Friday, January 31, 2014

Homework for A-Day Students - 1/31/2014

It certainly was good to see all of you again today at school.  Here are your assignments for the weekend.  B-day Students - Be advised that your assignments which would have been due this week are now due on Monday as that is our next B-day.  Honors English II, ESL English III, and Russian I all have assignments due.

AP English III

Over the weekend you need to complete reading Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son", bring Invisible Man next class and also complete your reflection to this prompt.  Remember for the prompt that you must type one page, double spaced, with one inch margins.  I would like for everyone to use Times, 10 point font.  Do not go over a page.  Do not use a header.  Do not use a title.  Simply answer the prompt.  I would recommend at least two drafts of this.

Prompt:  When President Obama was elected in 2008, many commentators and thinkers posited that America was entering a post-racial society.  Do you agree with this idea?  Why or why not?  What evidence from our reading or your own experience strengthens your position?

In order to properly address this prompt you must first define the idea of "a post-racial society" and then evaluate the idea.  Use literature and texts deliberately and specifically to show your ideas and clarify them.

Russian I

This weekend I want you to complete your work on our review sheet with singular versus plural.  Complete ten of the sentences from exercise fifteen.  Change the singular to plural in the sentence and then translate the sentence.  Remember to change all singular words to plural including adjectives, demonstrative and possessive pronouns, as well as nouns.  Be on the look out for irregular plurals and spelling rules!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Snow Day - 1/29/2014

The roads are frozen and we're all at home.  If you go out today I'd recommend that you only go out on foot, but if you drive remember that doing everything slowly is the way to go in the snow.

Our next day back at school will be an A Day.  Plan accordingly and be sure to have all of your A Day assignments ready.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Homework for B-Day Students - 1/28/2014

Honors English II

Tonight for homework you need to work on completing your cards/slides for our vocabulary review.  Remember that if you are completing PowerPoint slides instead of index cards then you will need to share that with me via Google Drive or you should e-mail me the slides in advance.  Please plan accordingly.

For tonight's homework, I'd like for you to consider some of our reading and discussion questions on Oedipus the King.  In particular I'd like for you to think about the following:
  • In what significant ways does the chorus contribute to the play?  Give specific instances of where the chorus serves important functions.
  • How does Sophocles manipulate the fact that the audience already knows the ending of this myth? Analyze the importance of dramatic, verbal, and situational irony throughout the play and how it enables Sophocles to convey an argument to his audience.
ESL English III

Tonight you all should work on your individual memoirs.  Once you have selected your significant moment, start to write.  Remember to rely on the five senses as you are doing your writing to make the moment come alive for me as your reader.  Remember to focus on your specific moment and show me the details of that event.


Monday, January 27, 2014

Homework for A-Day Students - 1/27/2014

AP English III

Tonight I'd like for you to continue our reading of significant African-American writers by studying James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" - this piece can be found in 50 Essays as well as at this link.  For the reading, you only need to complete parts one and two of the article.  We can save part three for Friday's class; if you'd like to go ahead and read it, please do.

As you read, pay particular attention to the extremely different tone that Baldwin takes in his essay in contrast to Hurston.  Try to find the reasons for the difference in tone from his experiences.  Also, continue to notice trends in the subject matter and rhetorical strategies employed by these authors.

Lastly, don't forget to look up the novel Native Son so that you can understand Baldwin's use of literary allusion to frame his narrative.

Russian I

For tonight I want you to continue your work on the reading assignment to develop your skills at using the plural.  In the story I want you to mark all plural nouns, adjectives, pronouns, possessive pronouns, and demonstrative pronouns.  At the end of the story you should then transform these from their plural version back to their singular.  If you can work in reverse, this will show me that you really understand this concept.  Remember as you do this work, do not just mark a word as plural just based on the ending.  Read carefully and remember that the genitive and prepositional case also use these endings.  Think about context and work on your translation skills as you do this work.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Homework for B-Day Students - 1/24/2014

Students - Here are your assignments for the weekend.  Make sure that you're working hard to advance and prepare for next week.

Honors English II

Over the weekend ladies and gentlemen you should complete your vocabulary cards and notes as well as continue to study your first twenty words.  Your cards and slides are due to me on Thursday - we will present these cards and words on Thursday as a way to review the words before your vocabulary test on February 3rd.  Please begin to study and prepare for this examination.

To study I would recommend that you look up each word and find synonyms for each one.  Find a synonym which you know and then pair that word with the vocabulary word.  Use your vocabulary in your everyday speaking so that you can internalize these words more effectively.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Homework for A-Day Students - 1/23/2014

Students,

Here are your assignments to take you through the weekend.  Please make sure to pay attention to the details.

