Exams Are Driving Me Mad

I am posting this out of frustration with my teaching experience at a very good girls' school in the UK, with extremely dedicated and hard-working teachers. It's been amazing to me how much of their energy is devoted to exam-related activities: the list is almost endless. And what the students are to learn is so circumscribed by the huge importance of how they score on the exam. If it's not on the exam, it's almost considered wicked to teach it, wasting minutes that students at other schools are spending practicing, learning exam-answering techniques, studying old exam papers, and memorizing things that are likely to come up.

When I talk to my fellow-teachers here, they agree that exams are troublesome, but they truly seem convinced that they are necessary for fair evaluation of student achievement and selection by universities. Then today I talked to a friend who teaches in Canada ... no external exams, no SAT's. Woohoo. That's what made me think I'd like to start a conversation on this. Please join in and invite others to join us!

salvete omnes!

I had forgotten all about this blog, but now that I am finding so many out there full of fascinating or provocative ideas, I thought it was time to join the party again. I'll start posting some musings on Latin teaching and teaching in general, and more links to cool stuff.

Anna Peregrina

Gilbo books and Cambridge

Anthony Gibbins has written a companion story to CLC Bk I, the first four stages, using most of the same vocabulary but using different characters and a new plot. Here are the episodes along with the material from CLC they match up with:

http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/09/gilbo-chapter-one/
(CLC pp. 3-5, familia)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/10/gilbo-chapter-two/
(Cerberus, p. 6)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/10/gilbo-chapter-3/
(amicus, pp. 16-17)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/11/gilbo-chapter-4/
(Metella, pp. 18-19)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/12/gilbo-chapter-5/
(mercator, p. 20)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/14/gilbo-chapter-6/
(mercator, p. 20)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/23/gilbo-chapter-7/
(in triclinion, p. 20)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/23/gilbo-chapter-8/
(in foro, p. 28)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/24/gilbo-chapter-9/
(pictor, p. 29)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/25/gilbo-chapter-10/
(pictor, p. 29)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/26/gilbo-chapter-11/
(tonsor, p. 30)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/26/gilbo-chapter-12/
(venalicius, p. 31)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/09/01/gilbo-chapter-13/
(venalicius, p. 31)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/09/04/gilbo-chapter-14/
(venalicius, p. 31)
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/09/08/gilbo-chapter-15/
(Hermogenes, p. 43)

Cambridge mini-books with complete text

salvete omnes!

I am now adding versions of the stories which have the complete sentence and distinguish the two versions by calling the complete one (textus) and the one with blanks (lacunae). Laura Gibbs explains how to write multiple versions of the same Tarheel Reader here:

http://libellilatini.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-create-reader.html

Here are the dual versions of Verba I:

http://tarheelreader.org/2009/10/18/verba-i-textus/

and

http://tarheelreader.org/2009/10/16/verba-i/

(I'm still working on why the word "lacunae" isn't in the URL ...)

Here's Verba II:

http://tarheelreader.org/2009/10/18/verba-ii-textus/
and with gaps:
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/10/05/verba-ii/
Verba III:
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/10/18/verba-iii-textus/
and with gaps:
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/10/12/verba-iii/

Tarheel Readers for Cambridge

salvete omnes! I have been creating a few little books at tarheelreader.org to review vocabulary from Cambridge Latin Course, Bk I. (I was greatly inspired by Anthony Gibbins' Gilbo series on Tarheel; thanks, Anthony!) Here are the relevant books I have created so far:

http://tarheelreader.org/2009/08/26/caecilia-et-porca/
"Caecilia et porca" can be read almost immediately by beginning students.
The exciting sequel:
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/09/13/ubi-est-caecilia/
This ties in with the rooms of the house and is also extremely elementary.

http://tarheelreader.org/2009/10/16/verba-i/
This is a fill-in-the-blanks Latin vocabulary exercise for CLC Stage 1. I have added the word "filia" at the request of my all-girl classes!


http://tarheelreader.org/2009/10/05/verba-ii/
This is a fill-in-the-blank Latin exercise based on the vocabulary of Ch. 2.

http://tarheelreader.org/2009/10/12/verba-iii/
Same thing for Ch. 3.

Here is a little book to go with Ch. 4, giving some examples of first and second person singular:
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/10/20/ego-et-tu/

This is a set of question words (cur, ubi, etc.) and examples of questions using them.
http://tarheelreader.org/2009/10/31/quaestiones/
I'll keep updating as I create more minibooks.

My very first blog ... I must think of more things to add.

Ann Martin