Thursday, March 24, 2016

B Day Homework for Break

AP English III

Over break there are a few things that you're going to want to settle.  They revolve around either Invisible Man or your research papers - so let's deal with those things below.

Invisible Man work:  Over break you will be expected to read and annotate Chapters 23-25.  Your blogging group should complete an analysis post of these chapters.  Your group should also complete a synthesis post which reviews your motifs from Chapter 16 to the end of Chapter 25.  Lastly, you will want to complete a thesis post which will state the thesis that your mural will be exploring around your motifs.  The posts should all be done separately.  You should have all of the postings complete by Tuesday, April 5th.

Your research papers are due on Monday, April 4th.  In your research paper portfolio you will want to submit:

  • your research topic sheet
  • your outline with my feedback
  • your rough draft from conference
  • your final draft with completed cover sheet and rubric
With that, I hope you all have a wonderful break and if you're traveling with us to Europe I can't want to see you in London!

English II

There is not any real work for you all to do over break with the exception of your extra credit project.  Take this time to get started on your reading and to complete the journaling work for the project.  Some of you may finish your projects over break in which case you may want to try to get a second novel read for an even larger chance at extra credit.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Spring Break Work - A Day Students

You've made it.  Today was our last A Day before break!

Russian I

We have our unit exam when we return from break which will cover the grammar from unit two and from unit one since these two units are so closely related.  You should be focusing on your tables from unit two.  Make sure that you're focusing on tables one through six.  From the case functions all the way through the words "this" and "that".  Remember that many of your endings are the same.  Focus on the similarities.

Spend your time over break learning and reviewing vocabulary and verbs from these units.

Don't forget your exercises in your textbook and the practice available online.  These links are located in the previous post for Russian.

Russian II/III

We will be having a quiz on the most recent grammar once we return from break.  II's - Your quiz will focus on dative case uses and weather vocabulary.  Stay focused here.  Be working on your projects based on the feedback you received today in our writing workshop.  III's - Hopefully you've received enough practice with short and long-form adjectives that you are clear on their use.  Keep studying your vocabulary and the grammar concepts we have focused on in this unit.  You may also want to review long-form adjectives in cases; that grammar is an important related topic.

English II

We will finish The Stranger when we return from break.  If you have any late work to turn in, make sure that it gets turned in tomorrow no later than 2:40 so that I can finalize my grades.  You have no work to complete over break, but you might want to get started on your extra credit project for the last quarter.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

B Day Student Homework - 3/22/2016

AP English III

For our next class you should read and annotate your copies of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave".  If you were not in class today you can find it at this link.  Remember that since it's an allegory everything is symbolic - consider especially the sun, the fire, the darkness, the cave, and the idea of blinding.  This lines up explicitly with what we discussed today in class related to Invisible Man so hopefully you're able to make sense of both as you read.

After you finish the reading, consider this video about Plato and his allegory.  You may want to watch this as you complete your confusion card.


Lastly, we have our reading for Spring Break and our papers to settle.  Remember that you are expected to read Chapter 23-25 over Break.  You will not read the Epilogue.  You should complete your blogs the week we return with your final analysis post (23-25) and synthesis post (end section of the novel).  We will finish our mural project during the week of the 11th.

English II

By this point we are basically done for the quarter.  Make sure that if there's anything missing for the quarter that you have it turned in by Thursday at 3:00 so that I can grade it for this quarter.

You should be focused on revising your essays and continuing to build them as we move forward into the 4th nine weeks.  We'll be going to the library next class to select book for our extra credit project.


Monday, March 21, 2016

Homework for A Day Students - 21 March 2016

Russian I

For tonight you should finish putting together your presentation on your presidential candidate and practice reading aloud your sentences.  This will be your final grade for the quarter.

Additionally, remember that you should start your study program for spring break.  There are several days that you have where you can spend your time reviewing concepts and completing exercises to review the content in Lessons 1 and 2.  Remember to try to focus on a few new vocabulary words every day.  Complete a few exercises to help you review the concepts.

