How do you learn a language which is no longer spoken? Answer: images, animated text, and the activities that result from the two combined.
My students travel from a variety of inner-city environments, some as much as 2 1/2 hours one way, to a school located in one of the most violent and impoverished neighborhoods of the city.
The majority of the students are from first or second generation immigrant families and nearly 60% of them receive government subsidies for school lunch. Less than half are Caucasian and affluent.
While their reasons for choosing our school are varied and complex, a common one is so that they can take advantage of the rigorous and high quality education that cannot be found in the schools located closest to where they live. They wear uniforms, take a heavy load of classes and in return receive an education that enables them to think, speak, read, and write with the sort of fluency needed for admittance to the nation's best colleges and universities. 100% of our first graduating class last year earned a high school diploma and went off to study at colleges throughout the US. We are public school.
My Project
For the Latin teacher, the onus of providing comprehensible linguistic input is a constant struggle, largely because there is not a substantive body of speakers or resources from which to draw. As such, tapping into the vibrancy of Latin entails taking advantage of text animation technologies available through PowerPoint. Having the ability to gradually introduce clauses one at a time makes understanding the complexity of a long paragraph far more digestible than showing a paragraph as a large chunk. Tapping into the vibrancy of a dead language entails evoking the power of images whether through artifacts, artwork, places, or people. Seeing the intricacy of color in Roman glasswork or viewing the layout of a battle field in large scale is far more effective than the flatness of a small scale image in a textbook or on a handout. Without digital projection, these approaches to providing input are severely limited if not near impossible.
Digital projection can be used to focus student attention, conduct interactive games, and in countless other ways.
There are nearly 4 gigabytes of material on my hard drive that use projection. I was able to use them until the SmartBoard broke down and administration told me that if I wanted projection I would have to buy a projector out of my own pocket. I submit this proposal with hopes that I can once again engage my students in ways where their learning will be maximized.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Whitchurch and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.