Homework for B-Day Students - 9/30/2014

AP English III

There's a few things coming down the pike that I want to make sure you're all aware of.  Here's a bit of information on these tasks coming up:

1. For tonight read E.B. White's "Once More to the Lake"; it is in 50 Essays or at this link.  Remember to read and annotate - look for Transcendentalism in there!
2. Your vocabulary cards are due on Monday.  Remember that you need to have five cards from your bookmarks.
3. We will likely have an exam on Wednesday of next week on these non-fiction and philosophical pieces.  Prepare for that by reviewing your notes - I'll give a more guided review on Monday.
4. Our first novel of the year is The Great Gatsby - we will likely begin this next Friday.  I would recommend purchasing your own copy of all of our novels as they will be heavily annotated by you!

English II

Your homework is to read the excerpts from Persepolis and answer the questions on each excerpt.  Remember to have a record of what you have read by doing notes or writing down observations in the margins of the text.

Homework and Announcements - 9/29/2014

Russian II 

Tonight we returned to the land of verbs. It looked to me that things were clicking again in class as we did those drills. Please continue your practice tonight. The Schaum's Outline is ver useful here because it organizes the exercises by stem. The book will call the stems by their Russian names. The exercises for you on the stems we know are on pages 215-218, 221, and 226-228. 

Try a sampling of these and see how you feel. Ask for help if you need it!

Russian I

From grading your tests today I can see some clear places for improvement. We will do some review work and probably look at scheduling a retest date for next week for those of you who would like that option. 

English II 

Tonight you have two excerpts which Ms. Gerdes gave you from the first chapter of Persepolis. Read the excerpts carefully and complete the tasks given to you at the top of the sheet. These excerpts are yours so please annotate or take notes on them to help you complete your task. Remember to have some evidence to show that you have done your reading for class. 

Homework for B-Day Students: 9/26/2014

AP English III

Over the weekend I have two or three things for you to take care of to prepare for next week.  First, begin on your vocabulary study.  Be aware that this is a standing assignment throughout the year.  Whenever I ask to see your bookmarks you should have these and be able to show me that you have actively been working on these pieces.  Remember that you will have to select five words for your cards and you will turn in five cards by the 6th of October.

Secondly, be sure that you have your five journals from being a Transcendentalist for the week.  With the journals you'll complete a one page, typed, MLA format reflection.  In the reflection, here are some questions to consider:

• What did you learn from this experience about yourself?  Others?  Society?  How did you learn these things?
• What were some of your successes?  Your failures?  Why?
• How do you better understand this philosophy?  Is it applicable in our world today?

The reflections are a space for you to write and process the experience.  Show me that you are thinking and being considerate.

The third thing would be to go back through your work on King and review now that we've read the clergymen's letter.  How can you better understand this piece given this context?

English II

No homework for the weekend!  Enjoy your time!  Be ready to start reading comic books next week!

Homework for B-Day Students - 9/24/2014

AP English III

For next class you will need to complete your reading and annotating of King's "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail."  As you read, try to make connections to the ideas of Emerson and Thoreau - I was glad to see some of that happening today in class (h/t Ellen).  Also, make sure that you complete your first bookmark.  You need to have twenty words with synonyms on your bookmark sheets.

Finally, let's clarify the Transcendentalist project.  You will write your fifth journal on Friday.  This is the end of the experiment.  Over the weekend, review your journals and write your reflection.  The reflection and journals are due on Tuesday.

English II

Your homework is the same as what was shared in the post below.  Complete your six word memoir and have it ready to be collected next class.

Homework for A-Day Students - 9/23/2014

Russian II

You all should be reviewing your cases and your work on grammar nightly.  You have no homework tonight to turn in, but there is a lot of stuff to review and study!

Russian I

Your homework is to prepare for your test!  Your test will be on Monday and will cover all of the subjects I went over with you in class.  You will want to come in on Friday afternoon for extra help if you need it.

English II

Your homework due on Thursday is to complete your six word memoir.  Remember that you will want to use either your computer or the paper we gave you in class to put your memoir together.  Focus on filling the page with the six words.  Make sure to think about your font or design of the letters, the colors, and any images that help the sentence.

Homework for B-Day Students - 9/22/2014

AP English III

Be reminded that you are always supposed to have a record of your notes from any reading assignment.  This is how you show me that you've done your homework.

For your work tonight you need to complete your first journal on your "Transcendentalist for a Week" assignment.  The prompt for tonight is:  What have you chosen to give up and why?  Remember that you can only write one page in your bluebooks.  Keep it brief, but answer the questions well.

