Teaching Greek in High School

[Mathētēs]

I've noticed opportunities for teaching Latin at the secondary level. Are their similar opportunities for those of us with skills in Greek? I now have two years of graduate-level training in Koine and plan to have at least two more as I pursue a Th.M. Thank you!

[spozik]

The best place to look is generally here: http://spectrum.troy.edu/~acl/

Keep checking it throughout the spring and you'll see some things pop up. In most cases, Greek positions are looking for someone who can teach both Latin and Greek (or French and Greek, Spanish and Greek, etc.), but this is increasingly the case for Latin positions as well.

You may be in a bit better shape than some, particularly since it sounds like you would fit in fine at a parochial school. Not to be presumptuous or anything, I'm just guessing based on the training in Koine and the upcoming Th.M. I think you'll find many of the more attractive positions to be at these schools.

Good luck!

[RomulusAugustulus]

Yes there are opportunities to teach Greek at the High School level, mostly at private or charter schools. As was mentioned above, these will usually be available to people who can teach Latin as well (because there will usually only be 1-2 Greek classes while there may be up to 5 Latin classes). Unfortunately, the way Greek crops up at schools is usually through students or a teacher showing interest in starting a Greek class, or it may even begin as one students independent study, so schools introducing Greek generally aren't actively looking for Greek teachers. But just look around, I substitute at two Friends Schools in Philadelphia and one has Greek classes, the other has one girl studying Greek, so yes, opportunities are out there! I would also recommend looking for private tutoring jobs.

[LateAntique]

The issue is that you're trained in Koine Greek. If you were to find some private high school that would be looking for a Greek teacher (and, as mentioned above, this is typically just something schools consider a bonus when they hire their Latin teachers), they would want you to be able to teach your students to read Plato and Homer, not just the New Testament. Not to be a downer, but I think if a school is going to hire someone to teach Greek, it's going to be a Classicist they will hire (even if it's a religious school).

[johndiligent]

The issue is that you're trained in Koine Greek. If you were to find some private high school that would be looking for a Greek teacher (and, as mentioned above, this is typically just something schools consider a bonus when they hire their Latin teachers), they would want you to be able to teach your students to read Plato and Homer, not just the New Testament. Not to be a downer, but I think if a school is going to hire someone to teach Greek, it's going to be a Classicist they will hire (even if it's a religious school).

I agree with this as a general rule but... (STUPID ANECDOTE TO FOLLOW)

...I was almost hired for a position at a young adult Bible school (creepy compound where they weren't allowed to fraternise between the sexes until marriage). They wanted someone to teach Koine since they considered Classical Greek texts to be beyond the scope of propriety - any and all lessons had to be taken unaltered from the Greek New Testament. They definitely didn't want any lyric poetry to creep its way into the curriculum. I was pretty desperate when I applied for the job and they were pretty desperate for a Greek teacher that they could pay in peanuts. At first it seemed like we could make it work despite my Jewishness and their creepy, but in the end they wanted me to sign a document affirming something I don't believe or want to be associated with believing and the whole thing went too far. They hired somebody I know who had one year of Greek (ONE!). I doubt it worked out for either of them.

So there are positions like that out there. Whether you'd want to take them or not is a matter of debate.

Edited March 16, 2010 by johndiligent

[LateAntique]

I agree with this as a general rule but... (STUPID ANECDOTE TO FOLLOW)

...I was almost hired for a position at a young adult Bible school (creepy compound where they weren't allowed to fraternise between the sexes until marriage). They wanted someone to teach Koine since they considered Classical Greek texts to be beyond the scope of propriety - any and all lessons had to be taken unaltered from the Greek New Testament. They definitely didn't want any lyric poetry to creep its way into the curriculum. I was pretty desperate when I applied for the job and they were pretty desperate for a Greek teacher that they could pay in peanuts. At first it seemed like we could make it work despite my Jewishness and their creepy, but in the end they wanted me to sign a document affirming something I don't believe or want to be associated with believing and the whole thing went too far. They hired somebody I know who had one year of Greek (ONE!). I doubt it worked out for either of them.

So there are positions like that out there. Whether you'd want to take them or not is a matter of debate.

Oh my. A year of Greek? Those poor kids. And I know schools like that (I'm a Catholic, but I'm from the Bible belt in the States - we're not well-liked down here, ya'll) - they call fraternizing 'purpling' (i.e. the mixing of blue and pink). I know colleges where you are not allowed to stop and talk on the sidewalk with someone of the opposite sex (because everyone knows sidewalk talk leads to pre-marital sexy time).