Winter Break Reminders!

English IV

Today, we did much of the same work as your counterparts in 2A. We finished watching She's the Man and completed our viewing guides that accompanied the film. After a discussion of the similarities between the film and Twelfth Night, we began working on a short writing assignment. When we return from break, this writing assignment will be our primary focus as we get back into Twelfth Night. Have a wonderful break, have fun, and make good decisions. We'll see you in 2018!

AP English III

Today, we had a couple of great classes engaging with William Buckley, Jr.'s essay, "Why Don't We Complain?." Overall, Mr. Miller and I were very impressed with how thoughtful each of you were in engaging with a complicated topic. We also went over some Rules For Good Writing and connected some overall threads from the entire semester. Over the break, you are tasked with completing the first part of the annotated bibliography assignment on Google Classroom. Start looking at that sometime this weekend, but don't worry about submitting anything until December 28th. Have a wonderful break, have fun, and make good decisions. We'll see you in 2018!

Homework for English Students - A Day - 20 December 2017

English IV

Today, we finished watching She's the Man and completed our accompanying viewing guides. After that, we discussed the film in comparison to Twelfth Night, drawing conclusions and making some connections between the two works. We closed class with some work on a short writing assignment. If you've missed class, get in touch with me or Mr. Miller for class notes and the assignment description. Have a wonderful Winter Break, looking forward to seeing you in 2018!

Homework for Russian Students - Winter Break Edition

With the completion of your exams today in class we can say that you have made it. Вы все дошли до конца! Here is what you need to make sure that you are doing over break to make sure that you're ready to come back and finish the quarter/semester strong.

Russian III - Over break you should read the excerpt from Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Don't spend your time looking up every single word, but focus on learning what seem to be the most important words in the sentences or paragraphs in order to understand the gist or general meaning of the sentence/paragraph. This is also a chance for you to see how much Russian you can understand and how much grammar you see that you know.

You also will need to complete your Chapter Preview of Chapter 10 - we're skipping 9 and will come back to it later. This chapter looks at verbs of motion with prefixes. You may find it helpful to review non-prefixed verbs of motion too (Chapter 6).

Russian II - You also have the Solzhenitsyn reading to complete. Your Chapter Preview will focus on Chapter 6 - verbs of motion without prefixes. Make sure that you go through the topics and do some preliminary studying so that you are ready for this unit.

You may also want to do some final studying to prepare for any reassessments you want to do to close out the quarter/semester.

Russian I - You will need to spend time looking at the second half of Chapter One where we will learn about the last three cases in Russian (genitive, dative, instrumental). This is pages thirty-three to forty-one. You may also want to review other parts of Chapter One including verb conjugation and the other cases too. You can also continue to work on your projects over Winter Break. I placed grades in PowerSchool today for your first check-in on that project and if you had work on Google Classroom - I left you comments where I could. Some of you will need to import work on Google Classroom and let me know to update your grades.

Lastly, you should continue to study and work with your vocabulary from Chapter One. We will finish this unit very soon and you will have the complete Chapter One exam quickly once the quarter ends.

You may also want to do some final studying to prepare for any reassessments you want to do to close out the quarter/semester.

Homework for English Students - B Day - 19 December 2017

English IV

Today, we took our Act Two quiz on Twelfth Night, which included details about the plot as well as analysis of themes and irony. After that, we nearly finished watching the modern adaptation of the play, She's The Man. Next class, we will conclude the film and our viewing guides that accompanied it before moving into one of the last big assignments of the unit: a short essay comparing Twelfth Night and She's The Man. Make sure you're prepared to work through ideas on both works, and have a great day!

AP English III

Today, you all took your unit test on The Great Gatsby and other assigned texts from the unit. This was a pretty challenging test in terms of staying engaged and focus throughout the entire period, so I'm very happy with how well you all did working on your stamina. If you missed this test, you need to get in touch with Mr. Miller/Mr. Bernhard as soon as possible to figure out a time to make it up. For next class, you will need to have read and annotated William Buckley's "Why Don't We Complain?." This essay will serve as a bridge from what we have discussed this quarter into the next unit, which is on an American school of philosophy and literature called Transcendentalism. Have a great day, and see you Thursday!

Homework for Russian Students - 18 December 2017

Both groups of Russian students have examinations on Wednesday. Please pay attention to the ideas below in order to prepare adequately. 

Russian I

Your exam will cover what we have been learning recently in Chapter One related to verb conjugation and identification, case declensions, and case functions. You will also see a bit of vocabulary on this test. For the test you will have to make complete sentences in Russian as well as show what you know about how verbs and cases work. You may also want to take a look at your feedback from previous assessments.

Russian II

Your exam will cover the content and vocabulary in Chapter Five - specifically you will be asked a lot of questions about how aspect works as well as how to talk about time in Russian. You should review the content of Chapter Five, your notes, your exercises, and the examples that we have recently discussed related to time and prepositions. You may also want to take a look at your feedback from previous assessments.

Russian III

Your exam will cover the content and vocabulary in Chapter Eight - specifically you will be asked to show your knowledge of the words "all/every", "each other", "oneself", and the possessive reflexive pronoun. You will also see a lot of questions about time - both in standard format, conversational format, and with prepositions related to time. Be sure to look at your previous quizzes and exercises as many of the questions we have covered there will make themselves seen again.

I'll be available Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning for any last minute help you may need!

Homework for the Weekend - B Day Students - 15 December 2017

English IV

Your homework for the weekend is the same as your counterparts from 2A. Make sure you're studying your notes on Act II, and are prepared to answer short and long questions about irony and other details from the play. We also began watching She's The Man, a modern adaptation of Twelfth Night. Next class, we will complete the film and the viewing guide, which will take us into Act III of the play before winter break. Have a good weekend, and see you on Tuesday!

AP English III

Today, we had a good class with a timed writing to kick everything off. Mr. Bernhard will be working on grading and giving feedback to those as soon as he can; he's aiming to have them returned to you on Thursday of next week. The second half of class today functioned as a quick review session before the test on Tuesday. We did careful analysis of each of the five major characters from The Great Gatsby: Nick, Gatsby, Tom, Daisy and Jordan.

In both classes, we didn't get through all of the supplemental essays, so make sure you are revisiting your notes and annotations on those pieces before Tuesday. These essays, in case you don't remember, are Thomas Jefferson's "Declaration of Independence," Langston Hughes's "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," Andrew Carnegie's "The Gospel of Wealth," Virginia Woolf's "The Death of the Moth," and Audre Lorde's "Poetry is Not a Luxury."

For each of these essays, think about the author's central argument/thesis, as well as possible connections between the pieces and the themes of the American Dream and the overall takeaways from Gatsby. Have a great weekend, and see you soon!

Homework for Russian Students - 14 December 2017

Time for the weekend! I'm so looking forward to Saturday :) Here are your reminders for what to accomplish over the weekend for Russian students.

