For Students and Learners

Expectations: The Short Version

Come to class ready to learn. Be respectful of yourself and others by being on time, having the materials you need, and listening and following instructions. Make good use of your study time by thinking and reflecting on your learning and asking for help when you need it. Engage with the material (i.e. write things down, talk things out, ask questions, make mistakes and learn from them.)

Violations of guidelines and expectations escalate from a verbal warning to contact with parents and/or detentions, and ultimately get handled by disciplinary referral to the administration.

Things to bring to class: a dedicated place to write things (notebook, binder w/ paper, etc), things to write with (pens/pencils), a charged school-issued Chromebook, a dedicated folder to put papers.

When you arrive to class, you should get started on the Warmup, which is always shown on the TV in the front of the room.

If you are absent, you are responsible for making up missed work. If you miss an assessment, expect to make it up the day you return, unless there are specific issues you've discussed with me ahead of time. If you know you will be out of class ahead of time, let me know. 

Turn things in on time. Often tasks will have a due date and a drop dead date, meaning there is a little buffer of time. Things can't be submitted after the drop dead date. Frequent disengagement from learning will result in low engagement scores and parental contact.

Don't pack up early. It is disrespectful.

Learning Strategies

I have compiled a list of study strategies and tips here. I hope these are helpful to you. These cover many different modes of studying and include links to podcasts and novellas for extended exposure to language.

Distractions

Distractions come in many forms. Some are unavoidable (like loud noises outside), while others are manageable. Some of the most common distractions in a typical class are improper technology use (i.e. cell phone or Chromebook use) and socializing. To the degree that we are able, we try to limit these distractions that are under our control. Cell phones, unless explicitly written into an education plan, are not allowed in the classroom or school. They are expected to be off or in airplane mode and in your backpack during class time. If one is out, the office will be informed and it will be taken. Repeat offenders will be subject to parent communication and administrative action. Likewise, Chromebook use should be limited to educational activities. Excessive use of noneducational websites, apps, or other activities will also result in parent communication and administrative action.

How to Study

Study smarter, not harder. Be reflective about what kinds of things you do to study. For example, do you write out flashcards for vocabulary? Do you get good grades on vocabulary quizzes? If yes, then flashcards work for you. If no, then think of a different way to approach the content. Perhaps writing derivatives out or using an online flashcard generator like Quizlet would work better. Don't use strategies that don't work for you. In most classes, and in learning a new language in particular, it is much better to study a little every day than to try to cram for a quiz. Set aside 15 minutes of non-distracted time to review and rewrite your notes, write flashcards, do practice exercises, watch video tutorials, or whatever other methods work for you. Your homework is tailored to your needs, so instead of spending an hour doing something that doesn't work well, spend 15 minutes with something that does. You will discover what strategies work best over time and through reflection. Every learner is different.

Note-taking during class is important. Whether you do it with pen and paper or on a Chromebook is up to you, but the most important thing is to be consistent and organized. Some people like a hybrid approach, where notes are taken by hand in class, then transferred to a digital format at home for easier organization. We will explore various ways to take notes throughout the year. It is good to try different techniques until you find one that works for you.

When to Seek Help

The best time to seek help is before you need it. In other words, don't wait until a quiz for which you are completely unprepared. If, at the end of a class, you walk away with lots of questions or confusion, that's when to ask for help. (Or raise your hand during class to ask for clarification.) Your first line of defense should be to ask your classmates; sometimes they pick up on something that was said, or have a different way of explaining a concept. If that doesn't work, try looking through your notes to see if you can reorder and make sense of them. Watch some video tutorials about a subject, or do some practice with a grammar concept. If you've tried all these approaches and you are still confused, then schedule a time to talk with the teacher. Don't be embarrassed by asking; it's how you will get better. Don't be discouraged. Different topics click for different people at different times. Slow and steady wins the race.

Why It Doesn't Pay to Cheat

Think about the point of school. Is it to get good grades? While many may think so, consider that grades are just a measurement, not an actual goal. When you go on a road trip or an errand, the goal is the destination, not the speed you go (whether it's 30 or 60 mph just tells you how fast you're getting there). The real point of school is to learn things, hopefully stuff that really interests and motivates you. If you've ever watched a Youtube video to learn how to do something, that's an example of a thing you learned purely for the sake of learning (a.k.a. "intrinsic learning"). There was no grade attached to watching the video; your desire to learn something was enough to make you do so.

I realize that most students probably do not have that same passion for every subject they take in school. That's OK, since people are interested in different things. But, as a student, your job, whether you like it or not, is to learn. And to do so, you must put in the mental energy to memorize, synthesize, and apply information. If you bypass that step - if you don't apply mental energy to learning - then you won't learn anything.

That's what cheating is. It's bypassing the actual learning to try to get a good grade. But remember, the grade isn't really the goal. In the car analogy, it's like revving the engine in neutral. The engine is going very fast, and it seems like stuff is happening, but you aren't traveling anywhere. It's empty calories. It's wasted effort.

