Why Put Yourself to the Test with the NGE or NLE?

It is the Classical Language Exam Time of the Year!

by Amy Barr, The Lukeion Project

This week’s blog is going to be a bit more specific to TheLukeion Project as we discuss the National Greek Exam (March 2, 2020) and The National Latin Exam (March 9, 2020). I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about why we participate in these exams and offer some last-minute encouragement as you prepare for these competitions.

Why does The Lukeion Project participate in the NGE and NLE each year?

There are a zillion different approaches, curricula, and programs that promise students a chance to study Latin and Classical Greek. Sadly, some of these approaches offer no more than vague language familiarity, even after several years of “hard work.” Others—especially The Lukeion Project—make language mastery the goal. How can we make this claim without some standardized exam results to back us up? More importantly, how can you –the student—claim to have attained excellence without some standardized test results to back you up? Participating in the NLE/NGE is a great opportunity to compare your efforts to other students worldwide.

“The National Greek Examination in 2019 enrolled 1774 students from 173 high schools, colleges, and universities in the US and around the world.” There are seven levels: Introduction to Greek, Beginning Attic, Intermediate Attic, Homeric Odyssey, Homeric Iliad, Prose, and Tragedy. The exam is offered by the American Classical League.

Roughly 140,000 students take the NLE. “The National LatinExam (NLE) is a test given annually to Latin students across the United States and around the world. The NLE is not meant to be a competition but rather an opportunity for students to receive reinforcement and recognition for their accomplishments in the classroom. Depending upon their score, students may earn certificates, medals, and may even qualify for scholarships.” The exam is sponsored by the American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League and is offered to students on seven levels.

Neither the NGE nor the NLE exams are based on any specific textbook series so students will be put to the test in a fair comparison across the board. Roughly half of the students who participate worldwide will earn honors at varying levels. On average, 95% of Lukeion Latin students and 90% of Lukeion Greek students earn honors each year. For the NLE, Lukeion students typically earn in the ballpark of 3% of all perfect papers scored each year worldwide.

Shouldn’t I “wait until I’m better” at the languages before taking the test for the first time?

Both the NGE and NLE exams come in 7 forms and are meant to be taken annually for every level completed by the student. Students gain valuable experience by taking exams yearly and they might also be awarded special book awards (and even a shot at scholarships) if they earn gold medals for three successive years. Around a dozen Lukeion advanced students (NLE III – NLE VI) will be awarded prestigious book awards for three (or more) years of success annually. While scholarships are very limited, students are only offered the chance to apply for them after completing the NLE III level. So, take the exam that corresponds to your level from the start (we do not offer the Intro level for our students)

Do I get credit in my language class? If not, why bother to study?

Much satisfaction can be realized when one prepares well for a challenge and when one is recognized for the attainment of mastery of that challenge. This fact has been true about human beings for as long as we have records regarding the fastest, smartest, and bravest. There’s a tremendous feeling of success shared by those who compete and do well in sports, debate, performance, cooking, painting, or…Greek and Latin! Working hard is its own reward but getting a bit of extra recognition for that hard work – at the international level – is a nice boost to one’s confidence.

Taking any exam makes me nervous so why voluntarily take something like the NLE or NGE?

Many of us are naturally exam adverse. Reasons can include test-anxiety, fears of failure, or maybe a little laziness, truth be told. Academic tests are inevitable unless you plan to quit your formal education quite young. The only thing that makes all those inevitable quizzes, tests, and exams more endurable is practice and experience. The NLE and NGE offer the added benefit of (a) not causing any permanent damage to your transcript if things go badly, and (b) the potential of much laud and honor if things go well. In other words, do your best but there's nothing to lose.

So, why voluntarily put yourself through extra study effort over the next few days leading up to your NGE and NLE dates? For now, you’ll improve your language mastery, which will benefit your course grade. In the future, you’ll demonstrate your language mastery, which will strengthen your future transcripts. In the long run, you’ll attain language mastery, which will strengthen every part of your thinking, writing, and speaking henceforth!   

History is a Labyrinth (not a Line)

