The end of another week of snow days...

It's still pretty gross outside and I went the full day yesterday without power.  If you need something to do it's in the last post.  As I said before, I hope that all of you have kept up with reading and research and the like as we are going to have a very accelerated schedule to get through everything by Spring Break.

Snow Day Number 6

It's one of these winters again, and they say that we're going to get more snow tonight.  Goodness.

Russian I and II

Make sure that your journals are complete.  Make sure that you are studying nightly to practice your grammar and vocabulary.  A great thing to do is to listen to Russian music and follow along with the lyrics - think about the grammar being used, use the Yandex translator to define words and build your vocabulary.  Keep using and studying Russian during this time.  There's a YouTube channel called ELLO which is all Russian music videos.

AP English III

I hope that all of you are using this time to get ahead on Invisible Man as well as your research.  When we return there will be a new, accelerated reading schedule as well as a quick overview on the idea of research outlines before you need to turn them in.  Be productive on these days off, a bit of work now will save a lot of work later.

English II

Just like AP you all should be getting ahead with your reading.  Spend time daily with Purple Hibiscus so that when you return you can be ahead.  Pay attention to characters, work on your vocabulary, and enjoy the time to simply read and get to know these characters.  The more you read now, the less you'll have later.

Homework for A-Day Students: 2/23/2015

It was great seeing all of you again today.  Here are your reminders to get you to Wednesday's classes.

Russian II

For tonight you need to work in your journals to revise or rewrite your last entry.  You should have two entries in your journal by Wednesday - one for week one and one for week two.  Make sure that your week two entry includes the phrase about good on good (маслом масленное) as well as the verbs of studying used in the correct forms and with the correct cases.

Outside of this feel free to work on studying your genitive plural irregulars that you learned today.

Lastly, the weather reports have been moved to next week (Tuesday and Thursday) you'll also likely have a quiz on Genitive Plural next week - prepare yourselves accordingly.  Missing assignments and quizzes need to be made up by Friday of this week for progress reports next week.

Russian I

For tonight, if you did not finish the twelve sentences about your animals, please make sure to finish those tonight.  Make sure to have two answers for each of your questions - one for your masculine animal and one for your feminine animal.  Use adjectives as much as you can to practice with your case endings.

As stated above, make sure to have your journals ready to be checked/collected.  You just have two - make sure that the second entry uses your phrase from last week.  You can also continue writing about your animals if you would like.

Lastly, remember about making up missed assignments by Friday.  Many of you have at least one thing missing.

English II

Make sure that you have met your reading goal for Purple Hibiscus on Wednesday.  Some of your classmates have gone as far as to already finish the whole book!  Be like them.  Read!

Snow Day #3 - 2/18/2015

Here we go again.  Keep working on the ideas in the last post - I hope that you've been researching and reading!

SNOW DAY #2 - 2/17/2015

Who knows when we'll be back to school - maybe tomorrow, maybe Thursday.  If you're looking for something to do today, here are my suggestions.

Russian I and II

Make sure that your journals are ready to be collected since I will be seeing you our next day in school.  Continue practicing with your new vocabulary and grammar.  Make flashcards of the different endings and be able to identify which case is signified by which endings.  Spending a few hours with this throughout the day (twenty minutes here, thirty minutes there) just drilling these cards can help you to memorize and get this information down pat.

Russian II

Your weather reports will likely be due next week with the snow.  We'll talk about this more next class.  Try to get some writing done for this assignment and I'll answer questions for you next day in class.

English II

You should be reading Purple Hibiscus.  Continue working on your vocabulary development as well as noticing the characters in the text.  We'll continue working on research projects in class, but if you have reliable internet connections at home I would recommend that you work on some of this research at home.

AP English III

Make sure that you're prepared for next class.  Some of you did not submit your writing assignment on symbolism in Invisible Man, so make sure that you communicate with Ms. Alley about this.  I would suggest that you continue to read Invisible Man and use this day to get ahead on your reading.  In addition, continue working on your research assignments - find your data and create your note cards.

With that, I'm going to bundle up and take the dog for a walk!  Enjoy the day everyone!  See you soon!

Homework for B-Day Students: 2/16/2015

And that was a very fast day!  Here are your reminders to get you to our next class, whenever that happens to be.

AP English III

Make sure that you are caught up on your reading of Baldwin and on the reading of Invisible Man, chapters two through three.  Bring any lingering questions you have from the first four chapters (prologue to chapter three) as we will be spending a good chunk of time working through the first section of the text and having some time to talk through this opening.

If you did not submit your writing on the symbolism of the Battle Royal - make sure to get that in.  If you are going to submit an electronic copy, send that directly to Ms. Alley at kta5duke (at) gmail (dot) com.

Lastly, continue researching.  You should be working nightly to find sources, analyze them, and refine your argument.  Outlines will be due soon so you must continue pushing forward to make these deadlines.

