Expectations and Tips

What To Expect

 
The course will use a flipped classroom and active learning pedagogy. What that means is that you will seriously engage with the course material before it is introduced in class - you will read the relevant grammatical overviews, watch related videos, and familiarize yourself with basic morphology and vocabulary before we talk about them in class. Class time will be spent employing your newly developed knowledge through a variety of activities that explore the finer points of the material and answering lingering questions about key concepts. My role is to facilitate your learning rather than to dictate how you do it.

Additionally, all assessments will take place outside of class and will focus on developing the active skills necessary to understand Latin. The intent here is to give you the time, space, and resources to engage with the material at your own pace. Further, you will have an opportunity to revise or redo all of your assignments since learning is best done iteratively (i.e. repetitively).

This course is CBL (community-based learning) designate class. As such, outreach and community engagement will be required part of the course. In past iterations of this course, this has been realized through students teaching Latin to elementary school students at Worcester Public Schools. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unsure at this moment what form our community engagement will take. Whatever form this does take, we will have a weekly recitation section, run by TA (a former 101/102 student), in which we will consider why we are taking on a community-based project in a Latin class, think about what we as Holy Cross students can stand to gain from engaging with a community different than our own, and plan for our engagement with WPS students.

Tips for Success

 
Below are list of best practices based on what students who have excelled in previous iterations of the course have done:

  • Do not rely on class time to learn assigned material. Our discussions will build on the reading and exercises that I expect you to have completed for class.
  • Read each the relevant material twice – once before class and once after. This will help to crystallize key concepts that we cover in class.
  • Set aside time to study morphology (forms) and vocabulary every day. This is essential for doing well in the course.
  • Find a memorization strategy that works for you. It’s worth trying some of the online memorization tools (Quizlet, IFlash, etc.) to see if they can help!
  • “Visit” me during office hours! I am here to help you learn as much as possible and I am happy to do whatever is necessary to assist you in achieving that goal.
  • Take advantage of the resources available for you. You can also work through Academic Services and Learning Resources to get more individually tailored support.

NB: These are just suggestions - there are many ways to skin the proverbial Latin cat.