Friday, October 30, 2015

Homework for B-Day Students: 30 October 2015

AP English III

For homework over the weekend you have to complete the next set of chapters - sixteen through nineteen - in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  Related to this, check in with your annotations - especially front and back covers.  After this set of reading you will be more than halfway through the text, so your covers should reflect this.  Make sure that characters are paired with important page numbers and that the back covers reflect significant topics/motifs, settings, and symbols.

Related to your reading, you should also be further developing your paper topics.  After this weekend you should have a better idea as to what you are trying to prove or say about this topic or idea in the text.  Remember that this paper is argumentative (you're proving something about the text) and also analytical (you're analyzing the text to prove that you are right).  We'll work through more of this development in class next week.

Lastly, on Tuesday you'll have your next vocabulary cards due.  Use the site http://www.etymonline.com to help you with your word origin section of the card.  Remember to find the specific root of the word and that root's meaning.  Additionally, don't forget the synonyms and explanation of how the synonym is different from the original word.

Any paper resubmissions are due by the 18th of November.

English II:

Your homework for the weekend is the same as the A-day students below.  You have your next two chapters of Persepolis to read - be sure to take notes as you read because you will have a quiz on these chapters next class.  Also, work on your projects, you should be able to pick the specific moment in your life and then try to develop that moment.  What happened first, second, third, et cetera.

Lastly, if you didn't have your compare/contrast paragraph ready for today's class it needs to be turned in next class for credit.

3B and 4B Students - BRING BACK YOUR PERMISSION SLIPS!  MS. GINOCCHIO NEEDS THEM!

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Homework for A-Day Students - 29 October 2015

English II

There are a few things to accomplish as we move into next class - let's go over them in order of importance.

  1. Read the next two chapters of Persepolis - "The Sheep" and "The Trip".  As you read, take notes on characters, plot, and new vocabulary.  You'll have a quiz on these chapters on Monday.
  2. Complete the paragraph which compares/contrasts your childhood to Marji's if you did not already turn that in today.  The only other day we will accept this assignment is Monday.
  3. Select your moment in your life for your personal narrative project.  We'll spend some time working on projects on Monday, most likely.
Russian I

Continue studying your new vocabulary and grammar especially the older concepts such as verb conjugation and possessive pronouns.  These will continue to be important as we move forward.  For tonight's homework, you're going to complete exercise three on page fifty.  You have ten questions which will require you to use the PREPOSITIONAL CASE in your answers.  Review the way in which we change words to put them in the prepositional case and answer the ten questions.  Remember to write out full answers.

Russian II

Tonight you are focusing on numbers.  On page 221, you will complete exercise sixteen.  In this exercise you need to write out the answers to the questions that you are asked.  Remember that each answer will start with the word B (At).  Please write your numbers out in words so that you are able to learn this vocabulary.

Russian III

Tonight you are reading in the textbook and taking notes on the modal expressions we briefly reviewed today in class.  Read over pages 366-369 and develop your knowledge on the use of modals, especially as they relate to tense and aspect.  We'll review this on Monday in some detail.  To help you with your knowledge of the five modals I am asking you to write one sentence with each modal.  Please as you write use the new vocabulary in the chapter to help you to learn and reinforce these new words.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Homework for B-Day Students: 28 October 2015

AP English III

For next class you don't have any reading to complete, but I would make sure that you have thoroughly read and annotated the text up to and including Chapter Fifteen.  For homework, make sure that you have brainstormed five good topics for your future essay on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  Keep in mind that these don't need to be thoroughly developed, in fact you'll go through the process of better developing them later.  Focus on main ideas/topics/motifs and other back cover information to get you started.

Also you have vocabulary cards due on Tuesday next week.  You'll need to do five new cards for five new words.  Don't forget to find the word origin and its meaning as well as the differences in meaning between the synonyms.  These were the places where many of you lost points before.

English II

Next class we will collect your compare/contrast paragraphs on your life versus Marji's life.  Remember that your writing should be on a separate piece of paper, and it should be about eight to ten sentences long with four clear examples (two from you, two from Marji) and explanation of how these examples make you similar and different.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Homework for A Day Students - 27 October 2015

Welcome to quarter two everyone; here's what you need to do for tonight to prepare.

