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Anne Ughrin
Context and Curriculum for Latin I and III
Context
On a yearly basis, the expected enrollment for Latin I-IV at Cuyahoga Falls High School
will be at or near 145 students. The following information describes the context in which Latin
studies take place and defines the curriculum designed for Latin I and III.
The web-like context in which the courses are taught weaves many people together. The
foremost stakeholders are the students and the teacher. These mostly middle-class, Caucasian,
American children have varied interests for their participating in Latin. The school motivates
them via awards. Students may earn an Honor’s diploma with three years of foreign-language
study or by taking two years each of two different languages. Some parents selected Latin for
their children because they either enjoyed it when they were students, or they have found value
from the learned Latin in their current career. They want their children to receive the same
value. A few students chose Latin for personal interests or in anticipation of specific careers for
which Latin is said to help.
A teacher works with these differing student interests by designing a yearly curriculum
that is complete with goals, objectives, and assessments. Keeping a realistic perspective, the
success of this curriculum determines the teacher’s employment. Thus, the need for a good
enrollment number, positive reputation, and student success motivate the teacher to do well.
The hierarchy of stakeholders following the student and teacher descends from the
community to the administrators. Cuyahoga Falls School District is a public school, and local
property taxes, whether from parents or childless households, contribute part of its funding. The
school’s successes or failures affect the property values and community appeal. Thus, the
community invests its money not only for student success but also for real estate value. To
ensure the school’s success, the community elects a school board, which consists of five
community members, who create and uphold a school policy. The school board’s role includes
but is not limited to employee hire/assessment, fee expenditures, and daily operations. The
members’ re-election, stipend, and reputation are determined by school success. Administrative
principals in each of the district’s buildings carry out the school board’s policy. Just like
teachers, their number one stake in student success is their employment with the district. Their
employment hinges greatly on the state’s mandated tests.
An important final component to the context in which Latin is taught is its textbooks’
instructional timeline. The aforementioned school board chose the Latin for Americans series by
Glencoe publishers. It serves as the overall guide from which the teacher chooses the content
and supplements it with instructor-made products and other textbook series’ work. The teacher
instructs this content during a 36-week school year, which is divided into nine-week time frames.
Students participate five times per week during 50-minute sessions each time. The teacher
assesses goals periodically throughout each nine weeks and administers a mid-term and final
exam. Each nine weeks’ final grade determines 20% of a student’s grade while the mid-term and
final exams are each 10%; altogether, the student’s grade is calculated on a 100% scale. In
addition, these assessments determine a student’s honors diploma and graduation.
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Content
The teacher for 2011-12 determined the curriculum content by using the Latin for
Americans series as a guide and appropriating content amount to the time frame in which the
school operates and for the anticipated ability levels of the students. Therefore, in the following
curriculum outlines, Figure 1 defines all the content which a teacher may instruct for Level I
Latin. Future teachers are not limited by this outline, but they are advised to use it as a guide. It
spans Latin for Americans: Book I from page one to 230. At page 230, the book takes a natural
pause between Aeneas’s mythological story and Odysseus’s. It is also an end to the indicative
mood’s six tenses. Therefore, page 230 serves as a convenient point to rest between Latin I and
II. Figure 1 outlines the goals and content objectives that may be instructed among these pages
in the book.
Nota bene: some topics, like Perseus’s myth, are not found in Latin for Americans. For
these items, the 2011-12 teacher located supplemental materials in Amsco’s Workbook I, Latin is
Fun: Book I, and Latin Made Simple. Future teachers may use these materials, or they may find
their own resources. In addition, the teacher supplemented self-made material, which is also
expected to be done periodically by future teachers.
Before reading, it is important to note that the teacher chose this content because it aligns
with three strongly-held beliefs about Latin: 1) Latin is rule-governed; 2) Latin helps English
with grammar, cognates and rhetoric; and 3) Latin can be learned by all internally-motivated
learners.
Figure 1: Latin I (The Roman Numerals represent the goals, the letters name the
objectives, and the Arabic numbers identify possible ways by which to instruct the
objectives.)