Time Meanders More than You Know

By Amy Barr, The Lukeion Project

History timelines can be fine teaching tools. They provide a crisp visual to help us understand where goalposts stand as we look backward. Goalposts can help us see cause and effect, such as when the printing press lead to a surge in literacy; automobiles enticed people from cramped cities into suburbia; soap extended lifespans and freshened the air. But history really isn’t simple, and it is never a straight path. Connecting dots to make a few straight-line history lessons tends to leave out lots of dots!
Relationships between world events are less like timelines and more like ripples in a pond or crisscrossed spider webs. To appreciate history, you must meander a labyrinth, not walk a line. 
Specific dates of even major historical events are seldom known with certainty as we travel further back in time. Humans have recently all gotten together to rely on a neat 12-month calendar and a new year each January 1st. They mostly do so now only because our computers and airports require this common time language. Some nations enjoy more than one date-keeping system to accommodate technology and tradition at the same time.
Before computers helped standardize date keeping across the globe, humans recorded events by calculating the time since the last Olympiad, the years since the start of a king’s rule, the decades since the last eclipse, or the centuries since a city was founded. Serious historians don’t just flip to a single commonly accepted timeline when they want to talk about when things happened. A good bit more math and mystery must be solved to build goalposts on the ancient timeline.
How can one mark a permanent “X” on the timeline of history? Consider the founding of Rome. Textbooks tell us Remus lost the bid to name the city to his twin, Romulus, in 753 BC. The actual date of this fraternal squabble was debated for centuries by the Romans themselves. Over 700 years after the event some Romans favored the theory it all took place on April 21st soon before an eclipse calculated 438 years after the fall of Troy (Velleius Paterculus, 8). An equally compelling theory put Rome’s founding in 747 BC, dating it to the 8th Olympiad.
After the monarchy, the Romans themselves mostly kept track of time by the name of the two consuls in charge each year. Romans started counting years after Rome was founded using the AUC system (ab urbe condita). In AD 525 Dionysius Exiguus attempted to calculate the year of Christ’s birth and started numbering the years of history from that point starting with AD 1 (anno domini).  All years prior to that date were later termed in English “BC” for “Before Christ.” This way of numbering years did not catch on broadly until after AD 800. Historical scholars working with all primary texts for events prior to AD 800 need to be chronologically savvy about the various dating systems in play.
Knowing what year it was could be problematic for an ancient person. Knowing what day it was could be impossible. Trial and error taught people some systems were more reliable than others. The moon was an easy calendar guide since it was visible everywhere, and lunar cycles divided the year into months of 29 or 30 days. Lunar months don’t add up to 365 ¼ days a year. Every few decades the days and months drifted out of season. Harvest holidays would show up in icy winter and spring holidays were celebrated in sweaty summer. In Rome, politicians were asked to toss in an extra month to even things out. It was hard to write to a friend in Thrace or Egypt to meet in Athens or Rome on a definite day. Everyone kept track of dates a bit differently. Appointments always allowed for plenty of flexibility.
On February 24 in AD 1582, a large part of the planet got on-board with the solar calendar system we use today. All Catholic countries of Europe agreed to keep time the same way when an edict was issued by Pope Gregory XIII. His reason for strictly regulating the calendar was so all Christians could celebrate Easter on the same day. This idea was first suggested by the church fathers at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 but the idea got stuck in committee for a very (very) long time. 
This Gregorian calendar of AD 1582 fixed flaws in the older system set up in 45 BC by Roman statesman Julius Caesar. That wily old politician won the powerful office Pontifex Maximus early in his career. Among other perks, his job as Pontifex required him to declare an intercalary month between February and March as needed whenever the months of the year started to get off track. Ever the consummate politician, he took the best advantage of the situation. He was allowed to make some years longer to extend the political terms of allies, or make them shorter is an adversary was in office.
With a hectic schedule of conquering Gaul, fighting Pompey, and touring Egypt meant the Roman calendar was neglected by Caesar too long. He finally found a moment to fix time in 46 BC. In addition to the traditional spare month between February and March, he added another 67 days between November and December. That year seemed to go on endlessly, but Caesar’s new Julian calendar was a hit. It followed the solar year closely and the Romans enjoyed the luxury of knowing when summer started, when to make plans for Saturnalia, and when to plant a garden. 
“March,” “April,” “May,” “June,” plus “September” (7), “October” (8), “November” (9) and “December” (10) were named by Romulus in his original 10-month calendar.  The next king added January and February to the start of the year. Months named “seven” through “ten” became months nine through twelve evermore. The Roman month Quintilis would be later be renamed “July” but only after Julius was slain. The month Sextilis became “August” to honor Caesar’s heir, the first Roman emperor Augustus.  Other emperors tried to rename months but failed (thankfully). Emperor Commodus, for example, energetically named all the months after himself. The Romans quickly flushed those names down the drain once he died.
Relationships between people, places and events can make history a wonderful web of cause and effect. Like ripples in a pond during a rainstorm, events combine and overlap with surprising results. Each nation has used different ways to mark time. As you study history this year, make marking time part of the puzzle to be solved.       

3 High School Skills for College Success

By Amy Barr

As your high school years zoom by, you’ll find yourself increasingly preoccupied with things like where to go to college, scores on excruciatingly long standardized tests, GPA points, transcripts, and how to handle college tuition costs. Stay the course! There’s going to be some nice satisfaction when you (or if you are the parent, your child) gets that college acceptance letter. All the inner critics can hush up. Well done! but are you ready to succeed once those first college classes start?

The next level will bring a fresh set of challenges. Peculiar cafeteria food and roommate troubles are as predictable as too little campus parking and overpriced textbooks. Some college troubles are easy to anticipate. Others will be unpleasant surprises unless you prepare now during his high school years. Getting to college is actually the easy part. Staying there is the real challenge. To help, I’ve come up with three common-sense skills you must develop during your high school years. Work on these now. Enjoy smooth(er) sailing later.

1. Develop Excellent Research Writing Skills and Practice them Frequently in High School

Creative writing tends to take center stage because let’s face it, research writing can sound intimidating to all involved so it is easier to do (and to assign) the creative projects. At college, research writing is the must-have skill that professors will assign but will not likely teach.
With a phone in every pocket and a computer or tablet in every backpack, data is now incredibly easy to find. College educators have shifted to focus on one’s ability to analyze and synthesize copious amounts of data. Whether you want a degree in law, business, biology, engineering, or even Classics, you must know how to find reliable sources, research well, and then write precisely, analytically and persuasively. Don’t start college unless you have practiced research writing several times or there will be struggles ahead.

In classical education, the rhetoric stage includes high school and college years. This is when the human mind is well suited to the development of research writing skills. Students are ready to research facts and complex ideas then express logical answers to important questions as they persuade others with clear analytical writing.  In practical terms, start writing research papers early in high school so that this skill has time to become college-ready.