If you want some online resources I recommend the UCLA Online Textbook, Master Russian, or the audio files for our textbook at the links in this post.

Russian II and III

II's - Tonight you should be finishing the rough drafts of your writing about the weather and the needed clothing for that particular weather.  Make sure that you are also discussing the weather for the following day.  Additionally, we have the grammar exercises for this chapter that review cases in general - exercise 7.1 and 7.2.  I would recommend working through these the best that you can to review the cases of Russian grammar and where they are used.  This will be very important as we move on into our work on plurals.

III's - Tonight you should be focusing on finishing the exercise on short-form versus long-form adjectives.  Complete the exercise sentences that we did not complete in class.  Notice the cases used along side of short-form adjectives.  Even though the adjective itself is nominative case, it can work in conjunction with other cases.

Make sure that you all are working on your new vocabulary!

English II

For any of you that did not turn in a full rough draft today of your essay, make sure that it gets in to me before our next class so that I can give you notes and feedback on your writing.  For tonight, you should spend some time with the progress reports I gave you.  First, make sure you have not missed an assignment that you need to do.  If so, you have Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday to get that done.  Second, if you have rubles it's time to cash in.  Remember that I'll add one point to a homework for 10 Rubles, one point to a quiz for 50 rubles and one point to a test for 100 Rubles.  We will do exchanges next class.

Lastly, make sure that you're caught up with the reading of The Stranger.  We'll be finishing the book before we leave for break.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 18 March

English II

Make sure that if you are going on the field trip in May that you have submitted your permission slip by Tuesday.  I'll be opening space on the bus to other classes after Tuesday.

For the weekend make sure that you read Chapter Four and that you complete your detail grabber and vocabulary for the chapter.  Also, you have your progress reports.  If there is late work that you want to do for credit, take care of that.  I'll collect rubles next week from anyone who wants to bring up their grades with those extra credit points.

Make sure as well, everyone, that you have finished all four paragraphs of your essay.  I know that some of you are behind on this.  This will be the final grade for the quarter and needs to be complete.

AP English III

For the weekend you have your reading of Chapters 20 through 22.  This will be our last section of reading before Spring Break.  You'll also need to do the analysis post for these chapters based on your motifs.  Pay close attention to Tod Clifton - he's so important here.

If you were absent today you must make sure to complete the AP Multiple Choice practice before Thursday's class.  Tuesday afternoon is a good time for you to make up this assessment.  Also - make sure that if you haven't conferenced with me about your paper that you settle that on Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Homework for A-Day Students: Weekend Edition - 17 March 2016

Remember that when we return next week we will have a four day week.  The grading period ends on Thursday, and I will leave for Europe on Friday meaning that the last day you have to do anything for your grade is Thursday.

Russian II/III

Russian II Students should finish working on the rough draft for the weather report.  Follow the format and use the vocabulary from the new unit since this is the vocabulary that you will need to know for upcoming quizzes and tests.  Remember to focus on using the dative case appropriately, as well as adjectives versus adverbs.  I'll check your work next class.

Russian III Students should finish the exercise we began in the textbook.  Please remember to write out all of the forms of the short form adjective and to mark the stresses.  This will help us to complete the other practice exercise on this topic.

Russian I

I'm very impressed at how much faster a lot of you are getting with your work on cases.  Keep practicing!  It's the only way to get faster.  This weekend you should write the rough draft (черновик) for your political candidate.  Remember to cover all of the information and to use your adjectives and your cases.  Remember to use vocabulary that you know and focus on sentence structures.  Next week we will put these together and move on to finishing this unit.  I am looking at you having your unit exam the week we return from Spring Break.

English II

For homework you should begin the drafting of Paragraphs Three and Four for your mini-essay.  The third paragraph focuses on your example from The Stranger and your last paragraph is your conclusion.  Use the outline that we created in class.