Advanced Russian:

Next week you have two assessments - one is for practice (the NEWL Field Test) and the other is for a grade (the Unit Examination). One you can study for (the Unit Examination) one you can't (the NEWL Field Test). Here are a few reminders:

• On Monday you'll take A lunch and then report to the Dell Lab for the Field Test. Ms. Oertel will be your test proctor. You'll complete listening and reading comprehension in Russian. This is a great way to get ready for your future AP Russian exam as well as to just get a general feel for what your skills are in Russian.
• On Wednesday you'll have your unit examination. Both classes will need to be familiar with telling time, taking about time expressions with prepositions and working with numbers. Outside of that, the exams are different. Russian II will see a lot of questions around aspect and aspectual choice. Make sure that you know when you should use perfective versus imperfective. Russian III will see questions related to reflexive pronouns and other types of pronouns. The exam will cover Chapter Five (Russian II) and Chapter Eight (Russian III) be ready!

Russian I

If you did not have the chance to finish your sentences about yourself and your friend, then make sure that you get on Google Classroom tonight to finish that work. I will import grades tomorrow and give feedback before I return the assignment to you online. The assignment is a good practice for your mini-test next week. The mini-test will focus on verb conjugation and case declensions (nominative, accusative, and prepositional). During our review in class, many of you were able to generate the right answers - keep studying and practicing. Be sure to finish your exercises and to complete the extra exercises I gave you today in order to finish your learning!

Homework for English Students - A Day - 14 December 2017

English IV

Today, we learned a little bit about farces, a new kind of comedy we can apply directly to Twelfth Night. We also played a review game going over the events and irony present in Act II of the play, before moving into our guided viewing of She's The Man, a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's play. For next class, make sure you are carefully studying your notes from Act II and are very familiar with irony. Have a great day and weekend, look forward to seeing you on Monday!

Homework for B Day Students - 13 December 2017

English IV

All in all, we could have had a more productive day in class today. I think we started strong, and somewhere near the end of the lesson, we collectively weren't clicking like we normally do. Next class, arrive prepared to watch She's The Man, and take some time to reflect on how I can better structure class to cater to your needs and you can prepare to be engaged and respectful to your peers, your time, and your teachers.

Next week, we are going to have an assessment on Act II; make sure you are carefully studying your notes so you're able to succeed. This quiz will likely have a similar structure to the one you saw on Act I. Have a good day, and see you soon!

AP English III

Today, you worked independently through some work while I was at Duke and Mr. Miller was at Carolina. The good news? I finished and submitted my essay, so I am done with all of my Duke coursework for the semester! This means I can focus more of my attention on all of you! Also, you were able to get some good vocabulary practice in and work towards developing themes for your soon-to-be-announced final assessment for the unit.

Looking forward to seeing you on Friday (don't forget your timed writing and all unsubmitted/resubmitted work), have a great day!

Homework for A-Day Students - 12 December 2017

English IV

Today we had a great class watching The Globe Theatre's production of Twelfth Night for scenes four and five in Act II. With that, we finished our study of Act II. I was happy to see so many of you actively watching and engaging with the play today - it showed when you caught the jokes and laughed out loud. We did some great analysis today of the play as well.

Next class we will go over our takeaways from Act II and start watching She's the Man - the modern adaptation of Twelfth Night. Be sure that for now you are working to prepare to make corrections to old tests and that you have looked over PowerSchool for any missing work or assignments - those assignments need to be turned in by Friday.

Advanced Russian

Today was a very productive class in which we reviewed our use of time expressions and prepositions as well as preparing for presentations and writings soon. Be sure that you are ready for your timed writing on Thursday (Russian II) or for your in class Russian presentation (Russian III).

Russian III - Be sure that you have your permission slips and notes for tomorrow and that you meet in my room no later than 8:30. We will complete the visual before we head over to UNC Chapel Hill for the day. Have your vocabulary cards ready. We'll have a good chance to finish preparing tomorrow morning. I'll have extra copies of the essay for us.

Next week is an assessment week for all of you. On Monday we will have the field test, and on Wednesday you will have your unit exams. We will finish preparing for the unit examinations on Thursday.

Russian I

Lots of fun today hearing about my misadventures as a nineteen year old in St. Petersburg. Ugh, if you all could have seen me then. The main thing that we reviewed today is where and why to use our three cases in Russian - NOMINATIVE/ACCUSATIVE/PREPOSITIONAL. Remember that there are key words (in, at, on, about) and key locations (before or after the verb) that help us to make these choices. This is all important for you all as we complete our exercises and get ready for Thursday.

Make sure that you've finished exercises 1, 2, 7, and 8 in the packet as best you can. Be sure that you have worked on your sentences about yourself and your friends (one male, one female). On Thursday we will go to the computer lab and put together our sentences and paragraphs so far and you will earn a project grade for this work.

As always, if you need additional help outside of class be sure that you are using your resources wisely to accomplish your goals. I am always here and can give suggestions of what you can do to improve.

Homework for B Day - 11 December 2017

English IV

Today, we learned the terms "projection" and "elocution" as they relate to performance and acting in Shakespeare's plays. We also did some vocabulary practice before moving into group work and a class presentation of Twelfth Night, Act II Scene IV. In this scene, we saw a whole bunch of irony as Viola and Duke Orsino talk about love with each other. For next class, make sure you are prepared to finish up Act II and move onto the rest of the play. For most of today's lesson, we were on-task and focused; thank you. For some of it, however, we need to do a better job putting forth effort to stay engaged and productive. See you all soon!

AP English III

Today, we had a couple of very productive lessons related to Audre Lorde's "Poetry is Not a Luxury." We discussed the ideas of Black feminism and intersectionality, and applied our understandings of rhetorical strategies and devices to Lorde's work. We also laid out the next few weeks. There is a timed writing this Friday, and you will have a test on The Great Gatsby next Tuesday.

For next class, make sure the back covers of your copies of The Great Gatsby are entirely complete; you need to have at least three major themes/motifs identified. For each of these themes, come prepared with a few passages from the novel that support these themes. For example, if one of your themes is disillusionment, you should find passages that express a certain kind of disillusionment. Each of these passages should be longer than a sentence, but less than a page.

In addition, revisit the other readings we have completed this unit: Carnegie, Woolf, Lorde, Hughes, the Declaration of Independence. Check those readings for other passages that may relate to the same theme you are exploring from Gatsby. These will eventually pay off when you complete a lengthy writing/planning assignment to conclude the unit.

Have a wonderful couple of days, and see you soon!

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 8 December 2017

It snowed today! Yay! Hopefully it'll keep snowing more! Here are your reminders and tasks for the weekend.

Russian I

Some of you were able to get some good work done today in class and some of you were not. I remind you all that Russian is difficult; it's even more difficult when you don't try to learn it. This weekend you should be able to accomplish the following:

1. Work through your exercise pack which I gave you today. Complete page one to review verb conjugation. Complete the other pages to review the use of accusative and prepositional case.
2. Prepare for your reassessment on conjugation of Chapter One verbs (first and second conjugation). In order to study, see the above suggestion.
3. Continue to work on your project about you and your friends. We will have part of this due formally before Winter Break - you will be expected to write several sentences about your friends and start to construct your PowerPoint. This will help you prepare for your test on our first three cases (nominative, accusative, and prepositional).

I am available on Monday morning and during lunch on Monday if you need additional help.

Russian II/III

Over the weekend you should all be actively preparing for your unit exam as well as your performance task. Hopefully you are using your study guide to determine where you need to focus your efforts. I think that a good place to stay focused is on time expressions and numbers.