English II

You have some writing to complete tonight about you and Marjane Satrapi.  Answer the question which will compare and contrast your life to Marjane's life.  Remember that in this type of writing you have to add in extra examples from both your life and from Marjane's.  After the examples you will want to make sure to explain the examples and why they're important - what they mean.  This will be your first major homework check of the quarter; ensure that it's complete.

Russian II/III

For homework tonight I would like for you to complete your viewing guide on the first part of our film, Office Romance.  On the first side of the worksheet most of the questions will be answered in English, but you should pick one to answer in complete sentences in Russian.  On the back, you should answer question thirteen and one additional question in Russian in complete sentences.

Level II students - Make sure that you are studying your new vocabulary especially numbers, verbs, and nouns.

Level III students - Review the previous grammar topics (dative case, verbs and stress) as we will need these in the next unit.

Russian I

You have a quiz next class on everything we have learned so far in unit one.  The quiz will focus on verb conjugation, but you should also be sure that you know your possessive pronouns, nouns and gender rules.  Remember that foreign language is cumulative, so you can't forget what you already learned.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

All Students' Homework - 22 and 23 October - The End!

We have made it to the end of the first quarter!  Congratulations!  Here's where we need to be for next class.  I'm doing B-Day reminders too since I won't be in tomorrow

Russian II/III

Take a look at your work with our latest film "Служебный Роман" and work through your vocabulary and questions.  Make sure that all of the questions that we have seen so far in the film (the front side of the sheet) are answered.  In addition, work on question thirteen and compose an answer in Russian which expresses your opinion of the film so far.  One question from the front should also be answered thoroughly in Russian using complete sentences.

Russian I

You will not have your quiz on Tuesday, it will fall on Thursday.  We'll keep practicing and doing review on Tuesday.  To prepare for this review, complete the dialogue activity that we saw in our exercises on verbs.  Use the first dialogues as examples, and then complete the next dialogues using your knowledge of verb conjugation and Russian to complete the missing lines.

Now that we know about answering questions in the negative, please complete the final exercise writing out your questions as well as your negative and positive answer.  I will check homework again on Tuesday.

English II

Your homework for the weekend is on your second worksheet from today's class.  Select two of the images from those selected and analyze the image, picking out the important details as we did in our previous class.  Look at all of the details and codes that the author is putting into the image.  Then, be sure to answer the question about the image's importance in the story.

After these, please complete the final question on the back in a one paragraph response.  Remember to follow your good paragraph structure with a clear topic sentence, examples, and explanation of those examples!  This work will be your first grade of the second quarter.

AP English III

Reading!  You have your next goals on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn coming due on Wednesday, the next day we will see you.  Be prepared with thorough annotations and remember to work on your vocabulary bookmarks as well!

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Homework for B-Day Students: 21 October 2015

English II

There is not any homework for you all to complete tonight; however, some of you are missing assignments that need to be made up tomorrow so that they can count for this quarter.  If you are still missing anything at the end of the day tomorrow and have not made a plan to make it up then I will be forced to submit missing grades for these assignments which will really hurt your quarter grade.

Remember that when you miss class it is your responsibility to get your missing work; if you don't then you can only blame yourself when things like this occur.

AP English III

Your next class will be a self-contained substitute day which will need no preparation.  For Wednesday, however, you have your next chunk of reading in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  Remember to read and annotate the text heavily - look for particularly important passages and approach them the same way that we did today in class (that's some of the most fun in reading literature).

For Wednesday's class you will have two questions due:  one interpretive and one literal.  Be sure to refer to your question type assignment as you consider the writing of these questions.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Homework for A-Day Students: 20 October 2015

English II

There is no official homework tonight with the exception of make-up work.  If you are still missing your project or quiz on our Russian literature unit you only have Wednesday and Thursday to complete those assignments.  The projects can just be turned in to me, but the quiz will need to be taken with me during a time outside of class.  Please work to get this done so that your grade is the best that it can be this quarter.

Russian II/III

You have your exam on the one-stem verb system next class.  Today we reviewed the main stems that you will need to know and the various tricks to these stems.  Look at sample verbs, do activities for extra practice, and if you need help - please ask for it.  The quiz will follow the same format as the quiz with new verbs that you likely don't know so that I can see what your skills are.

Russian I

You have some work to do tonight with your verb conjugations of first and second types.  From the photocopy you want to complete exercise seven and eight (these focus on first conjugation) and exercise seventeen (focusing on second conjugation).  Remember as you do these exercises to follow the conjugation pattern given in the handout as well as the instructions of the exercise.  Additionally, please write out all Russian in these exercises - it will help you to do better than just filling in the blank.