English II

Not next class but the one after you need to be to the end of the first section in Purple Hibiscus, page sixteen.  Make sure that as you read, you continue to take note of the characters and any new vocabulary for this first section of the novel.  In addition, you can continue working on your research projects.  Remember that copying and pasting directly from a source is not acceptable - this is plagiarism and you will not earn credit if you plagiarize.

Homework for A Day Students - The Weekend!

Russian I

This weekend since you have Russian on a Friday you have an entry in your journals due for me on Tuesday.  Try to continue the same type of work that we were doing in class about our animals.  Write a variety of sentences using adjectives and nouns in as many cases as you can.  The more that you use the language the quicker you will acquire it.

Russian II

You also have your journals to write this weekend.  Make sure that you attempt to use the verbs of studying as you write this weekend - remember the case connections that you need in order to work with each of the verbs.  In addition, we will be working on our weather reports more in class on Tuesday.  Presentations will happen starting on Thursday.  This is an extension for your projects.

English II

For your first reading goal you will have until Thursday to read to the end of the first group of pages (to page sixteen).  As you read, try to focus on the characters - what are your first impressions of them?  Also, make sure that you are collecting vocabulary as you read to make sure that you are engaged and understanding what you read.  We will have more time to work on our projects next week - feel free to continue on those if you would like, but you should really prioritize your reading.

Homework for B-Day Students - 2/12/2015

AP English III

Your homework this weekend is a bit extensive so here is a brief review of your tasks:

1. Read James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" - be sure to annotate heavily and to draw connections between this piece and Invisible Man.  If you don't have a copy of 50 Essays you can find the piece at this link.
2. Your writing on the symbolism within the Battle Royal scene is due on Monday.  Make sure to follow all of Ms. Alley's guidelines in completing this assignment.
3. Work on your research task.  This next week you should focus on researching your topic and refining both your topic and your argument.  Remember that specificity is the name of the game with this assignment to be able to do it well.  Use the resources from the Durham County Library available at this page.  To login and use SIRS you will need a Durham County Library card - if you don't have one, get one so that you can use this source.  Make sure that as you are doing your work you are taking notes for your research - feel free to use the notecard structure I gave you in class if you like that idea.

English II

Over the weekend do some pre-research on Igbo/Ibo culture, the politics of Nigeria or elements related to Catholicism.  Try to determine which topic you would like to research for your research project.  We'll begin these projects next class!

Homework for A-Day Students: 2/11/2014 - PLC DAY!

Russian I

You all have no homework tonight since you had a quiz today in class.  For tonight, I would recommend continuing to work and practice with vocabulary and grammar to reinforce the concepts from the quiz today.  Make sentences talking about yourself.  Write and think in Russian as much as you can.  The more exposure you get, the better your language will become.

Next class we'll move on into the other portions of the second chapter.

Russian II

You also don't have any homework tonight since you had a quiz today in class.  For tonight, you should keep working on your weather reports.  Try to practice your speaking and your writing.  Work on your visuals.  Practice using your vocabulary!

English II

Next class we will begin our work on research related to our novel this quarter, Purple Hibiscus.  For next class, develop your idea for what you want to research.  You have three general topics to consider.  Come up with some ideas so that next class we can begin in earnest with the work of research!

Homework for B-Day Students - 2/10/2014

AP English III

You all have a few things to accomplish for tonight and leading into next class:

1. Make sure that you have completed the reading of chapters two and three.  Chapter two is long and complicated and also quite disturbing - get through it.  Use your motif chart to guide you through the reading - all of the motifs show up in chapter two.  Pay attention to new characters like Trueblood and Norton.  Consider any patterns you're seeing in the Invisible Man's behavior.  Annotate!  Draw connections.  In chapter three there's a bit of a break because it's kinda short - note the motifs - you have all but one represented.
2. Begin work on your first mini-essay on the symbolism of the Battle Royal scene.  Make sure that you follow the instructions given by Ms. Alley.  Remember that your draft is due on the 16th.

English II

Any extra credit or missing assignments that you did not submit today in class will be due from you by your next class.  Any assignments still missing will be converted into actual zeroes.

Homework for All Classes - A Day - 9 February 2015

English II

No homework tonight since we had a quiz today in class.  If you need to take tonight to finish any of your missing assignments or your extra credit, please do so.  Be aware that any missing assignments or extra credit will not be accepted past Wednesday.

Russian I and II

You both have quizzes next unit.  Be sure that you have studied and prepared yourself so that you are ready to perform on your assessments.  If you need help, please ask!

Homework for B-Day Students: 2/6/2015 - Happy Weekend

AP English III

Finish your reading of Prologue and Chapter One from Invisible Man.  As you read, make sure that you complete your motif chart for both portions.  You will have all of the motifs in both of these chapters so make sure that your chart is thoroughly done.  Remember that you have a reading guide to use as you are working through the chapter.  Use this to either answer the questions explicitly or to guide your understanding as you annotate.

Also, you need to do a bit of pre-research on SIRS or other acceptable sources and complete your Research Question sheet.  Try as much as you can to answer the questions thoroughly so that you have a good start moving into your later portions of your research.  Remember that you need to evaluate two actual sources.

