Attendance and Participation | Daily Quizzes | Translations | Compositions | Final Translation and Composition | Revisions | Semester Grade
You must attend each class and actively engage with the material being taught (i.e., no distractions via cell phones or Facebook, no disruption of the class by having personal conversations, etc.). Participation is not optional; if you do not volunteer, I will call on you. Latin is a challenging language and requires engagement both inside and outside of the classroom; in addition to being an active participant in class, you are also expected to spend time outside of class reviewing your grammatical and syntactic concepts and practicing translation. Attendance will be tracked via the daily quizzes.
There will be thirty-six (36) short quizzes, each weighted at 0.5%, on each day of the semester beginning on Wednesday, September 11 (the first day after the add-drop period ends). The quizzes will consist of very quick grammar, identification, and translation questions. Each quiz will be designed to take no more than two or three minutes. Quizzes will be administered at the beginning of each class, and quizzable material will be the topics from the previous class period.
NOTE: If you miss a quiz due to an excused absence, you are eligible to take a make-up quiz. If your absence is unexcused, you will receive a 0% for that day’s quiz.
NOTE FOR THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES: I will not accept late submissions unless I have explicitly given you an extension for the assignment in question. Any assignment submitted late without permission will receive a grade of 0%. If you feel that it will be difficult to meet any deadline throughout the semester, please contact me so we can work something out!
Every two weeks, you will be asked to translate a passage from Latin into English and answer grammatical and syntactic questions about it. Each translation and the answers to its accompanying questions will account for 5% of your semester grade. You will receive each assignment with ample time to work on it throughout the two-week period. Translation due dates are 9/11, 9/23, 10/7, 10/28, 11/11, and 12/2.
Every two weeks, you will be asked to compose a short passage in Latin using prompts and vocabulary that will be provided on an instruction sheet. These compositions will test your mastery of the grammatical and syntactic rules that we’re learning in class. Each composition will account for 5% of your semester grade. I will be looking for adherence to the instructions and earnest attempts at composition, rather than a perfect paragraph of Latin. We will also set aside class time and extra sessions to workshop your compositions. Composition due dates are 9/13, 9/27, 10/11, 11/1, 11/15, and 12/6.
The final assignments for the semester will be cumulative translation and composition assignments. As opposed to the 12 translations and compositions which target the grammar and vocabulary of two-week spans, these final assignments will span what you’ve learned the entire semester. The submission of both is due on Tuesday, December 17, at 5pm. I will grade and return them by Wednesday night, and if you decide to complete a revision of each or both (see below), the revision(s) will be due on Friday, December 20, at 5pm.
You have an opportunity on every translation and composition assignment (including the final ones) to submit a revision according to my corrections and observations for the chance at a higher grade. If the grade on the revision is higher than the original grade, I will average the two together, and that will stand as your grade for that assignment. If the grade on the revision is lower than the original, the original grade will stand as your grade for that assignment. If you opt not to complete a revision, your original grade will stand. If you decide to complete a revision, it will be due a week after the original due date (see the detailed schedule for specific dates), except for the final translation and composition assignments, on which see above.
The final grade will be calculated as a percentage out of 100; then, it will be converted to a letter grade according to the following scheme:
A = 96-100%; A- = 90-95%
B+ = 87-89%; B = 84-86%; B- = 80-83%
C+ = 77-79%; C = 74-76%; C- = 70-73%
D+ = 67-69%; D = 65-66%
F = 0-64%
Grades ending in .45 or greater will be rounded up to the nearest whole number; grades ending in .44 or less will be rounded down to the nearest whole number.