AP English III

I hope that you all enjoyed our musical analysis and poetry work today.  I think that these pieces do a very good job of setting the context for the Harlem Renaissance as well as helping all of you to understand some very important elements of our upcoming novel.  For the weekend I want you to read "How It Feels To Be Colored Me" by Zora Neale Hurston.  This piece is available in 50 Essays or at this link.  As you read, keep attention to your key motifs of identity, gender, and race.  Also, pay attention to the use of diction that Hurston employs.  There's a lot of coded language in the piece which I hope that you will be able to uncover in your reading.

Read and annotate heavily.  Also, you should get started on Invisible Man so that you aren't thrown off when I give you the reading schedule.

Russian I

Now I can officially welcome all of you to the second semester.  Today in class we went over the basic system of making plurals in the nominative case as well as some exceptions to the basic system.  This weekend for homework you will complete additional practice to fully learn this system.

You need to complete on a separate sheet of paper the following:

  • EITHER exercise 76 OR 79
  • EITHER exercise 77 or 78
  • EVERYONE completes exercise 80.
Exercise 1 on the opposite side is available for extra practice.  Exercise 2A is meant for you to work with reading and translation.  You do not need to complete these exercises for grading.

Next class I will collect your НАЧАЛО sheets and your homework for this weekend.  I will be checking the homework for accuracy!  If you are missing a НАЧАЛО due to absence be sure to make that note on your paper.  Here is the list of what I'll be checking on the НАЧАЛО sheets:
  • 12/16 (A day) or 12/17 (B day) - The Real Russia:  Grocery Store.
  • 12/18 or 12/19 - Cultural Information on Russian New Year and Christmas.
  • 12/20 or 1/6 - Dehydrated Sentences
  • 1/13 or 1/14 - Topics to Review for Studying
  • 1/23 or 1/24 - Dictation of New Vocabulary
I hope that this gives everyone the information they need to get caught up.  Remember that I am available outside of class for additional assistance.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Homework for Honors English II - 1/22/2014

I'm glad that we all got a chance to get a bit of extra sleep today.  Given that I and the swim team are about to have a very late night, the extra sleep will sure come in handy.  Here are your reminders for tonight.

Honors English II

For tonight you need to start on your THREE vocabulary slides/cards which you will be studying in this first round.  Remember that you can pick from words one through twenty from the list, but be sure that you've encountered the word in the text since you have to write out the sentence.  Remember that for this assignment you will need to use either PowerPoint or index cards - either is fine for me.  Have all of the required information and ask if you need help, especially with the word origin information.

Next class we'll get caught up with Oedipus and hopefully move on to the third portion.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

End of Sunday Workday!

And with that everything I brought home is graded.  If you have a comment on your grade or are missing an assignment I expected to have that assignment by 8:00 am on Tuesday or else I will have to give you a missing assignment score.

I'm off to enjoy the remainder of the long weekend.  Russian I students - Don't forget about your vocabulary study system.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

End of a Saturday Workday

Just a quick post to let all of you know that grades are finalized in most classes except AP English III 2A.  I should have 2A's Huck Finn exams graded by the end of the day tomorrow.

Missing Assignments - Exams

Several students in my classes have missed exams due to being absent in class on either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.  If you have missed an exam I have attempted to contact you and tried to also leave notes in PowerSchool.  Final administration of exams will be on Tuesday morning at 8:00 am.  My goal is to submit all grades by 11:00 am.  Please contact me this weekend via e-mail or come in for the make-up administration.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Students

I believe that I posted this yesterday, but just to make sure that we're all clear.

AP English III

This weekend you need to make sure to acquire your copy of Invisible Man - remember that I prefer you get the red and white cover or the green cover so that we will have matching page numbers.  We won't start our reading of this book for a week or so, but I do recommend that you start reading it now to get ahead.  This book will challenge you due to its post-modern style and type of narration.  It's not like Huck Finn where you have the language issues of understanding, it's just confusingly written.  Struggle and get through it and remember, Ellison is confusing you on purpose.  Think about why he would confuse you and how this perhaps relates to the experiences of the narrator and Black society as a whole.

Russian I

Over the weekend you should study your new vocabulary as well as the adjectives from chapter two.  Focus this weekend on your verbs, nouns, and adjectives.  We'll be working with those next week.  Be sure that you come in to class on Wednesday/Thursday with your study aid of choice for vocabulary.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Announcements and Reminders for All Classes - 1/16/2014

Sorry for not posting anything yesterday, it slipped my mind in my hurry to get to the gym.

