For your final piece of work this semester, I’d like you to write a short, informal reflection over the year, considering the work you’ve done and its meaning in these strange, difficult times. I’ll be the only person who reads it. Here are the formal details:
- 300-500 words (roughly 1-2 double spaced pages)
- Informal: should be readable, free of typos, etc, but does not need to be in formal academic English; write like we’re having a conversation.
- Format: flexible; body of an email, or a word / google / pages document are all acceptable; use whatever media is most comfortable or convenient
- Due date: Friday, May 15th, 12pm (noon) eastern
Here are some questions to prompt your thinking. Don’t try to answer them all; instead pick one or a few that provoke a meaningful response.
- How has this semester / year gone for you? Did you meet your own hopes and expectations for yourself? What lessons might you want to offer to your future self from this semester?
- What memories from this course do you want to preserve? Were there happy occasions, triumphs, struggles experienced, or wisdom gained you’d like to make sure you remember?
- What’s the future place of Latin in your life? If you’re continuing in the fall, what hopes for the fall semester do you have? What texts or kinds of texts are you looking forward to? If not, what place will the Latin you’ve learned and/or the process of learning Latin have in your life going forward?
- What does it mean to study Latin at a time when the world is suffering through such a crisis? Can working on something that does not have an immediate application have meaning, either for you personally or for the world at large?
If you’d like to consider other questions as well or instead, please do so. If you’d prefer to complete your reflection in some form other than writing, e.g., a work of art, that’s fine too; just clear it with me before you go to work on it.