Russian Students - Don't forget about our guests.  If you would like to bring in food for our guests please let me know!

Monday, October 19, 2015

Homework for B-Day Students: 19 October 2015

AP English III

Today Ms. Ginocchio gave you your reading schedules which will take you through the rest of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, your next deadline to meet is Wednesday of next week.  Be sure that you are pacing yourself appropriately and working to meet your next deadline.  It was clear that some of you hadn't read, now you are behind.

Remember as you read that you are expected to regularly annotate the text - you may use post-it notes, your notebook, or notes in the margins.  In addition, you should be keeping up with both your front and back cover as you work through the text and as we are discussing ideas in class.

Lastly, continue to look for new vocabulary - you'll have a set of vocabulary cards coming soon after the new quarter starts.  Ms. Ginocchio and I are working hard to get your papers and tests graded before the end of the quarter - these assignments will be put on this quarter.

English II

For tonight you have the next two chapters of Persepolis to read.  As you read, continue to think about the main characters - the Satrapi family - mark what you think is important as you read and also look for vocabulary that is new or unfamiliar to you.  We'll be discussing these moments in the text next class and looking at some of the significant elements of this genre as well.

Don't forget that if you are missing a project or your quiz that you have only until Thursday to make those assignments up.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Students - 16 October

It's been a long week, but we made it to the end yet again.  Here is your homework for the weekend.

Russian II/III

You have your new phrase this week for your journals which is:

вольный как птица

Remember that as you use this phrase the adjective will change to refer to the thing/person/group which is free as a bird - so make sure to think about your adjective rules and declensions if those are triggered.  I will be looking for journals from everyone in class on Tuesday, both your first and second entry for the quarter - be sure that those are settled.

In addition, you'll have your verb exam on Thursday.  Study and prepare - I've been seeing clear growth as we've been working in class.  Make sure that you are settling your misconceptions to get things learned, for real this time!

Russian I

This weekend I want you to talk about the things and people you have in your house.  You should make a list of anywhere from ten to fifteen things and create complete sentences which work to express your possession (or someone else's possession) over the item.  Review your gender rules as well as your possessive pronouns; there will be an exam soon!

Don't forget too that we have a song to learn - here's the video to the song.


Practice your reading and your speaking with the song.  Make yourself an expert.

English II

This weekend you have two chapters of Persepolis to read "The Bicycle" and "The Water Cell" - as you read continue to take note of new vocabulary and add to your notes about the main characters.  What do we continue to learn about the Satrapi family?  The handouts are yours, so feel free to make notes in the packet.  Remember that your homework is to read, so you know what may happen when you have reading homework...hint...hint...

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Thursday, October 15- AP English III

AP students--

Your homework for Monday is to:

  1. Read Huck Finn Chapters 1-6.
  2. Come up with one question of any type (see your assignment sheet or information below). Write this question down. You can put it in your notes or have a dedicated sheet for your questions for all readings. Also identify which type of question you have written.
  3. 3B students only--please have a parent sign the Duke M.A.T. program permission slip and return it to Ms. Ginocchio on Monday. Thank you much!
Types of Questions

  • Literal/direct questions: These are factual questions, and you can find the answers to them in the text. There probably will be a “right answer.”
    • Example: What are the characteristics of District 12?
    • How is the book The Hunger Games narrated? (First person, present tense.)
  •  Interpretive questions: Questions that require inference or finding patterns in the text. The answer will be a conclusion backed up by the text, but there may not be one “right answer.”
Example: How does Katniss change in this chapter?
Is the cat a symbol? What does she represent?
Why did Suzanne Collins choose to make her hero from District 12?

  • Applied questions: Go beyond the text or connect the fictional events/world of the text with your real life and experience.

Example: Is it ever okay to disobey the law?
What are the similarities between the world of The Hunger Games and our contemporary world?
What kinds of violent entertainment exist in our world? Why do people watch these sorts of things?

Homework for B-Day Students: 10/15/2015

English II

For homework over the weekend you have your four suras from The Koran to read and analyze. Remember that each sura teaches a lesson to the reader about how to live an upright life.  At the end of each one, write the rule for life as you understand it from the sura.  From each one, try to find two vocabulary words to add to your bookmarks.  If you can't define it, don't worry.  Just ask us in class.

