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(deep breath... breathe in, breathe out)
(I do too much)
(that's because I'm a parent)
Earlier today I had to fill out a questionnaire for a university student who is observing me. I think she was concerned that the questions would be boring or tedious, but I find that while I might have answered these questions in boring, tedious ways nearly 20 years ago when I graduated college, that many I answered... well, I'm not sure how to put it. I guess I feel like I gave (at least for the teaching philosophy answer) a reply that might not have been expected, certainly not from a Latin teacher.
We Latin teachers have been considered elitists for a long time. A colleague, I know, acts as if Latin is God's gift to education and all other languages (except Japanese?!) are not worth taking. This still enrages me, or could if I let it but I've been raging against recalitrant children (my own) so I'm out of rage at present.
YES, Latin can help with SAT, GRE and other standardized test scores. Sure it can. And because of the amount of grammar learned up front (even in Cambridge in its own way), a Latin student has a better grasp of even English grammar. Thus people who are grown up and have taken Latin will talk about its value, etc etc.
Ever hear anyone say they were rereading some Vergil for pleasure the night before? Martial? And I'm not talking about a classics major. I've only heard of a couple, and they graduated from Davidson College in NC--NOT Harvard, NOT UT, NOT Yale, NOT Stanford. Davidson. Davidson where they actually TEACH YOU HOW TO READ FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, and how to DISCUSS Latin IN LATIN. How to paraphrase Latin. *HOW* *TO* *BE* *A* *LIFELONG* *LEARNER*.
We classicists have been acting for years and years that we are somehow exempted form this because we are superior. Somehow. But our lifelong learners are using their Latin in English lit, writing, med school, law, etc. They aren't reading Latin. AND WHY THE HELL NOT?
My teaching philosophy does not embody some profound belief that classics is good for you. Deep down it's an inner desire to understand more about the people who came before us. I don't know why. Maybe one of my Greek ancestors actually had business with a Roman. I'm not sure *why* I think this is important.
Yes, studying Latin helps us to understand where we get our calendar from, our numbers, our vocabulary, our law, our--whatever.
But I am not moved unless I'm reading the real thing. Perhaps it takes until you are 40 to understand that Catullus wasn't just trying to be romantic--he got it. He was in the zone. You have to have loved and lost big time and still be in love to really get odi et amo, quare id faciam fortasse requiris? nescio....nescio....nescio....
You have to GET INTO the literature to understand just HOW POWERFUL that sea serpent scene is in book 2 of the Aeneid and I am so looking forward to teaching that again this year.
Who gives a damn if a kid can decline a noun if he can't understand it in a sentence, if he can't feel the power of the placement and the rhythm and sound of it?
Oh, yeah, the SOUND of it.
WHY IS IT that so many university courses do NOT require any reading out loud? Not enough time? Or why don't they teaching reading from left to right? Not enough time? MAYBE they need to rethink the design of their coursework.
COVERING LINES IS NOT TEACHING LATIN.
let me reiterate... (and I wonder if anyone is listening)
COVERING YOUR ALLOTMENT OF 60+ LINES A NIGHT IS NOT TEACHING LATIN.
If you are a TA and all you are doing is covering lines... well... no offense, but you are just perpetuating the problem.
Ok, I'm getting a bit gripy (and clearly full of myself--hey, it's been a stressful week or so) so I'll apologize and get back to the questionnaire. I thought I'd post what I wrote here. Good stuff for discussion in a methods class. Here it is (ok, slightly edited):
> 1. Where did you go to school and what degrees have you earned?
I have a BA in Latin and one in English as well (awarded late), summa cum laude, UT 1987. English was my second teaching field and years later when I was working at UT and trying to get approved for an editing position. Apparently I needed a degree in English or Journalism (they wouldn't take Latin, even though my grammar was superior to any English major), so I got a degree check done to see how many hours I had left to go on the full major. The required hours had been lowered and I was granted the second BA on the spot.
>
> (I know you graduated from UT, but have you taken classes at other
> institutions? Do you have a
> masters?)
I don't have a masters. I know plenty of people who do who are less than talented teachers. The piece of paper might get you a higher salary, and some people do put their masters to good use (and I do want to get one eventually when my kids are grown), but I find the time I've invested ON MY OWN research on pedagogy, attending conferences and presenting has been far more valuable than the piece of paper that would have said MA.
