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So....I'd like to say that I've gotten a ton of grading done this weekend. It's 5 pm and I've got MASH on in the background, and quia.com open in the foreground. I'm working on building more quia stuff for AP Vergil.
I'm taking a moment to ponder the quantity of Latin I'm expecting them to leapfrog through this year, how it's affecting the size and style of their vocabulary quizzes.
What I'm thinking about is what Latin 3 should be like.... not what it's like currently, but what it should be like if I were to make it pre-AP. Currently I, perhaps far too kindly, divide up vocab per stage into 2 quizzes, having combed the stories to see where the vocabulary appears. That is, there's usually a quiz after the first two stories, and then another after the last 2 or more stories. Of course, sometimes I find myself racing through chapters and skipping the 2nd quiz. If the vocabulary is truly repeated, the students will pick up whatever vocab is missed.
HOWEVER, am I doing the students a disservice by continuing to split up the quizzes? Perhaps not if the kids are just in a regular level 3. But if it is 3 pre-AP, I can and should increase the rigor and demands, if for no other reason than to prepare the students for the quanitity of reading and vocab in AP. It's not that my pace would be that much faster, but that the vocab quizzer would be larger, requiring more studying at home than can be covered in what I do at school. That is, a shift of personal responsibility. A little less hand-holding.
<sigh> I keep telling myself each year that these first few years are worth all the effort and stress and lack of sleep, that the work will lighten up once I get the full program going here. But each year there's something new...
I suppose it will always be this way. Or maybe I will eventually get to that point where I will have plenty of material for Latin 2 and 3, not to mention AP, and I can just grade, and not spend so much time creating things, like the quia stuff I do.
Until then, I'll just keep convincing myself that what I'm doing is working and valuable.
Yeah. Something like that.
OH, ha, want a funny story?
My husband is in Austin having lunch with a former soccer teammate (and regular lunchtime crony) and another current teammate named Greg. Greg was talking about his son being a freshman and that his favorite class, believe it or not, was Latin. His son said that his Latin teacher was crazy but good, that she even came dressed up to school one day during homecoming week, etc. My husband is starting to grin as is his other crony because they already figured it out. He smiled at Greg and said, "yeah, well, your son must attend Dripping Springs HS because you are describing my wife." Something like that.
:D
Right. Back to work.
I'm taking a moment to ponder the quantity of Latin I'm expecting them to leapfrog through this year, how it's affecting the size and style of their vocabulary quizzes.
What I'm thinking about is what Latin 3 should be like.... not what it's like currently, but what it should be like if I were to make it pre-AP. Currently I, perhaps far too kindly, divide up vocab per stage into 2 quizzes, having combed the stories to see where the vocabulary appears. That is, there's usually a quiz after the first two stories, and then another after the last 2 or more stories. Of course, sometimes I find myself racing through chapters and skipping the 2nd quiz. If the vocabulary is truly repeated, the students will pick up whatever vocab is missed.
HOWEVER, am I doing the students a disservice by continuing to split up the quizzes? Perhaps not if the kids are just in a regular level 3. But if it is 3 pre-AP, I can and should increase the rigor and demands, if for no other reason than to prepare the students for the quanitity of reading and vocab in AP. It's not that my pace would be that much faster, but that the vocab quizzer would be larger, requiring more studying at home than can be covered in what I do at school. That is, a shift of personal responsibility. A little less hand-holding.
<sigh> I keep telling myself each year that these first few years are worth all the effort and stress and lack of sleep, that the work will lighten up once I get the full program going here. But each year there's something new...
I suppose it will always be this way. Or maybe I will eventually get to that point where I will have plenty of material for Latin 2 and 3, not to mention AP, and I can just grade, and not spend so much time creating things, like the quia stuff I do.
Until then, I'll just keep convincing myself that what I'm doing is working and valuable.
Yeah. Something like that.
OH, ha, want a funny story?
My husband is in Austin having lunch with a former soccer teammate (and regular lunchtime crony) and another current teammate named Greg. Greg was talking about his son being a freshman and that his favorite class, believe it or not, was Latin. His son said that his Latin teacher was crazy but good, that she even came dressed up to school one day during homecoming week, etc. My husband is starting to grin as is his other crony because they already figured it out. He smiled at Greg and said, "yeah, well, your son must attend Dripping Springs HS because you are describing my wife." Something like that.
:D
Right. Back to work.