I. Communication: Students will be able to utilize objectives A-F interchangeably and
progressively in their learning to communicate information effectively in Latin or about the
Latin language.
(A) Listening: discern among basic classroom commands and questions
(B) Speaking: phonetically pronounce words; respond to and ask simple questions; and
demonstrate inflection when reading aloud or saying words and phrases
1. Activities (A and B): oral/aural exchanges, mimicry practice, performance
(verbal or action-oriented), oral/aural assessments
(C) Reading: scan sentence for its parts; discern nouns’ and phrases’ orders by their
case endings; and translate Latin into English sentences with subjects, verbs, and
predicates
(D) Writing: conjugate six indicative tenses in their active and passive voices; decline
1st and 2nd declension nouns and modify with adjectives according to case, number, and
gender; and compose Latin sentences as responses to Latin questions
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1. Activities (C and D): individual, small-group, and class translations with
comprehension questions; use color-coding devices (verb block and Velcro board
manipulatives); apply mnemonic phrases and songs, adapt FOIL (distributive
method) as a sentence formula, topic projects, written tests and/or quizzes
(E) Vocabulary: know vocabulary’s definitions and infer the meanings’ change when
adding prefixes and suffixes; identify nouns’ declensions or verbs’ conjugations based on
spelling; label words’ part of speeches by their presentation
(F) Grammar: know parts of speech; parts of a simple sentence; tenses
1. Activities (E and F): vocabulary quizzes, apply mnemonic phrases and songs,
dictionary-oriented projects, oral and written responses to pre-determined
questions
II: Culture: Students will be able to identify and discuss a range of topics concerning
ancient Roman culture.
(A) Culture: label and discuss Roman and Latin numbers; roads; slavery; mythology
(creation, Pandora, Hymn to Demeter, Perseus, Golden Apple); history (from Trojan
War to Aeneas’s landing in Latium, Romulus and Remus); parts of houses; parts of
body; and Roman schools
1. Activities: lectures; reading packets accompanied by responses with recall,
judgment, and inference; videos, mnemonic phrases and songs, projects
III. Pragmatics: Students will be able to appreciate the cross-cultural influences from the
Latin language and Roman culture to those of their own
(A) Pramatics: recognize the cognates between Latin and English; pharmaceutical
abbreviations; identify modern products and their Latin names’ significances;
identify, apply, and translate directly borrowed Latin abbreviations; and apply Latin
prepositions as prefixes to English words
1. Activities: informational packets, lectures, performance-oriented
Figure 2 outlines the determined content for Latin III. The teacher will use Latin for
Americans: Book II for this course. Book II in the series does not require a sequential order in
its instruction. Having progressed into authentic ancient Latin literature, the instructor may
choose units according to students’ abilities, timeframe, and personal interest. Thus, the 2011-12
school year’s teacher determined this curriculum around the subjunctive mood and the historical
timeline of Julius Caesar’s life and its aftermath.
Latin for Americans: Book II lacks significant grammar drills, cultural, and historical
explanations. Therefore, teachers are to use the authentic literature as a guide around which to
build their units. Supplementation materials are the teachers’ personal choices, but they must
sufficiently exercise the students’ abilities before their being formally assessed.
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Figure 2: Latin III
I. Communication: Students will be able to utilize objectives A-F interchangeably and
progressively in their learning to communicate information effectively in Latin or about the
Latin language.
