Course Requirements:
Required Texts:
J. Morwood. Latin Grammar. Oxford, 1999.
Ann
Raia, Cecelia Luschnig, Judith Lynn Sebesta. The Worlds of Roman Women. Focus, 2005.
Also – You need a good Latin
dictionary. I recommend the Oxford Latin Desk Dictionary (available in hardback
and paperback at our bookstore) or for even better coverage of vocabulary, the
Elementary Latin Dictionary by Charlton T. Lewis, also available from Oxford. An
electronic version of LewisÕ elementary dictionary is available on the link for
your daily assignments, but I recommend that you purchase a hardback (I
recommend the Oxford Latin Desk Dictionary) since this site has a history of
instability and may not be there when you need it most.
Class Participation: ATTENDANCE
IS REQUIRED. Beginning the second week of class, you will receive a daily grade
for participation in class that suggests your level of preparation on material
covered (A, B, C, D or 0) and your involvement in class activities.
Participation includes questions, exchange of ideas, and responses to directed
or general questions from the instructor or others. An absence from class for
ANY REASON must be counted as a 0 since you cannot participate if you are
absent. Two (2) absences or your lowest participation grades will be dropped,
no questions asked, at the end of the term allowing 1 week of class days for
illness, family matters, etc. In general, I do not distinguish between excused
and unexcused absences for purposes of daily participation grades, but PLEASE
always contact me by email or phone before class if you MUST be absent on a
given day. I want to know when and why you need to miss class, and make sure
that you don't get behind.
It is important to understand that participation can include
informed questions, requests for further explanation, offering to answer
specific questions, or any contributions that foster learning in the classroom
environment.
GROUP WORK PROVISO: I will utilize different groupings of
students from time to time in class to facilitate peer learning and review. Be
prepared any given day to form groups quickly and efficiently as instructed.
I encourage those of you who benefit from group study to
create a working study group for out-of-class work.
HOMEWORK PROVISO - I generally check homework by asking
questions of students in class or asking what questions you have. There is no
way we will translate every word of every assignment in class.
TEXT BOOK PROVISO – failure to bring the textbook to class when required by the syllabus will result in a grade of 0 for that day.
DAILY HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS ARE THE ONE TYPE OF WRITTEN WORK ON WHICH I ENCOURAGE YOU TO WORK WITH OTHERS, BUT MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING FOR YOURSELF BY THE TIME YOU GET TO A QUIZ OR EXAM.
Quizzes:
Six (6) quizzes will
be given as listed on the syllabus. These will be administered at the end of
the class session or as take homes and will cover material learned from the
time of the previous quiz to the end of the session prior to the quiz or some
agreed upon body of material. The lowest quiz grade will be dropped at the end
of the term, so makeup quizzes will not be given. If a quiz is scheduled, you
absolutely cannot make it to class that day for legitimate reasons, and you
contact me appropriately before the class in question, I will consider whether
you may take the quiz at another time. Again the basic rule is to keep the line
of communication open.
Exams: You
will take two (2) major term exams as listed on the syllabus. These will test
grammar recognition, translation from Latin to English, reading comprehension
and content, and literary style, when appropriate. The first TAKE HOME exam
will cover reviewed grammar from the Oxford Latin Grammar; the second test will
be on reading materials we have agreed on as testing material and will be taken
by arrangement with me on the day established on the syllabus. Absence from a
test FOR ANY REASON is very serious and may result in a much more difficult
makeup test AT THE INSTRUCTOR's DISCRETION (I always reserve the right to
refuse to give a makeup exam). Brief unseen passages of Latin are likely to
appear on the second and will appear on the final exam.
Final Exam: Of
necessity, tests in language courses are always comprehensive (Grammar forms
and vocabulary don't go away, they just may disappear for a while and return
suddenly, even violently). The final will be even more so, in some ways. I will
cover the material after the third exam in somewhat greater detail on the
final, but there will also be material from throughout the term. An unseen
passage of Latin will appear on the final exam.
ACADEMIC HONESTY AND WRITTEN WORK – I cannot stress enough (and you will see more mentioned about this below) that every piece of work you turn in for a grade must be yours and yours alone. Cheating, whether in class or out of class, is a punishable offense at Binghamton University, and will be addressed very seriously in accordance with university policy.
Grading: Your final grade will be
determined roughly as follows:
|
Final Exam |
30% |
|
Average of 2 Exam scores |
30% |
|
Average of Quizzes |
10% |
|
Class Performance & Homework |
30% |
You may need to spend 3-5 hours outside of class for every hour in class (6-10 hours per week), and you receive an hour of credit each week beyond the required class meetings. Foreign languages often require significant preparation time if you want to do well.
