Rigorous Reading Comprehension

The textbook series that I use, Cambridge Latin Course, is all about reading comprehension questions. I like them, too, but quickly realized a danger in saying just "read this and answer these questions." So to beef things up a bit, I have my students provide a Latin quote from the passage to justify each answer. For example, the first few questions from Masada I, Stage 29, pages 157-158:

Three things: 1) The quote needs to be in Latin, mind you; it should not be an English translation because I'll know you know what it says if the quote lines up with the answer. 2) The habit of talking about line numbers is always good to develop. 3) The quotes should be short, not a whole paragraph or even a whole sentence; this avoids the "I know the answer is in there somewhere" stuff.

Download
Masada I Questions (.docx, 68KB)

Cartoons with Captions

In Stage 6 of the Cambridge Latin course there is a passage entitled Felix et fur. The Teacher's Manual suggests that "This is... a good story to represent as a cartoon, using sentences from the story as captions." Here I think is where I was first inspired to try this with my students; I found that the same activity also fits with other passages as well.

To help my students, I provide this document as a template:

I have found that giving them this document really helps them to complete the task well. Of course you can change it to fit your needs. It can be for homework or classwork.

I am always amused to review their work, and normally pleasantly surprised with how much thought has gone into their drawings and choice of captions. Here is an example of the same activity done on a different passage:

Download

Felix et fur Cartoons with Captions (.docx 45KB)

Comparison Matrix for Teaching Culture

A comparison matrix helps students to organize the information they have learned and to demonstrate the higher-order skills of comparing and contrasting. I was introduced to them through exposure to Robert Marzano during professional development. In my Latin classes, this has been very fruitful when covering different topics of ancient culture and comparing them to our society.

Below you can see the comparison matrix we recently used to understand the English culture reading in Stage 7 of the Cambridge Latin Course, a reading about ancient burial rituals and attitudes toward death.

Note: A template for this document was distributed school-wide after a professional development session covering the strategy. I am still trying to figure out who created it to begin with... 

You can download this document below and change whatever you want based on the needs of your class. Feel free the change to title, directions, and in the first column the "things to be compared." Make sure that your students complete the "Ah-HA! and SO WHAT!?" section: The best learning happens there.

Download

Roman Death and Burial Comparison Matrix (53k .docx)