English II

You have your quiz on Tuesday.  Study and prepare for this quiz!  See the notes for A-day as your quiz will be much the same.

Homework for A-Day Students - 2/5/2015

English II

For the weekend you need to focus on studying and preparing for your quiz on Monday.  Your quiz will focus on the Russian literature that we have studied in this unit.  Make sure that you are familiar with:

• A Young Doctor's Notebook - Based on stories by Mikhail Afansevich Bulgakov
• "Before spring there are days like these..." and "Everything is plundered..." by Anna Andreevna Akhmatova
•  "A Problem" by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
• "I have visited again..." by Alexsandr Sergeevich Pushkin

If you don't have notes you can request a .pdf of the them from me via email.  Also many of these texts are available online.  A Young Doctor's Notebook is on Netflix.  You can also check out a book for the weekend.

Your quiz will have multiple choice, vocabulary, and a short answer.  You'll get a progress report and have an extra credit opportunity.

Ask for help if you need it.

Russian I

If you need the weekend to complete your project take it, but make sure that you finish.  On Monday you'll also be assessed on the use of adjectives, possessive pronouns, and demonstrative pronouns in all cases.  There will be multiple choice, matching, fill in the blank, and also a dialogue with listening and questions.  Remember that all of the information is in your textbooks and the dialogue is also printed in your textbook at the beginning of chapter two.  The audio of the file is located here and starts at about 15:00.  The exercises at the end of the chapter can also be helpful.  I'm available tomorrow for questions.

Russian II

A lot of you were excited about your projects today, and that excites me.  For the weekend, make sure that you complete exercise I and also work with exercise III, the second one is only for extra practice if you want/need it.  We will have some time to work on the visuals on Monday in class, but if you have a plan or a rough draft going into that, all the better - hopefully our Russian weathergirls helped to inspire those.  

Make sure to those of you who picked obscure cities that you use the general area to cite the weather, look up the region and climate data.

On Monday we'll refine this project a bit more and put in some leg work.  Here's another weathergirl for you, она быстро говорит по-русски.

Homework for B-Day Students - 4 February 2015

AP English III

For homework tonight you need to read Ellison's introduction to Invisible Man.  Ms. Alley was not able to find an online copy of the introduction so if your copy of the novel doesn't contain the introduction please stop by to get yourselves a copy of the reading.  As you read the introduction, consider what Ellison says his purpose is in writing the text.  In addition, consider the major themes or ideas that you see in the introduction as they will be significant as we begin in the prologue next class.

Lastly, remember that with this book you're expected to basically read ten pages a night for nine weeks.  You can do this - don't get behind and then don't blame us when you fail your reading quizzes.

English II

For homework tonight you should finish jotting down your observations from the watching of A Young Doctor's Notebook.  We will finish reviewing this next class as we review for our quiz next week.  The quiz will focus on Pushkin, Chekhov, Akhmatova, and Bulgakov.  Make sure that you have notes on these authors and if you don't ask me for .pdf files of the notes.

Homework for A-Day Students: 2/3/2015

Russian II

Tonight for your homework you all have the task of working more with your vocabulary for this unit.  Especially practice with your verb "to take" and your words describing the weather as your vocabulary project will be a weather report.  You'll also be using a lot of dative and prepositional case in your weather reports - so look over those notes as well.

Russian I

Your projects on your house are due next class.  Remember that you need to mark out five rooms of your house and identify three pieces of furniture in each room.  To pair with your diagram of your house's floor plan make sure that you have three sentences about what is in these rooms or what happens in the rooms.  Remember to use the examples we looked at last class as well as the ones we worked through on the board.  Do not use translators - feel free to be simple in your sentences.  Remember that the goal is to communicate and own what you say.

English II

For homework tonight you should focus on doing as much of the viewing guide as possible from what we watched today in class.  We will review this viewing guide next class as well as review for our quiz which will be happening next week.

Apologies to A-Day Students and Homework for All

A-Day Students:  Apologies for not getting your homework up until now.  Here's what it is:

Russian I and II

Both of you have the same assignment - write one page double spaced in your journal about anything that you would like.  For this assignment you can feel free to use any of your grammar goals that you've learned and really you should as you want to be practicing with these ideas.  Try to include one of the sayings of the week in your writing so that you can work in some conversational phrases as well.

You don't need to write any more than one page.  Focus on accuracy!

English II

There's no homework for all of you leading into our next class.  Make sure you're spending a bit of time studying and reviewing since we'll have a test next week.

AP English III

For next class you have your reading of Zora Neale Hurston's "How It Feels to Be Colored Me".  This piece is available in 50 Essays or at this link.  As you read, make links to the introductory information about the Harlem Renaissance.  Make sure, especially, that you focus on the vocabulary in this piece, the importance of jazz/blues music in the piece, and especially the idea of identity.

Read carefully and consider.  Annotate heavily.