>
> 2. Where did you student teach?
I spent my time in hell in Round Rock at Westwood HS. It was not a good experience. In fact, it was an experience that caused me to fantasize, as I walked across UT campus from the Littlefield house to the Tower, about whether I could get hit by a car and just break my leg and would that get me out of the rest of my student teaching.....
>
> 3. Where have you taught and for how long?
I taught at Roosevelt HS in San Antonio for a year and ran away screaming. (Read my article on "Twice a First Year Teacher" online at the TCA website.) I overdid it and burned out. We can discuss that later. After doing other things (including living in London and writing a novel that thankfully was NOT published), I ended up as editor for the Texas Classical Association, a position I held for 10 years. During that time I researched pedagogy and did other things to improve myself as a teacher.
This is my 6th year at Porter MS. While this means I've only taught for 7 years, I have been involved in professional organizations for classics since around 1992, which has greatly impacted my teaching.
>
> 4. What is your philosophy of education?
>
> (I'd especially be interested in your views on the value of a
> classical education beyond the improve-your-brain/SAT score/grammar
> reasons.)
[HA. I see I misread the question when I answered it the first time. What the heck, read on:]
Sorry. I'll be disappointing you. I personally hate the ol' SAT argument. The reason why we study Latin is TO READ LATIN! To communicate with the authors of earliest Western Literature and thought directly.
I believe that Latin teachers for too long have been elitist snobs, in great measure because most of them really have not studied HOW TO TEACH LATIN. (Read Distlers _Teach the Latin, I Pray You_.) I have met teachers who have told me that my problem is that I don't have the counselors weed out students.
I believe that intelligence can be taught, that intelligence is merely habits of the brain and we can teach those habits. I'm not going to create an Einstein, but I can take a kid with terrible academic skills and break down the steps that are needed for success and get that kid to achieve. I believe that every teacher needs to have a thorough understanding of Blooms Taxonomy so they can comprehend why a student can do one type of assignment and not another.
The motto of UT is disciplina praesidium civitatis, which Karl Galinsky told me meant disciplined learning was the guard of civilization. DISCIPLINED LEARNING--organized and methodical. I teach my students not only LATIN but also academic skills that can be transferred to other classes. I'm at a very poor school and the likelihood that my students will end up as Latin majors is small. My program is virtually a dead end in some ways, but does that stop me? No, because I want to be the one that opens doors for these students.
>
> 5. How would you describe the students who attend Porter?
Over 70% of the students at Porter are on the Free and Reduced Lunch program. That is, most of our students are poor, most of their parents have never been to college or dreamed of it, most of the parents work multiple jobs, we have lots of gang issues, we have pregnancies, etc. But we also have kids who, when given a good teacher, EAT IT UP. They want to have what the other schools have--they want the good teachers and good experiences too, and they can rise to the occasion when given the opportunity. I have had medal winners on the National Latin Exam.
>
> 6. How would you describe the students in the classes I will teach?
Uh, you're teaching classes? :) You'll probably want to teach in my 7th grade classes and while many have poor English skills in some regard, they are EAGER learners, they TRY hard, and they will perform if you give them the structure they need. If there's no structure, if you don't have CLEAR EXPECTATIONS, the class will get out of control and you'll want to pull out your hair. And it's not because these kids are awful kids; they aren't. They are fairly normal 11-13 year olds, except they don't have the same kind of family support that perhaps you and I had.
I love teaching these kids because they appreciate what I'm offering and I think you'll find that too.
>
> 7. Do you have a seating chart? If so, could I have a copy of it next
> week?
Absolutely, but it could change. I'll try to photocopy them tomorrow.
DO take a look at my seating chart. It's a basic floor plan with names on small post-it notes. When I want to move people around, I simply move the post-it notes around. I keep the charts in clear plastic protector pages which I can write on. I mainly write who's got what job in the rotation for "centurio"/folder duty, but I also make special notes and reminders on the page.
>
> 8. Who are the students with special needs in this class?
AH. You tell ME who the kids are with special needs. Can you tell by looking? Can you tell by their participation? Can you tell their written work? Actually, you'll be able to tell most by their written work, whether they can keep themselves organized in any fashion, etc. But I had students last year making high A's for me and failing other classes--so was the student not up to his other classes intellectually? Too lazy? Or was the other teacher so busy teaching her subject that she forgot she was teaching STUDENTS?