(A) Listening: discern between the subjunctive and indicative classroom commands;
read along with tape-recorded stories
(B) Speaking: demonstrate inflection in simple and complex sentences; respond to
questions in Latin; ask questions in Latin with correct inflection and
subjunctive/indicative use
1. Activities (A and B): oral/aural exchanges, mimicry practice, performance
(verbal or action-oriented), oral/aural assessments
(C) Reading: scan sentences for their parts; identify and read modifiers in their correct
proximity to the noun; follow the sequence of tenses in complex sentences; spot simple
poetic devices
(D) Writing: apply the sequence of tenses to sentences; conjugate the indicative’s six
and the subjunctive’s four tenses in their active and passive voices; decline all five noun
declensions, decline participles
1. Activities (C and D): individual, small-group, and class translations with
comprehension questions; use color-coding devices (verb block and Velcro board
manipulatives); apply mnemonic phrases and songs, adapt FOIL (distributive
method) as a simple sentence formula, apply ACCUSATIVE plus INFINITIVE
structure as well as gerundives’ and subjunctive formulas; topic projects, written
tests and/or quizzes
(E) Vocabulary: increase root word list, know the five most highly irregular verbs,
“possum, sum, ire, volo, and nolo;” identify and translate idiomatic phrases relevant to
major authors being discussed
(F) Grammar: discern sequence of tenses, recognize dependent and independent phrase
structures with the subjunctive; label simple poetic/rhetorical devices
1. Activity (E and F): vocabulary quizzes, apply mnemonic phrases and songs,
dictionary, poetry and/or rhetorically-oriented projects, oral and written responses
to pre-determined questions; self-generated compositions
II. Culture: Students will be able to identify and discuss a range of topics concerning
ancient Roman and Greek culture.
(A) Culture: identify and discuss: ancient Greece, Delphi; architectural terms, parts of
mosaics and murals; Dionysis and the theater; Greek and Roman food; history (Julius
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Caesar and the army’s being in Gaul, 2nd triumvirate, Julio-Claudian emperors); Mt.
Vesuvius; mythology (Jason and the Argonauts)
1. Activities: lectures; reading packets accompanied by responses with recall,
judgment, and inference; videos, mnemonic phrases and songs, projects
III. Pragmatics: Students will be able to appreciate the cross-cultural influences from the
Latin/Greek languages and Roman/Greek cultures to those of their own
(A) Pragmatics: recognize the cognates between Latin/Greek and English; find
relationship between modern legal terminology and its Latin roots; appreciate the art and
architectural influences on the modern homes and buildings
1. Activities: informational packets, lectures, performance-oriented
Needs Assessment
The content outlines serve as guidelines but do not limit the teacher because the learners’
needs may require change or a slower pace. Therefore, to help pre-determine the pace and needs
of learners, a brief diagnostic test will be administered within the first two weeks of the school
year. The teacher will provide a cover letter and course syllabus to inform and guide student
progress. The mid-term and final exams will suffice as progress indicators for the district. As
for an exit survey, they will only be administered at the end of Level III or Level IV. Latin III
and IV, unlike its Levels I and II, is an optional elective. Students have an internal motivation
and maturity towards the language; thus, they are conscientious and insightful in construction
criticism.
Syllabus
In addition to a cover letter, the teacher will design a course syllabus to establish the
expectations and pace of the curriculum. The following syllabi and pages are designed for Latin
I and III for the 2011-12 school year. They may serve as a model for colleagues and are subject
to change with either a new teacher or textbook change.
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Latin I
Magistra (Ms.) Ughrin
Cuyahoga Falls High School; Room 101
e-mail: cf_ughrin@cfalls.org
Phone: (330) 926.3808 ext. 502177
Salvete! Latin I is a course which introduces you to the ancient Romans’ language; culture;
history; and their influences upon our Modern English language and culture. In order to
accomplish these goals, we will progress through Latin for Americans: Book I; pp. 1-230. We
will supplement this material with some from Latin Made Simple, Latin is Fun: Book I, and
instructor-made materials. By the end of this course, you will have had the opportunity to learn
the following:
1) spellings, meanings, and English derivatives for the basic Latin root
words;
2) the Latin parts of speech, the parts of a simple sentence, and their
translating;
3) Roman history (spanning from the Trojan War to Rome’s founding
by Romulus and Remus);
4) Mythology’s 10 major gods/titans featured in the Creation, Perseus,
Pandora, Hymn to Demeter, Trojan War; and
5) Latin and the Romans’ influence upon our culture.
You will need:
1) textbook – Latin for Americans: Book I (issued within the first two weeks);
2) loose-leaf notebook paper;
3) a 1-inch, three-ring binder;
4) a positive attitude; and
5) good attendance.