Homeschool Parents: If you have misgivings about how to teach this subject to your student, enlist the aid of others who teach or write research pieces professionally. Find friends with degrees in research fields and sweet-talk them into objectively grading your young writer’s efforts. Encourage your teen’s co-op teachers to assign research papers in high school classes. Be willing to master research writing for yourself while you both develop writing skills.
 

2. Train for “adulting skills” while still in high school

The skills needed to boost college success are often simple “adulting skills” that should be sharpened well before dorm move-in day. Common-sense abilities like money management, self-control, and determination will help throughout college, career, marriage, and life. Knowing how to change a tire and cook a decent meal are icing on the cake!

An essential college skill is time-management. Many students who fail at college did so because they weren’t able to balance social activities and part-time jobs with their need to study, sleep, do some laundry, grab some decent food, and get to class. To avoid time management disasters, learn to juggle your own schedule now while you can still cheaply handle a few disasters. At college, mangled schedules will cost time, money, and tuition. Find a planning system and learn how to use it now instead of after a disaster happens.

Homeschool Parents: If you are still doing all the scheduling, organizing, and teaching during your teen’s high school years, your first step is to hand much of the job off to your teen. Have him take over his own academic and life schedule. Let him work out his own academic planning. Walk him through the process of evaluating his course load and learn how to allot the time needed for each subject. Have him plan for trips, work, music lessons, sports, and free time. Making mid-course adjustments to a hectic schedule is part of the learning package, no extra charge.

3. Practice healthy failure recovery

Parents: As a master of one’s own schedule, the student must suffer the consequences for poor planning, even if it means she earns a low score on a quiz or paper. The resolve of many well-meaning parents melts when the student’s transcript pays the price of priorities gone awry. If procrastination is your teen’s struggle it is better to earn a poor grade now than fail in college. Understanding his own limitations means he’s on his way to better time management. He is also on his way to developing the third most practical college skill: failure recovery.

Learning how to recover from a failed task is vital. Mastering this piece of the puzzle will make all the difference. College will be an untidy mix of positive and negative experiences that ultimately teach us a lot about ourselves. If your teen is crushed by even minor setbacks now, you’ll need to practice healthy recovery every chance you get before freshman orientation.
High school is a time of countless mental changes. The process will feel like three steps forward, two steps back. Use these four years wisely to help your student mature in these three areas. May too few parking spaces, weird roommates, and questionable cafeteria food be the worst disasters she’ll suffer in her college years.

How an Italian Volcano Changed America

Amy Barr, January 31, 2020, in part originally a June 2012 article for The Old Schoolhouse

Villa San Marco (and the Lukeion Educational Tour group)

Several years ago, I visited our nation’s capital. My kids were still young at the time so standing in line was great for teachable moments lest boredom became an issue. While waiting to see The National Archives an impromptu group of listeners formed as my husband and I, both Classical Archaeologists, explained the neoclassical images ornamenting the building. An eavesdropper remarked, “I didn’t know this art had to do with Greece and Rome!” Almost every artistic element on the building intentionally refers to our two Classical civilizations.

Thomas Jefferson was more than the architect of our Declaration of Independence; he was also fascinated by real architecture as he imagined the construction of our new nation. He gave considerable thought to crafting buildings to last for generations. Jefferson could have recommended the flowery architecture of European cathedrals or the onion-bulb towers of Russia or even down-to-earth austere Colonial style. Instead, he dreamed up enough columns and capitals to make Caesar himself feel at home.

Certainly, our nation’s founders drew inspiration from the Classical world but particularly Roman ideas were brought to the fore in the late 1700s because two factors came to play at that moment in time. First was Jefferson’s brilliant Classical education in both Latin and Greek. Second, was the unearthing of thousands of mysterious things in northern Italy that had remained hidden since the tragic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Essentially, the rediscovery of all things Rome came to light during our nation’s most formative years.

Pliny (the younger) tells us that one warm August day his uncle Pliny (the elder) noticed a strange cloud in the distance near what is today Napoli, Italy. He observed that this cloud was shaped just like a pine tree. If you haven’t been to Italy, you may not know that there, pine trees are shaped like umbrellas. Pliny was grasping for words to describe this event since such a catastrophe had never been witnessed before.  Romans would eventually learn to call this natural disaster a volcano.

Natural curiosity and steadfast Roman bravery would win out over terror on the day of the eruption.  Pliny the elder rushed to help the panicked residents of the area as darkness closed in around him and his military craft. Pliny the younger, however, did not go. His uncle had assigned him a writing project so that 17-year-old decided to finish his schoolwork instead of sailing headlong into an exploding mountain. His uncle would not survive the adventure. He himself would provide one of our only eye witness accounts. 

The eruption would last for three excruciating days. When it was over, what had once been lush vineyards, pleasant hillsides, and thriving towns—most notably Pompeii and Herculaneum—would look lifeless and ashen like the surface of the moon. The dead remained where they fell, utterly forgotten for seventeen centuries.

In 1738 excavations began in Herculaneum, well before archaeology included any science. Workers knew nothing about the events that placed these items in the ground. Mystery added to the beauty of the discoveries. Soon Europe was engrossed with the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii, her sister city, discovered in 1749. As workers uncovered perfectly preserved homes, temples, baths, sculptures and paintings, a remarkable thing happened: the world’s imagination was captured by ancient Rome and, by association, ancient Greece. What had once been forgotten now retook center stage in the minds of the best thinkers and doers of that day.

