Myth Makers: All Hail the Queens

My Myth Makers have been hard at work this year getting ready for their Pegasus National Mythology Exam. Part of that prep work, of course, is reading and listening to all the stories, taking notes, and practicing their knowledge. But the other, FUNNER, part of the Myth Makers class is MAKING. This year, I've developed two new STEAM challenges that the students really enjoyed so I thought I'd share them here.

THE INCREDIBLE CROWN PROJECT: A few years ago, I wrote a STEM challenge in which the students had to design and build their own scepter to represent their personal god/dess power. You can read more about that project in this blog post. The kids loved it, but it took up a LOT of space in my classroom to store the projects. Some of these things were as tall as the students with multiple and moving parts. So this year, I thought I'd scale down the idea while still sticking to the theme of royalty and focusing specifically on Hera, queen of the gods, often demonized as the "jealous" wife of Zeus when in fact, she's more of a victim of his bad behavior. The project asks students to create a special crown for Hera, symbolizing her status. Because she was too busy to join us for a fitting, Hera had designated ME as her model. THAT detail really got some eyerolls (as I expected), but they totally used me as their mannequin. LOL

You can see the guidelines in this document. I started by demonstrating to the students how to fold a simple paper crown - this video explains it well - that would serve as a strong base for their designs, and they practiced using scrap paper before they began their actual project. It's super important to always start STEAM challenges by instructing the students in some basic skills, such as how to fold paper effectively. I know it sounds crazy, but some kids don't know how to make really flat, crisp folds. I'll never forget this incident from a couple of years ago: a new science teacher came over to my classroom to discuss an idea he had. He was going to use paper airplanes in his lesson, and I stopped him immediately, asking, "Are you sure the kids know how to make those?" He thought it was a ridiculous question, but he ended up having to rethink his lesson on the "fly" when, indeed, the majority of his students knew nothing about paper airplanes. It's a good reminder that, in today's world, teachers should not assume that students have the same experiences with making and building that our generation did. Years ago, during a lesson with arch building block kits, an 11-year-old told me he had never used building blocks before. Making is not the norm anymore!

The students worked in partnerships to make their crown designs, and some of the finished designs blew me away with their artistry!! These makers literally had paper, tape, scissors, and markers to make these things, and they totally delivered amazing works of art. After time was up (some teams worked until the very last second just like in Project Runway), we cleared a runway through the classroom, and I modeled each crown. One student asked if she could be the "commentator," and it was hilarious! As I worked that runway, the students wrote reflections on their work and the work of others (see page 2 of the linked document above). After it was over, I displayed the crowns easily by flattening them and stapling them to a bulletin board in my classroom (a plus if you have observers who like to see students' work). Can I just say how marvelous some of these were?! One team actually created paper peacock feathers that hung down from the back of the crown and shaped a paper bird on the front. It was stunning! Hera would definitely have wanted to wear these.

THE NUPTIAL NECKLACE PROJECT: The kids liked making crowns so much that I decided to keep going with the theme of adornment. Using Hephaestus as our maker model again, I challenged the students to make a necklace for Aphrodite. In the story of the mismatched love of Hephaestus and Aphrodite, he crafts many beautiful items for her, including a golden girdle (or belt) that makes her irresistable. Before the challenge, I taught the students two methods for designing their necklaces: paper chains and paper beads. They had lots of supplies to choose from, including glossy magazines and colorful papers. Some chose the simpler paper chain method, but others didn't shy away from making paper beads. These are beads made from long, triangular strips of paper that are rolled up on a stylus and glued to close them. There are so, so many tutorials online and so many materials that can be used to created these. But once I taught the students the basic methodology, they were off and running, taking the method into whatever direction they wanted to. Using the engineering design process as we do with every project, the students worked in teams of three and began with a sketch. After sketching their designs, they got to work on making and creating.

As always, they completely "ATE" this project (as they say). One team went deep into the relationship of Hephaestus and Aphrodite. They made shackle bracelets because they felt as though he was trying to restrain her from being with Ares. 

I modeled the necklaces in another fashion show, and they wrote their reflections (all linked in the document above). They learned a lot about Hephaestus, making, collaborating with partners, and had fun doing it all.