Grading Scale:
100-90% = A
89-80% = B
79-70% = C
69-60% = D
59- 0 %= F
Methods of Grading: The ways by which you will be graded are: written and oral tests,
quizzes, class participation (oral/written/activity-based), and homework. It is not exact, but the
grades are usually distributed as: 50% tests and projects, 25% quizzes, 25% class participation
and homework.
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Classroom and School Policies:
Absences: 1) Having more than 20 unexcused absences will result in dismissal from class.
a. The school defines excused absences as the following:
1. doctor’s appointments/illnesses proceeded by
doctor’s visit (must have a signed doctor’s note);
2. funerals;
3. mandatory building activities for which you cannot
attend class (e.g. taking OGT tests, attending Akron
Round Table, pictures’ day, etc.);
Make-up assignments: If you have an excused absence, then you have three days per every
day absent to make-up any and all work assigned while you were gone.


It is your responsibility to obtain missed work from the teacher.
If work is not completed within this timeframe, the teacher has the option to fail
the assignment.
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Latin III
Magistra (Ms.) Ughrin
Cuyahoga Falls High School; Room 101
e-mail: cf_ughrin@cfalls.org
Phone: (330) 926.3808. ext. 502177
Avete! Welcome back to a third year of Latin. You are sitting in this class not only because you
scheduled it but because you have earned a seat in here via hard work and strong efforts. Let’s
have another great year! Below, you will find a generalized list of some things we will cover
this year. We will use the Latin for Americans: Book II as our guide. You will notice that this
book does not have a sequential order; therefore, we will skip around in the book. Some goals to
accomplish are:
1) increase Latin vocabulary list with accompanying English derivatives;
2) review relative clauses and indirect speech while adding complex sentences
involving the subjunctive mood;
3) Roman history from Julius Caesar’s death to the Julio-Claudian emperors, the
history of Gaul; Mt. Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 A.D., ancient Greece and its art
and food; and
4) conjugating the subjunctive mood in its active and passive voices, declining
gerunds, and constructing gerundives.
You will need:
1) textbooks – Latin for Americans: Book II (issued within the first two weeks),
Amsco’s Workbook III and IV, and a Latin/English dictionary (you must purchase);
2) loose-leaf notebook paper;
3) a 1-inch, three-ring binder;
4) a positive attitude,
5) good attendance.
Grading Scale:
100-90% = A
89-80% = B
79-70% = C
69-60% = D
59- 0 %= F
Methods of Grading: The ways by which you will be graded are: written and oral tests,
quizzes, class participation (oral/written/activity-based), and homework. It is not exact, but the
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grades are usually distributed as: 50% tests and projects, 25% quizzes, 25% class participation
and homework.
Classroom and School Policies:
Absences: 1) Having more than 20 unexcused absences will result in dismissal from class.
b. The school defines excused absences as the following:
1. doctor’s appointments/illnesses proceeded by
doctor’s visit (must have a signed doctor’s note);
2. funerals;
3. mandatory building activities for which you cannot
attend class (e.g. taking OGT tests, attending Akron
Round Table, pictures’ day, etc.);
Make-up assignments: If you have an excused absence, then you have three days per every
day absent to make-up any and all work assigned while you were gone.


It is your responsibility to obtain missed work from the teacher.
If work is not completed within this timeframe, the teacher has the option to fail
the assignment.
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Lesson Plans
Lesson plans act as a guide for a teachers’ keeping the activities and assessments related
to the curriculum goals and objectives. The Cuyahoga Falls School District only requires that
each teacher maintain lesson plans. These lesson plans must identify a daily goal for each class
session. In addition, it is recommended in this curriculum context that, within three years of a
teacher’s consistently instructing a course, he/she creates a portfolio comprised of detailed lesson
plans for which the required and stated goal is accompanied by identified resources, planned
activities, and the assessment that relate back to the original goal. In this manner, the teacher and
school district have ample proof that teachers abide by the curriculum. They also serve as an
instructional tool for substitutes when the teacher is unavailable. The portfolio may always be
updated or changed as the teacher matures through educational development, but the portfolio
acts as the teacher’s “original” textbook.
