Latin teacher shares love of learning with students

Teacher of the Year Donna Christiansen, who teaches Latin at Houston County Career Academy, is currently the only Latin teacher in the entire county.

This is her fourth year teaching the subject at the career academy. Originally from Newnan, Christiansen said she started studying Latin in middle school, which then led into high school and college, where she studied ancient history and linguistic anthropology.

“I’ve always liked languages and cultures,” she said. “I got certified to teach history originally and then decided I’d rather teach Latin since not everybody has to take it. Students elect to take it.”

Christiansen graduated from Georgia Southern University with a bachelor’s degree in history. She met her husband, James, who is the band director at Huntington Middle School.

She moved to middle Georgia and attended Georgia College and State University, where she earned her master’s degree in education and then began teaching in the area.

Prior to becoming a teacher like her husband, Christiansen said she worked as an editor in Atlanta at a publishing house for two years. She then decided to give teaching a shot and has been doing it for 13 years. She has taught at Houston County High, Peach County High, Huntington Middle and Veterans High. When splitting her duties teaching both at Veterans and HoCo, the school system decided to have her teach at the career academy so she could teach students from all of the high schools since she was the only Latin teacher in the county.

Christiansen explained that most of the programs at the career academy, except for hers, are career-based. Some of the classes are taught through the Houston County school board staff and others are taught through Central Georgia College staff. Students from all of the high schools in the county can choose to take classes there. They take classes in two period blocks. Students ride a bus from their home school to the career academy and then they return to their home school after their classes. For Christiansen’s Latin students, they take foreign language within a year.

Why teaching?

“I have always liked knowledge and learning. I wanted to share what I know in my love of learning with others. There are not that many Latin teachers. Since I know Latin, I wanted to help pass it on. There are a lot of places out there that are looking for Latin teachers and they just can’t find enough people to fill all of the slots.”

What brought you into the field?

“I was originally working in another field in editing. The person I was dating at the time, who is now my husband, was a teacher. And it’s nice that we’re on the same schedule.”

Any inspiration from past teachers?

“One of my favorite teachers ever was a French teacher I had in high school who had a passion for the subject and for her students. She really brought the culture to life, she brought the language to life and showed how a lot of subjects were connected. She brought a lot of other subjects into it.”

Best part of teaching?

“It’s never the same thing twice. Even if I have the same lesson all day, there’s always something that comes up, students have different questions throughout the day. I get to know the students pretty well, and I get to learn all of the different personalities. Since my students are from all high schools, I get to hear the drama, the conflict, the interesting things that go on at each school and how policies are different at each school.”

What is it about teaching that you like the most?

“I like passing on knowledge and opening students’ eyes to other aspects of life they didn’t know anything about. I realize that most of my students are not going to study Latin in college or languages, but they’re learning root words, they’re learning grammar, they’re building their own English grammar and their knowledge and their vocabulary. They’re learning so much more than just Latin grammar.”

Most challenging part of teaching?

“Also, the students. They’re bringing in their lives, their own issues. They’ve got serious stuff that they’re going through and we’re still trying to get them to learn on top of that. For a lot of students, it’s learning how to cope with their personal issues at home, issues at work and issues at school. I try to help them when they have difficulties.”

Anything that makes your job difficult?

“I do teach a challenging subject with a challenging schedule. The students are brought in from different schools and they all show up at slightly different times. I have to keep those that are here occupied and busy and on task as we wait for the others to show up. But once they’re here, then class flows smoothly. And they’re on different schedules at their home school, so if there’s a pep rally, it only involves a few students, which can be challenging but is also part of the fun. It keeps it different.”

If not teaching, what?

“I would like to do something with animals, work with an animal rescue. I’ve been interested in animals, animal rescue, taking care of animals that can’t quite take care of themselves or defend themselves. There are a lot of animals out there that need good homes.”

Advice to students?

“Always do your best, even if your best is not getting you the grade you want. As long as you know you’ve done your best, then you can be satisfied with that.”

Advice to parents?

“Ask your child what actually is going on, what they’re learning, what their homework is. Ask them specifically, ‘What did you learn today? How can you apply that?’”

Home life:

“I’m married to James, the band director at Huntington Middle School. We have two dogs, Gilbert and Zeus. During our time off when we’re not teaching, we like to travel. We are both avid supporters of Georgia Southern football.”

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