Russian II - You should continue to work through preparing for your timed writing. Remember that you cannot write the letter in advance and bring it, but you can bring vocabulary that you've developed to help you. Remember that in this task you are talking about your life in school and out of school - you can do this by talking about a day or by talking about a week or even a year - it's up to you.

Russian III - You should be completing your elements of your visuals so that you can construct your visual on Tuesday and finish preparing for your presentation on Wednesday at UNC. Please ask for my assistance if you need it as you work through the construction of the visual.

English IV

We had some fun today working through Act II, Scene 4 of Twelfth Night. If you have any missing assignments to complete (the Acting a Fool project or take-home test) be sure that you get that work in to us next week. Next class you should be ready to work through the remainder of Act II as well as engage your acting talents to read through the text even more.

Homework for B Day Students - 7 December 2017

English IV

Today, we worked through more of Twelfth Night, getting caught up with our counterparts in 2A. We read and discussed Act II, Scene II before moving into some close reading of Act II, Scene III with special focus on Malvolio as a character and a word. Oh, and how can I forget the beginning of class, where we worked on our Shakespearean insults by letting Mr. Miller have it, and then learning about practical joking and what it means for someone to be a "mark." Next class, you will work in small groups to prepare for reading the next scene, so arrive prepared to be productive! Today was a great class, let's keep the positive momentum moving forward!

AP English III

Today, we had a couple of fantastic classes. We began with group work reimagining Gatsby's death, which led to some great creativity in reading the novel. We also analyzed Baz Luhrmann's interpretation of Gatsby's death, thinking a little bit about the ways we can break down films much the same way we break down novels/poems/essays. For the last bit of class, we worked through many of Fitzgerald's most prominent symbols/motifs, including the green light, the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg, the valley of ashes, cars, and Gatsby's clothing.

At the end of class, I asked you to consider the following question: If the American Dream is a lie and with money comes unhappiness, what do we live for? As you continue thinking about Gatsby, I want you to work through this question. What do we work for everyday? Why do we wake up in the morning and go about our lives?

For next class, please read and heavily annotate Audre Lorde's "Poetry is Not a Luxury." If you have time, read this essay twice. When you're annotating, think about how Lorde is similar/different to Langston Hughes in "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain." Also, I would like to come up with an answer to the question, what is Audre Lorde's "dream?" This will inform much of our discussion on Monday. Have a wonderful weekend, and see you soon!

Homework for English Students - PLC/A Day - 6 December 2017

English IV

Today, we distributed progress reports and continued our conversations about Twelfth Night with an introduction to practical joking and the Globe Theatre Production of the play. We took notes on the various elements of pranks, did some close reading of Act II, Scene 3, and left with thoughts on Malvolio. For next class, make sure you're prepared to participate and read, as everyone will be expected to take on a role in the scenes we read. If you have any questions about your progress reports or missing assignments, make sure to get in touch with me or Mr. Miller as soon as possible. Have a great day, and see you on Friday!

Homework for Russian Students - 6 December - PLC Day

Advanced Russian - 

Today was a very productive if not a fast class. We did a lot to review counting rules and how to talk about time in a lot of different contexts. I also handed out the study guides for your unit examinations. The unit exam will fall on 12/20. You'll also have your field test for Russian on 12/18 - so our last week is going to be one full of testing.

Tonight for practice and preparation be sure to review the dialogues at the beginning of the chapters. Here are links to the audio files for Chapter 5 and Chapter 8. As you read and listen to the dialogues you should identify key skills and vocabulary in them that align with your study guides.

Additionally - make sure you've completed your examples related to time expressions. We'll have time to review them next class.

Russian I - 

Many of you missed the chance to turn in sentences today. Be sure to have them in to me on Friday. You should complete exercise 8D at the end of Chapter One. Fill in the blanks with the word in prepositional case and then translate your sentences. We'll review this next class before we move on to learning about accusative case.

Also, be sure that you are studying your verb conjugation daily for our reassessment on Tuesday.

Homework for B Day Students - 5 December 2017

English IV

Today, we took a quiz on Act I of Twelfth Night before continuing to develop our skills with Shakespeare's vocabulary. We ended class with a writing exercise involving Shakespeare-style insults, which I hope you all have been able to put into use already! Next class, we're going to return to the insults before reading and watching more of Act II from the play. Have a great day, see you soon!

AP English III

Today, we spent a good deal of class analyzing Virginia Woolf's "The Death of the Moth" alongside passages from The Great Gatsby. If you missed class today, make sure you see me to get the classwork for the day, which involved planning an AP-style rhetorical analysis essay. Near the end of class, we thought about the way Woolf/Nick/Fitzgerald use various kinds of tone to accompany death sequences in their work. For next class, make sure you're looking at your annotations for the following five motifs/symbols:

1. The green light
2. The eyes of T.J. Eckleburg
3. The valley of ashes
4. Cars/driving
5. Gatsby's clothing

For class, please write one paragraph that describes how Fitzgerald uses this symbol/motif to further his argument about the American Dream. Have a great day, see you soon!

Homework for Russian Students - 4 December 2017

Russian I

For next class you should have TEN sentences which talk about yourself, your male and/or female friend, and yourselves as a group or them as a group. State what happens (verb conjugations) as well as where the events happen (prepositional case). I am going to assess these sentences for completion as well as for general accuracy.

If you were not satisfied with your work on the most recent quiz, study and prepare for a reassessment. I am available during lunch on Tuesday and Thursday for extra help if you need it. Hopefully with more time and practice the verb conjugation patterns will stick with you.

If you are in the independent study group, make sure that you have finished your second project by Friday - guidelines are on Google Classroom in this week's announcement.

Advanced Russian

Russian II - Hopefully with my notes and the time we spent in class you were able to finish your answers to the questions about time. I'll be checking your work on Wednesday morning to make sure that it is accurate, so make sure that any changes are uploaded by that time. You should also record yourself reading your answers to the questions in the personal information section. Practice and review your recording before sending it to me. You should email your recording to me at daniel (dot) miller (at) dpsnc (dot) net. I will confirm receipt. By the end of this you will have a Grammar, Vocabulary, Sentence Complexity, and Comprehensibility score.

You should also check in with exercises 15 and 16 in Chapter 5 on Time Expressions.

Russian III - You should be reviewing your paper nightly and preparing questions and answers for next week's presentations. Further, you are now actively working on the visual to aid you in the display of your paper's findings. Remember that the visual should be an outgrowth of your paper - your idea for a map is a good one. My classroom will be open to you during lunches to work on this project.

Additionally, check in with exercises 8, 12, and 14 in Chapter 8 on Time Expressions.

We will be finishing our review of this new information this week with a unit examination coming next week. Be ready!

Homework for the Weekend - B Day Students - 1 December 2017

Welcome to December! It was a wonderful day in Room 301 today.

English IV

Your homework is the same as your peers on A Day. Prepare for a quiz on Tuesday of next week, and continue to be prepared to work through more styles of comedy as we read Twelfth Night. Have a great weekend, and see you on Tuesday!