When Thomas Jefferson was ambassador to France from 1784 to 1789, he took a few well-earned breaks. He scoured France looking at her Romanesque architecture, he toured her Roman ruins, and he voraciously read Classical authors (both Latin and Greek) looking for insight, inspiration, and warning.  Having started his Classical education at age 9, he was fluent in Greek, Latin and at least three other languages, skills that would inform every aspect of his career. He too felt the powerful pull of Pompeii and the potent words of Roman authors. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams would work together to craft a constitution with a tripartite system of government which found its roots in Rome. Jefferson himself would introduce the neoclassical style of architecture to the United States.

All this enthusiasm was not just because he thought Roman buildings were majestic, but because he believed that the Roman Republic’s system of checks and balances was a brilliant idea for our new nation. What better model for our architecture?  Ever the student of Roman history, he also knew that a nation must be vigilant lest it topples at the hands of a tyrant as Rome once did.

Intellectual souvenirs from his time in France included his design of the Virginia State Capitol, the University of Virginia, and Monticello, his home. He would suggest the name “Capitol” after the Capitoline hill in Rome and would inspire the plan for our Capitol building modeled on the ancient Pantheon of Rome. So, when you look at it this way, from the ruins of Rome and the ashes of Pompeii would come the enduring structures of our nation. At least in some small way, the tragic end of the cities of Vesuvius would inspire the rise of America.

Succeed at Failure

You Really Can't Succeed Without Some Failure

By Amy E. Barr with The Lukeion Project
An earlier version of this article appeared in The Old Schoolhouse in 2012

As every new school year starts, I will find out interesting tidbits about my students… like how this student is gifted or that student is challenged. All students are expected to complete the same assignments and quizzes on schedule. Here’s the interesting part: many of my gifted students do a superb job until they have a bad week. One or two low quiz scores later and some of my cleverest kids will give up. Meanwhile, my average and challenged students keep going, calmly taking setbacks in stride.

There’s no mystery here. Gifted students tend to be self-critical but as perfectionists even while difficult subjects come easily to them. They rarely meet a mental mountain they can’t climb, so failure is rare. When it does happen, the sting is especially painful. Average and challenged students are more accustomed to academic struggle. A little failure (or at least not highest success) may be on the menu daily for these learners. In turn, they respond more casually to disappointments. Experience tells them that failure isn’t fatal, and life goes on. Consequently, many parents of gifted kids are constantly looking for challenging subjects, not just to avoid boredom but also to maintain a healthy response to adversities.

Enter the study of Classical Latin or Greek: Even if a student has been brought up by a pair of Classics professors, he is not going to be spontaneously brilliant in these challenging topics—just ask my adult kids. Learning Latin or Greek is always a matter of hard work. Success and failure will come to all. Only hard work will mark the difference. This can be earth-shattering to the perfectionist who misinterprets the struggle to learn a tough subject as being “bad” at that subject. It can alternatively become a great opportunity to learn how to succeed at a little failure.

Do you grant lots of do-overs, re-tries, and mulligans? Does your child get second, third, and fourth chances on every academic challenge? Do you set deadlines for academic projects and then move those goals back two or three times? From time to time, all of us unintentionally prevent our children from mastering healthy recovery from failure by shielding them from failures. With the best intentions, we may try to nurture our children so carefully that they don’t suffer a real academic setback prior to college. By then, the first low grade or poor paper may be emotionally crushing and financially costly.

Extra chances, no firm deadlines, and daily do-overs may seem like a great way to teach a subject well—but be careful. Deliberately shielding a student from failure will do measurable damage. Students who should otherwise be flourishing will instead fail to develop confidence, self-esteem, or resilience. Such qualities are the result of a healthy response to, and recovery from, adversity.
Motivational teacher Paul J. Meyer summarized our need for a balance of success and failure with these words: “By seeing the seed of failure in every success, we remain humble. By seeing the seed of success in every failure we remain hopeful.” What can you do to improve healthy failure recovery in your student’s world?

First, if you are your child’s primary educator, check your own teaching habits. If your child learns in a more conventional schooling environment, examine expectations.  Can your student constantly retake quizzes, re-do assignments, and push back deadlines? Firm up expectations and stick to stated consequences.

Second, raise the bar. Increase challenges, set expectations high, and then model healthy recovery when inevitable failures arise. Playing a musical instrument or reading a foreign language (such as Latin and Greek) is terrific at providing challenges, failure recovery, and pride over hard-won success when it comes.

Finally, praise your child for being determined instead of smart. Enthusiastically celebrate the hard work involved in a difficult task. A person’s determination is always a better determination of success compared to natural talent. Everything will come with more practice and more hard work. Success is 80% determination and 20% smarts. All of the latter can be compensated for if one has enough determination.

No matter how smart you are, you’ll experience trial and error, failure and success, good days and bad days. Learning that failure isn’t fatal is the first step toward lifelong success. Provide challenges for yourself (or your learner) so you have the opportunity for a bit of failure every day. Experience failure and then, most importantly, respond to that failure realistically and with determination to push on into growth.

Some Secrets to Academic Success You Should Know

By Amy E. Barr of The Lukeion Project

Three Important Skills to Succeed in Any Class

1.  Read the syllabus

College classes have a syllabus, a document spelling out course expectations, rules, laws, and (hopefully) a schedule of all assignments. At The Lukeion Project, we provide a syllabus for all semester classes, even for our youngest students. A syllabus is an excellent communication tool if students will read it.

Instructors prepare the syllabus with the exactness of a legal document, which it is. A good syllabus spells out everything you should know about a class. Read it with care because we educators are going to stand our ground on what has been communicated in a syllabus. If we state all deadlines are firm, expect firm deadlines. If we specify how things must be turned in, a wise student follows that directive with care or loses points.