Enjoy your study of The Koran!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Homework for A Day Students - 14 October 2015

English II

Tonight for homework you have five excerpts from The Koran to read and consider.  Remember that The Koran is the equivalent to The Bible or Torah - treat this text with some respect.  Read the excerpts that you have and at the end of each one try to get to the rule for life that this excerpt teaches.  You should be able to get four rules from the four surahs.  In addition, try to get eight vocabulary words from your reading - two from each surah is a good goal.

Russian I

For tonight you have to do some more work in your vocabulary lists for chapter one.  Tonight focus on the verbs.  Look at the verbs you have in chapter one and organize them by conjugation type using the rules that we learned today in class.  You should write out your words as it will help you to learn them better than just putting a number next to the word.

Russian II/III

Tonight for homework I want you to do some work in your exercises for Chapter Four.  Complete exercise G - make sure that you do the forms in both Russian and in standard transcription.  You can organize your work however you would like, but remember to focus on studying and learning your stems.  Hopefully today's warm up was helpful in going over some of these concepts.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Homework for B-Day Students: 13 October 2015

Sorry for the delay in posting this everyone; here are your reminders for our next class.

English II

Many of you were absent today, and I'll be checking on these absences tomorrow.  Everyone in class was able to complete the viewing guide for our film on Iran and its culture today, so there is no homework for you all to complete.  If you were absent, see me tomorrow to get the viewing guide.  I'll go ahead and post the video here so that you can watch it for yourselves or to watch it again for any of you who want to.


As you watch the video, focus on culture in Iran, important parts of the capital Tehran, and pay attention to any ideas about Iran which this video may challenge.

AP English III

Next class all of you have your test on Transcendentalism and Philosophy, so your key goal is to prepare yourselves for that.  Remember the ways that Ms. Ginocchio discussed today as to HOW to prepare for this type of examination.  You'll be asked specifically about our four key philosophical texts (King, DuBois, Emerson, Thoreau) as well as some overarching themes or ideas between all of them.  Review your notes and annotations as well as the text.  Include a look at your early notes on rhetoric as those are essential to this assessment as well.

You also have your first reading goal for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  You need to be to the end of Chapter Six by Monday's class.  It's better to be ahead then a behind (get it...) so make sure to meet your goals and surpass them.  Continue using your vocabulary bookmarks with this text, you'll have cards due again soon!

Monday, October 12, 2015

Homework for A-Day Students: 12 October 2015

Happy Monday Everyone - Here's what you need to take care of for tonight.

Russian II/III

Spend some time looking over your quiz on Russian verbs and the One-Stem Verb System.  Many of you are making small mistakes in stem identification which then lead to major issues when it comes to the conjugation of the verbs - this led to bigger mistakes in your quizzes.  Make sure to study and review and to prepare yourself for a retest if you want to do that.

For your actual homework tonight, spend some time working with your vocabulary from our film.  You have several verbs in the new vocabulary as well as nouns and adjectives.  Work to create sentences which make predictions about the film and what will happen.  Make sure to review your stems with the verbs as that is our key grammar goal for this unit.  As a baseline, try to write about ten sentences.

Also, don't forget that we have a new song to learn:


Russian I

Two cities are left to present and we'll get to those on Wednesday.  For tonight's homework, spend time working on your vocabulary in Chapter One, especially the nouns.  Take time to look at the nouns and to identify/organize them by their gender.  Further, try to pair the nouns with possessive pronouns which match the gender of the word.  All of this studying will help to prepare you and refresh you for your retest opportunity.

Remember all Russian retests must be done by the end of this week!

English II

If you did not finish your viewing guide on Rick Steve's Iran then make sure that you finish up that work and show it to me next class for credit.  Everyone currently has a grade based on what I saw.  Also, several of you are still missing your project grades for our Russian literature unit and your quizzes on our Russian literature unit.  Those assignments need to be made up this week as we will be finishing the grading period next week!


Friday, October 9, 2015

Homework for B-Day Students - Weekend Edition - 10/9/2015

AP English III

Next week we have two big things on the horizon - your argumentative essay and your quiz/test on our philosophical pieces.  We'll deal with the paper first and then the quiz/test (quest).

