From My SA:
While most local students are taking final exams in classrooms this week, one Latin teacher arranged for the San Antonio Museum of Art as a testing site.
The museum has an extensive collection of Greek and Roman art, classical pieces from between 300 B.C. and 400 A.D., so Saint Mary’s Hall teacher Ned Tuck figured he’d have students interpret and translate Latin inscriptions right off the exhibits.
Most of the museum’s student visitors — some 10,000 of them a year in grades K-12 — simply spectate. But Tuck’s idea is exactly what civic leaders envisioned when they set a goal in the SA2020 plan to improve local education by using “the city as a classroom.”
In this case, the lesson was that Latin isn’t a dead language.
“I get so frustrated when people say that,” said Sydney Kranzmann, a junior, 16, who took the exam Tuesday evening. “All the romance languages come from Latin, I tell my classmates taking Spanish and French. And it helps on the SAT exam with better understanding English vocabulary.”
Latin, spread by the Romans to become the language of literate medieval Europe, was still used in Catholic liturgy and taught in schools up until the 1960s. It declined as a school subject but has had resurgences of popularity, most recently among students looking to improve SAT scores, distinguish themselves among peers studying mainstream languages or, as some of Tuck’s students said, to satisfy curiosity over words used in Harry Potter’s spells.
In San Antonio, the learning of Latin is alive and well. For example, in Northside Independent School District, 1,175 students are taking it at four levels, starting in ninth grade, said Rosanna Perez, the NISD instructional specialist for international languages.
“Students taking Latin tend to do better in other subjects and it’s great for those who are hoping to study medicine or law,” Perez said.
Museum officials said Tuck is the only teacher they’re aware of whose final exam was conducted there, but any teacher could replicate the approach, as the museum is free on Tuesday evenings.
“I think teachers are challenged nowadays with trying to find ways to keep students engaged, so this is one way I thought I could do this,” Tuck said. “We’re lucky here to have an art collection like this that other Texas teachers don’t have access to.”
Seven of his 55 Latin students wandered the museum Tuesday, filling in answers as they debated the art, translated the words on Roman coins and tried to interpret what the artist meant to say when creating a statue of Cupid and his wife, Psyche. The marble statue, from around 117 A.D., originally adorned a villa of the emperor Hadrian.
Tuck allowed the students to collaborate on the exam’s answers, making the museum’s halls a forum, fitting for Latin students.
“It’s a fun experience because what we’re learning does come to life when we see the exhibits, even though that’s in the past,” said Katie Kneuper, 17, a junior. “And as exams normally are done individually, this allows us the real-world experience of how it is to work with others, as that is something you do when you get a job.”
- via: SAMA worthy test site for Latin students (My San Antonio)
rogueclassicism 