When I design maker challenges, I'm reminded of Dale Dougherty’s writings (he sums them up in this TED Talk). In case you don't know, he's considered by some to be the founder of the Maker Movement. “Makers are playful, resourceful, and experimental. They not only help themselves, but they help others. Makers do well because they can adapt to change as self-directed learners, but they are also agents of change. In this movement, makers are setting their agendas and asking others to join them.” I encourage my students to be MAKERS on a small scale because I'm hoping to inspire them to do BIGGER things later in life. They need practice!

Hands-On History: Our Soil Mates

I had the most horrifying nightmare last week about WORMS. I was in San Francisco attending the annual joint meeting of the Society of Classical Studies and the Archaeological Institute of America to present as part of a panel on using experimental archaeology in the classroom. I had been invited to talk about using STEM challenges in the classics classroom. The night before the presentation, I went to sleep worrying myself over it for no good reason. I've given countless presentations to large and small audiences, teachers and the general public. I should NOT have been worried, but I was. (You can see my presentation here, and my scripted notes here, in case you're wondering.)

I woke up a few hours later in sheer terror. In the dream, I was talking to an old friend of mine when I casually nudged the bottom of my lip. When I looked down at my finger, there were worms all over it! I ran to a mirror and found a gaping hole right under my lower lip where worms had evidently been living for a quite a while because there were a lot of them. I gasped in horror wanting to look away when someone deep down inside me said, "You've GOT to do this." I reached into the hole and pulled out a gigantic worm and smushed it with my fingers. That's the moment I woke up, reeling from the ever-so-real feeling of worms living in my face. I couldn't go back to sleep so I looked up dream interpretations about worms. And judging from the search, a LOT of people are having this exact same dream, and I was shocked at the supposed meaning: worms in your skin or body represent worries eating away at you, and how you deal with them is significant. If you're pulling them out in the dream, that means you are taking control of your concerns and conquering them. In light of my worries about my presentation, I guess that makes sense.

But then I remembered another reason I have worms on my mind. My worm babies!!! The worms in my classroom decomposing our lunch waste! I was worried about them not getting enough food for the past week with my being in San Francisco for the conference. This past year, I've been teaching a class called Hands-On History, an outdoor learning class that has covered lots of random ancient wisdom including gardening. Through my National Geographic fellowship cohort, I learned of a granting opportunity in the fall with a small non-profit organization called Let's Go Compost. Led by Lauren Click who signs off on emails "wormly," they help classrooms and Girl Scout troops learn about vermicomposting and its benefits. The grant provides a vermicomposter, lessons on the benefits of composting, a book about vermicomposting, and a gift card to purchase worms from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. I signed up so quickly, thinking that my students would LOVE this opportunity. Well, forget my students - I don't care if they love the worms or not because I ABSOLUTELY AM IN LOVE WITH THESE WORMS. This project has been my absolute favorite this year for so many reasons.

1. Worms in the mail! As soon as our worms arrived in the mail, I had to put them into the vermicomposter to chill out. They were discumbobulated from being in the mail for 48 hours. The directions said that some of them would try to escape due to confusion. I also had to make sure that I darkened the room so they would feel at home in the dark dirt. I took them to school the next day and set them up there. Some of my students were absolutely horrified and refused to even look at the worms, much less hold one or sing to them (as I frequently do). Others were delighted and asked if we could name the worms. What a great idea!! Thus, the students filled out a Google form with names like "Mr. Beast," "Messi," "Phillip Raymond Carmichael, Jr.," "Sigma," "Drake," "Poseidon," "Cherry," and "Wormy Wormington III." And we frequently refer to our "soil mates" by their names: "Do you really think Chappel Roan, Dumbo, and Tha Destroyer are going to like that avocado?"

2. Worms are fascinating. They don't consume the food waste that we deposit in the composter because they don't have mandibles. They actually consume the bacteria that grow on the decomposing food, but they like certain food bacteria more than others. They LOVE pumpkin bacteria the most! When we discarded a small jack-o-lantern in the composter, it was like the worms had decided to have an all-night rager with free booze and a DJ. These worms were all OVER this pumpkin! We've also been finding worm eggs and pregnant worms, which means that our worms are happy and well-fed. Worms are mostly self-sufficient, and they won't overpopulate their space.