For your essay you will be required to submit your outline, rough draft with commentary from peer editing, and your final draft with rubric.  We will complete a cover sheet for the essay in class before submitting and I will give you an envelope in which to submit everything.

For your bibliographies, I invite you to use the Purdue OWL for MLA Citation Style.  On this page you will find everything you need to complete your bibliography and formatting.  For your bibliographies, you should use this page for book references (Kozol, Steinbeck, etc.) and this page for online resources.  If you need help I will make myself available on Monday to discuss only bibliographies and formatting questions, not to deal with the content of your essay.

For your quest on Thursday focus on the four pieces that we have studied in our philosophy unit:  Emerson's "The Over-Soul", Thoreau's "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For", King's "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail" and lastly DuBois's Chapter One from The Souls of Black Folk.  Look forward to a review on Tuesday - to prepare for the review, look over the texts and consider what we discussed with each text.  Try to plan possible questions that we may ask you on this assessment.

English II

You have no official homework this weekend, but if you missed the chance to turn in your project on time make sure that it gets in to me by Monday.  In addition, if you are missing the Russian Literature Quiz, make that up by Wednesday afternoon as we are moving on to our next unit and the gradebook needs to be finalized.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Homework for A-Day Students - Weekend Edition - 10/8/2015

Students - Here are your reminders for the weekend.  Make sure that you complete these tasks below to get you ready for next week.

Russian II and III

This weekend focus on some specific verb pairs within chapter four to develop your lexicon in Russian.  Study the pairs located on page 141-142 and 157-165.  As you complete the exercises on pages 164-165 complete only the ODD sentences (1, 3, 5, etc.)  Make sure to write out the sentences.  Think about which verb is needed and in which form - use the clues in the sentences.

Russian I

For the weekend you should spend time making sure that your project is complete and shared with me in advance of Tuesday's class.  Please send it/share it to me at mrmillerjhs [at] gmail [dot] com.  In addition, make sure that you continue to study and review your notes and work this weekend.  By this point in the class you should be confident and comfortable with all of the Russian letters and the sounds they make - if not, things will only continue to be difficult.

ALL RUSSIAN LANGUAGE STUDENTS:  Start preparing for the OLYMPIADA!  Study your packets!  Begin to prepare!

English II

You have no homework to complete this weekend since we had a major project due in class.  If you have any missing assignments from our Russian literature unit (project, quiz, etc.) - make sure that it is completed no later than Wednesday the 14th to receive credit.  We'll be starting our next unit soon, and we need to account for all missing work before we move on.

Homework for B-Day Students: 10/7/2015

Apologies B-Day Students for not getting this posted yesterday.  Here is what you have coming up for Friday:

English II

Your projects are due on Friday.  I'm so proud that a few of you were able to finish up during the workshop in class and get your worked turned in.  We will present our projects and then wrap up our unit on Russian literature for Friday.

AP English III

For Friday you will have your timed writing and it will be an argument.  Make sure that you know your bootcamp notes as well as your DADS notes and your rules for good writing.  All of these will help you as you complete your timed writing on Friday.  In addition, remember that your final drafts are due on Tuesday of next week.  We'll go over all of the elements that you'll need to submit on Friday as well as how.  Lastly, if you haven't already purchased your copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn do so soon as we will likely be starting the text toward the end of next week.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Homework for A-Day Students: 6 October 2015

Russian II/III

I forgot to collect your journals today so I will definitely collect them on Thursday.  Make sure that you have your writing ready for me to check.  On Thursday you'll have your quiz on the one-stem verb system.  Make sure that you have reviewed your notes as well as the information in the textbook.  On this quiz you will need to:

  1. identify the stem of a given verb based on its conjugation
  2. apply stems and endings
  3. write in structural transcription and in Russian
  4. account for consonant mutations
Please make sure to check out the exercises in the back of the chapter as they can be helpful for you in preparing.

Russian I

You also have a quiz next class on your vocabulary and grammar so far in the unit.  Based on the dialogues in class I can tell that some of you are still struggling a bit too much with the alphabet.  Practice and prepare and ask for help when needed.  It's clear that some aren't spending enough time at home getting ready.  Remember that you'll need your vocabulary as well as your notes on possessive pronouns and gender.  Study and be prepared!

