La. Admin. Code tit. 28 § CVII-101

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section CVII-101 - Definitions

A. Assessment. Assessment is the process of obtaining quantitative or qualitative information about the academic status of students or schools. Assessment is a part of instruction and is used in conjunction with other information to make educational decisions, to judge instructional effectiveness, curricular adequacy, or to form policy.

B. Authentic Materials. For students and teachers of classical languages, authentic materials are the products of the ancient world. For students of Latin and Greek, unadapted literature is the most important authentic material. All the remains of the classical world contribute to our knowledge of their practices, their perspectives, their culture: literature, non-literary records, artifacts, art, architecture, and all the things that archaeologists unearth.

C. Beginning/Developing/Expanding and Extending. Elementary students, if Latin or Greek is taught continuously from the early grades, may be expected to demonstrate beginning benchmarks by grade 6 or 8 (perhaps even by grade 4 if they begin a well coordinated program in kindergarten). Middle school students who study Latin or Greek every day in grades 7 and 8 should demonstrate beginning benchmarks by the end of grade 8. High school students should demonstrate beginning status by the end of their Level I course, intermediate status by the end of a Level III course, and advanced status by the end of a Level V or Advanced Placement Course. Such designations as Level I, II, and III place learning in a time frame that standards of excellence seek to avoid. In the scheme presented here, the progress of students in terms of standards of excellence or proficiency is the factor to be measured, not time.

D. Benchmark. A benchmark gives a quick picture of what a student who has mastered a standard knows and can do in a specific situation. Under each standard are benchmarks for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students. The benchmarks are neither prescriptive nor exhaustive. Intermediate and advanced students are expected to exhibit the benchmarks of the lower levels as well as the benchmarks of their own level.

E. Culturally Authentic. The most culturally authentic materials are those the Romans used, read, saw, and touched. Because these materials are rare or inaccessible to most students, it is necessary to create materials that approximate what was known in the ancient world, e.g., a story in Latin about a Roman child's day in school. Although comprehension of an unadapted text is the ultimate goal, that is not often attainable by a beginning seventh grader. If the emphasis in created materials is culturally authentic, students learn culture at the same time that they are learning language.

F. Curriculum. This state framework provides a curricular and programmatic context. District curricula further define course content in a coordinated sequence. A course curriculum is a teacher's outline for a specific course of study. Lesson plans translate curriculum into meaningful and creative activities for the individual classroom. The standards are meant as a guide to curriculum development, not a substitute for it. Curricula vary according to teaching style, learning style, the teacher's philosophy of teaching and learning, students' ability, textbooks used, and available resources. Curricula designed to achieve the standards should vary in many ways: in specific lesson plans, in types of drill, and in choice of authors and literary works.

G. Literature. Greek and Latin literature ranges at least from the eighth century B.C. through the classical periods of Greece and Rome, the Byzantine and Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and even into the present age. Epic, lyric, tragic and comic drama, satire, history, biography, oratory, philosophy, scientific, agricultural, and medical treatises, even the novel are among the genres read by students of Latin and Greek. This wealth of literature provides a broad base for choosing authors or genre. In addition, nonliterary Latin and Greek provide a storehouse of authentic material to read: graffiti, inscriptions, coins, curse tablets. Caesar, Cicero, and Vergil have long been standard fare for high school students; they continue to be important models. However, the wealth of non-traditional authors and non-literary sources should not be ignored. Louisiana Classical Language Content Standards does not mandate the study of any particular set of authors but is intended to guide students toward a mastery of the language that will enable them, at the most advanced level, to read any author of Latin or Greek.

H. Oral Latin or Greek. The oral use of Latin or Greek includes reading or reciting Latin or Greek texts aloud (with proper attention to metrical structure, if the passage is poetry), asking and responding to questions, making statements, issuing and responding to commands. The word "speak," a more natural substitute for "use orally," has been avoided in order not to imply that "conversation" is an important part of the standard.

I. Perspectives. Perspectives are the meanings, attitudes, values, and ideas of a given culture, ancient or modern.

J. Proficiency. Proficiency is having or manifesting the knowledge and experience needed for success in language learning.

K. Reading. Reading includes all of the following: reading aloud, paraphrasing content, analyzing grammar and syntax, interpreting meaning, and translating. All of these skills cannot be demonstrated simultaneously, and good pedagogy would elicit practice and assessment of the separate skills for different and specific purposes. Reading that employs all methods needed for an accurate interpretation of the original text is, in the broadest sense, philology.

L. Scenario. A scenario is a picture in words of student performance in a classroom situation. It is a fully developed segment of curriculum, is articulated in a lesson plan, has activities, and uses specific linguistic and pedagogical strategies. The scenarios in Louisiana Classical Language Content Standards list the standards addressed and the reflections of the teacher on the lesson.

M. Standard. A standard describes what students should know and be able to do. Each strand in Louisiana Classical Language Content Standards contains two content standards.

N. Strand. The standards are organized within five strands that make up classical language education: communication, culture, connections, comparisons, and communities. These are the strands established in Louisiana Classical Languages Content Standards. Each strand is interrelated and must be woven into the fabric of curriculum development at the state, district, and local levels.

O. Translation. Translations are versions of a text in another language. They can range from close adherence to the original syntax to a free interpretation of content. Translations can be a teaching device to measure comprehension; they can also be high art, demanding an expert command of English and Latin.

P. Writing. Louisiana Classical Languages Content Standards uses writing to mean any of the following: taking dictation, translating from English into Latin or Greek, transforming Latin or Greek into different patterns of Latin or Greek while maintaining the meaning, creating free composition in Latin or Greek. The primary aim of such written work is to enhance the ability of students to read the languages.

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § CVII-101

Promulgated by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, LR 31:1517 (July 2005).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 17:6.