Middle School Courses

Academic Departments

Classical Languages

St. Stephen’s offers Middle School and Upper School Latin from grades 6 through 12, enabling students to study the language for seven years before graduation. The curriculum is varied and enriched enough to offer different experiences to students at each level. In addition, the Junior Classical League chapters in the Middle School and Upper School provide students with the opportunity to celebrate their love of the classics and to compete with other students across the region, state and country.
 
Classics instructors strive to stimulate their students intellectually and help them gain a new perspective on their world. Department staff adhere to the established Standards for Classical Language Learning, which emphasize communication, cultural understanding, interpersonal connections, comparisons between ancient and modern civilizations, and the invaluable legacy of language.
 
The primary focus for classics classes is on the student voice. Students read and discuss texts, engage in debates and contrast varying points of view, examine simulations of ancient civilizations, write in the target language, and grapple with a series of challenging questions about antiquity and its legacy. Considerable emphasis also is placed on instructor feedback and interaction with students. In addition, students are encouraged to form small study groups.

  • MS Latin IA

    Latin IA offers an introduction to all things Roman, where students will read their first Latin words and explore Greco-Roman mythology. Students will begin the year with a focus on the Roman family by developing vocabulary, making connections to their own families and society, and reading an adventure detailing the lives of a family of peculiar Romans. Students will then move on to exploring a range of stories from ancient mythology, including the Homeric epics “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey.” By the end of the year, students will be able to diagram Latin sentences and explain the properties and functions of Latin verbs, nouns and adjectives. In addition to acquiring those language skills, they will also be able to identify and describe major geographical features of the Roman world and the important institutions that made up Roman daily life. This course is the equivalent of the first half of Latin I.
     
    Open to 6th and 7th graders with no prior experience with Latin.

  • MS Latin IB

    Latin IB continues the work students began in Latin IA developing skills in reading, translating and talking (in English) about how languages work. They will dramatically increase their knowledge of verb tenses and sentence-level grammar constructions. Working alongside this linguistic study, students will be introduced to foundational cultural topics, including Vergil’s “Aeneid,” Roman religion, Roman housing, and Roman moral values through readings, lectures and creative projects. Model sentences and passage translation will be primary means of practicing new grammatical topics, and students will be tasked with showing and explaining their understanding through all three modes of communication (interpretive, interpersonal, presentational). By the end of the year, students will be able to translate Latin text written in a variety of tenses and syntactical constructions into English, and they will be able to offer detailed explanations about their translations. This course is the equivalent of the second half of Latin I.


    Prerequisite: Middle School students who have passed Latin IA.
     

  • MS Latin II

    Latin II continues the grammar progression that students began in Latin I. Students will master Latin verb syntax up to basic subjunctive uses, along with deponents and participles. The history and culture curriculum will cover the Roman economy and urban life, ancient Greek philosophy, ancient Greek and Egyptian art, and a close study of the fall of the Roman Republic. As in Latin I, model sentences and passage translation will be primary means of practicing new grammatical topics, and students will be tasked with showing and explaining their understanding through all three modes of communication (interpretive, interpersonal, presentational). By the end of Latin II, students will be able to read syntactically complex Latin passages close to the level of complexity seen in Latin literature, and they will possess a deeper understanding of the metropolitan society and political history of the Roman Republic.


    Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of Latin IB or by placement exam.
    1 credit

Middle School Faculty

  • Photo of John Rocklin
    John Rocklin
    Latin Instructor
    Columbia University - M.Ed.
    Simmons College - M.S.
    University of Texas at Austin - M.A.
    University of Vermont - B.A.
Address: 6500 St. Stephen's Dr., Austin, TX 78746
Phone: (512) 327-1213