I have several kids with special needs in the 6th grade class and I believe a couple in the 7th grade class. I rarely look at the IEP paperwork (Individualize Education Plans) unless I need to. The issues most commonly encountered are either kids reading below grade level or lacking math skills. The math doesn't really effect my class, and the reading issues aren't that critical. I teach reading strategies (we were using a Reading Card today in 8th grade; remind me to show you... Alternatively, I might try to remember to introduce them to the 7th graders on Tuesday...) and hope the kids transfer them to other classes.
> What special modifications must be made for these students?
In the past I have had students who TRULY couldn't deal with writing ANYTHING out. He was dyslexic and dysgraphic. So I have a set of multiple choice quizzes and such available as backups. But teaching this young man and the class after his (which was full of kids with learning disabilities and even one kid who was emotionally disturbed [crappy homelife, if you could even call it that]), I've learned how to combat the biggest problem, which is SELF ESTEEM.
Here's how Self Esteem issues can manifest themselves: the kid freaks when a test is put in front of him, he decides he would rather not find out what's inside his brain/try to think through and answer the questions and instead doesn't even look at the questions and starts writing A,B,C,D at random. Of course, this is most obvious when they do this for a T/F section!
There's also a big fear (or used to be) at tackling an unseen passage (first part of the test). But if you heard my instructions, I was VERY SPECIFIC on HOW they should try to tackle those questions, INCLUDING using rigorous reading/checking off WHERE they are in the story, etc. This prevents them from losing their place--another thing that causes them to give up on trying the readings.
Last year's 8th graders were originally very troubled 7th graders. In fact, I redid my whole classroom management because of them. But I managed to build up the confidence of those 8th graders to the point that NO ONE left the reading comprehension section blank.
So here's the question: what were my modifications? Did I modify the test? Or did I modify the way I viewed them? Did I modify my opinion about what was holding them back? Did I look for ANOTHER way to teach? The truth is I took time out of teaching Latin in order to teach ACADEMIC SKILLS and to build confidence.
I also offer retakes on quizzes and tests (no penalty--the point is mastery of material). I also have review games at quia for individualized review and mastery. (www.quia.com/pages/porterlatin1a.html, www.quia.com/pages/porterlatin1b.html)
I think it is very easy for people to get upset about IEPs and so forth, but truth be told, quality foreign language teaching requires the use of ALL the senses. As the poster says on my door, when in Rome remember your SANDALS: spectate audite nunc dicite agite legite scribite. Some kids learn best oral/aurally, some via reading, some via acting and pictures. I am very dramatic when I read usually, and the kids like this.
> 9. Do you have a discipline management plan? If so, could I have a
> copy of it next week?
I already gave it to you. :) Yellow sheet, Class policies, which can also be found at http://www.txclassics.org/latinpolicies.htm.
> 10. Do you have a syllabus for the courses I'm observing?
> May I have a copy?
A syllabus? HAHAHAHAHA.
Ok, seriously. Unit 1 of CLC for 7th grade, Unit 2, CLC for 8th. Throw in a touch of mythology and history and a few other things on the National Latin Exam and you have my syllabus. Oh, I also began an Aeneid unit (sea serpent scene) last year with the 8th graders around Christmas which I intend to do this year.
There are so many different sorts of interruptions from mandatory testing to pep rallies that I don't have a hard and fast syllabus. I often have to adapt to whether the students got a certain concept or whether I need to reteach. Perhaps I misjudged how long it would take me to cover something accurately. Yes, this means by the spring I am skipping a few things in order to finish the book. HOWEVER, I want the things which are the foundation--the early things in the year--to get the most attention.
> 11. Do you have daily / weekly / monthly lesson plans?
> May I have copies?
(snicker) You may look in my lesson plan book and witness that honestly I only plan a week or two at a go. I also have old lesson plan books that you can look at. Nothing is detailed. It's mainly a list of things I intend to do, some of it cryptic.
