Monday Night Musing #3 - Text Evidence

Salvēte omnēs!

Tonight's post is a quick one about the value of having students re-read a known text to show they can do something more than summarize or give the English when required to do so. A few of my classes have been working with a version of the Little Red Hen, and today was our final day reading the 'original' version - i.e., the one where they know the plot already. A few students grumbled about doing a partner translation / volleyball reading with the text. When I asked why, they explained that they already knew what happened in the story. So I pointed them to the follow-up questions I had printed on the back of the paper.

Here are those questions (with English for blog readers who don't read Latin):

1. Why do you think the liberī non respondent ? (the children don't reply)
2. How many times did agnus respondet, “ego nōn adiuvābō”?  (the lamb replies, "I will not help)
3. List the steps the gallīna (hen) explained to be necessary:

The directions: Support your answers by using evidence from the text.

Many, many students told me they completely understood the story but could not find the answer the #1 in the text. Can you?

in Galliā est parva gallīna rubra. gallīna habet trēs līberōs et trēs amīcōs. amīcī sunt feles, agnus, et porcus. sed amīcī sunt ignavī.

---

1. ūnō diē, gallīna spectat terram et invenit grāna in terra. gallīna amīcīs dicit, “necesse est ponere grana in terram. quis adiuvābit mē?”  feles respondet, “ego nōn adiuvābō.” agnus respondet, “ego nōn adiuvābō.” porcus respondet, “ego nōn adiuvābō.”  itaque gallīna sōla in terram ponit grāna.

---

2. “nunc necesse est dare aquam grānīs sub terra,” gallīna amīcīs dicit, “quis adiuvābit mē?”  feles respondet, “ego nōn adiuvābō.” agnus respondet, “ego nōn adiuvābō.”  porcus respondet, “ego nōn adiuvābō.” itaque gallīna sōla aquam grānīs dat.

---

3. “nunc necesse est colligere frūmentum,” gallīna amīcīs dicit, “quis adiuvābit mē?”  feles respondet, “ego nōn adiuvābō.” agnus respondet, “ego nōn adiuvābō.”  porcus respondet, “ego nōn adiuvābō.” itaque gallīna sōla frūmentum collegit.

---

4. “nunc necesse est coquere panem ,” gallīna amīcīs dicit, “quis adiuvābit mē?”  feles, porcus, et agnus respondent, “nōs nōn adiuvābimus.”  itaque gallīna sōla panem coquit.

---

5. nunc necesse est devorāre panem,” gallīna amīcīs dicit, “quis adiuvābit mē?”  feles respondet, “ita - ego adiuvābō.” agnus respondet, “ita - ego adiuvābō.” porcus respondet, “ita - ego adiuvābō.”  gallīna dīcit, “minimē! vōs estis ignāvī! ego et meī liberī devōrābimus panem! nōn necesse est amīcīs adiuvāre.”

Now you may have noticed that it does not directly state the answer with a phrase like liberi non respondet quod... Of course, the text does provide the answer, in fact it provides it a whopping five times!

The children don't answer because the hen keeps speaking to the friends (gallīna amīcīs dicit, “quis adiuvābit mē?”) Approximately 85% of my students did not get this the first time, even though they knew the story.

There is a similar trick with #2 - if students aren't paying attention, they will not notice that the correct answer is 3 times instead of five. (when the bread is ready of course the lamb agrees to help, and another time all the animals answer together).

How often do you ask students these kinds of questions? I find them incredibly valuable for myself as a formative assessment. And while students may be less than pleased that the answer doesn't jump out to them right away, I do believe this type of thinking and re-reading has a benefit. Until next week!