English II

Next class your projects are due.  Some of you were even able to finish them today in class.  Make sure that your project shows your best work and that it is either typed or written in blue or black ink.  Follow the instructions on your rubric sheet for your individual project.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Homework for B-Day students: October 5

AP English III:
  • For Wednesday, read the "Forethought" and "Chapter 1" of The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois. I have copies now for those who did not get theirs in class. You can also access the entire text for free here: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/408/408-h/408-h.htm
  • Obtain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by the weekend.
  • Final drafts of essays are due Tuesday, October 13. Writing conference slots are still available, and we will post a schedule for Thursday and Friday meetings soon.
  • There will be an AP-style Timed Writing on Friday. We will be writing argumentative essays, so review your "Rules for Good Writing" notes about DADS and arguments.
English II:
  • Be working on your projects. We will have library time next class to work on these.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Russian Students Only

I want to have a Russian club and Olympiada meeting on Thursday afternoon. Russian snacks will be provided!

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Students - 10/3/2015

Sorry for not getting this up before now; I didn't realized that I'd forgotten.  Here are your reminders:

Students of Russian/Дорогие мои студенты русского языка!

I wanted to post a few things for you to use as you are writing your journals (Russian II/III) and working on your grammar homework and preparing for your first major quiz (Russian I).  First for II/III -

  • Your homework this weekend is one double-spaced page in your journal using the phrase "Ни пуха, ни пера! К черту!".  Remember as you write to apply your knowledge of stems and the one-stem system.  I want you to edit and revise.  Read and consider - use your knowledge and your notes.
  • If you need a dictionary there's this wonderful online resource from Duke - A grammatical dictionary of the Russian language.
  • If you would like a reference guide for grammar you can use this - also from Duke and actually from one of the authors of our textbook.  
Russian I Students - You should continue working through the exercises on gender as well as studying your vocabulary words in chapter one.  In addition to the nouns you should know the possessive pronouns (моя, твое, его, их, наша, ваш) and the question words that we have learned in connection to the intonation patterns.  All of these things will be part of your vocabulary quiz on Thursday.  Don't forget too that you will have your project presentations on Thursday - is anyone bringing Russian food?

For all of you - here's our video about Кострома which we started in Russian II/III for the warm up - feel free to watch it to the end.  Remember our guests will be visiting in about a month!

English II:

If you didn't turn in your viewing guide from the Bulgakov film today then you will need to finish that for homework to turn in on Tuesday.  In addition, we'll be working on our projects on Tuesday before the due date and presentation on Thursday.  Feel free to work on your projects this weekend in preparation for our library workshop on Tuesday.  If you do research online, try to save the website addresses so that Ms. Ginocchio and I can show you how to complete your bibliography. 

Friday, October 2, 2015

Video about Refugee Crisis from AP III

For the sake of the several students who were absent on Thursday, here's a link to the video we watched:

https://youtu.be/ubGhzVdnhQw


As you watch, consider 1) strategies that the filmmakers use to communicate a message to you and 2) similarities and differences between the video and Grapes of Wrath, both in terms of content/themes and strategies used by the Guardian journalists and John Steinbeck. 

For context, this video was produced by The Guardian, a large British newspaper. John Steinbeck was a journalist too; he published articles in a San Francisco newspaper about the Dust Bowl and migrant crisis before writing The Grapes of Wrath. Think about methods of storytelling and what different modes can accomplish. 

Have a great weekend! 

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Homework for the Weekend - B Day Students - 10/1/2015

English II

You had a major quiz today so you don't have any official homework for tonight.  You should focus on your projects so that you are ready for the workshop we'll have in the library on Monday.  Try to do some work to select the project you want to do for your final test grade.  We'll have time to work as a class on Monday and Wednesday next week to put these projects together.

AP English III

Your homework this weekend is to read an annotate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail" - it's available in 50 Essays as well as at this link.  As you read, pay attention to the ideas of Transcendentalism that we have been talking about in class.  In addition, pay attention to King's ideas of morality versus immorality and the concept of justice versus injustice.  Where do King's morals come from in this text?  This piece is rich in rhetoric and meaning and we'll have a lot to discuss with it.

Looking to the horizon, you'll have your first timed writing on Friday - it will be an argumentative piece.  Study your notes as you are preparing.  Your final drafts will be collected on the 13th of October - for these make sure that you have all of the supporting documents that have come together to make your final draft (outlines, rough drafts) so that I can see the whole development process.  Lastly, get your copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - make sure that it is complete and unabridged.