For instance, praeparatio is the word I'm using for warm-ups. I often don't record what I did for a warm-up. Usually the warm-up will be a way of me forcing attention to certain things. I might have them sort words by declension, or metaphrase a sentence, or circle tense indicators and personal endings on verbs and translate. The 8th graders today merely copied possum fully conjugated in the present 3 times; tomorrow it's volo. Boring but it gets them thinking about the forms, and then leads us into a discussion of the grammar for the day. On Friday (thinking ahead) the warm-up might be defining some infinitives (I might even get out the dictionaries), and Friday's assignment will be writing some sentences like "I am able to sleep, you are able to sing, he is able to eat" etc.
I probably should plan things out in greater detail. I can tell you that I aim to have Stage 6 done before Christmas (I'm thinking about aiming, really, for stage 7 this year) in 7th grade, but I'd rather be more concerned with what my students need--all the while keeping a pretty decent pace, you understand--than whether I'll be able to give my midterm on the exact day I have planned.
>
> 12. What kind of teaching strategies do you use in your classes?
I've mentioned some above. First of all, as I've mentioned, you must have structure and routine. This helps you as much as the students. While they do the warm-up, you check roll and take care of administrivia. Then, for me, vocab drill on most days. I *always* say the Latin word outloud so that they have it clearly in their heads. When they meet the word in the text if reading outloud, they have very little problems pronouncing it. Vocab drill, which many won't do or say they don't have time for, is actually a great tool for setting students up to do well with the reading later on. Then on to the reading or worksheet or whatever I am building up to. It's all a build up so that by the end of class they are putting all the pieces together. I have them read AFTER I read (builds confidence). They often read with me after I've read the story once.
Sometimes, esp with the model sentences at the beginning of the chapter, we'll draw sticks. That is, I have their names on popsicle sticks and draw them at random. I'll start: I read the Latin, translate the sentence. Next person repeats my ENGLISH (although they usually are just translating for themselves/thus looking at the sentence twice), read their sentence in Latin and translate that. The next person does the previous person's English, read's his Latin, and translates. A chain, so to speak. NO paper out or anything. AFTER we go through all the sentences, then they translate onto paper.
I'm running out of time, so you might be interested in reading http://www.txclassics.org/ginny_articles11.htm in which I described my various approaches. (In fact, I haven't read it in a while; I might read it later. I certainly should turn it into a PDF file....) I know build-a-sentence is there and some other goodies.
>
> 13. What kind of informal / formative assessments do you use in class?
> (In addition to warm-up spirals, that is.)
Spot check at the door when I question individually as they come in. (The 6th graders, for instance, had to look at a clock drawn on a white board set to 6:00. I asked, "quota hOra est?" and they needed to reply, "sexta hOra est.") It's a good individual check. Warm-ups really just focus them and help to determine who gets stuff, but not always. Written work reveals problem areas too. Vocab quizzes and tests are my main assessments, admittedly.
> 14. What kind of formal / summative assessments do you use in class?
Vocab quizzes, tests, National Latin Exam (really lets me know how I'm doing too, and what I could teach better, etc) are the main things...
>
> 15. Next week could you show me samples of student work or describe
> the kind of work I can expect from these students?
> Specifically, can you show me examples of average, below and above
> average work?
Yeah, I'll save some work. I have quality work posted. I'll hold back some problem work for you to see. The cooperative group work has improved the quality drastically AND made them more confident, productive students as a whole. You don't have that accidental leaving behind of a student. You can immediately see where the problems are by which groups finish first and which don't finish at all, or which person doesn't do their job or never gets their work in. But they really do learn from each other.
>
> 16. Do you use rubrics to grade any of these assignments?
> May I have a copy?
I'll show you my rubric for oral recitations and participation work. Easy stuff. I'll even dig up the stuff I used for Vergil last year and you can look at what I saved. It's *somewhere*.
>
> (Thank you for the style rubric you already gave me.)
>
> 17. How do you use the Cambridge texts in your courses?
HOW? DAILY, as best as I can, emphasizing learning through reading BUT ALSO supporting the grammar in my own way. (I'll show you my model sentences sometime....)
>
> 20. Besides the web-reading you sent me already, is there anything
> else you would like to discuss with me here at the outset?
Er... I think I've sent you enough.
BUT...
