Reflection and Inquiry

Reflection and inquiry are not just key components of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years, Middle Years, and Diploma Programmes, they are foundational to good education.  This year I started a project in both our Latin I (Latin 1/2) and Latin II (Latin 3/4) classes.  The Latin II students made presentations today, and to say that I was pleased with the results is the understatement of the year.  I could hardly wait to take pictures, upload them, and write this blog post.  What they did with this project exceeded my expectations and has convinced me to continue it in the years to come.

The students were instructed to keep a section of their notebooks titled QHN/QNC, abbreviations that stand for quod hodie noscebam (what I learned today) and quod noscere cupio (what I want to learn).  At the end of each class period, they had to jot down either a QHN or a QNC.  If there was something really interesting, intriguing, or meaningful to them that they learned that day, they would write a QHN.  If something we discussed in class inspired a question, they would write a QNC.

The project required that they produce a poster from one of two options. In option A, they could present ten QHNs.  Each QHN needed to be illustrated and be accompanied by a statement about why it was chosen.  In option B, they could present one QNC.  It needed to be a significant question and had to be accompanied by illustrations, an explanation of what inspired it, and the answer that had been discovered through independent research.

I was blown away by the presentations today for three reasons.  First, the posters looked very good.  I had told the students that these would be displayed in our hallway, and since the posters were representing them...what they had learned or what they wanted to know...they needed to be neat and attractive.  They certainly scored well there!

Second, I was impressed with the variety.  Students who presented ten QHNs offered incredibly different things.  Some focused more on important grammar or vocabulary they had learned or reviewed.  Others reflected on history, culture, or mythology.  Those who pursued QNCs went after an amazing array of topics, from exploring what the Romans ate for breakfast and why they enjoyed the violence of gladiator shows to understanding more deeply the role of the senate during the Republic.

Finally, I was simply stunned with the genuine interest and enthusiasm these students displayed in their presentations.  They did not merely read from their posters, but with great energy talked about what they had written or researched.  Their body language and facial expressions were dead giveaways of their interest, no doubt kindled because they had considerable choice in what they were presenting.

Brilliance in Latin II, III, and V

Today we were working on some review of verb forms in the Latin 3/4, or second-year Latin class.  The depth and brilliance of the questions and comments were truly striking.  For example, after reviewing the difference between the forms of sum when used alone or in conjunction with the perfect passive participle, one student observed that we do not need to talk about voice in the simple uses of sum and then went on to think aloud and come to a conclusion why that was.

In response to our discussion of so-called defective verbs that lack a fourth principal part, another student quickly observed that this meant they could have no passive voice, at least in the perfect system.

In the Latin V (or Latin 9/10) class, which is reading Ovid's Metamorphoses, the discussion of how and to what extent Ovid may have used the Latin passive voice in imitation of the Greek middle voice was outstanding.  Students quickly realized the philological analysis that would be necessary to make a significant conclusion about his usage, and one student asked questions about the composition of the Metamorphoses in relationship to his time of exile and whether or not his encounters with primarily Greek-speaking people would have influenced his style.  This was on top of their deep engagement and genuine enjoyment of the Actaeon story in Book II.

In the final period of the day, which is our Latin III (or Latin 5/6) class, we began Cicero's In Catilinam I.  The first few lines are so rich in rhetorical style that we were flying fast and furiously through anaphoras, tricola, and hendiadys, but the students managed not only to keep up, but to ask significant questions about whether Catiline would have been required to sit through the whole speech and to what extent the senators would have known the details of his conspiracy before Cicero's speech.

Hey, it was just another day with the extraordinary Latin students of North Central High School!