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I've been attending a Gifted and Talented workshop this week. It's given me so much to think about. It's also made me realize how little I offer in the way of differentiated learning and something for the truly gifted kid (besides working ahead).
I think Latin teachers have traditionally thought that Latin was for the gifted anyway. However, I teach Latin with the philosophy that it is for everyone, and spend/have spent most of my time figuring out how to bridge the gap between those who just "get it" without effort and those who do not. But don't let me digress.
What had me stumped a bit, I confess, was the notion that the goal of the GT program is that by the end of high school the GT student will be able to create a professional product or performance. So I sat there thinking about what a professional product or performance for Latin would be.
My first gut reaction to what it was not was just translating Latin into English. I don't want to teach my students to be translators of Latin but to be READERS of Latin. And I don't want the products to be just models of the colosseum or such. An oral performance of Latin, maybe. Yes.
What DO professionals in Latin do? Write articles, present papers, teach, write books, and, ok, publish new translations. That was my first reaction. So I dug deeper...
These are some of the things I came up with that demonstrate a professional attention to detail and to the enjoyment and interpretation of the Latin. Some would be lower level than others, thus could be used more readily with level 1 students.
(I do want to stay away from translations, admittedly, because English translations can be found anywhere, plus true translations are an artform, so there must be something specifically artistic about it.)
* rewriting stories from a different character's point of view
* writing a scene that in your opinion should have been in the book
* writing a film scenario (http://www.txclassics.org/ginny_articles2.htm)
* translating a specific form into a specific form in English. For instance, translating Martial's epigrams into double dactyls (I'm sure I've posted some on this blog).
* some sort of artistic representation of a passage, very carefully tied to a passage of Latin that has film scenario type explanations
* a performance of Latin, memorized and dramatized, with costumes and props as needed. For instance, with a Ciceronean speech, full toga and senatorial dress. Or if a scene from a play, costume AND masks for the different characters
Of course what I need now is time to develop rubrics. But these are, perhaps, final products that I'd like to work up to by the time they are seniors (certainly for some of them). I'm thinking that some of these could be post-AP exam projects, for those weeks after AP where you are supposed to wonder what to do with your classes. I haven't taught AP so I'm not there yet.
But others... well, I'm also determined to put in place smaller (?) projects this year and have been brainstorming about what and how. We are moving to a 9 week grading period, so I was thinking of 1 project per 9 week period. I was thinking of providing a list of projects that would vary in written (something directly tied to Latin), oral performance (in Latin), models (about soem aspect of culture, big or small), and presentations (posters, powerpoints, etc). Each category would have choices. So each student would be allowed to pick only one from each category, then the next grading period they'd choose from a different category, etc.
So the next thing is to come up with a decent list of projects and product outcomes, develop the rubrics, and have it ready to go at the beginning of school. hahahahaha. Seems overwhelming at the moment.
THE OTHER thing I want going on, and I'm not sure if this will work well or not, is that I want at least my Latin 2/3 class to have picked early in the year some area of study for JCL, whether they end up going or not. They should at least have a partner for study in the other level. Then if one group finishes work while I'm still working with another group, they will have a TASK to work on. Some things like studying myth or history or other academic tests might be easy enough. But consider art events--that student could begin by research frescoes or mosaics or statuary. And how about something like sight recitation? That person could be practicing reading out loud, working on phrasing and other things that do not require a knowledge of the vocabulary, and eventually learn how to determine what words are worth looking up in the limited time allowed.
There would be a way to go about any topic, I figure. They would have access to in-class computers, my books and the library.
I think I'd require some in-class presentations or something at some point, something to keep them accountable, but maybe not. The good thing about this is that it's the perfect emergency lesson plan--work on your projects! And if I left it for a substitute, I could also provide a check list sheet for each person to fill out on what they wanted to accomplish with their project that day and what they did accomplish.
Golly. Stuff like this always sounds good on paper. Well, I have so much to do, so I better stop rambling. I just wanted to get my thoughts down, to get feedback and comments from others, and to motivate myself to charge forward now that I've voiced these ideas.
I think Latin teachers have traditionally thought that Latin was for the gifted anyway. However, I teach Latin with the philosophy that it is for everyone, and spend/have spent most of my time figuring out how to bridge the gap between those who just "get it" without effort and those who do not. But don't let me digress.
What had me stumped a bit, I confess, was the notion that the goal of the GT program is that by the end of high school the GT student will be able to create a professional product or performance. So I sat there thinking about what a professional product or performance for Latin would be.
My first gut reaction to what it was not was just translating Latin into English. I don't want to teach my students to be translators of Latin but to be READERS of Latin. And I don't want the products to be just models of the colosseum or such. An oral performance of Latin, maybe. Yes.
What DO professionals in Latin do? Write articles, present papers, teach, write books, and, ok, publish new translations. That was my first reaction. So I dug deeper...
These are some of the things I came up with that demonstrate a professional attention to detail and to the enjoyment and interpretation of the Latin. Some would be lower level than others, thus could be used more readily with level 1 students.
(I do want to stay away from translations, admittedly, because English translations can be found anywhere, plus true translations are an artform, so there must be something specifically artistic about it.)