AP English III

We had a couple of fantastic classes today centering on Chapter 7 and close readings of Myrtle Wilson. We also had a great time complicating our understanding of The Great Gatsby, incorporating elements of queer theory into our reading of Nick Carraway as well as challenging the assumption that Gatsby himself is a white character. For next class, finish reading The Great Gatsby, as well as Virginia Woolf's essay, "Death of the Moth." As you read, consider the ways we can connect Woolf's piece to what we've seen with Gatsby. 

Also, as you finish reading Gatsby, consider the ways the film adaptation we watched today is both similar and different to the text. What details does Luhrmann decide to emphasize that were perhaps less notable when you read Fitzgerald's novel? What things does Luhrmann add you didn't see in the text? Why would he do this?

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your reading! Looking forward to seeing you all next week!

Belated Post - B Day Students - 29 November 2017

Yesterday, I could have sworn I wrote the blog post, but it appears it got lost in the flood. I apologize for the lateness!

English IV

Yesterday, we started class with less focus than ideal, but we turned it around and you all came up with some pretty fantastic group presentations. I was really thrilled with how creative and funny you were with your interpretations of Twelfth Night. Tomorrow, let's make sure we're on-task and with it from the jump, we have lots of work to complete. Looking forward to seeing everybody, Friday should be a blast!

AP English III

Yesterday, we did some pretty in-depth analysis of The Great Gatsby Chapter 6. We thought a lot about the importance of identity, especially as it relates to the Jay Gatsby/James Gatz question. We also had a thought-provoking conversation about how we can think about the Gatsby dilemma in comparison to gender identity and expression in the modern United States. For class tomorrow, please read and thoroughly annotate Chapter 7, with a couple questions in mind:

1. Is Jay Gatsby good?
2. What are some modern comparisons we can make to The Great Gatsby? These can be fictional or based on true life.

Again, sorry for the delay on the post, can't wait to see you all tomorrow!

Homework for the Weekend - English Students - 30 November 2017

English IV

Today, we began class with a quotes quiz. This served as a good review of some of the characters present in Act I, and gave us more practice translating Shakespearean dialogue into our own style of English. After that, we covered some things that make comedians/actors/jokes funny: tone of voice, pacing, and volume. We then did a whole group activity and began our study of Act II, finishing out our character charts. If you have missed days and don't know some information about a few of the characters, I'm including some on this blog post. Come to class ready for a quiz on Monday, and have a great weekend!

Olivia: rich woman in Illyria, mourning her dead brother, in love with Cesario (Viola)
Duke Orsino: political leader of Illyria, loves Olivia, employs Cesario (Viola) to woo Olivia
Viola: shipwrecked woman, pretends to be a woman to work for the Duke, in love with the Duke
Sir Toby: Olivia's drunk uncle, acts silly all the time
Malvolio: Olivia's assistant, doesn't like anybody
Feste: Olivia's jester, messes around all the time, very witty
Sir Andrew: kind of a goofball, friends with Sir Toby, tries to woo Maria and Olivia
Sebastian: Viola's brother! He's not dead! Thinks Viola is dead, goes to Orsino at the end of Act II, Scene 2

Homework for the Weekend - 30 November - Russian Students

Advanced Russian:

Hopefully after spending time with your numbers and counting rules you are a bit more comfortable using and navigating time expressions. Russian II - If you did not finish your answering of the questions in Google Classroom as well as your recording of your questions and answers, make sure that you finish that work by Monday. There are also your time expression exercises at the end of Chapter Five.

Russian III - I hope that you are satisfied with the final draft of your paper. You should be actively preparing to answer questions and discuss this essay. Developing sample questions and preparing answers for those questions is one of the best ways to prepare. Also, don't forget to finish reviewing your time expressions as well. On Monday we will be working through some talking to solidify our knowledge around time. Prepare for a quiz on time expressions next week!

Russian I:

I will have your quizzes graded and posted soon. If you are not satisfied with your score, make sure that you fully learn this skill so that you can reassess on the skill next week. I also hope that you enjoyed your viewing of the second section of Doctor Zhivago today.

Over the weekend you should spend time with the readings at the beginning of Chapter One. Read over the dialogue and the reading. As you are reading these texts, look out for verbs. Can you identify where they are? Can you also identify where prepositional case is being used? On Monday we'll do some more work to pair verb conjugation with prepositional case.

Homework for English Students - 28 November 2017

English IV

You all did a great job today working through the group projects on Twelfth Night, Act I. I was very impressed with how you adjusted to Ms. Baker's room (sorry for the confusion at the beginning of class), and thought your creativity really shone through! For next class, be prepared to begin working through Act II after some strong practice with Shakespeare's vocabulary and wordplay. Have a great day, see you on Thursday!

Homework for Russian Students - 28 November 2017

Russian I

Today we focused on learning how to put words into the prepositional case. Remember that this case is used to discuss where an action occurs. It is also used to indicate what something is about. You should have been able to add locations for your sentences which you have written about yourselves and your friends.

To finalize this skill, complete exercise 8D at the end of Chapter One. Fill in the blanks by putting the words in parenthesis in prepositional case.

Here is a video that reviews prepositional case in Russian. You may find it useful.

Lastly, don't forget that you will have a quiz on Thursday before we go back to watching Doctor Zhivago. You will need to be able to tell if a verb is first or second conjugation and if it is transitive or reflexive. You will also be asked to conjugate several verbs in Russian.

Advanced Russian

Today we delved into the exciting world of talking about time in Russian. We reviewed the cases that are used, the counting rules for numbers, and how to use prepositions to explain time expressions. Tonight, as a means of reinforcing this skill you should make a schedule of when things occur in your day. List out actions and the times that they happen. This will help you to get comfortable with this new information. Your numbers are located on page 181 - in the Chapter Five vocabulary. Next class you will be working to answer questions talking about time.

Russian III - You should actively be working on completing the final draft of your essay. I will submit your essay on Thursday afternoon at 5:00.

Homework for B Day Students - 27 November 2017

English IV

Today, we finished up Act I of Twelfth Night, reading from the play and watching some of the Globe Production version to clarify the action in the last scene. I'm really excited about how well you all are understanding Shakespeare's language and humor. Next class, we will complete a group project centering on physical comedy, acting, and interpretation of the text! Looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday!

AP English III

Today, we discussed Chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby, thinking specifically about Daisy and Gatsby as symbols of disillusionment and the American Dream. We also took a quiz focusing on interpretation and extrapolation skills from a single passage. For the second half of class, we discussed Langston Hughes's "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," thinking about the differences in the American Dream for people if various races/genders/sexual orientations. For next class, please read and thoroughly annotate Chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby. See you soon!

AP Quarter Two Newsletter

AP English III Students and Parents - The AP Program Newsletter for Quarter Two can be found at this link.

Homework for Thanksgiving Break - English Students of the World, Unite!

English IV 2A:

Today, we finished reading/watching Twelfth Night, Act I. At this point, you should have just about your entire character chart full of notes. You were also split into groups to begin your "Acting a Fool" project, which we will hopefully complete next Tuesday. If you haven't yet made up your Canterbury Tales test, you need to email me ASAP. We have given you many chances to make this up, and you're coming up on a zero in the grade book if it isn't addressed now. For all of you, have a wonderful and safe break, eat a lot of good food, and come back next week ready to learn!

