Anthony Jude Smith, University of Florida
Building an environment that works for all students led me to the “flipped classroom” model in Spring 2023 for Latin 1.[1] My flipped classroom model for Latin integrates technological engagement with the burgeoning comprehensive input Latin learning method (and some more traditional approaches) and an element of choice to encourage students to be active participants in their learning.
To manage my flipped classroom, I use pre-recorded Zoom lectures of about fifteen minutes to introduce topics. For the semester’s final unit, I used an interactive video which added mastery questions for students to check listening comprehension. Short, simple videos ensure a baseline understanding before coming to the classroom to practice the skill(s). Primarily, this increases the use of contact hours to work actively with the language. Indeed, the Roman author Quintilian recognized that “[p]recept is less important than experience in almost every field.”[2] Secondarily, students have more time to ruminate on questions and tend to ask for more pointed reviews of complicated concepts.
Because our courses are keyed to Wheelock’s Latin, I must bridge the gap between the textbook’s grammar-translation approach and something resembling comprehensive input. By moving lectures outside of contact hours, we have more unbroken time to tackle stories in Latin. The highest engagement comes from excerpts taken from Ørberg’s Lingua Latina[3] – students note how the stories are approachable and understandable, allowing for longer readings and more practice.
I have also integrated a variety of technologies like web-based games from flippity.net[4] and Lumi.[5] By matching these technological resources to more traditional Latin pedagogy, students see the ancient language as something which has a more modern footprint. It also instills fun, joy, and nostalgia as we play games like Bingo or do crosswords.
The element of choice is another critical element for my flipped classroom. A variety of assessments (online versus paper, formative versus summative) encourage students not only to approach the language in various ways but to showcase individual strengths. This allows students to become active leaders in their educational journey (rather than passive recipients of information from me as instructor). Cicero noted that “we are all attracted and drawn to a zeal for learning and knowing,”[6] and my students have shown an eagerness for Latin unmatched in previous semesters.[7]
[1] “Flipped or inverted instruction is a pedagogical method whereby the instructor provides content for the students to review prior to class [. . .] and then requires the students while they are in the classroom to engage more actively in application tasks [. . .] rather than passively listen to a lecture” (Harvey 2014, 118). See also R. Talbert, “Toward a Common Definition of ‘Flipped Learning.’”
https://www.chronicle.com/blognetwork/castingoutnines/toward-a-common-definition-of-flipped-learning.
[2] nam in omnibus fere minus valent praecepta quam experimenta (Inst. Orat. 2.5.15).
[3] Ørberg, Hans. Lingua Latina, Pars I: Familia Romana, 2nd ed. Hackett Publishing, 2011.
[5] https://app.lumi.education/
[6] omnes enim trahimur et ducimur ad cognitionis et scientiae cupiditatem (De Off. 1.6).
[7] This isn’t based on empirical evidence but a personal observation across 7 semesters.