Outside of living like a Transcendentalist you also have to begin preparing Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior's "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail."  This piece is available in 50 Essays or at this link.  Remember that you are always to have notes on reading.  Always.  The discussion of this piece will be on Friday, prepare yourselves accordingly.

English II

No homework for tonight.  Consider the ideas we began discussing today about telling our own stories versus someone telling those stories for us.  What's the difference?

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Students - 9/19/2014

Russian II

This weekend you are finishing your work reviewing all six cases.  This weekend, spend some time with the instrumental case.  Using your Schaum's Outline of Russian Grammar complete the following exercises.  The numbers after the exercise tell you which questions in the exercise you can complete.

• Exercise 31, page 63:  1, 3-8
• Exercise 32, page 63: 1-4, 6-10
• Exercise 33, page 63:  1-7
• Exercise 36, page 64:  1-15
• Exercise 37. page 64:  1-5
• Exercise 38, page 65:  1-9

At the end of this you have worked in all of your cases.  Continue practicing and reviewing and studying nightly.  Drill and practice.  Drill and practice!

Russian I

Your homework this weekend consists of the worksheet I gave you today.  Complete the exercise in which you take each word and turn it into a sentence paired with a translation.  All of your sentences should start with the Russian equivalent of "This is...".  Have this done on a piece of paper to turn in.  Also, read the names of the colleges and universities.  We will practice with some of this on Tuesday.  Don't forget.  You have your first test on Thursday on the alphabet and culture.  We'll prepare for this a bit on Tuesday.

English II

No homework for the weekend.  Enjoy your time off.  Consider our ideas about memoir and perspective from today's class.  

Homework for the Weekend - B Day Students - 9/18/14

AP English III

Over the weekend you have Henry David Thoreau's "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For" which is available in 50 Essays or at this link.  If you are accessing the text from the link then you will not need to read all of it, begin the reading at the paragraph which starts "I went to the woods because...".

As you read, annotate.  Look for the elements of Transcendental philosophy within the text and also go back to "The Over Soul" - Thoreau is living Emerson's philosophy.  How do you see this?  What are the positives or negatives to this?  Is it still possible to live this way?

English II

No homework for the weekend - if you need to finish your quiz, please make sure to take care of that tomorrow or Monday at the latest.

Homework for A Day Students - 9/17/2014

Russian II

Tonight you need to work through the dehydrated sentences.  Remember to be reviewing your cases and your grammar as you work.  Fill in the blanks with the required items and then consider the cases that you need for these items.

For numbers seven and eight you need to write two sentences of your own choosing.

Russian I

Tonight you all need to spend your time reading and working on your vocabulary lists.  Continue to practice with your reading and handwriting of these vocabulary words.  As a reminder you should be working with your vocabulary each night for about thirty to forty minutes.

Read aloud!  Practice!  The reading should be getting easier day after day.  Please ask for my assistance if you need it.

Here's a video on greetings to help you with your vocabulary.  Listen to the intonation patterns!

English II

Today we took our quiz and didn't really have time to get in to the film on Iran.  Next class we will begin on this topic and move forward into our study of memoirs.

B-Day Student Homework - 9/16/2014

AP English III

Tonight for homework you should spend time reviewing and rereading "The Over Soul" so that you are prepared for our discussion of this piece on Thursday.  Also, make sure that you are filling up your vocabulary bookmark with new words and definitions.  We will soon move on to the second portion of this assignment which is the word study.

English II

Tonight you need to prepare yourselves for your quiz.  Study and review what we've been going over in class as these questions and texts will be part of your quiz on Wednesday/Thursday.

Homework for A-Day Students - 9/15/2014

Russian II

Tonight for homework you have three exercises from Schaum's Outlines of Russian Grammar related to the Dative Case.  You will need to complete exercise 26 (1-8), exercise 28 (1-7) and exercise 29 (2, 3, and 5).  For exercise 29 you will need to use the expression надо which we learned today in class.

Russian I

Tonight I want you to practice with your vocabulary related to greetings and introductions.  Read over pages fifty and fifty-one which you were given today in class.  Then, complete exercise ten.  First, you need to fill in any missing parts of the dialogue using context clues.  Look at the answer, and then work backwards to fill in the missing question.  Once you have this done, on the back, you will need to write two brief dialogues.  Practice your vocabulary.  Write and speak.  Practice your intonation patterns!

