Pre-AP Latin III 2014-15 Syllabus Pulvis et umbra sumus… Exegi monumentum aere perennius. We are dust and shadow… I have made a monument more lasting than bronze (Horace). Noli, si quid tibi effectu difficile, opinari hominem id non posse praestare. If something is difficult to do, do not believe that it is impossible (Marcus Aurelius). Salvete discipuli! Welcome to your third year of Latin, the greatest language ever to have existed. You are part of a tradition that goes back thousands of years, surviving the rise and fall of countless Empires, touching every aspect of science, law, religion and art—and how many classes can say that? In the coming year we’re going to learn a lot more than grammar and vocabulary. We’ll learn about history, culture, literature, war, honor, divinity, and the basic truths that have united humankind through over two millennia. We will also be learning grammar and vocabulary. Grade Breakdown Nine Weeks Grades: Tests 50% Daily grades 45% Reading assessment 5% Test Grades: There will be two to four tests per nine weeks, with most tests covering two Stages of Cambridge Latin Course. Tests will include two passages of Latin, one you have read before and one that you have not, with questions over comprehension, translation and grammar. Questions will also be included over culture, vocabulary and derivatives. Every nine weeks will also include at least one test-grade project. Daily Grades: Daily grades comprise of individual assignments, homework translations and quizzes. Individual Assignments: These will be grammar or derivative exercises. Each assignment will count for one daily grade. Translations: Pre-AP students will receive homework 2-3 nights per week. Most homework will be passages for translation from the textbook. These translations will be checked for completion on the following day, and in most cases students will then read the passage aloud. Students will receive one homework and participation grade per week. Regular students will do most translations in class, with a few as homework. Students will receive one translation grade per week. Quizzes: Vocabulary quizzes will be given once every Stage (approximately every two weeks). Other quizzes will be infrequent and announced ahead of time. All quizzes will count for two daily grades. Reading Assessment: A reading assessment is required by the district every nine weeks. It will be an assignment based on reading in English, not in Latin. The semester grade is calculated as follows: First nine weeks average 42.5% Second nine weeks average 42.5% Final exam 15% Required Materials  Textbook (once issued)  Paper  Pen or pencil  Your tablet or equivalent device (once issued)  3 ring binder: I will soon give out a set of notes that will need to be kept for the entirety of your Latin education at Clear Falls. I recommend keeping these notes in their own 3 ring binder that you are not likely to lose. If you keep a binder for all your classes, you may use a section of that binder rather than a separate binder for Latin. Be prepared for unannounced note checks.  A set of colored pencils: Students will need colored pencils on a regular basis for grammatical color coding. Recommended Materials  Latin dictionary: I highly recommend that you purchase a Latin to English & English to Latin dictionary for your use. Make sure it goes both ways, because your textbook has no English to Latin glossary. Some recommended editions (“Concise” editions of these dictionaries are usually also acceptable): o Cassell’s Latin Dictionary o Bantam New College Latin & English Dictionary o Collins Latin Dictionary o Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary Half Price Books often has a good, inexpensive selection of Latin dictionaries in the “Languages” section—if you get there before your classmates! Policies If you are absent, it is your responsibility to get makeup work. You will have as many days as you are absent to make up the work. Work will be considered late if you do not collect it on the day of your return. Late Work: An assignment turned in 1-2 days after the due date will count for 75% of the points earned: a 100 assignment will be a 75, a 90 will become a 67.5, etc.. On the third day, the assignment will go down as a zero, woe unto your household. Cheating will not be tolerated. A grade of zero will be given for cheating on homework, class work, quizzes, and/or exams. Refer to the Secondary Grading and Reporting Procedures (www.ccisd.net). Connections I do not offer extra credit to one student without offering it everyone, and the biggest of these extra credit assignments will be Connections. A Connection is something you notice outside of class that somehow relates to what we have studied together—maybe a historical reference you notice in a movie, or an English word you wouldn’t have understood without knowing its Latin derivatives. When a “light bulb moment” happens, all you have to do is write a brief paragraph describing what you noticed and how it relates to our studies. I will give you either an extra 100 as a Daily Grade or 5 extra points on your lowest Major (Test) Grade—I try both, and use whichever helps you more. You may turn in a maximum of 2 Connections per nine weeks. You may turn in Connections at any point during the year, and they will be counted for the nine weeks in which you turn them in. If you turn one in during the last week of the nine weeks, however, I will have to give you those points on the next nine weeks. Tentative Schedule First 9 Weeks: Review, Latin Fables and Fairy Tales, Purple Book Stages 35-39 Second 9 Weeks: Purple Book Stage 40, Roman Mythology (Ritchie’s Fabulae Faciles) Third 9 Weeks: Roman Authors, Rhetoric, Poetry Fourth 9 Weeks: Caesar (War and Politics), Vergil (Epic Poetry and Mythology) If you or your parents ever have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Email is my preferred mode of communication, but you are also free to call my classroom phone. My doors are also open to all students during tutorials every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:45 to 3:15. You are encouraged to visit me in tutorials for any help you may need throughout the year. Foreign languages can be a very challenging subject—noli tacens pati! (never suffer in silence!)