Teachers will keep the portfolio on their desks in the event of their absences. In addition,
within the first month of every school year, each teacher will create a file in which a substitute
can find the teacher’s daily schedule, class rosters/seating charts, classroom discipline rules, and
important phone numbers for emergencies.
The following figures three and four exemplify detailed lesson plans for Latin I and III.
Teachers may form their own templates; however, lessons should include: a stated goal,
resources to be used, students’ background knowledge, activities, and assessment.
Figure 3; Latin I Lesson Plan Sample
Lesson Plan Title:
Future Tense; a supplement for Latin for Americans: Book I; pp. 5257 “Europa”
Date/Time:
Instructed early October; 50-minute session
Level:
Latin I
Goal Objective: The students will be able to (SWBAT) identify, conjugate, and translate the
future tense in its indicative mood, active voice
Resources needed:
o
o
o
o
o
classroom set of Tres Porcelli;
conjugation notes;
practice exercises;
assessment activity;
prepped chalkboard on which it says:
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huffo, huffare, huffavi, huffatus = to huff
1st
2nd
3rd
Singular
huffo
huffas
huffat
I huff
you huff
s/he, it huffs
Plural
huffamus
huffatis
huffant
we huff
you all huff
they huff
Discipuli: “Non per comam men-men-menti!”
Magistra et Lupus: “Ergo huffabo et puffabo et tuam domum inflabo!”
huffo, huffare, huffavi, huffatus = to huff
1st
2nd
3rd
Singular
huffabo
huff______
huff______
I will/shall huff
you will huff
s/he, it will huff
Plural
huff________
huff________
huff________
we will/shall huff
you all will huff
they will huff
Background: The students know 1) supporting vocabulary (magnus, malus, [ordinal numbers],
etc.; 2) the skill of conjugating in the present tense.
Activities:
1) Review the present tense conjugation with its mnemonic song;
2) read Tres Porcelli to students; they perform the three little pigs’ line “Not
by the hair of my chin, chin, chin;”
3) students infer the conjugating of the future tense via “huffabo” and
“puffabo”; complete explanation and fill in future tense notes;
4) complete practice exercises; and
5) students complete assessment.
Assessment: Today: Five question assessment at end of class;
Later: Formal Chapter Assessment
Figure 4; Latin III Sample Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan Title:
Geography of Gaul; Latin for Americans: Book II; pp. 239-241
Date/Time:
Early December; 50-minute session
Level:
Latin III
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Goal Objective: SWBAT define and label the three major parts of ancient Gaul, name the three
major tribes of ancient Gaul, and identify the geographical features (in and around Gaul) that
determine its tribes’ boundaries.
Resources needed:
o classroom set of Julius Caesar’s Conquest of Gaul: Book
I; Chapter I (translation is double-spaced);
o Classroom set of maps with ancient Gaul, parts of
Britannia, and Germania; and
o Classroom set of crayons or colored pencils.
Background: Students know 1) history of the 1st Triumvirate and Caesar’s being consul from
58-50 BC; 2) grammar necessary to translate chapter 1.
Activities:
1) Translate the first sentence of chapter one “All Gaul is divided into three
parts….;
2) Locate and color these divisions on the map (colors were pre-determined
and written in the directions);
3) Label the Rhine, Rhone, Pyrenees, Alps, Britannia, Germania,
Transalpine/Cisalpine Gaul;
4) Continue to translate the rest of chapter I
5) Label the Jura Mountains and Lake Lemanno.
Assessment:
Today (Formative): Students have colored and labeled map. (If corrections are needed,
they are noted.)
Later (Summative): On Chapters 1 and 2’s test, students will have to label or define the
geographical items in order to explain the reason for which the Helvetians are migrating.
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Assessment Guide
To ensure curriculum progress, teachers and students will be assessed in their
development - the teacher in his/her professional development, and the students in their content
development.
