Reflection, March 28, 2010

This week mostly consisted of translation and class discussion, and one day when we drew these very interesting drawings on the board of the different characters that can be found in the underworld in the Aeneid. This is a sample of what was done. I might have been the only one to notice that the word 'fames' which means hunger must be the root word of the English word famine, which I guess makes sense because during a famine, people go hungry. The drawing under 'Metus' (fear) didn't scare me until someone went up and drew teeth on it, after that THEN I started screaming. By now in the Aeneid, Aeneas has successfully made it into the Underworld, and I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens!

Reflection, March 20, 2010

I can honestly say that I felt so sick this week that I don't really remember what went on in class, I was always in the nurse's office or falling asleep due to not feeling good and feeling feverish, but I did manage to retype (or should I say update) my question and proposal for my IA as well as update my bibliography, for which I removed several of the books which I am sure I will not need. I definitely need to go to the library though, and find three more sources to meet the deadline for the next part that is due. I will do my best to get something done during study this week, and/or after school or in my spare time. I need to stop being so lazy with it but it's a boring process.

Most of the rest of what I remember about this past week is the translation in class. We have a new system for translating - in pairs. I think it works effectively apart from that one person in class has not been asked to translate out loud, maybe because they're not paired up with anyone for the 'translate in pairs' exercise. Oh well, what can be done. The Aeneid is getting more interesting and by this point, the sacrifice is in the process of happening and it shouldn't be long before Aeneas is in the Underworld. What will happen next? No one knows. Well, I will if I feel better by Monday and am able to pay good attention in class, something I will be trying my best to do.

Despite all of my negativity in this post, I actually saw this week as relatively productive and I am proud of myself for having completed everything I needed to complete despite not feeling well. I am sure this next week will be better and possibly more productive.

Reflection, March 12, 2010

Apart from the usual translation of the Aeneid, there were two other events in class this week that stood out to me as particularly important.

The first was that I went in to talk to Dr. Stewart about the IA, and he let me know that he thinks I am on the right track as far as that goes, and that I might be able to get a lot of it done before the school year ends. I feel like I can but the first thing I need to do is to get a copy from him of my question, introduction, and bibliography so that I can switch my old question with my new question, as I have changed the theme of my IA slightly but not significantly enough that the sources I have thus far aren't valid. I will be doing this within the next week as I continue to look for more sources, but I feel like I am on the right track.

The second thing this week that struck me as important was a Paper 2 about the part of the Aeneid where Aeneas finds the golden bough. I will admit that I did not know we even had the paper 2 until the second I walked into class, therefore I had not studied and was quite unprepared. I was able to answer most of the questions with a significant amount of detail but at the same time, it would have done me some good to study as well. I am lucky that I understand Latin well enough that I can read between the lines and draw my own conclusions but I should have been paying better attention in class in the days before this so that I would have known what was coming up so I could study. We have not yet received our grades back for this assignment.

Overall, it was a productive week. Next week I will work on the IA as much as I can.

Reflection, First week of March

This week consisted mainly of translating the Aeneid, and then on Friday, going to the library to do further work on the IA. The story is getting interesting so far; Aeneas has finally achieved his goal of finding the golden bough, which I was glad to see after all he has been through so far, particularly the death of Misenus, his close comrade. I was glad to see something go his way, and I am interested to see how the story will unfold from here, and what will happen to Aeneas when he gets to the Underworld, which is his destination.

As for the IA, I have decided to revise my question a bit, from focusing solely on how Cicero perceived Caesar but to how people who corresponded through letters, including Cicero, perceived Caesar in the last 5-10 years of his life and the context around it. I think that it will be easier for me to do my IA if I include the word of others besides just Cicero, but I need to limit it to a specific number of years, and I think I will try to focus on the last 5 years of Caesar's life. The next thing I should do is continue looking through the texts, starting with Cicero's letters and eventually I will look to see what Caesar was doing during these years, so I will know why people perceived him the way they did.

Latin, reflection for week of February 1, 2010

This week in class we mainly discussed Homer's Odyssey and the Underworld. I don't really understand why we are reading it if it isn't Roman literature, but someone pointed out that much of the Aeneid has been influenced by Homer's writing, so that does make some sense. I found some parts of Homer's description of the Underworld interesting, particularly descriptions of the place itself, such as that there are screams around every corner that pierce the ears, and that there is a trench filled with blood, and that ghosts and spirits of many different kinds of people, ranging from noble warriors to young women and such are all there, it seems like it was an interesting place.

I also have been thinking a lot about the IA, and decided for sure that I would like to get the majority of the work done before this school year ends, to save myself the trouble later. I do not want to spend my summer on the IA but at the same time I would like to do my best work and write an IA that will score well with the IB. I have a lot of work to do but it is manageable.

Reflection of this week, January 29, 2010

This week was mainly a discussion of midterm exams in the beginning of the week, during which we received our tests with our grades, and I was happy to see that I got a 96 on the midterm in general and would have gotten a 7 on the IB exam, which pleased me. Latin is definitely one of my better subjects.

On Wednesday I got my introduction and question typed and printed out for my IA. Once again the thing I find most difficult is not getting the information that I need, because I know exactly what source I'll be using and what my question is; but I tend to be too wordy and not 'blunt and to the point' enough, which means I run the risk of going way over the word limit. With help from Dr. Stewart I was able to cut my introduction down from 130 or so words, to about 75 words, and it sounds much better.

We also translated the Aeneid some more, and I find the story interesting thus far. I am interested in seeing exactly that Juno is going to do to Aeneas... I guess I'll have to wait and see, or go ahead and translate on my own :)

Journal Entry for the week of January 4, 2010

This week marked the transition from reading and working with Daedalus and Icarus to another story, in the form of a paper 2. After a long winter vacation, I didn't come back to school all that prepared and when I came into class I just then remembered there was a test, and I had to quickly re-read the story in Latin and my translation and recall EVERY image, symbol, etc. discussed and try and retain the information as I took the test. I did not know one of the questions that much and had to guess, and I'm pretty sure this test is not my best work, but I am hoping I at least passed.

We've been talking about Virgil and the Aeneid and to be honest I am somewhat confused. It might be because we are starting with book six, but I understand how Aeneas left Troy, but the part about the underworld is what confuses me. I know why he was there but I don't understand much else, like what happened between him arriving in the underworld and him ending up with Lavinia, the Italian princess. I am probably going to bring this up in class because if I am confused, I assume there has to be someone else who is as well, and it might benefit the class to discuss what actually happened in the underworld a bit better. In class we discussed what the underworld was like but not everything about what Aeneas did down there, and how he left.