Teaching Latin at co-op, need ideas

[Tita Gidge]

I need advice. How do you teach this when many families don't support the class and send their kids prepared?

 

I'm taking over for a friend who has struggled to teach this elementary/middle school class for a two years and is too frustrated to continue to try. I made a deal with her that I would, if she'd stay with the co-op LOL. 

 

It hasn't worked TEACHING the lesson in class because she was only allotted 30 minutes - and by the second month, kids who weren't doing the work at home were too far behind to keep up with the new lessons. They'd interrupt her already short time to ask review questions and for clarification on homework. The kids seemed interested and liked her class, but the parents weren't or didn't want to reinforce the lessons at home.

 

So she switched to REVIEWING the lesson in class, thinking that the families who want to keep up would do so - and the kids who didn't want to, or fell behind, on doing the work at home wouldn't hold back the other kids as much. They worked off of the weekly quiz and played games to review vocab, etc. She figured if nothing else the kids not doing the work at home would get vocabulary and derivatives exposure and review. But even that wasn't ideal because everyone was at a different place and she couldn't prepare a class that would apply to everyone.

 

All but one family is returning next year. The time is fixed at 30 minutes. The material is fixed (Memoria Press).  The instruction is to "keep it fun."  Class size is 10-12 kids. 2-3 don't do Latin at all outside of class. A sibling set of 4 does the work but tends to fall behind a few weeks at a time. The other 3-4 are her kids and the co-op leader's, who I know will do the work at home.

 

I have no idea how to teach her class! I've been teaching high school, and my kids work independently at home. Parent support isn't as integral to my success as it is - and will be - at the lower levels.

 

There is no perfect solution, but what is the best way to teach this class?

 

 

[Another Lynn]

I think reviewing, playing review games, pop quizzes, etc. would be the best thing, mainly because you only have 30 minutes.  If you mix older material in with fresh material during the review then the kids who don't keep up should know at least some answers, and it's still beneficial to the ones who do keep up.  Maybe if you have Dollar Store prizes or candy (if parents are okay with that) as prizes it will motivate everyone to work harder at home even if they don't have a lot of parental support.  In the end, you may just have kids who keep a seat warm, but I don't think anything you do can change that.  You can just really encourage them when they DO know an answer and hope that might encourage them to work a little harder at home.  Also, for the ones who don't do work at home, do the kids know what to do even if the parent is not initiating instruction?  Would giving the kids information about what to do at home be helpful (or maybe your friend already did that to no avail).  

[Reefgazer]

I would proceed forward with the understanding that students have the right to fail, and if they choose not to do the work outside of class, then I would be focusing my efforts and those who chose to put in study time and review the material presented in class.

[Miss Tick]

I like reefgazer's answer. I'm teaching Latin in co-op this fall for early elementary and really expecting zero work to be done outside the class, but I don't want to just review the same material every week, so I think I will just keep plugging on and expect that no-one will know any answers unless I spoon feed them. Which I will.

 

By middle school I think there would be more peer pressure to keep up. Perhaps offer flashcards in addition to their knowing what lesson to work, but after that it is really on them.

I would proceed forward with the understanding that students have the right to fail, and if they choose not to do the work outside of class, then I would be focusing my efforts and those who chose to put in study time and review the material presented in class.

 

I like this a lot, but I wonder what the age range of the students is, and if that's part of the problem?  30 minutes per week sure isn't much time.

 

In addition to reefgazer, I would add that students have the right to fail, but the failing students don't have the right to slow the rest of the class down to their level.  I would require some tangible evidence of homework to be shared with you before class starts, and everyone who has done the homework gets to participate in class and the fun interactive stuff, and everyone else can sit quietly in the back and do the homework themselves.  I would offer to help everyone who asked after class.

[shadah]

I teach German once a week. When my class time got shortened, I switched to a short presentation, games, and then notebooking. The notebooking is the way I accommodate a K-6 age range. Each child records what we did in class the best they can-from just pictures to detailed notes. I expect nothing done through the week. I learned it's not just going to happen. Half of the class has retained well. The other half catch some. They can play the games, at least.

[SoCal_Bear]

so the way I structured my Latin class for 1st-3rd and for my science class 2nd to 4th is that I did set the expectation for work to be done at home. I also structure my classes to where I give points for completed homework. Halfway done homework was not given points. I also do memory games where I structure it around teams. The winning team earns X points, 2nd place less, 3rd place minimal (3, 2, 1). All the points are tracked on a chart. Then 3 times a year I hold a student store where they can redeem their points for prizes.

The kids understood when we got to the first student store that they were not able to get as much loot as other kids who were working hard. I simply said if you would like to earn more points, you need to do your homework and practice your Latin at home. If you want X, you have to put in the time and earn it. 

I supply the store though the class supplies fee. Also the team competitions did motivate the kids because I would randomly put them together every week. So, some of the games were speed drills, where if you got it right you got the right to stay while the ones who weren't quick enough had to go to the back of the line for their team. I only let the kids stay up at the front a max of 3 times for the 3 teams I had set up. It motivated the kids to be competitive because they wanted to be able to win.

Latin actually worked out pretty well. The kids (13 of them) did decent to really well in the class. For science, I had a couple of kids that were below where the rest of the class was at keeping up. If either or them sign up this coming year for my class, I will have a conversation with the moms about my expectations and that if they are not prepared to keep up, this is not the class for them. In our co-op, it's big enough that my classes get often wait listed, so I would rather have kids that want to be there than not. Though I imagine that may be a luxury that other co-op situations don't have.

Edited June 14, 2016 by calbear

[shadah]

Part of the problem I have found is that most of the parents do not see the need for hard work in learning a foreign language. They seem to think either you are good at it or don't bother. If their kids have an "ear for language" then I should be able to "zap" them once a week and they'll be fluent before you know it. If it doesn't work then maybe it's just not their "thing".

 

The other problem I have is that the parents have their own agenda at home. We are, after all, HOMEschoolers. They don't take outside classes seriously enough to budget the time for homework.

 

I see the problem not as unmotivated kids but unmotivated parents.

[EmseB]

so the way I structured my Latin class for 1st-3rd and for my science class 2nd to 4th is that I did set the expectation for work to be done at home. I also structure my classes to where I give points for completed homework. Halfway done homework was not given points. I also do memory games where I structure it around teams. The winning team earns X points, 2nd place less, 3rd place minimal (3, 2, 1). All the points are tracked on a chart. Then 3 times a year I hold a student store where they can redeem their points for prizes.

 

The kids understood when we got to the first student store that they were not able to get as much loot as other kids who were working hard. I simply said if you would like to earn more points, you need to do your homework and practice your Latin at home. If you want X, you have to put in the time and earn it. 

 

I supply the store though the class supplies fee. Also the team competitions did motivate the kids because I would randomly put them together every week. So, some of the games were speed drills, where if you got it right you got the right to stay while the ones who weren't quick enough had to go to the back of the line for their team. I only let the kids stay up at the front a max of 3 times for the 3 teams I had set up. It motivated the kids to be competitive because they wanted to be able to win.

 

Latin actually worked out pretty well. The kids (13 of them) did decent to really well in the class. For science, I had a couple of kids that were below where the rest of the class was at keeping up. If either or them sign up this coming year for my class, I will have a conversation with the moms about my expectations and that if they are not prepared to keep up, this is not the class for them. In our co-op, it's big enough that my classes get often wait listed, so I would rather have kids that want to be there than not. Though I imagine that may be a luxury that other co-op situations don't have.

 

 

As an aside -- what kind of things did you keep in the student store, and for what ages?