I do practice pre-reading, esp with my Latin 1 students. The split level class is more problematic. But, with warm-ups I still practice metaphrasing, forcing them to think about endings. If I'm on the ball, the warm-up ties directly into the reading, targeting accusatives hanging at the beginning of the sentence, etc.
And all of this, esp with Latin 1, used to seem more than good enough in the past for me, especially because I do demand recognition of details via my in-context vocab quizzes.
But the details of the forms still sometimes slip. There's a happy medium somewhere. I just need to find it!
The whole reason why I started this blog a couple of years ago was to a) have a place to rant and not offend people who didn't want to hear my views (like on a discussion list), and b) to think outloud. I think too many new teachers do not realize that even experienced teachers still look for new, better ways to approach things. OR perhaps they've only seen the type of teacher in a rut who automatically does the same thing year after year, no matter whether the students respond to it or not. They would rather bemoan the state of education instead of finding a new way to reach students.
After all, Latin was first dropped from the general curriculum in education because it wasn't seen as meeting the needs of students. We certainly don't need to put us back in that position.
Nor do we need to blindly trust any given text! With that said, I'm not trying to undermine the Cambridge philosophy or counter when they say "trust the text." What they mean is to try to understand WHY CLC waits before teaching certain forms, etc. And I do. My use of my own "model sentences" demonstrates that. BUT what I teach is NOT dictated by the text.
I have to SEE where the weaknesses are, and decide how to remedy them. (And I'm rambling again, eh?) So, I need to find new ways or places to make sure students can conjugate. And if I need to supplement with some old AMSCO style review material, then I'll do it.
I guess the other thing I was trying to say is that I still do NOT intend to make this the heart of my course. I think such work is tedious and often only the detail oriented really tune into it. I do not want to limit my Latin program. AP Latin, yes, perhaps.
And I guess that leads to something else... WHAT will I use to determine whether students should be in AP Latin? Maybe that's really worth looking into now--do I want to have some pre-AP quia exercises?? And just what would that entail? Maybe more grammar focused details... What I want to avoid is that sudden realization when students are in AP Latin that I should have reinforced this or that better.
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rosecarmine
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-19 12:02 am (UTC)And all of this, esp with Latin 1, used to seem more than good enough in the past for me, especially because I do demand recognition of details via my in-context vocab quizzes.
But the details of the forms still sometimes slip. There's a happy medium somewhere. I just need to find it!
The whole reason why I started this blog a couple of years ago was to a) have a place to rant and not offend people who didn't want to hear my views (like on a discussion list), and b) to think outloud. I think too many new teachers do not realize that even experienced teachers still look for new, better ways to approach things. OR perhaps they've only seen the type of teacher in a rut who automatically does the same thing year after year, no matter whether the students respond to it or not. They would rather bemoan the state of education instead of finding a new way to reach students.
After all, Latin was first dropped from the general curriculum in education because it wasn't seen as meeting the needs of students. We certainly don't need to put us back in that position.
Nor do we need to blindly trust any given text! With that said, I'm not trying to undermine the Cambridge philosophy or counter when they say "trust the text." What they mean is to try to understand WHY CLC waits before teaching certain forms, etc. And I do. My use of my own "model sentences" demonstrates that. BUT what I teach is NOT dictated by the text.
I have to SEE where the weaknesses are, and decide how to remedy them. (And I'm rambling again, eh?) So, I need to find new ways or places to make sure students can conjugate. And if I need to supplement with some old AMSCO style review material, then I'll do it.
I guess the other thing I was trying to say is that I still do NOT intend to make this the heart of my course. I think such work is tedious and often only the detail oriented really tune into it. I do not want to limit my Latin program. AP Latin, yes, perhaps.
And I guess that leads to something else... WHAT will I use to determine whether students should be in AP Latin? Maybe that's really worth looking into now--do I want to have some pre-AP quia exercises?? And just what would that entail? Maybe more grammar focused details... What I want to avoid is that sudden realization when students are in AP Latin that I should have reinforced this or that better.
Right. I'm just rambling. I'll stop!