Thursday, December 22, 2016

Homework for the Break - A Day Students - 22 December

Happy Break!  I'm so excited to sleep in tomorrow and have a real breakfast!  That's how I know break has begun.  Here is what you need to accomplish over the time away from school.

Advanced Russian

Soon after we return we will have our semester exam.  The exam will cover everything that we've learned in the first semester including the one-stem verb system, review of case declensions, and vocabulary from Chapters One through Four for all students.  Beyond that, Russian 2 students will have information related to counting, numbers, and time expressions in Russian.  Russian 3 students will see elements related to modal expressions, imperatives, elements of vagueness and sentence combining.  Russian 4 will need to be skilled about the new information related to verbs of placement, the interrogative particle, and other information from Chapter Twelve.

Spend this time over the break preparing and studying daily.  I've been doing a lot in these last classes to point out a lot of the gaps you have in your knowledge.  Now that you have the time, it's important to focus on these gaps.

Also, if you are missing your writing project or any other grades (other than the viewing on Night Swallows) then make sure that's ready for me when we return.

Use these resources to help you study and prepare over break:

UCLA Online Russian Class with Exercises and Review

Overview of Russian Grammar - Lessons and Vocabulary

Russian I

Over the break you should focus on finalizing your learning of verb conjugations and case declensions.  This is so important to the rest of your learning in Russian.  Use the online resources above to help you study and review.  There's some great stuff up there to help you review.

You should be able to complete the declension chart I'd given you today in class as well as any of the exercises left.  We'll also have our exam on Unit Two after we return from break.

English II

Over the break if you would like to work on your hero narratives or on the extra credit project for Persepolis then please do.  We'll be finishing the hero narratives and the larger unit on Persepolis soon after we return from the break.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Homework for the Break - B Day Edition - 21 December 2016

Happy Solstice Everyone!  It's the longest night of the year tonight.  From here on out winter is only ending.  Here are your reminders as we are going into the break.

AP English III

Make sure that you have completed your reading and annotating of The Crucible by this point.  You should spend time over the break reviewing your notes and your reading to prepare for our final unit exam on this play.  That assessment will happen not too long after we return from break.

The major priority that you have over break is to work on your drama projects.  You should decide on your play (don't forget to make your post in the previous post to answer that question), read your play thoroughly, and select a monologue to study.  With your monologue, you will need to memorize, annotate, and analyze.  Put forward all of the skills you have learned with analysis as you do this work.

Ms. McCormick and I will be available when we return to review your work and give you feedback.

English II

Over the break if you would like to there is some extra credit that you can complete.  We have not read many chapters of Persepolis.  Over the break you can read these chapters and complete a writing assignment for extra credit.  For the extra credit you'll be either doing a pamphlet on Persepolis or writing a letter to the author, Marjane Satrapi.  Follow the instructions for this assignment and have it ready the day you return.

You can also spend time over break working on your hero narratives.  We'll finish these when we return from the holiday, but it may be a good idea to finish your rough draft of your comic now.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Homework for A Day Students - 20 December

Advanced Russian:

Tonight I want you to get ready for our final class of the year.  Prepare your exercises on new grammar for Thursday's class.  For Russian II, this is exercise five, filling in the blanks.  Think about the types of verbal action that you've learned today.  For Russian III and IV this is a translation activity.  Make sure that if you need to look up a word that you make a vocabulary card for those words.

On Thursday we'll finish collecting projects, watch some holiday movies, and work on our New Year tree!

Russian I:

Tonight you have case work to do which reviews all of the cases.  Work through the words and fill in the blanks for the proper cases.  Be able to translate the sentences that you create.  Hopefully on Thursday we'll finish Doctor Zhivago and make some ornaments for our tree.

English II:

A lot of you got some good work done in class.  Keep going.  If you want to, keep working on your narratives.  Plan and write!  These will be due after break!

Monday, December 19, 2016

Homework for B Day Students - 19 December

AP English III

Happy Monday!  Tonight you have two things to do, and one of them is right here.  First, read Act IV of The Crucible.  As you read, finish the tracking of your character and consider the end of the play. Is it satisfying?  How does it finish the allegory?  In what ways is symbolism used at the end?