Suggestions for Success:
1) ALL written work to be turned in for a grade must be
pledged with an affirmation of your adherence to the Student Academic Honesty
Code as described at
this site.
2) Make sure that you regularly consult your binghamton.edu
email and Blackboard, as these are the most efficient ways for me to
disseminate information to everyone enrolled in this class.
3) My only real pet peeves in classroom demeanor are cell
phones and other devices used to access social networking sites (turn them
off), chronic tardiness, sleeping in class, and not informing me and others
affected if you have a schedule problem.
4) I guess the next closest thing to a peeve is my
frustration with being unable to read the minds of completely silent
students. Part of the joy of studying Latin at a more advanced level is
sharing what you think about it - whether good or bad. There's always something
that deserves discussion, and the whole class can benefit from your insights.
And (this is the lesson I've had to learn over time), if you're a natural
talker, know when to balance your contribution with that of those around you.
Be sensitive to the silences that sometimes occur - someone may be thinking
deeply. I have toyed with the idea of using other media to help out those who
are more inclined to silence, but I continue to believe that oral human
communication is a most valuable gift and tool for all aspects of modern life,
just as it was for the even more orally oriented cultures of the ancient world.
5) Keep on your syllabus. This class will allow little time
for catching up if you fall behind. The syllabus daily assignments are a
guide and a goal. If you find yourself unable to get through the assigned
readings and exercises, let's discuss it as a group or individually - work with
others, divide the load and then make sure you teach each other. I prefer to
have a plan, and try to find the best way to get there. CHECK YOUR SYLLABUS
FREQUENTLY FOR ANY CHANGES I MAY NEED TO MAKE ALONG THE WAY.
6) Bring all the appropriate books and/or printouts of
online texts each day they are required by the syllabus – NOTE THE
TEXTBOOK PROVISO ABOVE which, if unheeded, will result in serious damage to
your class participation grade. DO NOT bring your written translations into
class with you and read from them (I had to be broken from this habit first
term freshman year by being called down in class. It worked). Show that you
understand what you read or that you have questions about what you read, and
don't mark up your original texts too badly - keep it clean. Make vocabulary
and grammar notes while you read, and you can bring that to class with you if
necessary. Rereading through an assignment shortly after leaving class is the
absolute best way to see if you really understood what was going on with the
changes suggested there. Nothing is worse than recalling the incorrect
interpretation that you worked so hard on before class better than the
corrected interpretation or deeper interpretation that you take away after
class simply because you spent so much more time on the former and not enough
time on the latter.
____ * Binghamton U Classics Department Corollary to Starks Suggestion 6: You
have probably figured out that someone else has already translated many
passages you are translating for class. There are two useful and honorable ways
to use someone elseÕs translation:
a) Read the entire work in English, including the parts we donÕt cover in
class, to have a fuller understanding of the context for your passages.
b) After working on a translation on your own, with all the help that
dictionaries, commentaries, grammars, and your own good sense can provide, if
you get stuck on a sentence, you may refer to a translation to get a sense of
what the sentence says and to get unstuck. Then you must put away the
translation and translate the sentence yourself to guarantee that you
understand the grammar and syntax, especially since most translations are not
written to help you get through the assignment. Ideally, you will not use
someone elseÕs translation at all. But I would much rather you do so very
occasionally than have you get frustrated or spend a whole evening on one
sentence.
7) Extra
Credit - fuhgedaboutit!! (Someone burned me long ago abusing extra credit. I'm
afraid there is no antidote for my allergic reaction to requests for extra
credit). On the other hand, you get personal extra credit for every thing you
learn above and beyond the call of absolute duty, so look at the bigger
picture.
8) Final Grades are an assessment of your whole performance.
I like to create many components to a grade as an evaluation of a complete
student. I tend not to curve (unless something is clearly wrong with the
grading apparatus) in order to preserve my overall sense of student performance
and aptitude for the assignment of the more important final grade. I do
consider improvements in problem areas as part of what shows your increased
aptitude.
9) Enjoy learning Latin. Let's make our time in class
productive, but also, as often as possible, interesting, enjoyable and thought-
provoking. We will talk frequently about the way Romans thought and lived to
try to understand what they are saying to us. We will not sit in a dull
translation session 3 days per week. We will change exercises and engage in
discussion of ideas often.
Pursuant to this end, please feel free within reason
to bring coffee or other legal stimulants for our meetings - we will agree to
meet in locations other than the room when weather and lesson needs permit -
Latin and Greek schools often met in a stoa/basilica or under a tree, in the
open air - we should do no less, though the need for internet may bind us to
the room rather frequently.
10) One day there may be a suggestion 10, but right now, I
don't have one and there were 9 Muses, so we will leave an ennead of sage
Starks suggestions for student success - maybe suggestion 10 should be to
practice saying that 10 times fast.