AP English III

You all have your final exam on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  Study hard and be prepared.  Remember to bring in your copy of the novel for your final annotation check.  Also, if you have not yet purchased a copy of Invisible Man I would recommend that you do this soon as we will be starting the novel next week.

Russian I

I've at this point graded all completed A-day exams and posted those grades.  I'm pretty pleased with what I see, there were some issues in the final section of the multiple choice, but that's to be expected since that information was pretty new.  Keep studying and reviewing!  Especially your cases and verb conjugation rules.  Next class (Friday/Wednesday) we will review our new vocabulary for this unit and then watch more of Doctor Zhivago - hopefully we will finish it.

Honors English II

Your homework is the same as the previous post.  Please make sure that you bring back your copy of Persepolis on Wednesday as I will be collecting them then.

ESL English III

You all have no homework for the long weekend.  Continue your individual reading.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Homework for B-Day Students - 1/14/2014

Honors English II

This assignment will not be collected until Wednesday 1/22/2014 which will be our first day of the third grading period.  Keep that in mind as you prepare the assignments below.  First, here is a link to an online version of Oedipus the King.  For those of you who don't want to drag your textbooks back and forth, this may be a good option for you.  Remember that the parts as I've broken them down will not be marked in this or in any copy of the play, so pay attention to the details in the instructions.

For homework you need to read the discussion of the Chorus.  In the online and regular text you will read the Strophe and Antistrophe until Oedipus reenters the scene.  This is part two.  Once you complete your reading of the part there are the following tasks:

  1. Complete your WHO, WHERE, WHEN, and WHAT notes.  Do these in the same manner we did in class.
  2. Work on your vocabulary.  Look for words.
  3. Select one portion of the text.  Focus on one set of lines by the Strophe or Antistrophe and present a tone analysis of these lines.  In the analysis you will want to tell me what is the tone that the speaker has and how is the tone created.  Be sure to look carefully at the language and explain any particular word choice, imagery, or figurative language which creates the tone.  You should complete this assignment in a well written paragraph which draws heavily on the text to make your points clear.
I will check your notes for completion and collect your analysis for a grade.  Make sure that you do all parts.

ESL English III

Your goal for tonight is to reach the end of page thirty-two in your texts, the end of the chapter called "Persepolis."  Make sure that you stay focused on the main characters and what you're learning about them as they are really the most important part of the story.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Homework for A-Day and Russian I Students - 1/13/2014

AP English III

Tonight your key priority is to complete your websites and go through and edit the work of your peers so that you have your best possible product on Wednesday for presentation.  I went over the rubric and areas to be graded today in class.  Be sure to ask a group mate for this information.  I look forward to your presentations next class.  If we have time remaining after the presentations then we will move on to discussing a few smaller areas of "Where Are You Going?  Where Have You Been?" so make sure that you have the text with you next class too.

Lastly, you will need to purchase Invisible Man for next week.  We won't start reading it for a few more classes but I recommend that you purchase it now and start getting in to it.

Finally, don't forget that you have your exam on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on Friday's class.  Be prepared for that!

Russian I

Next class you will have your semester exam.  You should use your review packets as well as your study guides to prepare.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Homework for the Weekend - Honors English II

Honors English II

This weekend students you need to complete the final drafts of your essay and collect all of your supporting documents in your envelopes.  Here is a review of what you need to turn in to me on Tuesday:

  1. Your final draft with the essay rubric stapled to the back.
  2. Your rough draft with peer editing feedback.
  3. Your original argument with my feedback.
  4. You may also submit any additional drafts and notes or preparation work (outline) that you've done with this to show me your development and writing process.
Your essay will be scored using the rubric I gave you - you should use this to revise and check your writing.  The essay with the supporting material will count as a 150 point test grade.  Be sure that you do not miss this important end of quarter assessment.

AP English III - Weekend Addition

AP English III

The votes have been counted and we will be studying Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison next.  I'm super excited.  We won't start reading the novel for some time, but I would recommend that you acquire a copy as soon as possible so that you can begin to read it.  It's a dense text and it will take you some time to get used to the style and language.  Doing that work now will pay off down the road.

Also, I wanted to post some questions on the story that you are reading this weekend.  Use these to get into the text and unlock the meaning.

1.  Analyze the story's symbols.  Consider name symbolism.

2.  What are the numbers?  How could they be important on a symbolic level?

3.  Document the significance of the settings.

4.  What do you make of the references to music?  Do you see any allusions other than the dedication to Bob Dylan?

Dig deep with this story - it's fun.  Enjoy it!