In a grade-driven world, it is very tempting to cheat. I have seen struggling students and excellent students cheat. I have seen students cheat who have nothing to lose, and everything to lose. It is an easy thing to do in many cases. You may have heard other teachers, parents, or other members of the community say cheating is "wrong" or "immoral." This is true, but more importantly, it is a disservice to learning, and it always comes back to bite you, whether you are caught or not.

This includes how you use AI. It's very tempting to ask an AI engine to do your work for you, but it should never be replacing your brain's ability to do the work itself. Good uses of AI are to help you organize your thoughts, not replace them. Students may use AI as a tool to support their original work, such as for brainstorming, outlining, and editing. However, it should never be used as a substitute for a student's own work. Submitting AI-generated content as your own or using it during tests is considered academic dishonesty and will result in the same consequences outlined in the Student Code of Conduct.

Consider the fact that learning builds on itself. Once you learn x, you can then do y. However, if you've cheated to make it look like you understand x (when you really don't), then when it comes to learning y, you are on very shaky ground. If it continues, it snowballs into panic and despair when you realize you know very little and don't even know where to begin to fix it.

This is why I consider cheating one of the worst things a student can do. Not only does it destroy the trust I have with a student, but it crumbles the foundation of learning and makes any new learning very difficult, if not impossible.

I have tried to make my class the least threatening as possible. If students' main reason for cheating is getting good grades, I've removed that obstacle because I allow more opportunities to show understanding. My assessments are not "high stakes," meaning you only get one shot and your entire grade is based on it. Rather, if the first attempt does not show adequate understanding, students have more chances to show they get it. My goal is for students to understand the material they are taught, so whether you get the "A" on the first try or the 3rd doesn't really matter. Next time you think of taking a shortcut, consider the negative effects.

What is Cheating, Exactly?

So I just spent a lot of time talking about why cheating gets you nowhere. But what exactly is it? What kinds of actions are considered cheating? Here's a list to get started:

• copying work/exercises/translations from anywhere (internet, books, a scrap of paper, AI, etc), anyone (including friends, AI), at any time (whether practice or an assessment)

• writing a paper or blog and copying large sections from the internet, especially when it has not been cited. This is otherwise known as plagiarism. If you are using AI to help organize your thoughts, it should be cited.

• using Google Translate (or any translating service, including AI) to do the work you should be doing with your head

• using aids (whether digital or paper based) that were not explicitly allowed during any kind of assessment 

Those are just some things that can be considered cheating. You probably have a good sense of what cheating means from your own experiences as a student. There is a simple rule of thumb, if you are ever in doubt: Is this action a shortcut? Am I bypassing the mental energy required to understand? If the answer is YES, then you are probably cheating.

There is one type of activity that requires some further discussion, however. Collaboration.

You probably collaborate in many classes. You will be asked and encouraged to do so in my class. Whether working with friends or someone new, any activity where you share brainpower to accomplish a task is collaboration. But think back to the rule of thumb above. If you find yourself in a group, and you aren't expending any mental energy, then you are not collaborating, you are cheating.

If one group member is doing most of the work, and you are shared on the Google Doc and benefiting from that work, you are cheating.

If a group of you shares a Google Doc for taking notes, and you trade off who takes the notes for the day, you are still cheating.

Collaboration can be a really powerful tool, if done correctly. Consider the scenario above, where people take turns on a note sharing document. What if, instead, each person in the group took notes at the same time on the single document (something I call "parallel notes")? You'd notice that you now have 3 or 4 sets of eyes and ears taking in all the information, instead of one. You could compare each other's notes, discuss similarities and differences, or clarify material for each other. Each person will have expended mental energy, and amplified the knowledge that was attained. Instead of cheating, you'd have a "brain trust" that is 4 times as powerful.

The line between cheating and collaboration is very fine. You must constantly ask yourself whether the way you collaborate involves mental energy. If you are doing nothing in the group, you are most definitely not learning. One additional strategy to parallel notes is assigning jobs to each member of the group. For example, when translating a passage, one member could look up words, another could be a grammar guide, someone else could be drawing a sketch of what's happening, and so on. However, you would need to be sure to rotate those roles within the group so that everyone has a chance to do every activity, otherwise you aren't learning all the aspects of translating.

The big takeaway from all of this is that you don't get results unless you put in the effort. It's the same in sports, music, and all kinds of hobbies. Effort and practice help you to become better. Cheating deprives you of that. 

What are Friends For?

Friends support you. They comfort you when you're down. They bring laughter and joy. They provide perspective and balance. Friends make things fun. In Latin class, you may have old friends. You will probably make new friends. Together, we will make the class into a small family. Many students have said that Latin class is where they feel comfortable, where they have friends, where learning is interesting. With that sense of joy comes the responsibility to do your best, to engage with your mind, and to be curious. Do not let phones, friends, or the internet distract you from learning. Use the resources you have to become a better thinker rather than to drag you down into mental oblivion. Good friends help each other learn rather than distract each other from it.