English IV 2B:

Yesterday, we made more progress on Twelfth Night and learned about elements of physical comedy. When we return, we will finish Act I and begin working on a group project. The advice above to students who have not yet taken the Canterbury Tales test applies here as well. I need you to submit your work, or you're looking at a zero. Have a wonderful and safe break, be smart and responsible, eat good food, and come back ready to push towards the winter!

AP English III:

Yesterday, you all completed the third timed writing of the year, but this time it was a rhetorical analysis prompt. I'll be grading these over the break; when we return I will have a set of rules for good writing to go over in response. You also went over color analysis and new information about Gatsby with Mr. Miller, which I hope opened some more doors for you in terms of understanding the language, Fitzgerald's rhetorical devices, and the text's overall themes. When we return from break, we will go over Chapter 5, so make sure you're reading and annotating thoroughly. Also, please read and consider Langston Hughes's "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain." While you are reading, condense Hughes's argument into one or two sentences and take notes on how you feel in response to his argument. We will have a lengthy discussion of his piece in light of Gatsby on Monday. Have a wonderful break, make good decisions, and I'll see you on Monday!

Homework for Russian Students - Thanksgiving Break Edition

С ДНЁМ БЛАГОДАРЕНИЯ! (Happy Thanksgiving!)

Over the break you should spend time daily with your Russian so that you don't forget anything over the break. Here are some things that you should accomplish.

Russian III: Spend time reviewing your information on how to tell time in Russian including the different prepositions, the different ways to tell time, and the different expressions and cases used with time. Completing exercises 8.11 and 8.14 will help to solidify these skills. Additionally, you should be actively working on finalizing the parts of your paper. I've done your works cited page as well as found some good sources for you. Use them and finish your writing.

Russian II: Complete the guided notes sheet about time expressions as you read and study pages 205 to 209. Once you've done this, complete exercises 5.12 and 5.15 to help you review how to use time expressions. We will review all of this new information next week after we return. This is the last goal of this chapter - expect a unit exam soon.

Russian I: By this point you should feel very comfortable conjugating first and second conjugation verbs in Russian. You should be able to write about yourself, a male friend, a female friend, you all as a group, and them as a group. Go through your project and finish your basic sentences where you have just a subject and a verb.

Additionally, this video may be very helpful in learning your conjugations. Use this as an additional aid in helping you to learn. If you are still confused, please come and see me for extra help.

Homework for the Weekend - English Students - 17 November 2017

English IV

Today, we continued our reading of Twelfth Night after a good discussion about physical comedy. Make sure you are keeping in mind the various strategies Shakespeare is using to make us laugh throughout the play! At this point, just about everyone has made up the Canterbury Tales test. If you still haven't taken it, make sure you are prepared and have communicated with me or Mr. Miller about the best way to get it done; we need to have all of these tests complete and graded before Thanksgiving. Also, please consider finishing up the college applications many of you began in the media center this week. Have a great weekend, I'll see you on Tuesday!

Homework for the Weekend - Russian - 17 November

Russian III: Over the weekend put in time and energy toward the report on Russia's annexation of Crimea. Make sure that you are supporting your ideas with source material - either in English or in Russian. Write what you can write in Russian, do the rest in English. I'll come behind you in order to help with the formatting and word choice. By our next class we should have our sources determined and we should be able to fully prove our thesis.

Russian II: Many of you got a lot of great work done today to get your projects done. Make sure that by Sunday, you have completed most of your work on Google Classroom. I'll come in and leave any comments for you to correct before Tuesday. Keep in mind that the project is due on Tuesday. You should also complete exercise nine in Chapter Five. In this exercise you should pick the proper verb aspect based on the clues in the sentences.

Russian I: Over the weekend you should finish your verb cards for our project about ourselves and our friends. You should have six verbs that you and your friends do. The verbs should all be conjugated for all forms. You may want to write the name of your friend in Russian as a practice with that. Next class we will have a small quiz on verb conjugation and we will also put in work to our writing projects.

Enjoy the weekend! Next week will be very short!

Homework for B Day Students - 17 November 2017

English IV

Today, you all did a great job working through the first two scenes of Twelfth Night, even with the fire alarm interruption! After working through these and talking about jokes that can go too far, we spent the last part of class in the library working through college applications on CFNC. Tomorrow is the last day to apply to North Carolina colleges for free, so make sure you are thinking about getting applications submitted. Mr. Kelly in the library is a great resource for all of you, as are me and Mr. Miller for things like college essays. Remember, college can be an option for all of you, so make sure to do your due diligence to prepare. Have a great weekend, see you on Monday!

AP English III

Today, we began class by completing the JHS student climate survey. If you missed today, you can complete the survey here. After that, we discussed Andrew Carnegie's "The Gospel of Wealth," connecting it to Gatsby and the American Dream. For next class, please read and annotate Chapter 4 of Gatsby, paying close attention to imagery and descriptions of color. Also prepare to submit a set of three vocabulary cards and get ready for an AP Timed Writing (rhetorical analysis prompt). Have a great weekend, see you on Monday!

Homework for Russian Students - 15 November

Good work today in class speaking and working with Russian. I like that I'm seeing a lot of engagement. Here are your reminders as you go into Friday.

Advanced Russian:

Since we didn't have a chance to do our workshop today, I want to make sure that all of you are continuing to work on your projects. Russian II - Since you got your rough drafts back today, focus on adding more complexity to your sentences. Add prepositional phrases, more verbs, and other vocabulary to help increase the complexity of the sentences. Russian III - Now we have a clear idea of our topic, the annexation of Crimea's effect on Russia's image in the world. Take this and move forward. Finish gathering your sources and start writing.

There are also exercises for you to consider. Russian III should look at exercise 21 on page 345. Russian II should look at exercise 9 in Chapter Five. Do what you can with these.

Russian I:

Tonight for homework you should complete your verb cards for your project. Remember that you want to have six verbs that you and your friends enjoy doing. Additionally, I would like for you to read the Chapter One dialogue, at the beginning of the chapter, and find all of the verbs. You can highlight them or mark them in another way as well.

Homework for English Students - 15 November 2017

English IV

Today, the class did an excellent job pushing through and understanding the first two scenes from Twelfth Night. I was very impressed with how you were all able to engage with Shakespeare's dirty humor. We also spent a good percentage of the class in the computer lab working on college applications through CFNC and the Common App. This is extremely important work, as it has the potential to change your life. I encourage you to keep thinking about applying for postsecondary education, even if it's for something as simple as an additional certification for your career. Have a great night and day tomorrow, I look forward to seeing you on Friday!

Homework for B Day Students - 14 November 2017

English IV

Today, we went through the same lesson as your counterparts on A Day. Next class, we are going to continue our study of Twelfth Night, focusing on characters and preparing for a class "production" of the play. We will also spend time in the library working on college applications. Have a great rest of your night, and see you on Thursday!

