The Complete
Certaminer
by Steve Perkins, North
Central High School, IN
Original text
© 2000 Steve Perkins
As we take a look today behind the scenes
of the phenomenon known as certamen, we shall begin by considering
the building and training of a team. We shall examine the building
of a curricular program that supports certamen, recruitment methods,
practice structure, and finally the ethics and dynamics of team
competition. Hopefully neophyte teachers will find information
helpful in building the certamen dynasty they dreamed about during
foreign language methods classes, and veteran teachers will glean
tips that will help them solidify their empires.
Before teachers can begin to analyze these
four components, however, they must consider what are their own
goals for leading students into foreign language academic competition.
Often we have a vague sense of the benefits of certamen, but
rarely do we identify our specific reasons for leading our students
into participation. To keep matters simple, let us consider three
basic reasons for building a certamen program. The first possible
goal is to build a top-notch, consistently victorious, cut-throat
team, in which only the most competent Latin scholars participate.
The benefits of such a program include individual student success,
which often serves as a motivation for students to pursue even
loftier levels of achievement. Success in this area can also
serve students well on college and scholarship applications.
The continued victories of the team serve the class as a whole,
as other students identify themselves with part of a winning
tradition. This effect can even spread into the rest of the school,
increasing course enrollment as other students seek to find out
what Latin and Latin Club are all about.
A second goal is to create a program in
which all students have the opportunity to participate. In some
communities, the thought of academic competition has never crossed
the minds of either parents or students. Just to have the opportunity
to learn to work together as a team, to travel to different places
for competition, and to learn the real-life skills of handling
victory and coping with defeat are sufficient incentive and reward
to invest time in certamen.
A third option combines these two, and
has been the path I have largely followed. While I do not believe
that all students can achieve at the same level and in the same
manner as all others, I do believe that more can be successful
in academic competitions than are easily recognized by their
scores on paper and pencil tests. Our habit is to open certamen
practice in the months before a competition to any interested
student. It is only in the days immediately preceding the competition
that the teams are picked, and then the students decide among
themselves who should play. Their decisions, made anonymously
on paper ballots, are to be based on the criteria that they have
discussed and established, often including such things as attendance
at practice, ability to work on a team, and knowledge. As I tell
the students each year, "I have already won all the glory
I can stand. This is your team, so you decide what it should
look like."
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