* rewriting stories from a different character's point of view
* writing a scene that in your opinion should have been in the book
* writing a film scenario (http://www.txclassics.org/ginny_articles2.htm)
* translating a specific form into a specific form in English. For instance, translating Martial's epigrams into double dactyls (I'm sure I've posted some on this blog).
* some sort of artistic representation of a passage, very carefully tied to a passage of Latin that has film scenario type explanations
* a performance of Latin, memorized and dramatized, with costumes and props as needed. For instance, with a Ciceronean speech, full toga and senatorial dress. Or if a scene from a play, costume AND masks for the different characters
Of course what I need now is time to develop rubrics. But these are, perhaps, final products that I'd like to work up to by the time they are seniors (certainly for some of them). I'm thinking that some of these could be post-AP exam projects, for those weeks after AP where you are supposed to wonder what to do with your classes. I haven't taught AP so I'm not there yet.
But others... well, I'm also determined to put in place smaller (?) projects this year and have been brainstorming about what and how. We are moving to a 9 week grading period, so I was thinking of 1 project per 9 week period. I was thinking of providing a list of projects that would vary in written (something directly tied to Latin), oral performance (in Latin), models (about soem aspect of culture, big or small), and presentations (posters, powerpoints, etc). Each category would have choices. So each student would be allowed to pick only one from each category, then the next grading period they'd choose from a different category, etc.
So the next thing is to come up with a decent list of projects and product outcomes, develop the rubrics, and have it ready to go at the beginning of school. hahahahaha. Seems overwhelming at the moment.
THE OTHER thing I want going on, and I'm not sure if this will work well or not, is that I want at least my Latin 2/3 class to have picked early in the year some area of study for JCL, whether they end up going or not. They should at least have a partner for study in the other level. Then if one group finishes work while I'm still working with another group, they will have a TASK to work on. Some things like studying myth or history or other academic tests might be easy enough. But consider art events--that student could begin by research frescoes or mosaics or statuary. And how about something like sight recitation? That person could be practicing reading out loud, working on phrasing and other things that do not require a knowledge of the vocabulary, and eventually learn how to determine what words are worth looking up in the limited time allowed.
There would be a way to go about any topic, I figure. They would have access to in-class computers, my books and the library.
I think I'd require some in-class presentations or something at some point, something to keep them accountable, but maybe not. The good thing about this is that it's the perfect emergency lesson plan--work on your projects! And if I left it for a substitute, I could also provide a check list sheet for each person to fill out on what they wanted to accomplish with their project that day and what they did accomplish.
Golly. Stuff like this always sounds good on paper. Well, I have so much to do, so I better stop rambling. I just wanted to get my thoughts down, to get feedback and comments from others, and to motivate myself to charge forward now that I've voiced these ideas.
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On the GT students topic...
Date: 2007-08-10 09:19 pm (UTC)Re: On the GT students topic...
Date: 2007-08-11 02:41 am (UTC)But I also think that kids today don't hide their feelings as well as perhaps previous generations. We let it all hang out--and hope someone notices.
I think the great thing about JCL was that within one organization there were so many fields to compete in. I was looked down upon and treated as if I wasn't as smart as the certamen players because I did dramatic interp. It was always "what's so hard about memorizing some Latin?" Well, if everyone could do it, I'd have had more competition, I suppose. And by my senior year I took up mythology and did respectably with that.
But I wasn't national merit. My SAT's were mediocre compared with my peers. My GPA was high but that was about it.
Even in college I assumed I wasn't quite smart enough for grad school--this with a 3.94 GPA--because I couldn't figure out how to read Latin at a faster rate. I figured the amoung of reading I'd have to do in grad school would kill me and I'd fail. And no one encouraged me otherwise. Then I found Dexter Hoyos's book and I realized there were ways to improve my reading skills, that I wasn't incapable, etc.
This week with the GT workshop has made me realize all the gaping holes in my teaching. However, what I do excel at is breaking down how to read Latin--how to put it all together--in a way that makes it accessible to ALL, not just to the kids that automatically get it and who probably don't need a teacher at all.
I think there's a lot of people in this world who take a lot longer to feel comfortable in their skin. Frankly, it was only a few years ago (2002? 2003?) that I realized, with help from a colleague, that I was not ABnormal in my passions. This colleague has the same split in life--classics and family, and the classics part is further divided into teaching and promotional work. My husband once commented that his whole world revolved around family and that his job was just a job (but of course he can make more money at his than I can make at mine), while he understood that mine was a split world. It was just a comment, an observation. And for years I felt there must be something wrong with me because I could not say that my world centered on my family, as much as I love them. They do come first most of the time and if I had to choose between classics and family I would pick family in a heartbeat and quit teaching. But it is only in recent years that I understood that I was not alone in these feelings.
I'm 42. I figured this out in my late 30s. Imagine how gifted kids who don't display their giftedness in perfect SAT scores feel trapped and confused, and don't have the vision or maturity to deal with it.
Anyway. I figure that's one reason why I teach--to watch out for those kids who can't see what great things they could do in the future. I'm there to keep them on track.