AP English III

Today, we learned about a new style of AP Timed Writing: Rhetorical Analysis. We also continued our conversation about themes, strategies and motifs in The Great Gatsby and went over some new (and old) rules for good writing. Before next class, please read and annotate "The Gospel of Wealth" by Andrew Carnegie, which is accessible at this link. When we arrive, we will analyze specific passages from Chapters 2 & 3 of Gatsby in light of Carnegie's writing. Have a great week, start reading, and see you on Thursday!

Homework for English Students - A Day - 13 November 2017

English IV

Today, we began class with a survey from Mr. Nowak relating to college choices and your perspectives on what services the guidance office could provide students at Jordan. After that, we discussed the makings of an effective love song, and connected these traits back to Shakespeare and sonnets. We read Shakespeare's "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day," began thinking about Twelfth Night, and watched the trailer to She's the Man. Overall, we had a productive day, but I would love to see the energy level get higher as we continue to move through the quarter. For next class, jazz yourself up to work on props, costumes and ideas for our class version of Twelfth Night. Have a great week!

Homework for Russian Students - 13 November 2017

You may reassesss on your quizzes all this week. You must schedule a time to do this outside of class. If you missed the quiz last week, then you must schedule a time to take it before the end of the day on Friday. Here are other reminders and announcements for today.

Russian I: This quarter you will be working on a long-term writing project in which you write about yourself and two friends (one male, one female) in Russian. For tonight, you should find six verbs that apply to you and your friends. Find the verbs in Russian and then conjugate them for all forms. You can do this on the back of the assignment sheet, or you can make vocabulary cards. These will be the verbs that you will continue to use through the majority of the project.

Russian II/III: Next class we will stay together and continue to work with the verbs that we have learned today. Focus on studying them thoroughly tonight. Use them. Focus on the strange conjugations. To help you do this, translate the sentences we were looking at during the end of class. You know which verb to use, now put it in the right form. We'll start by reviewing these translations next class.

Russian III: Take a look on Google Classroom - I have created templates for you to use in order to structure your writing assignment. By the end of this week you should complete the abstract and works cited page.

Homework for the Long Weekend - B Day Students - November 9

English IV

Nice job working through the unit test today. When we return next week, we will begin our Shakespeare/humor unit in earnest, so be prepared to digest some challenging language, learn new styles of jokes and comedy, and have fun as we read Twelfth Night!

AP English III

Both classes did a great job today working with close reading and the first chapter of The Great Gatsby. As you're rereading and annotating this weekend, consider how literary devices are functioning in the text. Figure out what is making the message clear, unclear, interesting and confusing. For next class, make sure you have thoroughly read and annotated (including your covers) Chapters 2 & 3, and are prepared to talk about Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway. Also, don't forget to bring in a passage you'd like to discuss, with some specific talking points in mind.

Homework for the Long Weekend - English A Day Students - 8 November 2017

English IV

Nice job today working through the unit test. Grades should begin appearing for the test on PowerSchool before the weekend is over, so keep an eye out for those. For next week, begin mentally preparing to tackle Shakespeare and learn more about comedy/humor, it should be a very fun and rewarding rest of the semester!

Homework for the Long Weekend - Russian Classes - 8 November 2017

We all had quizzes today! If you felt unprepared on a section make sure that you study so that you can complete your reassessment on that section after I return them to you. Here's what you should complete over the weekend:

Russian II: Complete the final drafts of your aspect sentences. Make sure that you are increasing your sentence complexity by adding in adverbs that relate to the aspect (this will help you study the new vocabulary) as well as prepositional phrases (with the list of prepositions I gave you earlier). By applying and using the words I give you, then you will better learn them.

Russian III: Your goal this weekend is to share a document between yourselves and me in which you start drafting your paper's abstract. The abstract should review the argument of the paper as well as the source material that will be used to prove the point of the paper. This can be done in English and in Russian. Use Russian where you can and use English where you need to.

In another shared document you should put together your outline. In the outline you should include your argument and the topics that you will explore to prove your argument is valid. In the topics you should include information from your source materials as well as your commentary. Again, this can be done in a mixture of English and Russian.

Please be sure to share these documents with me as I will help with corrections, translations, and formatting for the APA style requirements. Your paper must be finished after Thanksgiving Break - so it is very important we finish these elements this weekend.

Russian I:

Over the weekend complete the review activities that I gave you. In the first you will be using possessive pronouns in order to talk about ownership of items. In the other exercises you will be working with verb conjugations and subject pronouns. This is a great review of all of the things that you have learned so far in this grammar unit. Make sure to complete all of the activities.

Homework for B Day Students - 7 November 2017

English IV

Today, we had a productive review session in preparation for our unit test on Thursday. We also learned a little bit about puns and how they work with regard to Shakespeare's language. After the test, we are going to move forward learning about different kinds of humor and reading Twelfth Night. As you prepare for your test, remember the different qualities Chaucer likes and doesn't like, as well as plot details and characters from The Canterbury Tales. Good luck studying, I look forward to seeing you on Thursday!

AP English III

Both sections had a very productive first day of the unit on The Great Gatsby. It was a lot of fun for me and Mr. Miller to see how each of you processed the visual discussion as well as the reading of the Declaration of Independence. For next class, you will need to read the first chapter of Gatsby, making careful annotations that relate to Fitzgerald's strategies and purpose. Why is he making the choices as a writer he is making? Like I said, today was excellent. Let's continue to stay focused and do well as me move through the unit together.

Homework for Russian Students - A Day - 6 November

You all have quizzes next class and this is your priority for tonight. Details are below.

Russian I - Your quiz will focus on pronouns (subject and possessive), nouns from Chapter One, verbs from Chapter One, and cognates. You should be able to spell them, tell the meaning, and the gender. If the word is a verb, you should be able to tell if it is first or second conjugation. For this quiz you do not need to worry about conjugating verbs.

Russian II - Your quiz will focus on verb pairs and adverbs related to aspect (the red flags for aspect). You should be able to define the words, spell the words, and in terms of the verb pairs you should be able to move between the pairs (for example, you are given a perfective verb and you can derive the imperfective).

Russian III - Your quiz will focus on time expressions and language related to time. You should know your days of the week, months of the year, and your numbers in their ordinal and cardinal forms. You should know different ways to measure time as well (hours, seconds, minutes). You will also be asked about different prepositions used to talk about time.

If you have any missing work from the first part of these units that work is due on Wednesday when you take your quizzes. After the quiz we will go back to our films.

English Homework for A-Day Students - 6 November

English IV

Today, we began our discussion of Twelfth Night with a small exercise on puns and wordplay jokes. We then spent the rest of class finalizing our review before the unit test next class meeting. More specifically, we covered avoidable mistakes on resumes and cover letters, as well as some important things to remember when doing professional writing.

We also spent time reading and analyzing passages about characters in the "General Prologue." Make sure you are remembering the processes we covered in class for textual analysis; they will come in handy on Wednesday.

Be sure to study and come to class prepared for a test, I believe all of you have the capability to excel with the right amount of preparation!

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - November 3

English IV

Today, we had a very productive review session before our unit exam next Thursday. We also spent some time going over Shakespeare's life and style of insults. Over the weekend, it would be a productive use of your time to study your notes and visit the Jeopardy game I made at this link. Have a great weekend, I look forward to seeing you next week!