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Students - 1/9/2014

AP English III

Over the weekend you have a few things to complete for me.  First, you have to put in a lot of work on your websites.  The reading load has been light for the last few classes so that you can devote a lot of time to these projects.  If you need me to look at anything in particular, please ask.  Secondly, you need to read a short story by Joyce Carol Oates called "Where Are You Going?  Where Have You Been?"  It's available at this link or you can pick one up from me before you leave for the weekend.  We will spend a lot of time on this story in class on Monday, annotate it heavily to find its deeper meanings.

Don't forget as well that we will have our The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn exam on Friday, and our website presentations on Wednesday.  Two major assessments next week.  Be prepared!

Russian I

Over the weekend your first priority is to finish your projects and have them perfect for turn in on Monday/Tuesday.  Make sure that you are not using translators, as if I see evidence of a translator in your work you will not receive a good grade.  In addition, you would be advised to begin studying for our semester exam which will be on Wednesday/Thursday.  Study all of your content from this semester, all the way back to the alphabet and the most recent grammar topics.  Help sessions will be available on Friday as well as on Tuesday.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Homework for B-Day Students - 1/8/2014

Honors English II

Today in class we completed the revision of our drafts as well as some additional instruction on writing introductions and completing citations.  On Friday we will finish reviewing information you will need for this assignment including how to structure your conclusions and how to transition effectively between paragraphs.  For tonight's homework you should complete your essay drafts and begin collecting all of your supporting documents for your envelope.  You also have the final rubric which I will use to grade your papers.  Use that to help you do your revisions.  Remember that your final drafts and all supporting documents are due on January 14, 2014.

On January 16th we will have our District Cumulative Assessment.  All you will need in class that day is a pencil to complete your test.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Homework and Reminders - 1/7/2014 - A Day

AP English III

Students, at this point you should be finished with your reading of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, if you have not finished it then you will need to definitely finish before our exam next week as there will be several questions on this final portion of the novel.  Your main priority right now is your website.  Website presentations will occur on the 15th; we will go over the presentations next class so that you can prepare.  Be sure that you are completing all portions of the site and working with your group mates to review and revise your final product.

After today, we have gone over the synthesis portion of the assignment.  You should now be able to complete this portion and move forward to finishing the website.

Lastly, remember that you have a choice between what we are going to do next.  Your options are Invisible Man or The Crucible - it doesn't matter to me which you choose, but you should do a bit of research so that you can make an informed decision.  My suggestion is that we do Invisible Man next, but I'll leave that up to you.

Russian I

Due to the fact that so many of you have done a lot of work on your projects, I am rewarding that by giving you the rest of the week to finish your writing projects.  Your final draft is due on Monday/Tuesday.  This is a final due date - you may submit your work early, but the final date is fixed.  Please remember that if you are completing the assignment online then you will want to use Google Docs and share with my mrmillerjhs @ gmail.com e-mail address.  You can also submit this assignment on paper or poster.

For homework tonight you will need to complete your work on exercise ten, reviewing adjectives and demonstrative pronouns and case endings.  Remember that you cannot do the possessive pronouns in these sentences yet - those are going to be covered next class.  Make sure that you work on your adjectives, demonstrative pronouns, and nouns due to the fact that I will be checking this for completion next class.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Homework for B-Day Students: 1/6/2014

Welcome Back Everyone!  It's a new year!

Here are your reminders to prepare for Wednesday's class.

Russian I:

Be reminded that your extra credit assignments are due next class.  Have all parts completed in order to receive full credit.  Also, you have your written projects due on Thursday and Friday of this week.  I'm available on Tuesday and Thursday to help with projects.

Honors English II:

Next class we will be having a workshop on our essay drafts.  Be reminded that you must have forty percent of your draft completed to get full credit for this assignment.  Based on the feedback I got from you in class today I will go over several topics on Wednesday related to finishing out your papers.  Final drafts will be due next week so that you have the weekend to make any changes.

I hope that all of you enjoyed watching Persepolis today.  Remember that you can respond to one of these questions in order to earn two bonus points on your last quiz.  Here are the questions:

1.  How does the addition of voices change your understanding of the characters in the story?

2.  What did you like about the film adaptation of Persepolis?  Why?

3.  Are you surprised about what happens in the second part of Marji's life, after she leaves Iran?  Why or why not?

4.  Does the second half of the story, following Marji's life in Europe, still accomplish her purpose of telling both her story and Iran's?  Why or why not?

Please respond in a comment to this thread; be sure that you identify the question to which you are responding.  Be sure that you answer in a complete paragraph which fully answers the question asked of you.