The syllabus works to the advantage of both educator and student. If we neglect to include an important detail on the schedule, we are likely to be sympathetic if you miss the item due to an incorrect syllabus.

Educators will fine-tune a syllabus until it includes everything that is important to know about a class. If a syllabus is a single page or 12 pages long, read it. It is obvious when a student has failed to read the syllabus by the mistakes that are made or the types of questions that are asked. When a student doesn’t read the syllabus, the educator might make some unflattering assumptions. Meanwhile, the student leaves a horrible first impression. Read the whole syllabus carefully.

2.  Always Come to Class and be on Time

Aside from the inevitable illness or minor calamity, make every effort to come to every class. As your education becomes more and more expensive (with respect to both personal time and money), increase your zeal for always attending class. To do any less leads your educators to assume you are lazy, disinterested, disorganized, or disengaged. Who wants to be in these categories? When one needs his educator to offer a bit of grace, one’s chances improve greatly if one has been careful with timely attendance. Most importantly, as you progress in your education, you will have already paid for and reserved that dedicated class time. Use it to focus on the material and learn instead of sleeping through it. It won't be easier to focus on that material later while on your own. At all costs, come to class and be on time.

3.  Ask Thoughtful Questions

Is there such thing as a dumb question? We covered the need to avoid questions already answered in the syllabus. Paradoxically, almost all other questions are a good idea in class with the important exceptions that I have listed below. Are you a big question-asker in class? Is that a good thing? Educators nearly always appreciate question askers (unless they are running low on time). Students need not worry they will be considered dumb if they ask questions about the material covered in class. Question-askers are fully engaged in the topic and focused on mastery of the subject. What’s not to like?  There are, however, a few important question-caveats.

Don’t Ask…

• Any non-topical question that is likely answered elsewhere. Read your syllabus or go through a class handout first. Your educator wants to save limited class time (and limited personal time to answer emails) so help her out by not asking due dates and class policies that are stated elsewhere.  
• “Will this be on the quiz?” Class time is precious. Educators rarely waste lecture time on things that don’t matter. Don’t waste even more time by asking that question! Assume everything will be on the quiz and you’ll never miss a thing.
• “Did I miss anything?” (When late or if you miss a class). This question communicates a belief that class time has been meaningless without you! Rather than evoke an annoyed comment from your lecturer with this question, assume you missed many important things and then ask a peer for missed notes AFTER class.
• “When will X, Y, Z be graded?” First, this isn't truly your question. You are actually telling your educator to put aside everything to focus on YOUR grades. Nobody is more eager to finish grading an assignment than your educator. He or she has already skipped meals and sleep to finish grading and preparing for your class. Consequently, this question always comes off as irritating at best, insulting at worst. That’s not how you want your educator to think of you.

Do:

• Stay on-topic. Avoid asking about the weather in Spain when the session is about Latin nouns.
• Rephrase a question or further engage the instructor for a better understanding of the subject. Educators love to engage students fully in the topic at hand.  
• Ask for help if you are confused. It is better to ask for clarification than to miss points. If you’ve done your job by reading the syllabus, textbook, class notes, and a peer, it is time to ask your instructor for help. Sometimes that missing assignment link or confusing page assignment needs to be fixed for everyone anyway. 

Finish Your Semester Strong

By Regan Barr of The Lukeion Project

Students: your semester is finally coming to an end! It’s been a marathon, not a sprint, as most of life’s proudest accomplishments will be. With the finish line in sight, there are three possible outcomes. You could stumble, fall, and fail miserably, wasting all of your effort up to this point. You could also begin to ease up and stagger across the line, finishing somewhere in the middle of the pack, but happy to be done with it. Or you can use your last burst of energy to finish strong, perhaps even crossing the finish line first, an achievement you can be proud of!

The internet is awash in examples of all three. There’s the runner who had it in the bag, but in one fatal, disastrous miscalculation, lost it all. There’s the competitor who started to celebrate too early, easing up when she should have pressed on. She completed the race, which in itself is no small accomplishment, but she secretly knows that she didn’t give it her all and could have done better. And finally, there’s the racer who fixed his eyes on the prize, summoned all his remaining strength and made that final heroic effort that ensured him the top spot on the podium. Maybe it’s second or third place, but he can hold his head up high, knowing that he gave it his best effort.

There’s no question that ability is part of the equation, but it’s not the whole story. Determination and strategy also play a big part in how you cross the finish line.

Determination is a mindset that considers all of the alternatives and concludes that perseverance is worth the pain. It realizes that even if this is not your favorite class, it charts a course for future classes. It understands that you’re not just getting a grade, you’re charting a trajectory. You’re building habits for life, and finishing strong is often the difference between the adventurer who gives up and the entrepreneur who makes it big. This is the “grit” that Angela Lee Duckworth describes in her Ted Talk that’s now been viewed by nearly 6 million people.

Success is rarely the result of a series of fortuitous accidents. It is more often the reward for determination: an unwillingness to give up until the job is done. Determination says “if I give up now, all my hard work up to this point was for naught.” It doesn’t just see the finish line; it aims for it. How can I finish strong? Sometimes the finish line is completing that research paper, studying for that exam, completing a project, or doing your best on that last presentation. Success is being able to say at the end of your day “I’m proud of what I accomplished today and how I spent my time.”

Where do you find the motivation and the determination when it’s lacking? Determination is a matter of perspective. Travel in your mind to 5 years in the future. Looking back on your now-self, what would you like to see? Will this be the instructor who recommends you for that plum internship because you demonstrated a relentless resolve? Will this be the moment you push through that mental barrier and learn that you really can endure instead of quitting when the going gets tough? If you can do this, what else might be within your reach?