Print up for yourself the following brochure:
http://www.promotelatin.org/futureteacher.pdf
Heck go to this link:
http://www.promotelatin.org/nltrwrfaq.htm#advice
(I do too much)
(that's because I'm a parent)
Earlier today I had to fill out a questionnaire for a university student who is observing me. I think she was concerned that the questions would be boring or tedious, but I find that while I might have answered these questions in boring, tedious ways nearly 20 years ago when I graduated college, that many I answered... well, I'm not sure how to put it. I guess I feel like I gave (at least for the teaching philosophy answer) a reply that might not have been expected, certainly not from a Latin teacher.
We Latin teachers have been considered elitists for a long time. A colleague, I know, acts as if Latin is God's gift to education and all other languages (except Japanese?!) are not worth taking. This still enrages me, or could if I let it but I've been raging against recalitrant children (my own) so I'm out of rage at present.
YES, Latin can help with SAT, GRE and other standardized test scores. Sure it can. And because of the amount of grammar learned up front (even in Cambridge in its own way), a Latin student has a better grasp of even English grammar. Thus people who are grown up and have taken Latin will talk about its value, etc etc.
Ever hear anyone say they were rereading some Vergil for pleasure the night before? Martial? And I'm not talking about a classics major. I've only heard of a couple, and they graduated from Davidson College in NC--NOT Harvard, NOT UT, NOT Yale, NOT Stanford. Davidson. Davidson where they actually TEACH YOU HOW TO READ FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, and how to DISCUSS Latin IN LATIN. How to paraphrase Latin. *HOW* *TO* *BE* *A* *LIFELONG* *LEARNER*.
We classicists have been acting for years and years that we are somehow exempted form this because we are superior. Somehow. But our lifelong learners are using their Latin in English lit, writing, med school, law, etc. They aren't reading Latin. AND WHY THE HELL NOT?
My teaching philosophy does not embody some profound belief that classics is good for you. Deep down it's an inner desire to understand more about the people who came before us. I don't know why. Maybe one of my Greek ancestors actually had business with a Roman. I'm not sure *why* I think this is important.
Yes, studying Latin helps us to understand where we get our calendar from, our numbers, our vocabulary, our law, our--whatever.
But I am not moved unless I'm reading the real thing. Perhaps it takes until you are 40 to understand that Catullus wasn't just trying to be romantic--he got it. He was in the zone. You have to have loved and lost big time and still be in love to really get odi et amo, quare id faciam fortasse requiris? nescio....nescio....nescio....
You have to GET INTO the literature to understand just HOW POWERFUL that sea serpent scene is in book 2 of the Aeneid and I am so looking forward to teaching that again this year.
Who gives a damn if a kid can decline a noun if he can't understand it in a sentence, if he can't feel the power of the placement and the rhythm and sound of it?
Oh, yeah, the SOUND of it.
WHY IS IT that so many university courses do NOT require any reading out loud? Not enough time? Or why don't they teaching reading from left to right? Not enough time? MAYBE they need to rethink the design of their coursework.
COVERING LINES IS NOT TEACHING LATIN.
let me reiterate... (and I wonder if anyone is listening)
COVERING YOUR ALLOTMENT OF 60+ LINES A NIGHT IS NOT TEACHING LATIN.
If you are a TA and all you are doing is covering lines... well... no offense, but you are just perpetuating the problem.
Ok, I'm getting a bit gripy (and clearly full of myself--hey, it's been a stressful week or so) so I'll apologize and get back to the questionnaire. I thought I'd post what I wrote here. Good stuff for discussion in a methods class. Here it is (ok, slightly edited):
> 1. Where did you go to school and what degrees have you earned?
I have a BA in Latin and one in English as well (awarded late), summa cum laude, UT 1987. English was my second teaching field and years later when I was working at UT and trying to get approved for an editing position. Apparently I needed a degree in English or Journalism (they wouldn't take Latin, even though my grammar was superior to any English major), so I got a degree check done to see how many hours I had left to go on the full major. The required hours had been lowered and I was granted the second BA on the spot.
>
> (I know you graduated from UT, but have you taken classes at other
> institutions? Do you have a
> masters?)
I don't have a masters. I know plenty of people who do who are less than talented teachers. The piece of paper might get you a higher salary, and some people do put their masters to good use (and I do want to get one eventually when my kids are grown), but I find the time I've invested ON MY OWN research on pedagogy, attending conferences and presenting has been far more valuable than the piece of paper that would have said MA.