You should also read Chapter Three.  It's a bit lengthy.  Fill in your detail organizers as you read and make sure to find any new vocabulary that you can use.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Homework for A Day Students - 15 March 2016

Russian II/III

Tonight all of you should continue spending time working on your vocabulary for the new unit.  Your homework is geared to have you continue this work.

Russian II Students - Using your new knowledge of the dative case work through exercises four and five.  In exercise four you need to write out everything including the numbers.  In exercise five, pay attention to the use of adjectives versus adverbs.

Russian III Students - Finish working through the first exercise on nationalities and then read pages 460 to 464 and take notes on the concept before we talk through it next class.

Russian I

Tonight I want to make sure that you all do a few things for me.  First, to any of you who didn't finish the writing about your bedroom in class, make sure that is complete for me next class.  Evidence of translator use will result in a zero on this assignment.  Second, make sure that you are working with your charts tonight - start to memorize and start to practice so that this information starts to stick in your head.

We likely won't do the unit exam until after Spring Break.  That being said, we will have a final speaking assignment to go over all of this.  That is exercise twenty-two.  Select a presidential candidate and plan a eight sentence description.  For tonight you should complete a vocabulary list to describe your candidate.  I will check your vocabulary list next class.

English II

Tonight you have two things to do:  First, finish reading Chapter One - we have about three pages left to finish.  Many of you didn't get your sound imagery from the chapter - pay attention to the voices.  That'll work for the sound imagery.  Then, make sure that you go on and read Chapter Two - complete your detail grabbers as you read.

The other work for tonight is for you all to finish your writing planning sheets.  Either from Chapter One of Part Two or from Chapters One through Six of Part One you should be able to find one quotation.  Once you've found your quote that relates to your thesis statement, start working through the steps.  First put it in your own words, then explain it so that I can see how it applies to your main idea.  This will be the meat of your third paragraph which we will work on next class.

Monday, March 14, 2016

14 March 2016 - B Day Homework

English II

The important things for you all to do tonight are to read Chapter Two of The Stranger and complete your detail grabber and your vocabulary for the chapter.  Additionally, make sure that you have finished the back of your writing planning sheet - we'll have time next class to really work through the back and to start drafting those paragraphs.

The other thing to work on tonight is Study Island.  I've unlocked one assignment for you all on theme.  Feel free to work through this to collect your ribbons.  I'll start paying you out for them soon.

AP English III

In the post below you have access to your collaborative vocabulary slides - start to put those together as soon as possible.  Remember that you can do it on paper if you have issues with the posting.  For tonight, you should all continue working on your rough drafts and final drafts of the research paper - I'll have documents for you next class to help you with the development of these.

Your next reading checkpoint with Invisible Man is next Tuesday - we'll need to be through Chapter 22.  You'll need to have your analysis post done for that section of chapters.

AP English III Vocabulary Slides

AP Students - Please use these links to complete your vocabulary assignment.

2nd Period - B Day Vocabulary Slides

3rd Period - B Day Vocabulary Slides

Remember that your slides are due by Friday.  If you have a problem with posting then complete your work on paper and submit it.

Friday, March 11, 2016

Homework for A Day Students - 3/11/2016 - The Weekend

Russian II/III

We had our unit exam today so the homework for the weekend is generally light.  Begin studying your new vocabulary for the chapter.  Start to make flashcards/study aides and to use the vocabulary as quickly as you can.  The words are very useful, so you should be able to work them into your regular routines quickly.

Remember to read through your chapter.  Russian II - Pay attention to the use of the dative case, and the rules for creating plurals in the cases.  Russian III - Pay attention to short form adjectives.  There's a lot of nitpicky grammar here for Russian III; it'll be really fun.

