‘So, now teach this!’: designing a curriculum for a set text Eleanor OKell

Teaching Experience Language Teaching: Intermediate Latin Texts Latin 1 (Texts and Language) Greek Texts 1: Lysias Greek Texts 4: Homer  

Constructive Alignment - John Biggs (1999) The underpinning concept behind the current requirements for programme specification, declarations of Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) and assessment criteria, and the use of criterion based assessment. Define the learning outcomes. Select learning and teaching activities likely to enable the students to attain the outcomes. Assess the students' outcomes and grade the students learning.

Critical components to consider for constructive alignment are: The curriculum The teaching methods The assessment procedures The student-teacher relationship The institutional climate

Greek Texts 1 Semester: 1 Credits: 10 Teaching method: Classes (2 hours per week, over 10 weeks). The classes for this module are complusory, and a penalty of up to 20% will be imposed for non-attendance. Assessment: A 2-hour written examination at the end of Semester 1, containing passages for translation and comment. Objectives: To consolidate and develop further the knowledge of classical Greek required at A-Level or equivalent standard, through the detailed study of three selected prose texts. Syllabus: Lysias speeches 1, 7 and 32 in Lysias Selected Speeches, ed. C. Carey (Cambridge) Greek Texts 1

What everybody does! Lysias 1: 50 paragraphs (8 sessions, 4 weeks, at c. 7 paragraphs per session) Lysias 7: 43 paragraphs (6 sessions, 3½ weeks, at c. 7 paragraphs per session) Lysias 32: 29 paragraphs (4 sessions, 2 ½ weeks, at c. 7 paragraphs per session) 123 paragraphs / (20 sessions – (1 introduction + 1 revision)) = 123/18 = 6.8

The Objective? Cover the Content “To consolidate and develop further the knowledge of classical Greek required at A-Level or equivalent standard, through the detailed study of three selected prose texts.” “A common mistake in curriculum design is to go for coverage rather than for understanding.” (Biggs, 1999)

Look at the exam! The exam consists of 2 passages for translation and 2 out of 3 ‘gobbet’ questions for comment; to be done in 2 hours Rubric: Without translating, briefly indicate the context, and comment on the language, style and other points of interest. Pay particular attention to the section of the speech, tenses, idiomatic phrases, genitive absolutes, accusative and infinitive construction, expressions of time, social implications, and names/naming.

Speech 2001 2002 2003 2003 resit Lysias 1 27-28 comment (diagesis) 15-16 comment 25-6 comment 7-8 comment (proem) 32-34 trans (pistis) 40-41 trans 17-18 trans 19-20 trans Lysias 7 41-43 comment (pistis to epilogue) 30-32 comment 2-3 comment 20-22 trans 35-37 trans 27-8 trans Lysias 32 9-10 comment 1-2.3 comment 11-12 comment 17-18 comment 1-2 trans

Greek Texts 1: Lysias Assessment: A 2-hour written examination at the end of Semester 1, containing passages for translation and comment. Objectives: To consolidate and develop further the knowledge of classical Greek required at A-Level or equivalent standard, through the detailed study of three selected prose texts.

Greek Texts 2: Euripides IA and IT (scenes) Assessment: A 2-hour written examination at the end of Semester 2, containing passages for translation and comment. Objectives: To develop an advanced ability to read classical Greek acquired at A-Level or equivalent standard, through detailed study of a selected verse text.

Greek Texts 3 (Plato Apology and Demosthenes Against Conon) Greek Texts 4 (Homer Iliad 24) Assessment: A 3-hour written examination at the end of the semester, containing passages for translation and comment Objectives: To study Greek prose/verse texts in the original language, to enable students to translate those texts sensitively and accurately, and to appreciate their linguistic and stylistic features.

Greek Texts 1: Lysias Assessment: A 2-hour written examination at the end of Semester 1, containing passages for translation and comment. Objectives: To consolidate and develop further the knowledge of classical Greek required at A-Level or equivalent standard, through the detailed study of three selected prose texts.

Exam passage – Lysias 1.17-18

Guidance Questions Grammatical Stylistic Content-based Genre-specific Objectives: To consolidate and develop further the knowledge of classical Greek required at A-Level or equivalent standard, through the detailed study of three selected prose texts. Grammatical Stylistic Content-based Genre-specific

www.uky.edu/ArtsScience/classics/rhetoric.html

Guidance Notes for Lysias 1.15-16: How does Euphiletus characterise himself? Why is this important? Is it convincing? Who is the old woman? Why is she not produced? Why is her mistress not named? Why name Eratosthenes (and himself) for the first time through someone else’s speech? If you were Euphiletus, what would you have thought after the old woman’s revelation? What would you have done?

An Example of a Gobbet Answer

'Constructive alignment' starts with the notion that the learner constructs his or her own learning through relevant learning activities. The teacher's job is to create a learning environment that supports the learning activities appropriate to achieving the desired learning outcomes. The key is that all components in the teaching system - the curriculum and its intended outcomes, the teaching methods used, the assessment tasks - are aligned to each other. All are tuned to learning activities addressed in the desired learning outcomes. The learner finds it difficult to escape without learning appropriately. (Biggs, 2003: 1, my emphasis) http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/id477_aligning_teaching_for_constructing_learning

CONSTRUCTIVE ALIGNMENT Students construct meaning from what they do to learn. The teacher aligns the planned learning activities with the learning outcomes. Fig. adapted from Biggs (1999) 27

http://www.daimi.au.dk/~brabrand/dmlf-2007.ppt

19 minute video available to view online

Latin Texts 1 OBJECTIVES On successful completion of this module you will have demonstrated the ability to: Read and understand selections of Latin literary texts in detail in the original language; Translate them into fluent and accurate English; Interpret them in their literary, cultural and (where relevant) historical context; Appreciate and analyse linguistic and stylistic techniques employed in the composition of the texts; Analyse and criticise arguments presented in the discussion of the texts by modern scholars, by teachers and by fellow students. In addition you will have acquired or developed the following transferable skills: problem-solving; identification of key data; recall and deployment of information; analysis and evaluation of data and arguments; written communication; word-processing.