AP English III

Today, we completed the second timed writing of the year, which Mr. Miller and I will begin grading this weekend. We also finished monologue and scene presentations for the Crucible drama project. This weekend, you need to get yourself a copy of The Great Gatsby if you haven't already done so, as well as write a 500-word response to one of the following two questions:

1. What does it mean for literature to be "American?"
2. What does it mean to be an "American?"

Remember, don't be basic. Obviously, literature is American if an American writes it, but you can go deeper than that. What are characteristics that define America/American literature?

Have a wonderful weekend, I look forward to seeing you next week!

English Homework for the Weekend - A Day - November 2

English IV (2A)

Today, we spent some time doing grammar practice and familiarizing ourselves with some of the funnier elements of Shakespeare's language. We then dedicated the rest of class to reviewing details from Quarter 1 (The Canterbury Tales, elegy, vocabulary) before next week's test.

Over the weekend, continue studying your notes and making sure you know the plot details from both "The Wife of Bath's Tale" and "The Miller's Tale." The more you study now, the easier the test will be. Have a great weekend, looking forward to seeing you on Monday!

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 2 November

Russian I

Over the weekend you should focus on studying your verb conjugations that we did in class today. On Monday we'll have more time to practice with those. The goal of studying this weekend would be for the verbs and nouns in Chapter One as well as the cognates from earlier. Your quiz on Wednesday will focus on vocabulary. Make sure you know words, their meaning, and how to work with those.

Advanced Russian

II - Over this weekend you should revise your sentences about aspect to include more complexity as well as some of the triggers for aspect (aka the adverbs). By using more of the vocabulary you'll be learning more of the vocabulary, and that is always a plus. You may also want to start creating your comics to go along with your work. You can draw them by hand, or you can use an online program (Bitstrips) to make your comics. Make sure that the language and the comic clearly connect.

III - Over the weekend continue to review and practice with your language related to time. To help you do this you will need to complete exercises 8.7 and 8.8 which review prepositions and other expressions related to time. As always, this gets complicated. One of the only ways to really understand it is to use it.

II/III - Don't forget that next week you'll have one of our new, regular vocabulary quizzes. Russian II should focus on pairs for commonly known verbs as well as adverbs related to aspect. Russian III should focus on language related to talking about time (numbers, questions, expressions).

Homework for B-Day Students: 1 November 2017

English IV

Your work is the same as your colleagues in the A-day group. Begin collecting and reviewing your notes on The Canterbury Tales for review and to prepare for your exam next week. The exam will cover The Canterbury Tales as well as information around writing and vocabulary. Prepare yourselves! We'll continue to review on Friday.

AP English III

You may continue to present your monologues on Thursday (before or after school) or on Friday (before school, after school, during B lunch, or during class in our time). All visuals and paragraphs will need to be collected by Friday so that Mr. Bernhard and I can have them graded in time. This project is a good example of how to work in this class. You can't do this project all in one night. It can only successfully be done if you work on it a bit at a time. Hopefully those of you who procrastinated on this assignment will learn from that mistake and rectify this in the future.

You will also have a timed writing on Friday. We will start with the timed writing. It will draw on The Crucible and Mean Girls - you will be expected to draw on those two "texts" for the majority of your evidence. You will be able to use your notes for the assignment, but your notes will not be graded themselves.

We are starting this quarter with six "test" grades - make sure that you're not getting yourselves into a deep hole. See me if you need help.

Homework for A-Day - 31 October 2017

English IV

Now that you know what will be on your exam next week, it is important that you start to study your notes and get yourselves together for the exam on The Canterbury Tales. Begin by focusing in on characters. Know who the characters are. Know where they appeared (which story/part of The Canterbury Tales). And, finally, know how they act and what their attitude is like.

Advanced Russian

II - You should be able to complete a rough draft of your Russian aspect sentences given the work we did in class. Begin to develop complexity in your sentences by adding in some of the prepositions we have looked at today. You should also spend time studying the new vocabulary related to adverbs in Chapter Five that clue in to aspect. Incorporate these where needed to help add complexity and expand your vocabulary.

III - Focus on studying and learning your numbers in their ordinal form as well as your adjective declensions. You will want to read over the section in Chapter Eight that deals with telling time in Russian (it goes over several pages) as you will be applying your knowledge around numbers to this content. Also, continue your research and drafting - now that we know the requirements, you can begin to finish some of the refining around your outline and thesis.

Russian I

Continue studying your Chapter One vocabulary - continue to focus on nouns, but also go forward into the verbs as well. Read through the information on pages 44-48 in Chapter One around verb conjugation - next class we'll start to learn our conjugation models.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 27 October

English IV

Over the weekend you should spend your time organizing and reviewing the work that you have done this quarter related to The Canterbury Tales. You should find notes related to "The General Prologue", "The Miller's Tale", and "The Wife of Bath's Tale". You will also want to find your notes on vocabulary (word parts) and general information around Chaucer and his time period.

You'll have your exam the week of November 6th. Next week will be our review and transition week. Be ready for your exam!

AP English III

This weekend you should be actively memorizing and finishing your drama projects. Remember that all visual comparisons and explanations are due on Wednesday. This is a must for all people. Keep in mind that you'll have your visual comparison on the front and the explanation on the back. Your visual should be the size of a standard piece of paper - if you made it already, it can be bigger. Keep in mind the rubric as you are working.

If you received a red card today then you will present on Wednesday. Black cards will present on Friday. We will also finish watching Mean Girls next week and have our in-class essay to finish The Crucible. That is where you'll use your notes from our viewing.

Lastly, make sure that you find a copy of The Great Gatsby - our main text for the next unit. If you can provide a donation copy for another student, it would be greatly appreciated.

Homework for A Day Students - Long Weekend - 26 October

It's the end of the first quarter! Way to go everyone!

Russian I

If you would like to reassess on your vocabulary section for your quiz, come and see me tomorrow to do that. You could also throw some rubles on it if you have any left. Over the weekend you should spend your time studying and clarifying the different types of pronouns (subject/possessive) and how they are used.

Also, please spend time studying your vocabulary. You should, at a minimum, be spending approximately thirty minutes per day on vocabulary studying.

Advanced Russian

III - Over the weekend continue to do your preliminary research as well as building your outline collaboratively in Google Classroom. This weekend you should be focused on refining the question that you are asking and start to find information related to these questions. Remember that the information you find must be in Russian. I am here to help you make sense of it.

This weekend you should also focus on studying your ordinal numbers (1-10 are strange, they're pretty regular after 11). Review the spelling and formation of these as well as when they are used.

II - One of the only ways to learn aspect is to do aspect, so that's why you have your project. For this weekend you should select which types of verbal action you'll be using, which verbs you'll be using, and make your sentences in English. I'll be able to look at this and give you feedback on how to proceed.

English IV

Make sure that you have gone through your folder and organized your notes around The Canterbury Tales. Start studying now to prepare for your unit exam.

Homework for B Day Students - 25 October 2017

English IV

Make sure that if there's anything from the Character Project missing that you have what you need to complete that work. Your grades have been updated in PowerSchool. If you have a zero, you should ask what to do in order to complete that. The last day of the quarter is Friday.