Russian I

Over the weekend you're working through exercise nine.  For the exercise you have different cases that you're working through using all of the charts we've created in Russian I.  Remember that for each case you need to write four more complete sentence answers as we did today in class.  For all of the other words/sentences/questions you just have to change the words in parenthesis to the appropriate case.  We'll keep pushing back the quiz/exam until I feel that you're ready for it.

English II

Over the weekend make sure to complete the back of your writing planning sheet.  Follow the instructions in the post for the B-Day students to do this.  Remember that you can use information from Part One or from Part Two - depending on what you've read so far.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Weekend Homework - B Day Students - 10 March 2016

Yay for the beautiful weather and the weekend!  It's going to be a good one!  Here are your reminders for the weekend.

English II

Your quiz scores are in.  To those of you whose essays I have misplaced, my apologies.  Come check in with me tomorrow and I'll hopefully have your essay with my feedback or I can get a new copy from you and redo the work.

This weekend your goal is to finish the back of your writing planning sheet so that we can move on to draft paragraph three and the conclusion next week.  Remember that you want to find a quotation from The Stranger which will help you to prove your thesis.  Think about the book and try to find a scene that relates to your point, then find the specific quote.

Once you have your quote, you can go through the steps.  We'll turn this into a paragraph next week.

Be sure as well that all of your other work is turned in.  Don't fall behind this close to the end.

AP English III

This weekend you will be working on your blogs and your reading of Invisible Man.  You will be reading Chapters 16 through 19 this weekend.  Focus on the Brotherhood and the new characters that the Invisible Man meets - especially Brother Tod Clifton.  He's a very important character.  You should post your analysis post on your blog by the time we meet for class on Monday.

You also need to make sure to post your synthesis assignment for Chapters 8-15.  Remember the goal of the post is to consider the meaning and purpose of the motifs.  Consider your previous synthesis post as you do this - is it the same?  different?  stronger?  weaker?  What's going on with this?

Lastly, don't forget your research papers!  You should be constantly revising and working more to push them forward.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Homework for A-Day Students - 9 March 2016

Russian II/III

We will be having our unit exam next class on verbs of motion with prefixes (III) or non-prefixed (II).  Make sure that you are thoroughly preparing your knowledge of cases and prepositions paired with verbs of motion.  Additionally, make sure that you know how to conjugate these verbs in the past and in the present tense.

Russian III Students - Know your prefixes and how the prefixes combine with the verbs.  Don't forget about spelling shifts or inserted letters.

Use your vocabulary card to prepare for the writing assignment in Russian.  Remember with Russian III we are giving directions using verbs of motion from your house to the mall, to downtown, and to a park.  Russian II - You have to talk about getting around before and after getting a license.

Russian I

We will NOT be having our quiz next class.  We need to do some more work to prepare.  Next class we'll finish our writing assignments that we started today and I'll collect them for a grade.  We will also take a look at some new charts with adjectives and nouns to understand some of our case issues.

Make sure to take a look at Exercise Nine in Chapter Two.  There are a lot of exercises here to work with cases that will help you to work through the changes and the reasons behind those changes.

Keep studying and working.

English II

Next class we have our quiz on Part One of The Stranger as well as "After the Deluge" and "The Myth of Sisyphus" - study your notes and vocabulary.  Be prepared!

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Homework for B-Day Students: 8 March 2016

English II

Next class we have our quiz on The Stranger, "After the Deluge" by Soyinka, and "The Myth of Sisyphus" by Camus.  You'll want to make sure that you've reviewed your notes on these stories and the information we went over in today's review game.

Pay close attention to vocabulary from Soyinka and from The Stranger.  That'll be an important part of the quiz.

For tonight - you should make sure that you are studying and that you complete your writing planning sheet - especially the back.  Make sure that you have found yourself a quotation from the book and thought about how this quote from The Stranger applies to your overall idea in your essay.  Remember that this will follow up your personal example paragraph.

AP English III

There's a lot for you all to take care of today and I'll go through that in order of when it is due.