Also, please post a comment to this post which states which play you've chosen for your project as well as a reason why.  Your comment may not show up immediately, but that's okay.  You should start reading for your Drama Project.

English II

For homework tonight you should do one of the following tasks.  First, you can choose to work on your hero narrative.  Keep putting together your rough draft and make sure that you've finished the planning sheet as well as the paragraph in your journals.  You should finish the rough draft so that we can start putting together the final draft soon.

The second thing that you can work on is your essay revisions.  You received back your final drafts with feedback.  If you would like to, you can work on these further in order to earn back points and make your writing even stronger.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Olympiada of Spoken Russian 2017

Russian Students:

In the spring Duke University will be hosting the Carolinas Olympiada of Spoken Russian.  There will be students from Enloe High School in Raleigh, Lexington High School in South Carolina, and Jordan.  There are four competitions:

  1. Poetry recitation.  You memorize and present a poem to the judges.  Increasing levels of Russian must memorize poems of increasing length.
  2. Speaking about yourself.  You prepare a short speech about yourself, your family, your interests, your hobbies.  Speech length and complexity increases with increasing levels of Russian.
  3. Reading and answering questions.  You will read a text and then answer questions about it.
  4. Cultural Competency.  You will be asked to discuss elements of Russian culture in Russian including but not limited to geography, politics, literature and music.
On the day of the competition there will be a Russian cooking demonstration as well as several different Russian language activities.  You'll also get the chance to meet professors and students from Duke and other Russian language students from around the region.

This is a great thing to work for and to begin preparing for over the winter break.  We'll talk more about it this week!

Friday, December 16, 2016

Homework for the Weekend - All Students - 16 December

With my early departure for last night's swim meet I forgot to make this post.  Sorry.  All classes can see their announcements and reminders for the weekend ahead.

B Day - AP English III

Over the weekend you should focus on reading and annotating Act III.  There is a lot that happens in this act to many of our characters.  I would think that your annotations on your character as well as within the text will be highly productive and thorough.  This is also a good chance to check in with your back cover annotations to collect ideas about themes, motifs, symbols, settings, and the allegory.

Additionally, if you didn't finish your Puritan tabloid assignment, have that ready for Monday.  If you missed class due to theater, your assignment for make-up credit is in Google Classroom.

B Day and A Day - English II

The next chapter of Persepolis that we are going to read is called "The Trip."  If you'd like to earn some extra rubles, read the chapters leading up to "The Trip".  We'll review these chapters on Monday and Tuesday before we begin on this chapter.

Also, make sure that you've completed your essay as well as your hero planning and paragraphs.

A Day - Advanced Russian

Over the weekend you have different things to do based on your different classes.  See the notes below:

  • Russian II - You have the new work on aspect to do.  Study the list of imperfective and perfective verbs in Chapter Five.  Then complete exercise two where you analyze the verbs for their tense and aspect.  Also, you should study your quizzes and review your feedback for reassessment of the time quiz as well as for your writing projects.  Writing is due next week.
  • Russian III - Writing is due next week.  We can do the performance of the dialogue before school.  You have exercises 15, 16, and 19 focusing on the new information/grammar.
  • Russian IV - Please finish reading "Prisoner of the Caucuses" and studying for new vocabulary and roots.  Additionally, complete exercise 16 about using the particle ли in Russian.
I enjoyed our talk today about Russia and learning Russian.  Remember, it's a journey for a lifetime.

Russian I

Over the weekend I want you to read in your textbooks about the new three cases - Genitive, Dative, and Instrumental.  Think about how these cases are different from the ones we've already learned.  We'll go over them on Tuesday.  Also, if you need to keep studying to reassess based on today's quiz, make sure that you do that.  You have to know how to count before you can add.  The same principle works in foreign language.


Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Homework for A Day Students - 14 December 2016

Advanced Russian

Your writing projects are due on Friday.  Make sure that you are prepared to meet this goal.  Additionally, we will work through a lot of the new grammar on Friday to clarify any confusions.  If you need to finish the exercises on the new grammar, make sure that those are done so that you can ask questions on Friday.

