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I'm working this spring break on a paper for CAMWS. I thought that part of it might be worth posting here. It's about teaching split level classes, and the importance of routines, including warm-ups. This first bit is about what I do with level 1 Latin, but then, what I thought would be useful to post here, is what I do about level 2 and above.
***
A typical day in my classroom begins with a warm-up (praeparātiō) that focuses on some aspect of the grammar or morphology. For instance, if in Latin 1 we have just learned datives, I might present students with a list of nouns to metaphrase using the placeholding sentence “Someone verbed something to someone.”:
• servō: Someone verbed something TO THE SLAVE.
• discōs: Someone verbed THE DISCUSES to someone.
• hospitibus: Someone verbed something TO THE GUESTS.
• amīcum: Someone verbed THE FRIEND to someone.
• dominus: THE MASTER verbed something to someone.
• ancillae*: THE SLAVEGIRLS verbed something to someone; Someone verbed something TO THE SLAVEGIRLS.
And I will purposely throw in something that leads to discussion about how to disambiguate identical forms such as ancillae (nominative plural) and ancillae (dative singular) when one is READING Latin. From here, I typically drill vocabulary with large flashcards, stopping to review forms of new words, discuss declensions, and other such topics as necessary.
[snip]
I will still have similar sorts of things on warm-ups, emphasizing how Latin fits together as a language, and not just focusing on new forms in isolation. For instance, when working on participles, I gave them not single words but phrases to metaphrase:
• mīlitēs, ā centuriōnibus iussī,: THE SOLDIERS, ORDERED BY THE CENTURION, verbed something.
• Agricolam castra intrantem: Someone verbed AGRICOLA ENTERING THE CAMP.
• Salvius Agricolam intrantem cōnspicātus: SALVIUS HAVING CAUGHT SIGHT OF AGRICOLA ENTERING verbed something.
This once again reviews not only the morphology, but also the context and phrasing. I spend a fair amount of time discussing how compact Latin is, how sentences in a Latin narrative will develop in a chronological order. That is, in the sentence, mīlitēs, ā centuriōnibus iussī, multa et varia faciēbant, the soldiers don’t begin doing the many different things until after they are ordered to do so. Likewise, in the sentence, subitō Salvius, Agricolam intrantem cōnspicātus, ad eum festīnāvit ut salūtāret, Salvius can’t catch sight of Agricola until Agricola first enters, and he can’t hurry to Agricola until he’s caught sight of Agricola, and he can’t greet Agricola until he’s first hurried over to him.
As Latin becomes more difficult for students at level 2 and 3, it is more important than ever that such warm-ups and reviews take place. Students who have taken Latin in a split level or independent course are often not lacking in their knowledge of morphology, but in their understanding of phrasing and context—in their knowledge of the big picture. Therefore, I try to discuss such aspects of Latin before sending students off to work on their own, before letting the Cambridge Latin Course continue what I start. The continuous, interesting storyline combined with the repetition of new forms in context help to reinforce what I am teaching without my being present 100% of the time.
****
I don't know (yet) whether the macrons that were included in the above text will show up on this blog site, but perhaps they will.
Do other people do things like this? I'm not sure. I do know that I had Latin 2 and 3 in independent study. I learned the morphology dutifully but it took years before I could truly see phrasing and think about sentences as a language, not some secret language to decode. Perhaps I would have gotten some of these things from my teacher if I hadn't have taken Latin as independent study. But who can say?
***
A typical day in my classroom begins with a warm-up (praeparātiō) that focuses on some aspect of the grammar or morphology. For instance, if in Latin 1 we have just learned datives, I might present students with a list of nouns to metaphrase using the placeholding sentence “Someone verbed something to someone.”:
• servō: Someone verbed something TO THE SLAVE.
• discōs: Someone verbed THE DISCUSES to someone.
• hospitibus: Someone verbed something TO THE GUESTS.
• amīcum: Someone verbed THE FRIEND to someone.
• dominus: THE MASTER verbed something to someone.
• ancillae*: THE SLAVEGIRLS verbed something to someone; Someone verbed something TO THE SLAVEGIRLS.
And I will purposely throw in something that leads to discussion about how to disambiguate identical forms such as ancillae (nominative plural) and ancillae (dative singular) when one is READING Latin. From here, I typically drill vocabulary with large flashcards, stopping to review forms of new words, discuss declensions, and other such topics as necessary.
[snip]
I will still have similar sorts of things on warm-ups, emphasizing how Latin fits together as a language, and not just focusing on new forms in isolation. For instance, when working on participles, I gave them not single words but phrases to metaphrase:
• mīlitēs, ā centuriōnibus iussī,: THE SOLDIERS, ORDERED BY THE CENTURION, verbed something.
• Agricolam castra intrantem: Someone verbed AGRICOLA ENTERING THE CAMP.
• Salvius Agricolam intrantem cōnspicātus: SALVIUS HAVING CAUGHT SIGHT OF AGRICOLA ENTERING verbed something.
This once again reviews not only the morphology, but also the context and phrasing. I spend a fair amount of time discussing how compact Latin is, how sentences in a Latin narrative will develop in a chronological order. That is, in the sentence, mīlitēs, ā centuriōnibus iussī, multa et varia faciēbant, the soldiers don’t begin doing the many different things until after they are ordered to do so. Likewise, in the sentence, subitō Salvius, Agricolam intrantem cōnspicātus, ad eum festīnāvit ut salūtāret, Salvius can’t catch sight of Agricola until Agricola first enters, and he can’t hurry to Agricola until he’s caught sight of Agricola, and he can’t greet Agricola until he’s first hurried over to him.
As Latin becomes more difficult for students at level 2 and 3, it is more important than ever that such warm-ups and reviews take place. Students who have taken Latin in a split level or independent course are often not lacking in their knowledge of morphology, but in their understanding of phrasing and context—in their knowledge of the big picture. Therefore, I try to discuss such aspects of Latin before sending students off to work on their own, before letting the Cambridge Latin Course continue what I start. The continuous, interesting storyline combined with the repetition of new forms in context help to reinforce what I am teaching without my being present 100% of the time.
****
I don't know (yet) whether the macrons that were included in the above text will show up on this blog site, but perhaps they will.
Do other people do things like this? I'm not sure. I do know that I had Latin 2 and 3 in independent study. I learned the morphology dutifully but it took years before I could truly see phrasing and think about sentences as a language, not some secret language to decode. Perhaps I would have gotten some of these things from my teacher if I hadn't have taken Latin as independent study. But who can say?
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Date: 2008-03-15 09:06 am (UTC)Just a hello
Date: 2008-03-18 11:06 pm (UTC)Re: Just a hello
Date: 2008-03-18 11:15 pm (UTC)I'm glad you like the store; I just make enough money to buy enough buttons to give away when I want to! And I haven't taught all these many years. I taught the one year at Roosevelt, ran away screaming, and then came back to it only, what, 8 years ago.
Tell me about the kind of teaching you are doing. I see Bob Hicks all the time. You do know that he lost his daughter, CJ, in a rollover last year, right? Anyway, ever since then I go hang with he and Deb when I'm in SA. Look on the t-shirt site under Special Orders (or whatever it's called) for CJ or CJH to see what I developed for them.
You can email me at ginlindzey at lindzey.us.