The school assesses teachers’ development in three ways: a professional development
plan, classroom observations, and student performance.
At every license/certificate attainment or renewal, teachers will submit for approval an
Individual Professional Development Plan (IPDP). In this IPDP, the teacher will identify three
goals towards which s/he will work until the next licensure/certificate renewal. The teacher must
then address how these goals will be beneficial to their personal development, the students’, and
the district’s achievement plans. They must also suggest ways by which these goals can be
measured within the timeframe of the IPDP. Some means by which to measure development are
college transcripts, certificates of participation at educational seminars, and journals or logs. The
amount of continuing education is determined by the state’s educational board. A Local
Professional Development Committee (LPDC), which consists of five members from within the
district, will either approve or disapprove of the goals. If disapproved, the LPDC will provide
comments for revisions after which the teacher may submit a revised IPDP for approval.
A second way by which to assess teachers are classroom observations. Observations take
place four times per school year and are completed by administrators, who rotate two
observations each. In addition, observations occur for three years in each subject area that is
taught by the teacher. After this time span, satisfactory approval among all 12 observations will
stop observations. It is assumed after three years that the teacher shows proficiency in
instruction. However, unsatisfactory reports must be accompanied either by a plan for
remediation and continued observations until the teacher is found proficient or they are
accompanied by a sound reason for dismissal. If the teacher switches to another subject, like
English or Social Studies, s/he begins the process again for these subjects.
The teacher receives an observation notice date at least one week prior to the actual date.
Upon the observation date, the teacher supplies the observer with a lesson plan, seating chart,
and copies of necessary activities that accompany the lesson. The observation lasts for 30
minutes after which the observer prepares a report. Within one week’s time after the
observation, the teacher and observer will meet to discuss the observation.
The third way by which teachers will be assessed is student performance. Student
performance is also the way by which students are assessed in their content development.
Through various formative and summative assessments, the teacher will demonstrate their
progressing a student from a point A (diagnostic test) to a point B (final exam), which total a
yearly grade of 60% or higher. Per school and class grading policy, students pass the course
with an accumulated 60% grade. The yearly grade is determined by each nine-week’s grading
period being 20% and the mid-term and final exam’s being 10% each for a total of 100%
possible. A passing grade may be dismissed if a student has 20 or more unexcused absences.
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All assessments are the teacher’s responsibility. As noted in Figures 1 and 2, which
describe the content of Latin I and III, assessments may be done in various combinations of
formative and summative evaluations. The following activities exemplify ways by which
students can be assessed.
Figure 5: (Formative Assessment Example for teaching Latin Numbers 1-10)
Piscari (Go Fish) is an excellent way to assess the listening and speaking skills via an interactive
game. The setup is minimal. Through various written and oral activities, the teacher has
familiarized the students with the numbers one through ten. Piscari demonstrates the reliability
that speaking and listening skills have between each other. The game includes some repetition
but also some extensive listening.
The ace serves as the number one. The teacher demonstrates to the students how to ask each
other for a specific card. For example, “Habesne octo?” asks, “Do you have an eight?” The
“Habesne” offers repetition, yet the supplied number and listener’s responses, either “Sic” (yes)
or “Minime” (no) elicit discrimination and responsive speaking. The students will also need to
know the following.
1) Habesne regem? = Do you have a king?
2) Habesne reginam? = Do you have a queen?
3) Habesne ducem? = Do you have a jack?
The game Piscari is a formative assessment because the students can practice: the inflection of
basic questions, an interactive conversation, and their numbers. The motivation to win the game
encourages the students to phrase their questions and responses correctly. At first, some students
need to ask others for help in pronouncing the words or phrasing the questions, but as the game
proceeds, this becomes minimal.
The teacher’s assessment is through observation. Numerical credit for participation is at the
teacher’s discretion.
Figure 6: (Summative Assessment Example for teaching Numbers 1-20)
A summative assessment for the numbers 1-20 could definitely test the four skills: reading,
writing, speaking, and listening. In this situation, the teacher circulates the classroom in order to
complete the speaking and listening segment while the students complete the reading and writing
portion.