3. Food waste is a huge problem all over the world. My students and I have learned so much about food waste since we got our soil mates. Farmers and consumers throw away food for many reasons, sometimes just for cosmetic ones, like bruises on apples. I had watched my own students throw away cafeteria-prepared food by the plateful, and it disturbed me that all that potential and eventual dirt was being discarded in large plastic bags, slowing down the decomposition process. In addition to vermicomposting, we also used some of our grant money to purchase large compost tumblers to take care of our larger food waste. With just the kids I eat lunch with every day (about 30 per day), we've clocked anywhere from 2 to 5 lbs of food waste per day.

4. Greens and Browns For composting to work well, you need to even out the green (food scraps) and brown (plant matter like grass clippings and leaves) material that goes into the composter. I've learned so much from the Compost Coach, a wonderful book by Kate Flood, a compost enthusiast. Knowing how easy it is to do now has made me sad that not more people do it.

5. The Harvest After a couple of months of feasting, our soil mates had produced enough castings for us to harvest and use in our garden. And if you're thinking that castings are another way to say "worm poop," you would be correct. The students were not super interested in this aspect of the process, but it would have been hard for them to do in such a small space so I took the lead! I harvested about half a gallon of castings which, unlike traditional compost, needed no time to cure. In fact, the very next day, we used the castings to plant a winter crop of onions in our school garden. The kids are doing an experiment to see if the castings are actually more beneficial for the plants than regular potting soil.

I've enjoyed taking care of "my wormies" so much that I listed them as one of my inspirations on a "vision board." In early January, I was invited to an "Envisioning Party" at which we used old magazines to render some aspirations for 2026. I love the letter W so I tried to write goals that all started with W. Of course, worms start with W so I had to include them. They are a reminder that the earth's tiniest creatures are super important to the success of life on earth. They really are sooooo Wonderful!!

 

Hands On History: Digging in the Dirt...for a Different Reason

My new Hands-On History class has been a really amazing experience so far. It was supposed to be mostly about archaeology with as much outdoor learning as we could get in the 90 degree heat of Louisiana fall. But the class has not been entirely what I exactly expected it to be...in a good way...? We have been keeping a garden - 8 mini-gardens to be exact.  Gardening was supposed to be a side venture to keep us occupied when I got too busy to research atlatls or basket weaving, but it's turned into a nearly full-time activity. And here's the best part...the students absolutely LOVE it.

Our small school garden began a couple of years ago when my Roman Technology students decided that they wanted to try gardening the ancient Roman way. We did a lesson on Roman herbs and seasonings and then grew some to flavor the cheese we also made. It was a fun little activity, but the two small garden beds I had were not enough for all of my students to engage with. Enter my father, an amateur carpenter with a generous spirit, who made wooden grow beds that are raised to waist height for easy tending. He crafted 8 more beds to be used by my Hands-On History class this year.

At the beginning of the year, the students divided themselves into two-person teams that would each tend to one side of one garden bed. After a bit of research, they decided what to plant, how to plant it, how to care for it, and how and when to harvest the crops. The #1 choice of crop was cucumbers. Because the weather in Louisiana is so hot still into October, the students also decided to grow lettuce. 

Every day of our class (every other day on our A/B day schedule), we start by eating lunch outside under the shady oak trees of our campus. At the end of lunch and recess time, we collect composting materials from the students' lunches. From the picnic area, we walk slowly back to my classroom, passing by our garden beds. There, we dump compost into our large compost tumblers, check on the frog that lives near them, and then water and tend our gardens. I bought simple plastic watering cans so they could also take care of watering their beds. On every visit to our garden, they scurry around filling their watering cans and looking through their gardens. Imagine the thrilling "OHs" and "OMGs" I hear when students discover a slug or leaf-footed bugs or the bees attracted to the wildflowers we planted nearby. It's so delightful to hear delight being expressed so excitedly.

Near pandemonium broke out when the cucumbers started appearing. And OMG, did these seeds make some cucumbers! They must have been Superman or Wonder Woman seeds. Not long after cucumbers and lettuce started appearing - seemingly by the day, the class discussion turned to the question of what we would do with the harvest. One student suggested that we make pickles, and nearly the whole class erupted in excited agreement. We live in a pickle-obsessed world right now so I wasn't too surprised. At first, I was a little worried because I have watched my mother, the cucumber contessa, make giant batches of pickles every year of my life, and I knew that true shelf pickles are a HUGE project that I wasn't sure I could conquer with a class of 30 students. But then I remembered what I learned from TikTok: anyone can make fridge pickles with vinegar and sugar in 15 minutes! So I bought some mason jars, taught the kids to safely cut up our cucumbers, and we have been enjoying our pickles at lunches.

