For Parents and Tutors

Presentation from Open House

Presentation

What I Expect from Students

I expect students to be agents of their own learning.

I expect students to take control of and be responsible for their actions, their studying, and their motivation.

I expect students to reflect on their progress and to make course corrections as they go along.

I expect students to do "homework," better described as "practice," even though I do not assign specific tasks.

I expect students to be engaged and be engaging, even though engagement comes in many different forms.

How You Can Help

Students should be spending an hour or two, per week, on Latin-related review, studying, and practice. This time can be divided however is most convenient (as I realize students lead very busy lives), but would recommend shorter, more frequent sessions over fewer, longer ones. For example, 15 minutes of focused work a day, with a couple days off here and there, is a perfect starting point.

Students reflect upon their learning periodically throughout the year, which should help them understand what material they need to work on and how best to do so. I do not assign traditional homework, but put my faith in students' self reliance and determination to do the kind of practice that is best for them. If a student's grades are lagging, upping the amount of study time (and what is being studied) is a usual place to start. This can vary greatly, from traditional study methods (like making flashcards) to online tools (a website called magistrula.com has many kinds of practice for grammar) to watching Youtube clips to reading and translating Latin at home. Most of the online tools I have found useful are available on this Start.Me page.

I would encourage parents to check in with their children to make sure they are studying and practicing in some way, and have the students show you their evidence, which they should keep through notes, screenshots, or other methods. Talk with them about interesting concepts or new things they've learned. The idea is for students to be intrinsically motivated to do well; I have done traditional homework in the past and found many students just copied notes or didn't put in effort, defeating the entire purpose. Help your child to be an advocate for their own learning.

The Information Available to You

The majority of my assessments are done through a platform called Schoology. When a class of students completes a quiz, I then grade them on the platform and enter the grades into ASPEN, the student information service. (Contact tech@egsd.net if you do not have access to this; each family should.) Though grades can be viewable by students on Schoology, I may modify, scale, or change them before entering them on ASPEN, so only ASPEN grades should be considered "official." I usually get grades entered from a quiz within a few days, and almost certainly within a week, unless it is a big project (like Common Tasks). I recommend students and parents alike keep a close watch on ASPEN to see if there are trends in grades, especially within categories (i.e. perhaps vocabulary quizzes are excellent but grammar quizzes are not. This means studying should be tailored to fix the grammar comprehension.)

I think the grades tend to speak for themselves (and note that there is no category for behavior or effort - grades reflect comprehension of discreet skills or knowledge), but I do contact parents by email in certain situations like severe behavior problems, observed cheating, or very low grades (C- or lower) at mid-quarter or quarter marking periods.

I tend to use a lot of automation, so do not be alarmed if you see a boilerplate email from me. When kids update their reflections every few weeks, parents are also automatically forwarded that information (emails go to the "First contact" listed in ASPEN). This website shares much of the information necessary for students and parents, with calendars for upcoming assignments, a curriculum map, and daily happenings in class. Just click on the level of Latin that your child is in.

Getting in Touch

The best way to contact me is email at brevkin@egsd.net. Depending on when I have time off during the day, I often respond fairly quickly. Note that I do not answer emails after 2:45 or before 7:45. I use a service called Remind, that students can voluntarily sign up for, to text any "emergency" information to them (like if I forgot to remind about a quiz the next day), though it is rare. The service anonymizes telephone numbers so I cannot see students' and they cannot see mine. For the most part, any information that students or parents will need is on this website or ASPEN.