Determination must be paired with strategy. A determined mindset is nothing without action, and not all actions are equally beneficial. What will move you forward in the most productive way? Here are a few suggestions for finishing strong:

1. List your next steps.
Why waste valuable time wallowing about in a quagmire of self-pity and desperation? Instead, quantify what you have to do! Progress requires defining your target. When it comes to finishing the semester, that means listing what remains to be done. This might be an obvious starting point, but many students never actually confront their to-do list realistically. They begin with the task they find most comfortable, spend way too much time on it, only to discover that they have sabotaged their own efforts on other more challenging tasks.
Quantifying what remains to be done provides two benefits. First, it allows the student to create a plan (step number 2), a path forward toward the real finish line. But the second benefit is just as important: it allows to students to measure progress, an important motivator that boosts determination!

2. Create a realistic plan. 
Working from your to-do list, determine what to do and when to do it. It’s important to actually plan your time, so plot your time on a calendar. This provides your best metric for determining when and how you’ll finish.
If you want to create a realistic plan, you must recognize what motivates you best. Do you benefit from tackling the big job first, getting that big victory under your belt, and then speeding up as you move to the less challenging projects? Or do you need the smaller victories to help you build toward the most daunting task? What will help you build momentum that will carry you toward the finish line? And don’t forget to break up your study and review times for the best retention. It’s better to spend one hour in review on two different days than to spend two uninterrupted hours in review.

3. Include breaks and rewards.
Most of us aren’t built to focus on our most intense challenges for hours on end. We need to take regular breaks and celebrate milestones along the way. Perhaps when you’re writing that paper, you reserve the last 10 minutes of every hour to get up and move a bit. When you finish it, reward yourself with a snack, half an hour of your favorite game, or some time to just chill with the dog.
Finishing strong isn’t easy, but it’s worth the effort.

With determination and the right strategy, you can be proud of your accomplishment and really enjoy the rewards that await you, just across the finish line.

Want to Major in Classics in College? Here's How to Start in High School

By Amy E. Barr of The Lukeion Project

Becoming a Classics major is exciting stuff. Several instructors at The Lukeion Project studied a variety of Classics-linked fields including Latin, Greek, ancient history, archaeology, art, architecture, plus anthropology, field excavation, osteology, museum studies, artifact illustration, artifact conservation, and more. Our broad experiences prompted our enthusiasm for our interdisciplinary approach. Add the perks of travel abroad plus the benefits of several foreign languages! If you are like us, a Classics degree is perfect for anyone who has more interests than they can count. How does one get started?

Going down the Classics rabbit hole means you may have to run around a bit until you find your preferred path. Most will choose either a Classics major (often a second major in Classics makes sense) or a minor in college. Even after finishing a degree in Classics, many find themselves in fields that seem distant to Classics but are actually closely linked: law, medicine, science, business, writing, teaching. A Classics degree need not limit one to a Classics career.

When shopping for college Classics programs, look at the various interdisciplinary opportunities available in various departments. In addition to Latin and or Greek, you can find ways to follow personal interests like museum internships, excavation volunteer posts, College Year in Athens, language immersion in Rome, etc. Interview various faculty after you shop programs to find a department that feels right. Now your first job is to be a good candidate when you find the program of your choice.  

What’s a good high school path for a future Classics major/minor?

Start with Classical languages and plan to do as much Greek and Latin as possible. Pick Greek or Latin as your primary (it doesn’t really matter except to your personal tastes) but plan on doing both languages sooner rather than later. Want to make your future college professors swoon? When it comes to Latin and Greek, complete at least four years of one and at least two years of the other before graduating from high school. Classics majors tend to add French, Italian, or German at college or graduate school so fear not, you'll add modern languages eventually.

Many students prefer to do four (or more years) in Latin with The Lukeion Project since a nice fat score on the AP Latin Exam (year four) can pave the path to scholarship money or, at certainly multiple college credits. Other students prefer Greek but will complete the SAT Special Latin Exam (an easier exam compared to the AP Latin exam) after the second or third year of Latin.

My second bit of advice is to travel. Any student who is interested in Classics will be taken more seriously if he or she has traveled to destinations that not only represent the literary aspects of Classics, but also the culture, history, art, and archaeology. A "study" trip to Greece and Italy will make you a strong college applicant. Adding Spain, France, Turkey (etc.) will make you a shining star in a sea of applicants all the way through graduate school. Plan to major in Classics? Plan to travel. This is not optional.

In addition to language studies and travel, I make several complementary recommendations below. Many of these courses require you to read, think, and write broadly. These courses will support your mastery of Classics which is, by definition, an interdisciplinary field. First, let me tackle a couple more issues:

Should Classics majors expect to go to graduate school?

With few exceptions (like teaching high school Latin at a public school) the answer is a firm yes, graduate school is normal for those who want a career in Classics. Your undergraduate program should give you a broad introduction to all things Classical while your graduate program(s) will help you refine your particular focus: language (philology), history, archaeology, anthropology, etc., may all be on the table depending on the graduate program you pursue. You must complete some graduate work (at least an M.A. but normally a Ph.D.) to teach at the college level, work as an archaeologist, or work at a museum (just for example).

