Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers)

How should I communicate with the teacher about this class?

Students and parents should email Mr. Spotts at MrSpotts@pottersschool.org for matters which are of a private nature.  If you have a question about how an exercise works, how to deal with a grammatical concept, or the meaning of something in your reading assignment, please make a meaningful topic in the Student Discussion Forum (for example, Chapter 5 exercise 2) and ask your question there.  That way both Mr. Spotts and other students can help you with your question and we can all learn together.

How is my daily score calculated?

I tend to be less interested in grade tabulations of every little detail in a person's work than in how the person seems to be progressing.  For each class meeting I will give the student an A, B, C, D, or F, with those grades being represented by 4, 3, 2, 1, or 0 points, just the way a grade point average would be calculated in a high school or college.

Remember that the daily scores give you a quick checkup on your overall progress.  The chapter quizzes are worth much more of your grade and have many more opportunities to earn points.

What is the parent meeting score?

Every week I will have parents turn in a score of 0-4, depending on the parents’ assessment of student work in Latin or Greek. There is no parent meeting score for vocabulary students. Parents consider the following characteristics of good student work.  Is the student working diligently at repeated reading of the chapter with understanding and expression?  Is the student completing exercises online or on paper and doing them well enough to show mastery of the concepts?  Is the student writing sentences in the target language and posting them on the Forum? Is the student interacting with other student work posted on the Forum?  Is the student memorizing paradigms and studying difficult vocabulary?  A score of 4 represents an A for the week, a 3 represents a B, a 2 represents a C, a 1 represents a D, and a 0 represents an F.  These parent assessments will be figured into the grade with an equal weight to my assessment of student in-class participation and evidence of preparation.  In general a student who is working well at home will also be able to work very well in class time.

How do the quizzes work?

Parents are to administer the chapter quizzes to students.  For the quizzes, students are to use no outside resources, including audio files, web pages, dictionaries, or their textbooks or notes.  I will take your first submission of the quizzes.  If a parent contacts me about some difficulty, such as an Internet or computer failure during the quiz, I will allow a second attempt at a quiz.  Parents may tell students to go ahead and do a second attempt in case of such an emergency, but they do need to contact me so I know what happened and which attempt to score.

When are assignments due?

All assignments for any given week are due prior to the class meeting of that week.  If a class meets on Monday at 8:00 a.m., the assignments listed for that week are due prior to the class meeting, even if the dates of the week begin on Monday. Remember that the assignments for credit consist of the parent meeting score, any quizzes or exams, and my assessment of in-class work.

How do I see the feedback on my assignments?

You can look at a grade summary using the "grades" link in the "administrative" block of the left hand column of your StudyPlace class page.  If you want to look at your attempts at any activity and see all the feedback you should go to that activity through the link in the "activities" block in the left hand column of your StudyPlace class page.  This prevents you from opening an activity again and needing to complete it rather than simply reviewing what you did.

May I re-do my exercises if I am not satisfied with my score?

Yes.  Homework exercises are practice.  They are to be used to improve skills.  You should use any resources you have to do them well.  However, if you do poorly on an exercise, do not simply re-complete it immediately in order to get a higher score.  Study the concepts and come back to the exercise after you have prepared yourself better.

What happens if I open an activity before I'm ready to do it?

StudyPlace counts it as an attempt when you open an activity.  Don't open them before you are ready to complete them from start to finish in one sitting.  If you accidentally open one and don't complete it you will end up with a zero on that attempt.  It takes a number of good attempts to average with the zero and get a good score.

What if I can't get an assignment in on time?

The only assignments I am requiring on a certain schedule are the parent meeting scores, due prior to each week’s class, and the chapter quizzes, which are administered by parents and which are all on the schedule prior to the start of the school year.  If a quiz deadline is to be extended I require the parent to request an extension.  The parent should e-mail me at MrSpotts@pottersschool.org stating the specific quiz which is to be accepted late and the date and time by which it will be completed.  Without a parental request for an extension I will not be reviewing late assignments.  They will be marked as a zero.

What if I can't get to class?

If you are ill, out of town, or have a computer or Internet failure and cannot attend or participate in class, a parent can contact me for an excused absence.  Because our class meetings are a valuable part of your learning experience I will only give three excused absences in a year.  Please try to be present and participating as much as possible.

Why are there so many quizzes?

StudyPlace calls a lot of the activities quizzes.  Regardless of what the activities are called, the ones counted as quizzes are the ones at the end of each chapter.  The other activities are homework activities provided for student improvement.  Most of the activities in StudyPlace are not counted toward your grade.  Your parents' weekly report of your progress counts for 20% of your grade, your in-class work counts for 20% of your grade, and the other 60% is made of the chapter quizzes.  Use the class practice and homework to master material and really do a super job on the chapter quizzes.

Does spelling count?

Correct spelling and other mechanics count in all our written work.  God is a God of order, not of chaos.  Attention to detail is one of the ways we reflect the nature of God.

What foreign language background is necessary for a beginning level Latin or Greek class?

Our beginning level classes start assuming no foreign language background. We do, however, anticipate that students will have a good knowledge of the rudiments of English grammar. Upon receipt of a registration request I will send a placement evaluation which will make sure students have adequate understanding of the parts of speech and basic English usage.

My child completed Latina Christiana. Is he ready to go into an advanced level of Latin?

Unfortunately, texts such as Latina Christiana, Matin Latin, and the Latin Primer series serve basically as foreign language exposure courses. Students typically are not prepared for advanced placement, though they may find some of the information they studied makes it easier for them to learn the materials we are teaching.

How much time will this course take on a weekly basis?

I dislike answering this question because all students are different. In general, junior high students can expect to spend an hour a day outside of class to get average grades. High school students can expect to spend about an hour and a half a day outside of class to get average grades.

Why isn’t my question in the Frequently Asked Questions?

The fact is, people don’t ask me all that many questions. I make up the frequently asked questions. If you have a question, be sure to ask it.