Resource portfolio
Henry Lee
A glimpse of teenage life in Ancient Rome
Created by Ray Laurence.
Link: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-glimpse-of-teenage-life-in-ancient-rome-ray-laurence
“Welcome to the world of Lucius Popidius Secundus, a 17-year old living in
Rome in 73 AD. His life is a typical one of arranged marriages, coming-of-age
festivals, and communal baths. Take a look at this exquisitely detailed lesson
on life of a typical Roman teenager two thousand years ago.” The videolesson thus introduces itself as an insight to the life of a teenage Roman.
The video-lesson is one of many on the website TED-Ed. TED-Ed began
with “the intention of supporting teachers and sparking the curiosity of
learners around the world” (from webpage “About TED-ED”) and aims to
match “clever animators who have the skills to bring a gifted teacher's lesson
to life” with inspiring teachers, in this case Dr Ray Laurence of the University
of Kent, a Classicist specialising in Roman history.
Using the video-lesson
TED-Ed lessons are designed for individual use and anyone can learn on
their own wherever they have access to the website. There are three sections
to a lesson: “Watch” is the section with the video; “Think” includes some
questions which recall facts and others which call for analysis; “Dig Deeper” is
akin to further reading and includes web links to webpages which contain
more information on some of the themes. Ordinarily a user of the website
would go through the three sections in order; registered users can submit the
multiple-choice answers to be corrected.
A classroom teacher can ask students to go through on their own the videolesson as part of a lesson or as homework, in the latter’s case possibly as part
of “flipped learning” (see appendix 1; Ebbeler 2013). The “dig deeper” section
is likely to be optional. The “think” section may needs to be carried out on a
Word document or on paper so the teacher can assess learning and correct
answers.
Alternatively, the video could be shown to the class as a whole; students
might then tackle the questions together. Compared to individual work, the
teacher can control the process better but students cannot tailor the learning
process according to their own needs, interest and ability.
Other ways of using the video-lesson includes the teacher producing a
customised worksheet or preparing discussion topics according to the needs
of the class and syllabus. Students might also be asked to consider how life is
different in ancient Rome in anticipation of the video; the whole class can then
consider any misconceptions or any omissions.
Purpose of the video-lesson
Referring to the written introduction to the video-lesson (quoted above), the
purpose of the video-lesson is to introduce the teenage Roman life. To
introduce teenage Roman life is, in itself, a broad topic, as it includes (as it
does in the video) coming-of-age, infant mortality, business transactions,
informal and formal education and marriage. There is also very little to
signpost at which age various themes and events affect a Roman child.
But the video also include general aspects of Roman life: the inclusion of
visits to the baths, clients, situation of Subura, Roman dining, traffic control,
slavery, festivals and mos maiorum suggest a more general approach to
Roman life rather than an age-specific one.
As a result, while according to the official introduction the learning purpose of
the video might be to introduce the life of a teenage Roman, in fact the scope
of the lesson suggests a purpose of introducing Roman life in general. The
number of themes suggests that the purpose is for viewers to acquire a few
trivial “pub-quiz” facts rather than to understand a topic in depth.
Analysis of the video-lesson
It is difficult to justify showing the whole video. Classical Civilisation and
Latin are subjects that study the Romans and a whistle-stop tour of Roman
life serves little purpose for lessons on specific themes, requiring great depth
on each theme. Perhaps it could be shown on option consultations or as an
introduction – it is sufficiently interesting to engage students into Classics. It
may also be used in a PSHCE lesson.
In terms of showing sections of the video, it is also difficult to justify. It states
minimal facts for mos maiorum or urban living in Rome. It would be showing it
for the sake of it.
The video can also be misleading. The baths section of the video implies
that Roman bathers bathe from the coldest to the warmest room. Whilst in
reality we do not know the order in which the Romans visited the baths, OCR
and Cambridge Latin Course both state a different order (CSCP 1998, Knight
2009) to that of the video. The video also implies that clients are left outside
the baths and that the frigidarium is freezing; neither is likely to have been the
case.
However, the video is exciting and interesting and it benefits visual and aural
learners. It also tells a story, and some learners not only enjoy story-telling but
acquire well through it. Students can also practise their ICT skills if videolessons are used individually.
Final thoughts
On many occasions on my first two months of SE1 I have considered
whether I can use the video: the baths topic for year 10 WJEC Latinists, the
education topic for year 9 Classical Civilisation students, year 7s studying
stage 3 and 4 of the Cambridge Latin Course. Yet I have decided against it.
The video lacks specificity within the different themes of Classics and I hope
my students would know the topics in much more depth than the video
portrays. I was initially enthusiastic about the video because it seems
engaging and interesting; sadly the nature of the video-lesson makes it
difficult to be part of my lessons.
Bibliography:
About TED-Ed: http://ed.ted.com/about (cached 1/12/2013).
CSCP (1998) Cambridge Latin Course: Book I, Fourth edition (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press).
Ebbeler, J. (2013) “'Introduction to Ancient Rome,' the Flipped Version”, The
Chornicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/Introduction-toAncient/140475/ (cached 22/7/2013).
Knights, S. et al. (2009) OCR Classical Civilisation Reader for GCSE (Oxford:
Oxford University Press).
Appendix 1: Flipped Classroom
Source: http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/;
see also bottom of image.
Appendix 2: Group discussion of resource
Please see separate document for evidence of group
discussion online and minutes of the discussion
meeting.