|
LATIN
111.14 syllabus
(subject to tweaking)
instructor
name and contact info
| course info | goals | texts/materials
| attendance | grades | classroom
policies | commitment and personal teaching
philosophy | out-of-class experiences | academic
integrity | special considerations
Course
Details
Latin 111.14
First Year Latin (Part 1)
2:00-2:50 MTWR
Schroeder Hall 302
prerequisites: none
Instructor
Dr. Janice Siegel (Dr. J)
Stevenson 203-F
Office Hours: MTWR 3-4 and by appointment
309-438-3583 (leave a message on voice mail)
email: jfsiege@ilstu.edu
(best bet)
class website: http://lilt.ilstu.edu/drjclassics
Course
goals
By
the end of Latin 111.14, the first half of the first year of college Latin,
we will have learned about Latin word order; pronunciation; adjective-noun
agreement; person, number, tense, voice and mood of verbs; syntax of
nouns; the present, future, and imperfect formation and translation of
first, second, third and fourth conjugation verbs; imperatives and
infinitives; the perfect active system; principal parts of verbs; first,
second, and third declensions of both nouns and adjectives (including i-stems);
personal, reflexive, demonstrative, and relative pronouns; and myriad uses
of the ablative case.
Required
Texts/materials
Material in the texts
listed below will be supplemented by on-line Mallard
drills written especially for you (by me). Any materials for studying Roman culture
will be either supplied to you in class or provided on the website.
Wheelock's
Latin,
6th edition (June 2000)
Harper Resource; ISBN: 0060956410 buy it at the bookstore or from Amazon.com
38 Latin
Stories
by Anne H. Groton and James M. May. Buy it from the bookstore or Amazon.com
a package of 3
X 5 index cards, lined or not
Recommended
Texts:
Cassell's
Latin Dictionary. Buy
it from Amazon.com
Attendance
Policy
Regular attendance is required in this class. More than 5 absences
during the course of the semester may adversely affect your grade, and
unless the absence is excused, any assignment or quiz associated with that
day will receive a grade of zero. Attending
class is not only required, but good for you - and fun - too: we
will spend a considerable amount of class time working together to find the
best way to understand and learn our lessons. Our goal? To build a firm
foundation in grammar and vocabulary so we can get to the good
stuff (the literature!) as soon as possible. If you aren't here, you will
lose out. And so will we. If you must miss a class for any of the
reasons below, please talk to me in advance of the absence, if possible.
Let's work together.
What if I am ill or must be absent for a personal reason?
If you'll
be out for a day or two, call or email me to let me know. But please get
into the habit of asking classmates about missed work. If your illness or
personal situation will keep you away from class for longer than 3 days,
contact the Office of Student Affairs at 438-5451 so they can coordinate
communication efforts with all your professors.
The
following questions are linked to their answers in the University
Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines website:
What
if I miss class because I am involved in a Sanctioned University
Activity?
What
if I have to miss class because of religious observance?
Here
is a great webpage with student info: http://www.ilstu.edu/depts/studentlife
How
Grades are Calculated
Exams: a midterm 20% and final examination (20%).
Vocabulary Quizzes: 15%
Grammar Quizzes: 15%
Daily Assignments/Class Preparation: 20%
Participation/Effort: 10%
Exams:
There is a midterm (20%) and a final examination (yes, it is cumulative,
20%). You should be well-prepared for each exam if you do your work all
along, but I will be happy to run review sessions. I will be posting
grammar reviews all along, too. If there is anything else I can do to help
you prepare for the big tests, just let me know.
Exam Policies:
There can be no make-up exams except in the case of an excused absence.
The exam must be made-up within one week of the absence. I reserve the
right to write a new exam for any student who misses the originally
scheduled exam. An unexcused absence will earn the student a zero on the
exam, which will essentially assure failure for the course. Please don't
miss your exams.
