Latin IV Honors

Latin IV Syllabus Teacher: Magister Compton Room: 229, 327 (M-Block) Email Address: bcompton@moeller.org Course Description: Latin IV is the culmination of the Latin experience and is intended as an Advanced Placement (AP) course. As such, it follows the AP curriculum as laid out by the College Board: readings of selections from Vergil’s Aeneid and Julius Caesar’s Comentarii De Bello Gallico. Both works tell us a great deal about the times in which they were written, as well as the nature of the people for whom they were written. In both instances, there is a surface story which is compelling by itself; both, however, contain a deeper subtext that shows the author’s true intentions for the work.

During the course of the year, students will learn how to scan a Latin poem and how that translates into vocalizing the text. Students will also learn about the life and times of each of these authors and how their historical environment affected their work.

Throughout the course, vocabulary and grammar from the previous three years will be strongly reinforced, while students will also be learning new vocabulary, including words peculiar to each author or that have significant or peculiar meaning in that author’s body of writing.

Grading Your grade will be mostly based on the following things: tests; quizzes; and homework.

Homework: There will typically be two at-home assignments, minimum, per chapter.

These are to be turned in the next meeting day. Once per quarter, a student may be late turning in an assignment; they may turn it in at the next meeting day for 50% credit.

Once a student has used this, they will not get credit for a missing assignment for the rest of the quarter. Homework assignments are worth 10 points each.

Quizzes: Quizzes will be given periodically based on readings that students do in class.

These will involve translation, scansion (for poetry), discussion of literary and rhetorical devices, and other points relevant to the text. Quizzes are worth 100 points each, and the score is based on the average of the points earned vs. points possible.

Example: A vocab quiz has 25 possible points. A student who earns all 25 points gets a 100 in the gradebook; a student who earns 20 points gets an 80 in the gradebook.

Projects: Before the end of the 1st semester, students will complete a project researching a particular aspect of the reign of the emperor Augustus. This assignment will be worth 300 total points and will be graded on a rubric scale of 1 to 9; this rubric value will then be turned into a grade out of 100 and multiplied by 3.

Supplies 

Laptop – as much as possible, students will be using their laptops for notetaking and activities. The text we are reading will be stored and used in OneNote, as will homework. These need to be maintained all year. Students need this in class every day.

Book/Text – when we are using a book, have it with you. Texts copied from the web will go in your OneNote notebook.

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Expectations    

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Be on time: You need to be in the room before the bell rings. If you aren’t, you need to have a note with you (late bus pass, note from a previous teacher, nurse slip) or I will mark you tardy in attendance.

Be on task: If we are taking notes, take notes. If we are doing class work, do class work. If we are having a discussion, join with us. And remember, this is Latin class – don’t be reading or doing work for another class.

Be prepared: Have your supplies for class in hand when you walk in the door.

I will not release you to get them during class.

Be ready to learn: If you come in positive and enthusiastic, you’re going to have a great class. If you come in negative and turned off, you’re going to have a bad class. Either way, your attitude is infectious. If something’s going on that can affect you having a great class or a bad class, let me know and we’ll talk about it and what’s the best thing to do.

This is OUR room: We all have a responsibility to ourselves and to each other for having a great day or a bad day. We need to help each other out to keep things going in the right direction. WE keep the room clean, WE respect when others are talking, and WE celebrate when things go right.