Next class we'll finish our seminar on Chapters 11-15 and we will discuss "Two Ways to Belong in America" - the article is at this link and in 50 Essays.  Since we'll finish the seminar next class you will not have to post your analysis and synthesis posts until after next class.  Make sure that you read Mukherjee and annotate it carefully.  You have your next chunk of Invisible Man reading on Monday.

We're working through our rough drafts and writing conferences.  Remember that the final due date for these packets is the first day after Spring Break.  You must turn in all components in your final packet.  I'll have the final rubric for you soon for the paper so that you have it for your final edits.  Remember that the week of March 21 - 24 is free for second conferences by drop-in.

Keep in find the final project for our motifs and blogs.  Hopefully you were able to settle down some of the key ideas for your murals.

Monday, March 7, 2016

Homework for A Day Students - 7 March 2016

English II

Good class today reading through Chapter Six of The Stranger.  Now we're done with the first part and we can prepare for the quiz on Friday.  Your quiz will cover Part One, Soyinka and "The Myth of Sisyphus" - we're going to review on Wednesday.

Tonight, make sure that your writing is done for the writing workshop.  You should have the full writing planning sheet done with all steps filled in.  You should have written your introduction and first body paragraph - use the outline that we discussed in class.

Russian I

Tonight you have some reading to do in the textbook.  Read pages 81-85 and take note of the cultural information related to names in Russian.  You should know how to form a Russian's last name for male and female members of the same family.  You should know about middle names in Russian and you should know a bit about making first names into nicknames.

Russian II/III

For homework tonight make sure that you are working through the reading assignment (III) or the extra exercises with verbs of motion (II).  We'll have more time on Wednesday to review in advance of the unit examination on Friday.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 4 March 2016

English II

Great reading group today y'all!  I'm impressed by how engaged you all were and how rich our discussion was of the final chapter.  Good work!  For the weekend - I need you all to finish up with your essays and writing planning sheet.

Make sure that you have finished your introduction paragraph and personal example paragraph.  Remember to use the writing planning sheet as well as the outline we discussed last class.  I've posted it below.  You can type this rough draft or hand write it.

Move on to finishing the back of the writing planning sheet as well since we've finished the first part of The Stranger.  For step seven - begin by thinking of a scene from the book that aligns with your main idea/thesis - then reexamine that section to find yourself a quotation.  Once you have the quotation, then go to step eight and rewrite the quotation in your own words so that you understand what it is saying.  Lastly, step nine - explain the way that the quote relates to your main idea in the essay.

If you want to put this together as your third body paragraph - go ahead.  If not, we will do that next class as we type our essays.

AP English III

I will be reading and grading your timed writings this weekend.  So far I've enjoyed what I've seen - you are applying what we've learned about the writing process and the technicalities of writing a synthesis.  Good!

For the weekend you have two things to accomplish - first, make sure that you have completed your fifty percent draft so that you have it ready to submit for Tuesday.  You will be graded on your conference and I've attached the rubric here.  For those of you coming on Monday morning I'll have a copy of the rubric ready for you.  Make sure that you have prepared distinct questions for me to answer with this conference - I won't have the time in 15 minutes to read your whole paper.  Also, don't be late.

The other work that you have this weekend is to keep up with your reading of Invisible Man.  Your next checkpoint is on Tuesday - to be to the end of Chapter Fifteen.  We'll deal with Chapters 11 through 15 on Tuesday as well as a bit of Staples to finish him up.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Homework for A-Day Classes - 3/3/2016 - Weekend Edition

English II

Remember what we learn about choices.  Make choices, change your life.  Make no choices, get nothing.  This weekend you have your rough drafts of your introduction and body paragraph one.  You'll be turning the front of your writing guide into full paragraphs.  Follow the outline in the post below to complete this work.  We will be peer editing and working through these next class.  This is a major homework assignment since the test on part one will be this mini-essay.  See me if you need help.