Russian I

I hope you enjoyed the watching of Zhivago today - we'll stay rolling through Siberia for a few more classes.  On Friday we will have our quiz on the nominative, accusative, and prepositional cases.  Make sure that you know your declensions and your grammar.  Also, verbs will be on the quiz since it's hard to do much without a verb.

English II

Great day today, guys.  Very productive.  If you need to finish your essay, be sure to get that work done for Friday.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Homework for B-Day Students - 13 December 2016

AP English III

For tonight you are reading one of my favorite pieces from the Colonial period - "A Brief Narrative on the Captivity of Mary Rowlandson."  Read the piece carefully and annotate.  It's a good one for shedding light on the ins and outs of Puritan culture and their views on morality.

For Monday we have Act III - continue following the trends that you've been discovering in the text and keep annotating and reading.  If you're in 3B then read extra carefully since your luck is really crappy.

English II

No real homework tonight.  If you've missed earlier chapters on Persepolis then make sure that you're all caught up.  If you haven't yet turned in your essay, it's due on Thursday.

Monday, December 12, 2016

Homework for A Day Students - 12 December 2016

I just realized that it's 12/12.  Is there a special thing for this?  I don't know.

Advanced Russian

I hope that all of you felt prepared for your quiz today.  I'll have the grades posted to PowerSchool as soon as I can.  If you want to reassess, we will settle that next week.  Also, if you want to do ruble exchange for extra credit, we can take care of that next class.

For homework tonight you should be reading from your textbook (or from your textbook as well as your short story [Russian IV]).  Take notes and generate questions as you go through the new content.  It's my hope that next class we will have a chance to finish our work on the recent episodes of Night Swallows as well as begin on the final portions of this unit.

Russian I

You all did very well today during our review work on grammar.  Tonight, make sure that you have finished your sentences about yourself and generated images that pair with those images.  Develop the sentences further if you want by adding more details (locations, et cetera).  You have a major quiz on Friday on the grammar we've been learning, prepare yourself accordingly.

English II

Your final drafts of your essays will be collected on Friday.  Make sure that you have a finished draft from today's class with some feedback so that you can meet your final deadline.

Friday, December 9, 2016

Homework for the Weekend - B Day Edition - 9 December

AP English III

We had a lot of fun today acting out that final scene from Act One.  Special congratulations to the actors who earned one hundred rubles.  Next class we'll move on to looking at Act II - make sure that you have thoroughly read and annotated.  Also, check in with back covers and your character list.  You have your one character to cover thoroughly as well as general annotations on the rest.

Next class we'll also spend time in our portfolios reflecting on writing.

English II

Some of you were able to finish your final drafts of your essays today.  This is great.  If you were editing today then you'll be finishing next week.  There's no real homework for you this weekend, but next week we'll be starting on our next writing project.  Think about your heroes.  Brainstorm about them.  Also, be sure that you're getting caught up if you've missed class recently. 

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Edition - 8 December

Advanced Russian

We have a quiz on Monday which will focus on the new grammar and vocabulary in the unit.  Here are some reminders for what to study over the weekend:

Russian II - numbers (spelling and counting rules), time expressions and prepositions with time
Russian III - forming imperatives in Russian from verbs
Russian IV - forming superlatives and comparisons in Russian from adjectives

Additionally, you have your writing assignments.  I was happy to see so many of you working diligently in the lab today.  These projects will be collected on Friday.  We will have a bit of time in class on Monday and Wednesday to keep working.  We will also be going on to the next piece of these chapters on Monday.

Russian I

You will have a grammar quiz on Wednesday which will focus on the three cases (Nominative, Accusative and Prepositional) as well as verb conjugation.  Make sure that you use the exercises that we have now completed to prepare.  We will play a lot of review games on Monday to prepare us for the quiz.  We'll also get back to Zhivago.  Please be actively studying and reviewing this weekend.

English II

Over the weekend you have your writing to complete about your personal hero.  Make sure to write a one-paragraph response which uses a topic sentence, clear example, explanation of the example and a brief conclusion.  Your writing should reflect what you know now about effective writing.