>
> 2. Where did you student teach?
I spent my time in hell in Round Rock at Westwood HS. It was not a good experience. In fact, it was an experience that caused me to fantasize, as I walked across UT campus from the Littlefield house to the Tower, about whether I could get hit by a car and just break my leg and would that get me out of the rest of my student teaching.....
>
> 3. Where have you taught and for how long?
I taught at Roosevelt HS in San Antonio for a year and ran away screaming. (Read my article on "Twice a First Year Teacher" online at the TCA website.) I overdid it and burned out. We can discuss that later. After doing other things (including living in London and writing a novel that thankfully was NOT published), I ended up as editor for the Texas Classical Association, a position I held for 10 years. During that time I researched pedagogy and did other things to improve myself as a teacher.
This is my 6th year at Porter MS. While this means I've only taught for 7 years, I have been involved in professional organizations for classics since around 1992, which has greatly impacted my teaching.
>
> 4. What is your philosophy of education?
>
> (I'd especially be interested in your views on the value of a
> classical education beyond the improve-your-brain/SAT score/grammar
> reasons.)
[HA. I see I misread the question when I answered it the first time. What the heck, read on:]
Sorry. I'll be disappointing you. I personally hate the ol' SAT argument. The reason why we study Latin is TO READ LATIN! To communicate with the authors of earliest Western Literature and thought directly.
I believe that Latin teachers for too long have been elitist snobs, in great measure because most of them really have not studied HOW TO TEACH LATIN. (Read Distlers _Teach the Latin, I Pray You_.) I have met teachers who have told me that my problem is that I don't have the counselors weed out students.
I believe that intelligence can be taught, that intelligence is merely habits of the brain and we can teach those habits. I'm not going to create an Einstein, but I can take a kid with terrible academic skills and break down the steps that are needed for success and get that kid to achieve. I believe that every teacher needs to have a thorough understanding of Blooms Taxonomy so they can comprehend why a student can do one type of assignment and not another.
The motto of UT is disciplina praesidium civitatis, which Karl Galinsky told me meant disciplined learning was the guard of civilization. DISCIPLINED LEARNING--organized and methodical. I teach my students not only LATIN but also academic skills that can be transferred to other classes. I'm at a very poor school and the likelihood that my students will end up as Latin majors is small. My program is virtually a dead end in some ways, but does that stop me? No, because I want to be the one that opens doors for these students.
>
> 5. How would you describe the students who attend Porter?
Over 70% of the students at Porter are on the Free and Reduced Lunch program. That is, most of our students are poor, most of their parents have never been to college or dreamed of it, most of the parents work multiple jobs, we have lots of gang issues, we have pregnancies, etc. But we also have kids who, when given a good teacher, EAT IT UP. They want to have what the other schools have--they want the good teachers and good experiences too, and they can rise to the occasion when given the opportunity. I have had medal winners on the National Latin Exam.
>
> 6. How would you describe the students in the classes I will teach?
Uh, you're teaching classes? :) You'll probably want to teach in my 7th grade classes and while many have poor English skills in some regard, they are EAGER learners, they TRY hard, and they will perform if you give them the structure they need. If there's no structure, if you don't have CLEAR EXPECTATIONS, the class will get out of control and you'll want to pull out your hair. And it's not because these kids are awful kids; they aren't. They are fairly normal 11-13 year olds, except they don't have the same kind of family support that perhaps you and I had.
I love teaching these kids because they appreciate what I'm offering and I think you'll find that too.
>
> 7. Do you have a seating chart? If so, could I have a copy of it next
> week?
Absolutely, but it could change. I'll try to photocopy them tomorrow.
DO take a look at my seating chart. It's a basic floor plan with names on small post-it notes. When I want to move people around, I simply move the post-it notes around. I keep the charts in clear plastic protector pages which I can write on. I mainly write who's got what job in the rotation for "centurio"/folder duty, but I also make special notes and reminders on the page.
>
> 8. Who are the students with special needs in this class?
AH. You tell ME who the kids are with special needs. Can you tell by looking? Can you tell by their participation? Can you tell their written work? Actually, you'll be able to tell most by their written work, whether they can keep themselves organized in any fashion, etc. But I had students last year making high A's for me and failing other classes--so was the student not up to his other classes intellectually? Too lazy? Or was the other teacher so busy teaching her subject that she forgot she was teaching STUDENTS?
