd,
Professor of Classics at Marshall University in West
Virginia, "My teaching career at Marshall spans 31 years,
and in all that time, I have never encountered a teacher
in our state with more dedication, energy, and teaching
skill than Dr. Nicoletta Villa-Sella."
It is hard to imagine a higher endorsement.
Dr. Villa-Sella, who holds a Doctorate
in Linguistics and Semiotics from the University of Pavia
in Italy, has taught linguistics, Italian, and German as
well as the Latin and Spanish she currently teaches at
The Linsly School in Wheeling, West Virginia. She has
published articles and reviews in the field of
linguistics as well as translations. In her own words:
"Fifteen years ago, my career took a turn I would have
never expected before. The school in the area where my
family had relocated needed a Latin instructor. I was
ready to accept the challenge of teaching a classical
language instead of the modern languages and linguistics
to which I had been accustomed." She continues: "I
immediately realized that teaching Latin the way in which
I learned it would have made my classes empty." Using her
sense of language as "communication," Dr. Villa-Sella
brings Latin to life, showing its connections with
English and the Romance languages, while teaching about
the relevance of Roman history and culture to the modern
world.
In her time at The Linsly School Dr.
Villa-Sella has produced outstanding Latin students who
have won more awards in the Maier Latin Sight Translation
contest, sponsored by Marshall University, than those of
any other teacher. In the words of her nominator,
"...there can be no more tangible proof of her success at
teaching Latin."
One of her former students recalls Dr.
Villa-Sella in the following way: "Perhaps most salient
among Dr. Villa-Sella's many strengths is the sheer
breadth and depth of her knowledge...Her sense for
translation is not simply technically sound, but also
nuanced. As I advanced in my studies, I came to
appreciate the subtleties of translation as more than
simply a word-to-word puzzle. I would contend that Dr.
Villa-Sella's ability to impart this view of translation
is sophisticated in a way that few high school language
teachers can match." She continues to comment on her
teacher's "awareness of each student's progress".
[She] "did not shy from altering class based on
students' needs or interests." Another student writes:
Whether it was pressuring me to take part in Latin
competitions that I would ultimately win, or taking her
Latin classes on a fieldtrip to a vineyard, Dr.
[Villa]-Sella does not believe in a passive
teaching style."
Dr. Villa-Sella has also impressed the
people she has encountered over the years with her
ability to organize. Most recently her talents have been
used for running the West Virginia Junior Classical
League Convention with enormous success. Her wide foreign
language interests led her to organize a Multicultural
Club at her own school and have taken her into the local
community where she initiated a program called "Project
LINK (Language Instruction for Neighborhood Kids)," which
involves primarily Japanese speakers.
It is fortunate for the field of
Classics that an unexpected turn in Dr. Villa-Sella's
career has produced a Latin teacher held in such high
regard. Her commitment to her "new" teaching area is
astonishing and it is to the benefit of her students and
her larger community that she has added to her Latin
teaching the richness of her previous training, teaching,
and scholarship.