Also, our essays will be due next week.  For those of you who finished today, we'll be looking at draft workshops next week for you.  For those of you who have yet to finish, please work with me outside of class to get this done.


Advanced Russian - Word Parts

Advanced Russian Students - 

Use this online resource for your Russian root work.

It doesn't have everything, but it is very extensive.

This list focuses solely on prefixes.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Homework for B Day Students - 7 December

AP English III

Congratulations on completing your third timed writing.  From here on out it's just forty minutes for the timed writing because that's what you'll have on the actual exam.

For tonight, delve in to The Crucible - make sure that you have read Act One and thoroughly annotated.  Don't forget to follow your character thoroughly as you read and annotate.

Also, keep an eye out for vocabulary.

English II

Tonight you have a one paragraph response which answers the question - Who is your hero and why?  The hero you have does not need to be a person that you have met, nor does it even need to be an actual person (Batman, perhaps?).  No matter whom you choose, make sure that you have a clear topic sentence, clear examples, explanation of those examples and a conclusion.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Homework for A-Day Students: 6 December

Advanced Russian

We will have our quiz on new grammar and vocabulary on MONDAY.  Not Thursday.  I want to make sure that all of you have some more time to work on your grammar and vocabulary writing projects first as these are supposed to help get you ready for the quiz.  For Thursday's class make sure that you have moved forward from your first rough draft.  You should have corrected any/all mistakes and expanded upon your writing.

We will also finish working on the newest episode of Night Swallows next class.  Do not do the writing/culture work for homework.

Russian I

You have grammar exercises due for me on Thursday.  You'll be working with accusative, prepositional, and nominative cases as well as reviewing verb conjugation.  Make sure that you've done all that you can with the exercises.

English II

No homework officially tonight, but some of you may want to take this time to get caught up on your essays - especially if you missed a previous class.  Next class we will be working on revising our essays to create our final drafts.

Monday, December 5, 2016

Homework for B-Day Students: 5 December

AP English III

Sorry to put the fear into you this morning, but it had a purpose.  Hopefully you'll be able to recognize this same type of fear as we get into the work on The Crucible.  There are a few other things for you to pay attention to as we start moving through the month.  Remember that you will have a timed writing next class - it's a rhetorical analysis.  In these last few classes we've done a lot of work on this writing goal.  Ms. McCormick and I want to see improvement from the last time.

Also, make sure that you are reading The Crucible.  You need to complete the reading of Act I this week.  Don't read the introduction, but do read everything at the beginning of Act I.

English II

No homework tonight.  If you need to work on your essays more thoroughly then do that so that you are ready for our draft workshop which is coming next class.

Friday, December 2, 2016

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 12/2/2016

Advanced Russian

Over the weekend you should be working on the revisions/productions of your written work which focuses on the new grammar in this unit (time expressions/imperatives/comparisons).  As you write, you should use the vocabulary in your textbook or a dictionary to help develop words that you need.  Make sure that you are using all of your new grammar in this assignment as it is meant to be a way to prepare for your quiz on Thursday.

Russian I

You have exercises which focus on Accusative and Prepositional Cases as well as verb conjugation.  Make sure that all of these exercises are as complete as you can make them by Thursday.  We will go over them then.  On Tuesday, we will finish presentations and see what happens with that gun that Lara has.

English II

If you finished your rough draft today, congratulations for working so hard.  If not, do try to finish working on it over the weekend if you can.  I also can help you on Monday.  Additionally, if you have missed any of the chapters we've read in Persepolis ("The Veil", "Persepolis", and "The Letter") then make sure that you get caught up on that reading.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Homework for B Day Students - 1 December 2016

AP English III

Over the weekend you need to read and annotate Oluadah Equiano's narrative on his captivity and travel across the Atlantic on a slave ship.  As you read, annotate heavily.  You get a good sense of the language in this time period.  There are also several key appeals that Equiano makes to his audience.  Specifically, look at how he is able to craft an anti-slavery argument in his piece.

Also, make sure that you have your copy of The Crucible - we will begin our study of that piece this week coming up.

English II

Tonight in Persepolis you have the chapter called "The Heroes" to read.  As you read, keep working on vocabulary and inferences.  Find important panels and draw out their meaning from the details.