I have several kids with special needs in the 6th grade class and I believe a couple in the 7th grade class. I rarely look at the IEP paperwork (Individualize Education Plans) unless I need to. The issues most commonly encountered are either kids reading below grade level or lacking math skills. The math doesn't really effect my class, and the reading issues aren't that critical. I teach reading strategies (we were using a Reading Card today in 8th grade; remind me to show you... Alternatively, I might try to remember to introduce them to the 7th graders on Tuesday...) and hope the kids transfer them to other classes.
> What special modifications must be made for these students?
In the past I have had students who TRULY couldn't deal with writing ANYTHING out. He was dyslexic and dysgraphic. So I have a set of multiple choice quizzes and such available as backups. But teaching this young man and the class after his (which was full of kids with learning disabilities and even one kid who was emotionally disturbed [crappy homelife, if you could even call it that]), I've learned how to combat the biggest problem, which is SELF ESTEEM.
Here's how Self Esteem issues can manifest themselves: the kid freaks when a test is put in front of him, he decides he would rather not find out what's inside his brain/try to think through and answer the questions and instead doesn't even look at the questions and starts writing A,B,C,D at random. Of course, this is most obvious when they do this for a T/F section!
There's also a big fear (or used to be) at tackling an unseen passage (first part of the test). But if you heard my instructions, I was VERY SPECIFIC on HOW they should try to tackle those questions, INCLUDING using rigorous reading/checking off WHERE they are in the story, etc. This prevents them from losing their place--another thing that causes them to give up on trying the readings.
Last year's 8th graders were originally very troubled 7th graders. In fact, I redid my whole classroom management because of them. But I managed to build up the confidence of those 8th graders to the point that NO ONE left the reading comprehension section blank.
So here's the question: what were my modifications? Did I modify the test? Or did I modify the way I viewed them? Did I modify my opinion about what was holding them back? Did I look for ANOTHER way to teach? The truth is I took time out of teaching Latin in order to teach ACADEMIC SKILLS and to build confidence.
I also offer retakes on quizzes and tests (no penalty--the point is mastery of material). I also have review games at quia for individualized review and mastery. (www.quia.com/pages/porterlatin1a.html, www.quia.com/pages/porterlatin1b.html)
I think it is very easy for people to get upset about IEPs and so forth, but truth be told, quality foreign language teaching requires the use of ALL the senses. As the poster says on my door, when in Rome remember your SANDALS: spectate audite nunc dicite agite legite scribite. Some kids learn best oral/aurally, some via reading, some via acting and pictures. I am very dramatic when I read usually, and the kids like this.
> 9. Do you have a discipline management plan? If so, could I have a
> copy of it next week?
I already gave it to you. :) Yellow sheet, Class policies, which can also be found at http://www.txclassics.org/latinpolicies.htm.
> 10. Do you have a syllabus for the courses I'm observing?
> May I have a copy?
A syllabus? HAHAHAHAHA.
Ok, seriously. Unit 1 of CLC for 7th grade, Unit 2, CLC for 8th. Throw in a touch of mythology and history and a few other things on the National Latin Exam and you have my syllabus. Oh, I also began an Aeneid unit (sea serpent scene) last year with the 8th graders around Christmas which I intend to do this year.
There are so many different sorts of interruptions from mandatory testing to pep rallies that I don't have a hard and fast syllabus. I often have to adapt to whether the students got a certain concept or whether I need to reteach. Perhaps I misjudged how long it would take me to cover something accurately. Yes, this means by the spring I am skipping a few things in order to finish the book. HOWEVER, I want the things which are the foundation--the early things in the year--to get the most attention.
> 11. Do you have daily / weekly / monthly lesson plans?
> May I have copies?
(snicker) You may look in my lesson plan book and witness that honestly I only plan a week or two at a go. I also have old lesson plan books that you can look at. Nothing is detailed. It's mainly a list of things I intend to do, some of it cryptic.