In a similar fashion to the aforementioned game Piscari, the teacher will circulate during the
testing and individually ask students, “Habesne numerum libri?” which means, “Do you have the
number of your textbook?” They teacher may choose any number that s/he wants the student to
produce; however, it should be in the form of the question, “Habesne ______?” This summative
test allows the student to demonstrate his/her discriminating the question being asked and his/her
ability to pronounce, inflect, and name the Latin numbers. For this portion, the teacher would
consider each number worth one point and assess them as either right or wrong towards the final
grade.
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The written portion of the exam would continue to assess the student’s ability to answer
questions, but in this manner, it is the ability to read and write a response to those questions.
This is Level I, so the emphasis of this introductory unit is on structure and not spontaneity.
In previous exercises, students practiced mathematical word problems, which were written in
Latin. The students must read the problem in Latin and respond in complete Latin sentences.
The following example is a word problem seen on the test.
Ex. Agricola multos animalia in fundo habet. Agricola tres vaccas, quattuor
porcos, et unum equum habet. Quot animalia agricola in fundo habet?
(The farmer has many animals on the farm. The farmer has three cows, four pigs,
and one horse. How many animals does the farmer have on his farm?)
Answer: Agricola octo animalia in fundo habet.
(The farmer has eight animals on the farm.)
The assessment is form-focused reading and extensive writing. The student’s response
demonstrates his/her ability to identify the parts of a sentence including the numbers, but the
student must also grammatically transform the question into a statement.
The numerical assessment applied to these responses may vary from teacher to teacher. It is
suggested that they be worth three points per answer: one for the correct sum or difference, one
for structuring the statement with the subject first and the verb at the end, and one for discerning
and omitting the interrogative word in the final answer.
Figure 7 (Summative Assessment for teaching Greek and Roman Food)
A great alternative to written tests are projects. Since there are no means with which to cook or
bake food in most classrooms, a wonderful alternative project is to assign groups of students to
create a cooking show in which they demonstrate how to make one recipe.
The teacher provides the various recipes and miniature dictionaries for the vocabulary they will
use. In this manner, every group will be using the same words for sugar, milk, ¼ cup, etc.
because some English words are represented by several different Latin words.
The process to creating the show is formative. The students must write a Latin script in which
they tell a little history about the recipe, then explain the recipe’s sequential cooking order, and
produce at least two spontaneous commercials within the program. They must also perform the
script within an allotted timeframe. The process of editing and rehearsing all this information is
formative.
The summative assessment analyses the final video and is done via a rubric. The teacher may
split the project into various components; for example, written work, performance work, and
group dynamics. Each category then has a sub list of items to be assessed on a graded scale.
The following example shows how written content may be graded. The number accompanying
the title would be the applied numerical score for the group in that category.
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Complete 4
Generally complete 3
Somewhat
complete 2
Incomplete 1
Writing uses
the
appropriate
functions and
vocabulary
for the topic.
Writing usually uses
the appropriate
functions and
vocabulary for the
topic.
Writing uses few
of the appropriate
functions and
vocabulary for the
topic.
Writing uses
none of the
appropriate
functions and
vocabulary for
the topic.
The teacher may have several categories to score, for this assignment assesses students’
writing skills, oral production (pronunciation, intonation, etc.), cultural knowledge, and small
group interaction.
Conclusion
The purpose of this material was to highlight the context and describe the Latin
curriculum that is taught at Cuyahoga Falls High School for Latin I and III. Although its
curriculum goals and objectives differ from those of other foreign languages and subjects, its
structure is universal to all teachers’ efficiency. The strength of the educational system depends
upon the strength of each course’s curriculum guide, the organization of a syllabus, and the
instruction and assessment of the objectives. That belief is strongly upheld in the Cuyahoga
Falls School District. It was the hope that this context and curriculum serves as a guide that
other Latin colleagues may adopt or adapt to their curriculum; and so, it will be used in that
manner for the 2011-12 school year.
Ughrin
17