Pickles and first lettuce harvest!

Since the garden has become nearly all-consuming (and I know very little other than the basics), I've asked for some help. My principal has been wonderful enough to send me to the LSU Ag Center's Seeds to Success fall conference where I learned all kind of helpful information about school gardening initiatives. But I've also found some kindred spirits in my colleagues. One of Glasgow's new teachers, Mr. Troy Chapman, teaches ag business so they have begun joining my class for some gardening activities. He and I really like working on projects together! Another of my colleagues has extensive experience with school gardening from his previous position. Mr. Kory Holmes taught ag science at Istrouma High School until it closed last year, and he misses his school gardens. Now teaching math at Glasgow, he has guest taught classes on soil testing for my students. I appreciate both of these gentlemen so much for their help and advice!

Next up, onions. Or that's what we think we'll be growing for our winter crop. After that, it will be potatoes and then strawberries, or at least, that's what I've been told by the students. In a world where students spend the majority of their school day and everyday lives indoors in the USA, I'm so glad to be able to offer students an outdoor learning experience that connects them with nature and healthy food. 

Hands-On History: My New Class

A few years ago, after my Roman Technology classes finished our Roman Road Project, I asked the students to reflect on their favorite aspects of the project. It should come as no surprise that this project, despite its difficulty, was wildly popular so I wanted to know what the kids liked about it for future replication. Lots of responses referenced actually DOING something, especially with friends, but the most common responses by far centered simply being OUTSIDE to work on this project. One student summed it up perfectly: "Just the whole breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively."

As a 2024-2026 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow with National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions, for the past year, I've focused on teaching with National Geographic's Explorer Mindset. And this mindset needs to get students outside. Indeed, in the past few years in which I've taught an outdoor activity (the Roman Road Project, the Penelope Project, oak gall foraging), students have commented again and again about how much more they learned when they do it outside. Everything seems more alive outside. The smells and sounds invigorate the mind. I like to call these lessons "Hands-On History" because we're learning about the ancient past using the senses. We're not just reading and writing about the past, but we are smelling it, hearing it, tasting it, and feeling it.

This past spring, with my principal's approval, I decided to offer a new class called "Hands-On History." This class tasks 8th graders with exploring the ancient archaeology of Rome, Greece, and...Louisiana. We are partnering with the Louisiana Division of Archaeology - their educational experts will be with us once per month for hands-on history activities such as atlatl-throwing, mound-building, and trips to local indigenous sites! I've got so many exciting activities planned. I spent many hours during this past summer researching and dreaming.

As I began teaching students about the ancient world from a hands-on perspective, I somehow came into the possession of a book called Hands On History: A Resource for Teaching Mathematics, edited by Amy Shell-Gellasch and published by the Mathematical Association of America. The wonderful York University (Toronto, Canada) math and art history teacher Hugh McCague wrote two chapters, one on medieval masons and the geometry of labyrinths and the other about Roman surveyors' use of a groma (an ancient sighting tool). I LOVE this book even though I don't teach math, but the lessons all integrate math and history! Maybe this book inspired my use of the term "hands-on history," but most likely, I heard about it by following the inspiring open-air museums found in the UK and all over Europe. Butser Ancient Farm in southern England is one of my favorites to watch. On certain days of the year, visitors enjoy history experts leading them through hands-on activities such as weaving,  grain-grinding, etc. Tim Betz writes about the particular form of engagement visitors experience at this type of museum in his book Making History: Makerspaces for Museums and Historic Sites. "The museum is an inherently colonial act. ...Today we are moving toward the telling of more truthful, more complex, and more critical narratives....Advocates of the post-museum are less interested in transferring knowledge and more interested in engaging the public with culture and inspiring discussion and reflection among the group, aiming for the generation of new knowledge."

We have already done so much so far that it's hard to put it all in one post! We expanded the garden that our Roman Technologists started last year as an ancient herb space, and we have begun composting our lunch leftovers to create soil for our growing garden. 

Most exciting, we have begun our bi-weekly walking field trips to the new branch of our public library. How lucky are we that our school is literally a safe sidewalk-lined half-mile walk to a public library!!? We have umbrellas and panchos for rainy/sunny days, and lots of excitement. Thanks to the Foundation for East Baton Rouge School System, we have all of our activities funded. It's going to be an AMAZING year!!