Quizzes:
Lots of 'em. This helps keep you paced, and it also lets me know if and
when I lose you... as soon as a point of grammar escapes you, we handle
it. Nothing gets out of hand, no snowballs roll downhill, no damage occurs
that can't be undone. Quizzes amount to 30 % of your grade. I am in the
process of mastering Mallard (I speak hubristically) and I hope to gain
enough skill soon to begin writing computer-corrected vocabulary and
grammar drills for each chapter. These will contribute to your
participation grade, and your quiz grades will probably soar higher, too.
They offer extra practice and self-testing opportunities. Plus, they are
fun. And there are already interactive quizzes out there on the internet
designed to go with Wheelock, so you have plenty to choose from. See Dr.
J's Interactive Vocabulary Quiz and Interactive
Grammar Quiz pages for links to these other resources.
Quiz Policies: Everyone
gets to drop his lowest quiz grade during the course of the semester.
There can be no make-up
quizzes except in the case of an excused absence. The quiz must be made
up within one week of the absence.
Daily
Assignments/Class preparation: This is a
killer of a course in terms of keeping on top of the material. You can't
afford to fall behind because of the quick pace. I have devised a schedule that
gives you from Thursday evening through Monday to do the bulk of the
work for each chapter. Pace yourself: set yourself a work schedule and stick
to it. Please consult the class
calendar for due dates of assignments. PLEASE come to class prepared
or the explanations of the chapter materials will go right over your head
and worse, you won't be able to participate. Being prepared will
not only help your
grade, but it will also make our time together that much more profitable
and enjoyable.
You will be
expected to do all your work on a word processor (except for the
vocabulary index cards, which you will need to bring to class EVERY day)
and bring a clean copy with you to class with you that you will hand in
before you leave. Devise a filing system in your word processor that will
allow you to keep all of your completed exercises at your fingertips. This
will make your life easier when exam review time comes along. Completing
assignments dutifully and on time will get you a great prep grade and,
believe it or not, will cause you to get a handle on the material!
Win-win. Of course, the opposite is, sadly, just as true.
Assignment Policies: Everyone
gets one freebie for being unprepared during the course of the semester.
If you are not prepared,
you get a zero for that day's assignment. I suggest that when you do
complete the assignment, the next day, show it to me. Assignments
are deemed either acceptable or not: they are not graded for content,
but solely on effort. If you leave more than half of the questions
blank, for example, or you have filled the paper with nonsense, you
won't get any credit. You have opportunities to get help before the
assignment is due. Take advantage of your resources.
Participation/Effort:
This
category encompasses all those voluntary activities that will make you a
better student of Latin. I encourage you to share with me evidence of the
time and energy you invest in this course. If you are doing the extra
exercises in the back of the Latin textbook, hand them in. If you are
spending a lot of time taking the interactive quizzes so you can learn
your vocabulary and grammar, print them out and hand them in. I also
encourage you to explore Latin's cultural legacy in our everyday world: if
you see a Latin sign, or a comic strip, or an advertisement that draws on
knowledge of the ancient world, bring it in! In all other aspects of this
course, you are competing only against yourself. But here your
contributions will be gauged against those of your classmates, so go get 'em!
We can talk about putting each individual in charge of presenting
something to the class every week, too - "this day in
antiquity", "weather forecast in Latin," "famous
Romans in film," "etymology corner," etc. We can also have
projects: making Roman board games, wax tablets, etc.
And...Participate! This is a
sure-fire way to become intimately involved with the material. Ask
questions, offer answers, engage, engage, engage! Ideas always stick
better if you jump into the fray.
Classroom Policies
student
conduct: All
students will naturally be expected to comport themselves according to the
guidelines established in the university's Student
Code of Conduct. Please familiarize yourself with this document.
In addition to these general
principles, I have certain expectations of student behavior that I have
lovingly honed over the course of the years, and I hope that adherence to
some simple rules will make our class time enjoyable and profitable for all.
Let common courtesy be your guide and your goal.