Russian I

This weekend you have exercise fourteen to complete at the end of Chapter Two.  In this exercise you'll be working with the vocabulary we reviewed today as well as the vocabulary in Chapter One and Chapter Two and all six cases for nouns.  If you need a review of the case work for nouns, go back to Chapter One and look at page 28.

Remember that in order to accomplish this exercise and earn full credit you must write out the questions and the answers.  If the answer has multiple answers you must write out the full sentence for each new answer.

I will begin class next time by checking this work.  It will help you to prepare for our quiz.

Russian II/III

We have exercises to complete working with verbs of motion.  For Russian II - make sure that you can conjugate the verb of motion in the sentence to fit the situation, also be able to translate and explain how the grammar is working in each sentence.  Make sure that on the back you write five additional sentences with verbs of motion.  For Russian III - make sure that you are able to fill in the blank with the conjugated verb of motion, translate the situation and explain the grammar.  You don't have to write anything extra - there are enough exercises to keep you busy.

Make sure that you are studying regularly as we have our unit exam coming up soon.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Homework for B-Day Students: 2 March 2016

English II

Tonight you're going to take the work that you've done on your writing planning sheets and put it all together for your first two paragraphs of your four paragraph essay.  Remember that you will be using the information in steps one and two to create your thesis and introduction paragraph.  You'll be using the information in steps four and five to create your first body paragraph.

Your introduction should:

  • state the topic of your essay - use the overall statement for this - create a question, image, or find a quote that relates to this idea.
  • state your thesis - make sure that you have your stance on this belief, what the belief is, and why you have this stance
Your body paragraph should:
  • introduce the topic of the paragraph and its connection to the thesis
  • state your personal example in a way that engages the reader (imagery)
  • explain how the personal example proves your thesis
You do not have to type this work - having a written draft will be great.  We'll finish the rest of the essay after we finish reading Part One.  Remember that this essay will be your test on Part One of The Stranger.

AP English III

For next class we have the reading of Chapters Eleven and Twelve.  Chapter Eleven is very strange - get through it the best that you can.  Generate questions.  Chapter Twelve is much more straight forward - pay attention to the biblical allusions throughout the chapter - I think they're pretty significant.  Don't forget your blogging analysis post for Chapters Eleven and Twelve.

Next class our heavy lifting will be the Synthesis timed writing.  We'll treat this just like the actual synthesis prompt for the AP Examination - you'll have fifteen minutes to read and prepare your documents and then forty minutes to write your essay.

Lastly, don't forget our writing conferences beginning next week and rough drafts due on Tuesday.  I will begin conferences on Monday for anyone who needs to come early.  Make sure that you have your draft prepared.  If you need a new grade for your outline, make sure to bring this to your conference.  You will need your introduction paragraph and two sequential body paragraphs and your works cited page for the conference.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Homework for A-Day Classes - 3/1/2016

With today's ACT testing the day was a bit off for Russian II/III and Russian I students.  If you weren't in class today make sure that I check your work next class.

Russian I

Make sure that you have completed the writing of exercise fifteen and sixteen from Chapter Two.  You should be able to work with the pronouns to fill in the blanks in both sentences.  Think about your case knowledge and what job is being done in the sentences.  Make sure that you are also checking in with your vocabulary and grammar - we'll have a quiz next week on these new tables.

If you haven't finished your floor plan project that is a must do.

Russian II/III

Today we did some enrichment using the reading and dialogue for Russian III.  We will have a full review class of our topics next class.  Make sure that Russian III students complete the exercise number fourteen at the end of Chapter Ten.  It will have you write with conditionals and hypotheticals using verbs of motion.

English II

I hope that all of you appreciated the in-class workshop.  Many of you got a lot done and I appreciate that.  Make sure that if you have anything left to finish that you get it in immediately.  For tonight, make sure that you have read Chapters 4 and 5 of The Stranger for next class.  We'll also be finishing up the poem "After the Deluge" next class, so make sure that you keep that with you.