Get started during your high school years

Conventional programs will offer few chances to broaden Classical studies before college starts but the more you tackle now, the more interesting you will be to the admissions committee at the college programs of your choice. Love Classics but plan to major in something different? If you have time and interest you can complete the equivalent of a Classics "degree" while still in high school at the Lukeion Project. Here's how a person could get the most of our program:

7^th/8^th/9^th grade

• Witty Wordsmith
• Barbarian Diagrammarian
• Lester’s Logic Lounge

8^th/9^th grade

• Latin 1 or Greek 1·
• Muse on the Loose (Survey of Greek Literature in Translation) and
• Muse Reloosed (Survey of Latin Literature in Translation)

9^th/10^th grade

• Latin II or Greek II plus start the second language (Latin or Greek)
• Mythology Alpha (includes Iliad, Odyssey) and
• Mythology Beta (including Aeneid, Metamorphoses)

10^th/11^th grade

• Latin III or Greek III
• Latin II or Greek II
• Classical History: will cover Greeks and then Romans

11^th/12^th grade

• AP Latin or Greek IV (we offer Latin VII and Greek VII)
• Optional 3rd year of the second language
• Rhetoric
• College Composition and College Research Writing (perfect English credit for students in final year(s) of high school)

12^th grade

• The Classical Bard: Shakespeare
• Classical Philosophy
• AP English Lit.

How to Be Successful in the Online Classroom

By Regan Barr of The Lukeion Project

Ms. Wilson was the most feared teacher in my elementary school. Gray hair, face contorted into a permanent scowl, a ruler usually within reach. I once personally observed her chasing a student across the playground in heels while she brandished a yardstick. I did well in Ms. Wilson’s class, but I’m not sure if it’s because I was a conscientious student, because she was a great teacher, or because I feared what might happen if I failed. Ms. Wilson was a rare breed, and I don’t think she’d fare well in the online environment. Today online classes are becoming the norm rather than the exception, and any successful student must master a different set of skills to thrive in the internet classroom. Here are the top four habits:

1. Maintain focus during sessions

It was much harder to conceal your inattention when you were trapped in the same physical room as your teacher. Many of us remember the student who hid a comic book inside his propped-up math book or developed a secret sign language to communicate with a friend across the room when the teacher turned her back. But at least they pretended to be engaged. Those days are gone. Instructors can no longer scan the room for distracted minds, dozing pupils, or inattentive troublemakers. They used to bark out a sharp “Thomas, stop that!” to regain their students’ attention, but today’s students can log in without tuning in. Some students simply walk away or turn down the volume on their headset while they spend their time in other pursuits. These same students will later complain that the class is too hard, or that they’re not getting anything out of it.

Online students have far more power over their own educational experience than we did in Ms. Wilson’s classroom. In a world full of electronic distractions, the student who has learned to focus is the student who will succeed. The instructor has taken the time to share his expertise, and the savvy student will use that time to full advantage. The big lie that many students tell themselves is that “I can catch up later, but I don’t really feel like doing this now.” Later never comes, or if it does, it will be twice as hard and take twice as long to master the material without your expert guide.

It takes an act of will to make the most of an online class. Eliminate distractions while you’re in class or watching your recording. Turn off your phone. Don’t have other apps open on your device. And most importantly perhaps, take notes … by hand … with a pen and paper. This simple act will do more for your retention than you can imagine. 

2. Take responsibility for your own schedule

There was no doubt about who was in charge when you were in Ms. Wilson’s classroom. When she told you to work on exercise 4 at your desks, you knew she’d be patrolling the room like a warden, ready to swoop down on the doodler or daydreamer and put them back on track. Time spent in her classroom was not your own.

The online student doesn’t have a Ms. Wilson to force them to make the most of their time. They must schedule their time carefully and keep to that schedule. Each class requires study and homework time. How long will each take, and when should it be done? Major projects may require time spread across days or weeks or the whole semester. How can that be accomplished with minimal stress and optimal productivity? Without a schedule, a student will spend time only on those subjects that they enjoy, or worse yet, will waste the time they should be working, until the last minute. The result will be anguish, anger, frustration, late-night cram sessions, and inferior work.

During middle school and high school years parents should teach their children to make their own schedule and stick to it. This is a valuable life-lesson, and future professors and bosses will praise those who learn it. It is the difference between the self-directed worker who is recognized for their competence and the shoddy loafer who is shunned by co-workers and fellow-students. During these critical, formative years, parents must move away from telling their children when to work on which assignment, and move into the role of holding their children accountable for their schedule.

3. Plan your discussion board contributions

Discussion boards are already a common feature in many online classrooms, and their popularity with teachers will continue to grow. Ms. Wilson could spend her classroom time on a discussion that engaged students, but the online session is often shorter than time spent together in the traditional classroom. The result is that more online time is spent in lectures while instructors look to discussion boards to replace traditional classroom discussion time.

How does a teacher persuade students to continue the discussion outside the brief online session? By making participation a part of the student’s final grade. This brings new challenges to both the student and the teacher, but one of the advantages is that students can put more thought into their contributions than they can in a fast-paced live discussion. Students should always be mindful that they are displaying both their effort and their attitude every time they post.

We live in an age of carefully crafted online personas and virtually anonymous rages on social media. A discussion board post is a very different beast. It should be thoughtful, professional, and respectful. The divisive rants and haughty emotional preaching of social media have no place on a student discussion board. Contributions should be thoughtful and rational, and disagreements should be handled with grace and respect.

4. Interact with your instructor appropriately

No one would think of treating Ms. Wilson with anything but respect. Her steady glare could wither the most defiant of spirits. This is the nature of face-to-face communication. Attitudes can be gauged, emotions can be read, reactions can be seen. Online communication is different, but an email sent to your instructor must be handled with all the caution required when approaching Ms. Wilson in person.