Most
important is our sense of community. Join us! Mutual respect is the sine
qua non of this course (that means "something we can't do
without" in Latin!). My students must feel comfortable voicing their
opinions, asking questions, or expressing anxiety or pleasure concerning
course demands.
tardiness: Please arrive on time and
do not leave in the middle of class unless it is absolutely necessary. I
much prefer that you arrive late rather than not at all (see late
policy), but if you must
enter the class after it has begun, please respect the class and settle
in as quickly and as quietly as possible. If you need to leave early,
please let me know ahead of time and try to sit near the door.
eating/drinking: Feel free to bring a drink
to class, but please - NO food or gum. If you don't know why I have
this rule, I will teach a class chewing gum or munching on a sandwich, and
then it will become clear.
Since we meet during the lunch hour, please try to grab something to eat
before hand so you will be alert (I approve of sugar and caffeine highs for
adults unless it gets out of hand).
Commitment
and Personal Teaching Philosophy
I pledge my attention, time, effort and expertise to you as you
learn your paradigms, memorize your vocabulary, grasp the syntactical
workings of the language, start thinking and reading in Latin. I expect you to exert an
equivalent effort. This is a demanding 4-credit course. Expect to spend a
minimum of ten hours a week preparing in addition to the time we will spend
together in class. I have spread the assignments out over as much time as
possible, given our MTWR schedule. I have programmed into our syllabus a
variety of ways you can buttress your grade. Take advantage of your
resources (that would be me)! I make myself very available to students, but you
have to bring your questions and concerns to me, either in person or
electronically.
My job is to support students, not to indulge them.
If you have too much on your plate (including too many courses, or a heavy
work schedule, or any reason for missing class on a regular or semi-regular
basis), you are setting yourself
up to fail. Please help me to help you get the most possible out of the
course. Put forth your best effort.
Your job is to
learn the material, conquer the frontier, climb the mountain. My job is to
run ahead of the pack a little bit - to remove as many obstacles from your
path as possible, to offer resources that will help, to guide you on your
way. You do your job, and I'll do mine. In the end, we'll both feel a
wondrous sense of accomplishment.
Out-of-Class
Experiences
Let's consider
starting a local ISU chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, the national classics
fraternity! Click here for more info.
Academic
Integrity
I expect that everyone in this class will do his or her own work, inside
and outside of class. It is OK to collaborate with others to gain mastery of
the material. It is not OK to be so dependent on a classmate or other
knowledgeable soul that the work you hand in is not a product of your own
effort and understanding. Academic dishonesty covers a lot
of ground: cheating, computer dishonesty plagiarism, grade falsification,
and collusion are all defined in the Undergraduate Catalog handbook, page 57
(or in the on-line
Student Code of Conduct, under General Regulations, section B), and more
information is available at the Dispute
Resolution Services Website. I do not expect any of my students to be
dishonest, but it is only fair for me to tell you right up front that I will
respond to deliberate acts of academic dishonesty appropriately. Professors
are required to report suspected cheating. Please don't put me in that
position.
Presenting as your own work
that you did not produce is dishonest. It
also works against you: if you let someone else do your work for you, you
will not benefit from the learning process. Once this becomes apparent (it
is also only fair to tell you that your professors aren't stupid) the short
term damage is that you will suffer an academic penalty - failure of a
course, suspension from the university, or worse. But much more significant is the damage you do
to your own sense of what you are able to accomplish, and the value you put
on your own self worth. If
you are not sure whether outside assistance for a particular assignment
constitutes academic dishonesty, ask!
Special
considerations
If you
need a special accommodation
to fully participate in this class, please
talk to me about it privately as soon as possible. You may also contact the
Office of Disability
Concerns
directly at (309)438-5853 (Voice) or (309)438-8620 (TTY/TDD).
copyright
2001 Janice
Siegel,
All Rights Reserved
send comments to: Janice Siegel (jfsiege@ilstu.edu)
date this page was edited last:
06/29/2005
the URL
of this page:
|