For instance, praeparatio is the word I'm using for warm-ups. I often don't record what I did for a warm-up. Usually the warm-up will be a way of me forcing attention to certain things. I might have them sort words by declension, or metaphrase a sentence, or circle tense indicators and personal endings on verbs and translate. The 8th graders today merely copied possum fully conjugated in the present 3 times; tomorrow it's volo. Boring but it gets them thinking about the forms, and then leads us into a discussion of the grammar for the day. On Friday (thinking ahead) the warm-up might be defining some infinitives (I might even get out the dictionaries), and Friday's assignment will be writing some sentences like "I am able to sleep, you are able to sing, he is able to eat" etc.
I probably should plan things out in greater detail. I can tell you that I aim to have Stage 6 done before Christmas (I'm thinking about aiming, really, for stage 7 this year) in 7th grade, but I'd rather be more concerned with what my students need--all the while keeping a pretty decent pace, you understand--than whether I'll be able to give my midterm on the exact day I have planned.
>
> 12. What kind of teaching strategies do you use in your classes?
I've mentioned some above. First of all, as I've mentioned, you must have structure and routine. This helps you as much as the students. While they do the warm-up, you check roll and take care of administrivia. Then, for me, vocab drill on most days. I *always* say the Latin word outloud so that they have it clearly in their heads. When they meet the word in the text if reading outloud, they have very little problems pronouncing it. Vocab drill, which many won't do or say they don't have time for, is actually a great tool for setting students up to do well with the reading later on. Then on to the reading or worksheet or whatever I am building up to. It's all a build up so that by the end of class they are putting all the pieces together. I have them read AFTER I read (builds confidence). They often read with me after I've read the story once.
Sometimes, esp with the model sentences at the beginning of the chapter, we'll draw sticks. That is, I have their names on popsicle sticks and draw them at random. I'll start: I read the Latin, translate the sentence. Next person repeats my ENGLISH (although they usually are just translating for themselves/thus looking at the sentence twice), read their sentence in Latin and translate that. The next person does the previous person's English, read's his Latin, and translates. A chain, so to speak. NO paper out or anything. AFTER we go through all the sentences, then they translate onto paper.
I'm running out of time, so you might be interested in reading http://www.txclassics.org/ginny_articles11.htm in which I described my various approaches. (In fact, I haven't read it in a while; I might read it later. I certainly should turn it into a PDF file....) I know build-a-sentence is there and some other goodies.
>
> 13. What kind of informal / formative assessments do you use in class?
> (In addition to warm-up spirals, that is.)
Spot check at the door when I question individually as they come in. (The 6th graders, for instance, had to look at a clock drawn on a white board set to 6:00. I asked, "quota hOra est?" and they needed to reply, "sexta hOra est.") It's a good individual check. Warm-ups really just focus them and help to determine who gets stuff, but not always. Written work reveals problem areas too. Vocab quizzes and tests are my main assessments, admittedly.
> 14. What kind of formal / summative assessments do you use in class?
Vocab quizzes, tests, National Latin Exam (really lets me know how I'm doing too, and what I could teach better, etc) are the main things...
>
> 15. Next week could you show me samples of student work or describe
> the kind of work I can expect from these students?
> Specifically, can you show me examples of average, below and above
> average work?
Yeah, I'll save some work. I have quality work posted. I'll hold back some problem work for you to see. The cooperative group work has improved the quality drastically AND made them more confident, productive students as a whole. You don't have that accidental leaving behind of a student. You can immediately see where the problems are by which groups finish first and which don't finish at all, or which person doesn't do their job or never gets their work in. But they really do learn from each other.
>
> 16. Do you use rubrics to grade any of these assignments?
> May I have a copy?
I'll show you my rubric for oral recitations and participation work. Easy stuff. I'll even dig up the stuff I used for Vergil last year and you can look at what I saved. It's *somewhere*.
>
> (Thank you for the style rubric you already gave me.)
>
> 17. How do you use the Cambridge texts in your courses?
HOW? DAILY, as best as I can, emphasizing learning through reading BUT ALSO supporting the grammar in my own way. (I'll show you my model sentences sometime....)
>
> 20. Besides the web-reading you sent me already, is there anything
> else you would like to discuss with me here at the outset?
Er... I think I've sent you enough.
BUT...
Print up for yourself the following brochure:
http://www.promotelatin.org/futureteacher.pdf
Heck go to this link:
http://www.promotelatin.org/nltrwrfaq.htm#advice
