n engage in exercises that put those components together into words that we know. Phil Rosenthal's etymology class at Park View High School in Sterling, Virginia explores "the twists words take as they make their way into English" (Birnbaum, 2008). An example is their study of the word "arena," which means "a sandy place" in Latin, coming from the sand scattered in Roman stadiums where gladiators battled each other (Birnbaum, 2008). In his etymology classes, Rosenthal "tries to give his 20-some students a sense of the stories and shades behind the words they use every day" (Birnbaum, 2008).
Kristina Retherford's Daleville Junior-Senior High School etymology class in Daleville, Indiana is another class where students delight in learning word origins. Retherford's class teaches students to "recognize the evolution of 300 words, including dozens of Latin and Greek derivatives," along with words that may appear on the
...