TOday in Latin, I gave a Porta.
What’s a “Porta”? I hear you ask.
Well, it’s the Latin word for ‘gate’.
Before Thanksgiving break, I told my students they would need to memorize the endings for 1st, 2nd and 3rd declension nouns in the accusative and nominative cases, in the singular and plural forms. I told them that this was a Porta, not a quiz.
“What’s the difference?” they asked.
“Well, there’s only one possible grade on a Porta, which is the Latin word for ‘gate’ or ‘doorway’,” I said. “A 100%. You’ll take this particular quiz every day, until you can do all the questions on the quiz, with 100% accuracy. That’s not to say there won’t be other work. But you’ll have to keep trying to unlock this particular door until it unlocks.”
Everyone sighed with relief. But the grades today suggest that I’ll be giving this particular Porta again and again and again for a while. Sigh.