The Roman Road Project: A Shout Out in a New Book

On this past Thursday, I found myself laughing out loud on my way home from getting a root canal. Why would anyone be in a good mood after uncomfortable dental surgery, you might ask? I was giggling because I heard a voice actor portraying my imagined Southern accent in a new book about experimental archaeology.

Let me back up a couple of years to when my students built a small Roman road through our school campus. In case you missed it... In a project that they dreamed up, we got our local Department of Transportation and Development to partner with us to assist us in learning civil engineering concepts. We learned how to use the ancient Roman surveying tool, the groma, we hauled lots of rocks, and our road turned out great until a Mardi Gras reveler rolled a bike through the wet concrete of its top layer. It all turned out great in the end though, and if you're looking for resources on how to build your own Roman road, see this post about it.

One of the most interesting moments during the Roman Road Project was getting to host best-selling science author Sam Kean in my classroom. He had reached out to me via email a few months before we began the project. He was working on a book about experimental archaeology and had found my name on a database of experimental archaeology projects hosted by EXARC, an international organization dedicated to the field. About halfway through the project, Sam came to visit and actually helped the kids haul rocks. It was fun meeting him and showing him a few other items in my classroom, like a sponge stick, most likely used by the Romans as toilet paper.

Sam's book came out in July, and it's such a huge project! Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Recreating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations takes the reader on a journey to many ancient civilizations, including California, Mexico, China, Egypt, and a few others. In the Rome chapter, the Roman Road Project is talked about alongside the amazing work of Roman food expert Sally Grainger and hair archaeologist Janet Stephens. What an honor to be talked about in the same chapter! But back to my giggles...

I drive back and forth to work daily, which means usually about 45 minutes in the car every day. Lucky for me, my local public library has LOTS of audio-books of which I take FULL advantage so I was so thrilled to see that Sam's new book was one of those. They hired a voice actor to read the book, and every time he does the voice of someone, whether man or woman, he attempts a regional accent. When I heard myself depicted like Scarlet O'Hara, I nearly had to pull over from laughing, even with a numbed-up mouth and traumatic drill sounds ringing in my ears.

In the book, Sam introduces me with the famous story of my mom telling me that paleontologists had dug up all the dinosaur bones, thus killing my archaeological aspirations. He talks about some of our Roman Technology projects and then tells about his experience helping with the road. His interactions with the kids really stand out - I'm so proud of them! It's a great little segment! He also posted some pics and extra notes from his time with us on his Website in the "Bonus Section" for the book. In all seriousness, I'm so honored that Sam found my and my students' work valuable (and entertaining) enough to include in this fascinating book. Go check it out!

My Top 5 in Ancient Roman France

Thanks to the Vergilian Society for a scholarship to attend a summer program that it offered,  I eagerly chose to use the funding for a tour of "Ancient France." And then...in the spring, I learned I was the recipient of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South's Janice and Herbert Benario Award for travel to classical lands. When I found out that one of the award's namesakes, Janice Benario, a former Latin teacher, had been a codebreaker for the US military during WWII, I was inspired to also visit the Normandy Beaches on this trip. I've been researching a new lesson unit for my Roman Technology class that focuses on ancient cryptography.

I've just returned from my wonderful adventure, and yes, I've already organized my pictures into a Webpage for those of you who want to learn about the sites and see pictures. (If I don't do it quickly, I'll forget.) A couple of years ago, when I returned from my Roman Britain odyssey, I made a Website called "Roman Britain for Latin Teachers." I've added my France experience as a page on that site. You can access it by going here.

To put things into perspective, I'm doing a countdown of my favorite experiences. Get ready for some surprises!

5. The ROMAN SHIPS of Provence. Considering the close proximity to the Mediterranean, I should have expected to see a lot of ships on this trip, but knowing that wood doesn't normally survive well in the archaeological record, I didn't expect it. And they were SPECTACULAR. The archaeological museum in Arles dedicated a whole wing to the Arles Rhone 3, a Roman barge excavated nearby. I marveled at the size of it, the process of preserving it, and how it's displayed. You can learn lots more by going to the Arles Harbor Dump Website. I also enjoyed looking at this site on Roman docks from all over the empire.

