Reflection, Week of December 14, 2009

This was an interesting week. In the beginning of the week we went to the library to type up our two sources, and a revised bibliography. I got this done that day and handed it in, even though today (Friday) was the due date. I prefer getting my work in early so I don't have to run the risk of getting lazy and procrastinating, leaving more to do in a shorter amount of time. The assignment this time was to take two of my sources, take an excerpt from it in Latin, to translate in a footnote, and then in the middle of the page, explain the significance of it. Both of my excerpts came from Cicero, mainly because my IA is dealing with the interaction between Cicero and Julius Caesar, and examining what the relationship between the two was. I've found that they were political opponents... interesting. I hope to find more information soon.

The best part of class this week was the discussion from Daedalus and Icarus about Daedalus' advice that Icarus should not fly too high or too low in the sky, because he'd either fall into the sea or the wax on his wings would melt and then, he would fall there too. A discussion came up in class about situations in life where it is best to take a middle path, meaning one that is not too extreme in either direction. An example I came up with in class was sex - too much is bad, some is better than none. I was just trying to be funny, but there is some validity to that point. An example that someone brought up that interested me was that of homework - too much of it would just clutter our lives, too little would mean that we'd become lazy and wouldn't be learning as much on our own. I agree; if I had no homework I'd get lazy and become too dependent on the teachers spoon-feeding information to me, I think homework gives me a chance to learn on my own. But too much homework would be overwhelming.

Reflection, Week of December 7, 2009

So we finally finished up with Pyramus and Thisbe (it ended with Thisbe killing herself by falling on the sword with it stabbing into her lower chest), and now we are translating another story, Daedalus and Icarus. It's not nearly as long as the other stories we've done, and I already knew the outcome of the story before we even started to translate.

Some background information on the story that I picked up in class; it took place on Crete, an island south of Greece, c. 1500 B.C., which was the height of the Minoan civilization. King Minos was the king of Crete at the time and Daedalus was a Greek inventor who had been called to Crete to build the labyrinth under the palace to lock the Minotaur away in. At this point though, Daedalus wants to escape from Crete and in order to do this, because King Minos might be able to stop him from leaving, he builds wings, one pair for himself and another for his son Icarus.

So far the story is unwinding nicely, although I already know what is going to happen; Daedalus and Icarus are going to be able to fly away but Icarus is going to fly too close to the sun, and the wax on his pair of wings is going to melt, and he'll fall into what is now known as the Icarian Sea, off the coast of Turkey. I have found that knowing the outcome of the story and what is going to happen has helped me to translate, because if I know the basic vocabulary in the story, I can more easily translate it into a coherent sentence that is consistent with my understanding of the story. I find this story interesting as well, and it's much easier to follow than Daphne and Apollo was, and it's shorter than Pyramus and Thisbe.

Reflection, week of November 31, 2009

This week we did a lot of interesting things in class, including IA preparation, in which I went to the library to gather facts and actually quote different sources that I've been using, so that I have some background information to start my IA. I revised my IA question to, What is the relationship between Julius Caesar and Cicero and what were their attitudes toward one another? I will find information regarding this and the context behind it, and I've already started to find information. The difficulty is in correctly quoting my sources, as the Latin texts are, from my perspective at least, oddly numbered.

Also we did a Paper 2, on which I am confident I did well. I thought it was relatively easy but it was good because it gave me a taste of what the IB Paper 2 will be like. It involved translating and then answering questions based on the Latin text, which I was able to quote specific phrases and words that helped me answer the questions.

Overall I am confident in my performance in class this week and I felt like as a whole the class got a lot done, in translating Pyramus and Thisbe as well. We are almost done.