First, always address your instructor with an appropriate title of respect. There is a reason why she is teaching, and you are being taught. This is not a tweet or a text message. Don’t begin with “Hey…,” their first name, or an emoji. Set the correct tone.

Second, always identify yourself (your first and last name) and give the class that you’re asking about. There may come a time when you are known by your first name alone, like Cher or Kanye, and when you are immediately recognized on the street as “that stellar student in English 101,” but this is not that time.

Finally, write in full English sentences using correct spelling and punctuation. Save the text message abbreviations for your friends, not your instructors.

The student who masters these four habits will be set to succeed in the online classroom

The Reign in Spain

By Amy Barr of The Lukeion Project

Segovia, Spain

The ancient city Tyre in Lebanon has been continuously occupied for longer than most cities in the world. Phoenician Tyre used to be an island until Alexander the Great used his signature problem-solving skills to build a handy bridge to her sea walls, thus ending his stubborn--and successful--seven-month blockade of the (until then) perfectly fortified city. Before proud Tyre ran up against the likes of Alexander, she was building her wealth through trade networks throughout the known world. Carthage, founded about 60 years before Romulus named Rome would be one of her best ideas.

Carthage straddled the midpoint of the Mediterranean and, as the world’s first big-box-store, she became staggeringly wealthy and self-important. The rather earthy Romans took offense at her hubris, her bedazzled purple fashions, and her insistence on taking over all the islands closest to Rome’s expansion zones. Stubborn to a fault, the Romans taught themselves how to build and sail the battleships she needed to combat Carthaginian claims on Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia. As was often the case for young Rome, she won the first Punic (Phoenician) War mainly because she refused to quit and, secondarily, because she figured out how to use land battle techniques against a bunch of sailors.

Carthage took her toys and went home, at least for a little while. Undaunted, she soldiered through post-war financial setbacks by sleuthing out juicy new trade opportunities. Spain, it turned out, was jam-packed with gold, silver, and timber. The Phoenicians knew a good deal when they saw it and moved in.

While the two old enemies continued to glower at each other for quite a while, cheeky Hannibal fanned the flames when he terrorized Saguntum, one of Rome’s protectorates in Spain. Hannibal surprisingly saddled up an assortment of confused elephants and doubled down: Nobody expected elephants nor sun-loving Carthaginians to stream into Italy from the north. Things went badly for a long time (Hannibal was tricksy).

While Hannibal Barca, the apparent brains of the operation, was busy bamboozling Romans in Italy, Scipio, a sort of Roman Chuck Norris, winningly attacked Hannibal’s less capable relatives in Spain in 206 BC.  No more Spanish groceries for Hannibal meant Rome would astonishingly mark another win, mainly because she refused to quit.

In less than a decade, the Romans had her new prize, Spain, split in two. Creatively, she named the two provinces Spain-Over-Here (Hispania Citerior) and Spain-Over-There (Hispania Ulterior).

Eventually, Rome took Spain over everywhere as she put down rebellion after spicy rebellion. 
In 61 BC, Julius Caesar as a praetor (governor) in Hispania Citerior used ersatz Spanish-rebellion-squashing as an excellent way to pay off his massive political debts.

Augustus formalized Rome’s new ownership of the peninsula by adding a third regional distinction, Hispania Tarraconensis (modern Tarragona). As Rome settled in, she established her signature infrastructure.

What did the Romans ever do for Spain? Soon everyone enjoyed excellent roads (900-mile superhighway), fresh water (massive aqueducts dotted the land), and top-notch entertainment in nice new theaters. Veterans, promised a plot of land upon retirement, started choosing sunny Spain as Romans founded Augusta Emerita (Merida), Asturica Augusta (Astorga), Colonia Caesar Augusta or Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza), and Lucus Augusti (Lugo). Two of Rome’s best emperors, Trajan and Hadrian, came from Spain. Let's not forget Rome's contribution to Spain's languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Galician, Mirandese, Asturian, Leonese, Aragonese, Ladino, Catalan/Valencian, Occitan, and Gascon -- all maintain a link to the Latin language.

You Must Visit

Founders of The Lukeion Project have been leading annual tours to Italy, Greece, and Turkey since 2008. While it is impossible to grow bored with these destinations, as Classical Archaeologists we are more aware than most that the Greeks and Romans left their deep and lasting imprint throughout the Mediterranean, not just a few popular regions. Contrary to Wikipedia, Spain’s rich history begins long before the Middle Ages. We invite you to join us in our first tour of Spain. Expect a very busy two weeks, May 18-31, 2020. Here and here are the details. The bus (our own private bus, mind you) is already half full. Register now.

Here are the highlights:

• Barcelona
• Las Ramblas
• Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia visit
• Barcelona City History Museum
• Tarragona
• Pont de les Ferreres Aqueduct
• Archaeological Museum Visit
• Roman Ruins & Theater
• Castle visit
• Sagunt (Saguntum – the city that prompted the second Punic War)
• Valencia
• Cartagena
• Nova Cartago, founded by Phoenicians
• Muses del Teatro Romono
• Muralla Byzantina
• Granada
• Royal Chapel
• Alhambra
• Ronda
• Puente Nuevo
• Seville -- the birthplace of emperors Trajan and Hadrian
• Bullring visit (not a bullfight)
• Amphitheater
• Mosaics (Casa de los Pajaros and others)
• Italica
• Merida
• Roman Ruins
• Museo Nacional de Arte Romano
• Toledo
• Madrid
• Royal Palace
• Prado
• National Archaeological Museum
• Segovia
• Historic Castle
• Roman Aqueduct