4. ARROMANCHES DES BAINS was a charming French beach resort town destroyed by the Nazis during the early years of World War II. The Allied Forces captured it during the D-Day invasion and used it to build artificial harbors (code name: mulberries) that could land large land vehicles like tanks from transport vessels. I was completely and utterly fascinated with the process. The interpretation at the museum dedicated to the site was very detailed, including great models and films. I could have used another day here to take it all in. Only a few of the actual structures still remain, but I learned so much at this site that bolstered my understanding of the enormity of Operation Overlord.

3. MONT SAINT MICHEL was such a magical place. I didn't expect to be taken by it, but I was. In fact, my husband and I argued about staying longer. We both wanted to, but we had a long drive ahead of us with an interesting site to see the next day so we had to leave earlier than we wanted to. We did a tour of the abbey at the very top of the giant rock that the site sits on, and that tour was EVERYTHING. We wandered around looking at unbelievable views of the seemingly endless mudflats in every direction. It was at this moment that my husband, a huge Lord of the Rings fan, turned to me and said, "This is Minas Tirith." Sure enough (we looked it up later), both Tolkien and Peter Jackson (the director of the films) used this monument as inspiration for the castle of Minas Tirith.

2. Coming in second is THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY. I know. You're probably scratching your head  thinking, "But it's just a piece of cloth." I know, but I love it. First, it's not a tapestry as in a woven piece of cloth, at least the decoration is not. The images are actually embroidered on long pieces of a woven original linen cloth. This thing is OLD, like 1000 years old. In a series of Latin titles at the top of each panel, it tells the story (very much propaganda) of William the Conquerer's take-over of England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 CE. It's thought that the embroidery was done in the Canterbury area of England by a team of expert women artists. It was displayed yearly in the nave of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Bayeux. At other times, it was kept rolled up in a special box that was removed by the Nazis to the Louvre during the invasion and occupation of France during WWII. In the current museum in Bayeux, visitors are not allowed to take pictures of it. I'm glad I got to see it in Bayeux because I just heard that for the first time in history, it will be displayed in England at the British Museum starting in September of 2026, while the Bayeux museum gets a renovation. Reading about this loan on social media led me to learn that in the 1800s British embroiderers created a copy of the Tapestry that is displayed at the Reading Museum. I'm already considering how I can create a lesson for my Latin students on this amazing piece of history! For now, take a look at this historical recreation tool!

1. And my #1 experience should come as no surprise - the PONT DU GARD was simply jaw-droppingly gorgeous and fascinating on every level. It's the sole reason I chose to go on this trip. Part of the Roman aqueduct that started at a source in Uzes, it serviced the large Roman town of Nemausus (modern Nimes) with fresh water. This structure has survived and is a very popular vacation spot in France. People swim in the river Gardon that the structure spans. The museum dedicated to it was fantastic with models of the whole aqueduct, the engineering tools used to build it, and the working spaces of the builders. 

Because the tour I was on did not plan to arrive at the site until mid-morning, I made the decision to Uber there early so we could have a longer experience. Am I glad I made that decision! When we arrived, there was nearly no one there except for a local walking his dog and a photographer. We walked down to the riverbank and ate breakfast staring up at the ancient structure. We spent a ton of time in the museum, strolled the bridge (built later) along the structure, and climbed up to the top to see where the water ran. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do the tour of the water channel which made me very sad (out of my control), but on my hike to the top, I observed little kids on a tour coming out of the channel. I wonder if people walk the whole path of the aqueduct? That would be a really cool thing to do! The Romans are often remembered for their amphitheaters and streets, but their aqueducts are just as spectacular.

I'm so grateful I got to have this experience. Be on the lookout for some cool hands-on history and STEM lessons already in the percolator. 

The Year in Roman Technology: "Unhinged" Secret Messages

People always ask, "What do teachers do during the summer?" Some actually work. In fact, I normally work at my school's summer camp. This year, I decided to take a breath and sit down. It's been almost a week now, and I'm about to go crazy. LOL. Kinda. I've always been someone who can't sit still mentally...well, or physically. I'm researching two really cool projects for next year so I thought I'd share what I'm learning, as I like to do.

