When Mr. Haddad invited me to visit his class, I immediately said, “Yes! I’m in! Should I dress like Ms. Frizzle?”
He said, “No. Besides, I want you to talk about Latin.”
I said, “Yes! I’m in! Should I wear a toga?”
He said, “Hulme, save it for Halloween.”
So I joined his class dressed like a normal Latin teacher.
What I observed were curious and perceptive seventh-graders. These awesome students shared their regularly scheduled science time with me, and together we discussed Latin (and Greek) binomial nomenclature. These awesome students were willing to stretch their brains and make connections between biology and Latin, learning the genus and species of various different organisms. Some were obvious (Tyrannosaurus rex) and some were not so obvious (Helianthus annuus), but these awesome students worked together and puzzled out the answers like the budding scientists they are.