English II

Next class you will have a quiz on the following texts:

• The Anecdotes and Sayings of Saadi
• "The Train from Rhodesia" by N. Gordimer
• "In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself" by W. Szymborska

• You will have thirty multiple choice questions related to these stories/texts.
• You will have grammar related to our warm-up tasks.
• You will have to write a paragraph which follows the proper structure.  The point is to show us what you have learned.  

Please feel free to ask questions.  Use your notes to study.  Prepare yourselves.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day Students - 9/12/2014

AP English III

This weekend you have a very difficult piece to read and annotate, due to its difficulty we will not be working on this piece until Thursday the 18th.  I would like, however, for all of you to have given this piece one solid attempt before Tuesday's class because we will be touching on it and may have the chance to start asking questions.

Your task is to read Ralph Waldo Emerson's "The Over Soul" and annotate the text.  Your annotations will likely be focused around asking questions of the text because it is wordy and complex, especially in terms of the sentence length and complexity.  As you read, use the rhetorical modes to help you.  Remember that this piece is centered around Emerson clarifying a concept - look for definition and exemplification.  Try to come out of this piece understanding what the Over Soul is to Emerson.  It may be helpful to consider connections to The Grapes of Wrath as Steinbeck is thoroughly influenced by Emerson, think especially of Ma and Jim Casy.

English II

Your task for the weekend is the same as the A-day students.  Complete your poetry study of your favorite song or the other poem that was on the back of your copy of "In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself."  Remember to work through all parts of the VLSITFT model and apply these ideas to your favorite song.

Homework for the Weekend - 9/11/2014 - A Day Students

Russian II

This weekend you need to finish watching our episode of "Орел и Решка" and answer the questions on the sheet I gave you.  Please make sure to bring your questions with you to class on Tuesday so that we can review some of these structures in writing.  If I see a good attempt you will get full completion credit.

Here's the video in case you can't find the link.

Russian I

This weekend you need to study your vocabulary lists and complete your handwriting of the new vocabulary words.  Please bring your flashcards or study aid with you to class on Tuesday so that I can check your handwriting.  We will begin working more with these words and phonetics on Tuesday.

English II

This weekend Ms. Gerdes and I would like to see you apply our poetry reading strategy to a favorite song of yours.  Please select a song and then evaluate the song based on the VLSITFT model in class.  You will need to do this on a separate sheet of paper to turn in.  Next class we will review a bit before our quiz which is happening on Wednesday and Thursday.

Homework for 9/10/2014

AP English III

Tonight for homework you will need to read the next chunk of chapters from Grapes which are chapters five through eight.  As you are rereading and annotating the text, be sure to look for the following ideas/topics/characters:

• motifs:  person to animal, American dream
• characters:  Ma Joad, Jim Casy
• devices:  personification, irony

As you read and notice things, go back to our conversation today and think about significance.  What is the importance of these specific elements of language?  What do these specific details add to Steinbeck's argument?

Furthermore, remember that you will have a quiz on the elements of rhetoric and argumentation next class.  Be sure to review your notes and know the new terminology well.  In addition, you may want to look over and complete your vocabulary that you've collected so that you are more familiar with these terms.

English II

Tonight you have no official homework but you should review your notes and your vocabulary collected from "The Train from Rhodesia".  You will be having a quiz on "The Sayings of Saadi", "The Train from Rhodesia", and the next text we will be reading "In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself" on Thursday the 18th of September.

Homework and Reminders - A Day Students - 9/9/2014

Russian II

Next class you have your first quiz on the nominative, accusative, prepositional, and genitive cases.  Prepare yourselves.  You will have a dialogue to listen to and answer questions, a paragraph to read and answer questions and finally a small writing and speaking assignment.  Feel free to come ask for help today or tomorrow.  And also, keep practicing your phonetics!

Russian I

Tonight I would like for you to spend time reading and writing in Russian.  First, practice your phonetics for approximately thirty minutes each night.  Then, write the poem about the little old man out in your best handwriting.  Practice your reading too.  We will have our first quiz on the alphabet coming soon - likely next week!

English II

You have no homework tonight but you should be working on your vocabulary and reviewing your notes.  If you have make-up work to complete, please get that settled.  You will have a quiz on 9/17 and 9/18 on the first few texts that we have read this year and on your writing skills.

9/8/2014 - B Day Homework and Announcements

AP English III

Tonight you have two things to settle.  The first is to reread and annotate (or reannotate if you have already) chapters one through four of The Grapes of Wrath.  As you are reading and annotating you should continue looking for vocabulary and, hopefully, notice elements related to rhetoric which may have been hidden in plain view before.