ANCIENT CRYPTOGRAPHY!!!! A few years ago, one of my Latin/Science Olympiad students approached me to tell me about his cryptography club at the library. Intriguing. He told me that he had learned about the Caesar Cipher, an ancient mechanism whereby Julius Caesar, the 1st century Roman general, encrypted his messages during wartime. I had never heard of it! Of course, he told me everything he knew, and I furiously wrote it down...thinking, "OHHHH, this will be a GREAT RoTech unit!" I immediately thought of that time in DE BELLO GALLICO where Caesar sends a secret message to one of his men using a spear. I ALWAYS wanted to know how he did it.

Then, during spring break, by divine intervention, I'm sure, I ran across an online webinar about the Roman dodecahedron. Since we had talked about this little mystery device in my RoTech class, I decided to click the link. It led me to a tour company that sponsors professionals in many different fields to talk about topics related to their tour locations. It was here that I discovered a series of lectures on ancient Greek and Roman cryptography! These lectures, given by Dr. Martine Diepenbroek, discussed all kinds of ancient encryption. She talked about ancient encryption techniques, including the Spartan scytale which involved wrapping a message around a stick or spear. I immediately bought her book, The Spartan Scytale and Developments in Ancient and Modern Cryptography. She also mentioned a Greek author I had never heard of: Aineias the Tactician whose book on war tactics includes a whole chapter about encryption. I ordered that too! LOL

I've started reading these two works, and I'm having an absolute blast. Aineias, a 4th-century BCE Greek writer, wrote a work called How to Survive Under Siege. Lots of info here, but the most interesting chapter is all about hiding messages so that your enemy can't read them. If you're on TikTok, you've probably seen that trend where someone says, "Give me your most UNHINGED examples of blah, blah." Examples include nurses asking for ways to assist with difficult patients to teachers asking for ways to quiet a classroom. Well, this Aineias guy is something else!! Reading his encryption techniques is basically that TikTok trend: "Give me your most unhinged ways to hide a message that will evade the enemy!" Hold my beer: "Shave a slave's head, tattoo your message on his scalp, and then give him time to regrow his hair before sending him off." Like, WHUT??! "Scratch your message into a thin piece of lead, secretly slip it into the leather layers of a shoe heel, and then send off the shoe wearer. Unbeknownst to the shoe wearer while he's sleeping, the receiver of the message will retrieve the shoe, find the message, scratch his answer, and sew it back into the shoe."

Diepenbroek's work has been so informative as well. For example, I learned the difference between STEGANOGRAPHY and CRYPTOGRAPHY. In case you didn't know, steganography is "the practice of hiding a message within another message, an image, or an object, without giving the idea that a secret message is hidden in it." It's a broad term for LOTS of different types of messages, similar to the ones above. She also has a comprehensive list of ancient authors who use or talk about cryptography in their works.

I got so excited reading about these that I decided to try out the Caesar Cipher as a quick end-of-year activity with my students. I led them in creating a Caesar Cipher wheel, linked here. And then, they enjoyed decoding a few current brain-rot words that made them cringe like "THE RIZZLER". Their faces fell in true bitterness when they decoded BOOGER TOUCH - our favorite little game to play on Fridays. 

Diepenbroek's book mainly discusses the Spartan scytale, a method of encrypting messages using a particular size of stick (trust me, the lesson on this one is gonna be SOOO fun) and how it gave birth to the modern cryptography movement. I'm excited to read it because in the modern STEM world, teaching kids to code at all ages is the rage. I'm excited to connect this stuff to the ancient world of Greece and Rome!

I'm particularly interested in ancient cryptography right now because I'm so fortunate to be the recipient of the 2025 Classical Association of the Middle West and South's Benario Travel Award, a fellowship for travels to classical lands. Herbert and Janice Benario, the award's namesakes, are former Latin teachers from Georgia, but before she became a Latin teacher, Janice served as a code breaker for the US Navy during WWII! Check out interviews done with her here as part of the oral history project done by the National WWII Museum (in my home state of Louisiana.) What a connection!

I chose to use my fellowship to take an archaeological tour of ancient Provence (southern France). I've always wanted to see the Pont du Gard, a super famous Roman aqueduct and UNESCO World Heritage Site. But before I make my way south, I've decided to see the WWII sites on the Normandy Beaches, the Bayeux Tapestry, and Mont St. Michel. I can't wait to learn all I can about the work that Janice Benario did and many other codebreakers like her. Recently, I read Bruchac's Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two. I also need to get hold of Kahn's Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet. More secret messages to come!