Weekly Activities

After this Orientation week, every single week has the same kind of activities. Every week we will be reading a total different author (we only spend one week on each author), but while the authors keep changing, the weekly routine will be steady. There is no midterm and there is no final. The work flow from week to week is perfectly steady, although you may find some authors easier to read than others. Also, the amount of reading does gradually increase over the course of the semester (you can take a look at the readings now to get a sense of how much more progress you are going to make!).

Even though it may feel a little weird taking this course online without ever coming to a classroom, you will have a kind of weekly "routine", just like you do when you have a class that meets in a classroom. I hope this will help you in getting used to being an online student.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You can expect to spend approximately 6-8 hours each week doing work for the course. Please do not take this course unless you can find time in your schedule each week to spend 6-8 hours doing the work for the course.

The schedule for the week is very flexible. Basically, it is up to you how you organize your time. This is not a self-paced course, because you have to do a certain amount of work each week, without falling behind. But it is a self-scheduled course: if you do your best work at between midnight and 3 a.m., then you should do that!  It is important that you plan time for these activities as part of your weekly schedule - even though there is not a set time when the class is scheduled, you will probably find it very helpful to set up some times when "your" Medieval Latin class meets... and you should arrive at your virtual class on time and ready to go!

Given that the activities will take between 6-8 hours each week to complete, you should probably plan to do work for the course on at least 3 different days each week. Which days you choose are up to you. Some of the week's activities have deadlines early in the week -- but you can always do that work in advance. For example, there are some assignments that must be done by Tuesday at midnight - but you can actually do those assignments on Saturday or Sunday if you want. If something is due on Tuesday, you do not have to wait until Tuesday to do it!

The description of each week's activities (below) should help you in planning a good schedule that you can stick to.

1. Background Information. You will start out with some general background information for that week's unit and then take a Blackboard quiz.
Grading: 1 point
Due: Tuesday midnight

2. Starting Assumptions. Share some of your starting assumptions and questions with the other students by posting this assignment on the Blackboard Discussion Board (you can do this before or after the Background reading; it's up to you which you prefer to do first).
Grading: 1 point
Due: Tuesday midnight

3. Vocabulary Preparation. Each week there will be a Blackboard Quiz on 40 Latin words (the words are not taken from the reading, but are based on Medieval Latin Word Frequency).
Grading: 4 points
Due: Tuesday midnight

4. Etymology Assignment. Each week you will do a little research into some English words that have Latin roots (the Latin roots are words found in the week's reading assignment). This assignment will be posted on the Blackboard Discussion Board, where you can look at the words researched by other students as well.
Grading: 1 point
Due: Tuesday midnight

5. Grammar Preparation. Each week you will have a specific Grammar Topic to review, followed by an online quiz. The grammar provides an overview of all the basics of Latin grammar, reviewing material you studied in first-year Latin.
Grading: 3 points
Due: Wednesday midnight

6. Reading Assignments. Each week you will have assigned Latin readings, with notes to help you along. After you finish the readings, there is a True-False quiz in English and a Verum-Falsum quiz in Latin which you will take at the Blackboard website.
Grading: 6 points
Due: Thursday midnight

7. DRAFT of Composition. It is essential that you do a first draft of your Latin composition assignment and turn it in by Friday midnight. It will be returned to you on Saturday so that you can make corrections (if you turn it in before Friday, it will be returned to you the next day).
Grading: 1 point
Due: Friday midnight

8. Discussion Questions. After you have finished the week's reading, you can answer the Discussion Questions. You will answer three of the questions, posting your answers on the Blackboard Discussion Board and sending a copy of your answers to the instructor via email.
Grading: 6 points
Due: Friday midnight

9. Latin Composition. You will revise the draft of your Latin composition and turn in a final version to the instructor via email. (This assignment will not be accepted unless you turned in a first draft.)
Grading: 5 points
Due: Monday midnight

10. Discussion Board Replies. Please comment and reply to two of the other students' discussion answers on the Discussion Board.
Grading: 2 points
Due: Monday midnight