Be sure to have your book with you until I tell you that you no longer need it.

Additionally you will have your first quiz on Friday.  This quiz will focus on the elements of rhetoric and argumentation which we have begun to study in the opening of the year.  More details to come on Wednesday, but you may want to begin studying now by looking over your vocabulary from our class discussions.

English II

Your homework is the same as the post below.  Complete the reading of "The Train from Rhodesia" and then complete your detail hunt following the instructions on the assignment sheet.

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Students - 9/5/2014

First of all, thanks for being with me on my birthday!  You all got me off to a good start.  Here are your assignments for the weekend.

Russian II

This weekend you have several exercises on cases.  Remember to complete the even numbered questions in each exercise.  I will be checking this for completion.  Mark questions that you cannot or aren't sure how to do so that we can review these on Tuesday.  On Tuesday we will review in preparation for our quiz.

Also remember that if you did not submit your warm-up sheet with last night's homework you must get that in to me no later than Tuesday for credit.

Russian I

This weekend I would like for you to practice with your reading and writing.  Go to your phonetics sheets and practice reading the two poems several times.  Also, practice your handwriting and write these poems in your best Russian handwriting.  You will want to write them several times to practice.

Russian I and II

Don't forget to read and practice your phonetics sheets nightly.  You should read over these every day to practice your mouth positions and sounds.

English II

This weekend finish reading "The Train from Rhodesia" and complete your detail hunt about the character of the man and the woman.  Feel free to use the back of your handout to collect details and do your work.

Homework - B Day Students - 9/4/2014

AP English III

Over the weekend you have a few things to read and consider to prepare for Monday's class.

1. You'll need to read/annotate "On Compassion" by B. Ascher.  You can find this in 50 Essays or at this link.
2. You will also need to reread/annotate "Harvest of Shame" and "Work Works" from The Working Poor.  As you do this rereading, consider the argument we developed in class today.  How can you continue to refine it and clarify it using the data from these chapters?

English II

Your assignment is in the post below for A-day students.  Be sure that your paragraph is submitted no later than Monday if you did not submit it today.

Homework for A-Day Students - 9/3/2014

Russian II

For homework tonight you need to complete the assignment on dehydrated sentences.  Put the five sentences into grammatically correct Russian forms.  See me for help if you need it.

Russian I

Complete the handwriting homework and go back to complete any skipped exercises from the first set of homework.  You should complete the following exercises:  4, 7, 10, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, and 29.

Be sure to have your completed homework and your warm-up sheets next class as it will be collected for a grade.

English II

You have no official homework tonight if you were able to submit your final draft of your paragraph.  If you did not submit your draft then you must turn it in next class.  Feel free to complete the bonus assignment below for extra credit.  Next class we will continue reading "The Train from Rhodesia".

English II - Extra Credit Assignment - 9/3 and 9/4

If you finish typing your final draft and turn in your draft packet before the end of the period, then you may complete this extra credit assignment.  To complete the extra credit assignment, follow these instructions:

1.  Leave a comment to this blog post by clicking the link below.
2.  Do an Internet search for a current event related to South Africa - it may be related to culture, politics, arts, or anything that you'd like as long as it is centered on South Africa.
3.  Post the link to your article in your comment.
4.  Type a three to four sentence summary of your current event.
5.  Explain in three to four sentences how this current event is connected to Sarafina, "The Train from Rhodesia", or "Teaching Under Apartheid".  Be clear and specific when you explain this connection.
6.  Leave your name and class period in the comment to earn credit.

9/2/2014 - B Day Homework and Reminders

AP English III

Be reminded that your final drafts of your introduction piece is due to me on Thursday.  You will need to submit your rough draft as well as any additional drafts which you completed before the due date.  In addition, be sure that you have your copy of The Working Poor next class as we will be studying the introduction of this piece.

Lastly, complete the Ehrenreich questions based on "Serving in Florida" - we will review these questions on Thursday to start our day together.

English II

Next class we will be going to the computer lab to type up our final assignments.  Remember to have your rough draft and feedback chart as you may be able to turn everything in before you go for the weekend.  The final drafts are due no later than Friday (A-day) and Monday (B-day).  If you didn't have a draft for workshop, please come see me or Ms. Gerdes before the computer lab time with your draft to get back your points.

Also, if you are completing the bonus assignment make sure to have your reading done for our next class.