AP English III

Any and all resubmissions of your In Cold Blood essays are due tomorrow. You can drop them off at any point from 8:00 AM to 4:15 PM. No essays will be accepted after 4:15 PM. Be sure that you resubmit at the very least your original essay with cover sheet and rubric as well as the new one.

You should also take this time to put forth a lot of work on your Drama Projects. We will present those on Wednesday and Friday of next week.

Lastly, buy a copy of The Great Gatsby in order to get ready for our next unit. It's an amazingly rich text and you will definitely want your own copy of it.

Homework for A Day Students - 24 October 2017

Russian I

Tonight you should spend time reviewing the information in your textbooks on pages 38 and 39 about subject pronouns. How are subject pronouns different from possessive pronouns? How are they used in sentences?

Also, please find the list of people you would meet in Russia. We'll be doing an activity next class around these people and how to talk about them. Make sure you list at least ten people and identify if you would speak with them formally or informally.

Advanced Russian

II - At the end of the chapter find exercise number three. This is in two parts - A and Б. Look over the sentences and select five from group A and five from group Б. As you look at the sentences, identify the verbs and aspect used in each sentence. Then, write your answers to the questions. Be sure to consider the aspect of the verb in your answer - will it be the same or different? Why?

III - You must complete your research topic so that we can review it on Friday. Additionally, look over the rest of Chapter Eight, especially related to time expressions, and find places where ordinal numbers are used. Think of other areas of language where we would use an ordinal number instead of a plain or cardinal number.

English IV

If you have any missing work that work will be converted into a zero. Be sure that everything is completed. If you have questions, you can ask me or Mr. Bernhard for assistance.

Homework for Monday - B Day - 23 October

English IV

If you are still holding on to any pieces of the Character Project make sure that those are finished and turned in ASAP. Zeroes have been entered in PowerSchool for these assignments. Remember that the grades will be put together to be a test grade - so don't let yourself do poorly!

Also, you can continue working on your Resume on Google Classroom. The assignment should be proofread to show clarity and good handle of rules for good writing.

Be sure that you are looking over your notes on The Canterbury Tales - we'll be moving on to our next unit soon which means an end of unit assessment.

AP English III

On Wednesday you will take your quiz on Acts III and IV of The Crucible. The quiz will be much the same as the last quiz. Make sure that you have your books with you so that I can finish checking your annotations.

You now have your rubric for your Drama Projects to direct your work this week and this weekend. Half of you will present on Wednesday, half of you will present on Friday (next week). Remember that if you are working with a partner on a scene you can submit the same context/importance paragraphs, but the visual comparison and explanation will be individual for all. Instructions for all elements of the project can be found on the assignment sheet or the rubric.

Lastly, make sure that you are actively revising your essays. Revisions are due Thursday!

We'll start The Great Gatsby soon - you will find it helpful to go ahead and purchase a copy of this wonderful book.

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 20 October

Russian I

This weekend you should spend your time studying and reviewing your grammar notes around gender and possessive pronouns as well as your vocabulary - the Chapter One nouns. For the nouns focus on those that are very useful to everyday life (radio, mom, dad, brother, class, dictionary, etc.) don't worry so much about words you wouldn't use that often.

The quiz will be matching, fill in the blanks, translation, and free response.

Advanced Russian

II - Over the weekend read over pages 191-196 and take notes related to the different types of actions that are connected to imperfective and perfective aspect. This is a good follow-up on our work today in class. Once you have done this, move on to exercise two at the end of the chapter and analyze the underlined verbs for their aspect. Try to explain why that aspect is used with that particular situation.

III - Your work this weekend is related to your research project. This weekend you will find on Google Classroom a document which you should work through to refine and determine your research question. Please work on this collaboratively. You should each find fifteen new words that would be helpful when working on your topic. Create a separate document with these words. On Tuesday we will meet as a group and go through the work that you have done. Your topic is due to the competition next week - so it is important that you finish this work this weekend.

English IV

Over the weekend you should revise your resume on Google Classroom, review your notes and packets that we have done with The Canterbury Tales and determine what you will apply for in the outside word (college, military, job) so that as we develop our final writing assignments we can direct them toward a specific purpose.

Oh, and before I forget...a treat for the Russians. Практика для вас!

Homework for B Day Students - 19 October 2017

AP English III

You have your essays back and they're full of commentary to celebrate your accomplishments and to spurn your improvements. Here are the slides from today's class around Topic Sentences, Transitions, and the other Rules for Good Writing. As you are revising you can feel free to come in and chat with us (props to the people who already have) and you can bring us samples of the work you are doing to make sure that you are on the right track. Keep in mind that all revisions are due no later than Thursday next week. Anything received after Thursday will not be graded or reassessed.

Other than that this weekend you should spend time on your Drama Projects. I am deleting the written comparison between your play and The Crucible but I am keeping the visual part. For the visual you have a lot of options - just make sure that you are clearly comparing/contrasting one aspect of your play and the same aspect in The Crucible. You should also be memorizing your dialogues and writing your paragraphs to go along with the dialogue/monologue.

Lastly, there is a final quiz on The Crucible on Wednesday. It will cover Acts III and IV. The format will be the same as the last quiz with multiple choice questions and quotations. Study and review your feedback from the last quiz so that you will be more successful on this one.

English IV

Today in class you hopefully got a lot done as we are finishing our unit on The Canterbury Tales. If you can continue working in Google Classroom, please do so. Begin working on the resume, particularly, so that you are prepared and ready to end the quarter in a solid position.

Homework for A-Day Students: 18 October 2017

Russian I

Today you all did some great work in class on learning about genders in the Russian language and around using your possessive words (my/his/her/our/your/their). Tonight, keep going by writing your five sentences.

Look around your house and identify five items. State who owns these items. Create five complete sentences in the model we used today - This is my car. This is her cat. Try to show a variety of genders in your items.

Further, keep studying your Chapter One nouns since you will have a quiz on these words next week.

Advanced Russian

II - Tonight you're going to be writing about yourselves but using the work that we did today in class and applying it forward. You should write five sentences about yourself. Three should be imperfective and activate all tenses. Two should be perfective. Make sure that you are focusing on the difference in meaning.

III - You have some additional exercises around your new grammar unit. Complete the exercises and continue to learn your different forms.

English IV

Tonight for homework you should identify a specific resume objective. Keep working on your resumes and collect your information. Hopefully you were able to submit all of the parts of the character project today and the only thing left is the resume.

Homework for B-Day Students: 17 October 2017

English IV

Next class we're going to be in a hard-core workshop mode in order to finish our The Canterbury Tales character project and then to also complete our resumes. Be prepared for this by having your resume planning sheet complete as well as thinking about all of the ideas we have worked through this year around character analysis and interpretation. Be ready for a productive class tomorrow!

AP English III

Let's talk about the Drama Projects first. In our Drama Project you should find a significant speech or scene to split with a classmate - and make sure to do the analysis of the scene to write your paragraphs. What is the context for this speech/scene? Why is this speech/scene important in the play? Try to get these ideas set out now and get feedback with your writing. In terms of the second part of the assignment - begin to compare and contrast an aspect of your play to The Crucible. Do you want to look at the protagonist? Conflict? Theme? Collect data and start to build your ideas - Are they plays generally similar or different in this focus? Why is that important?

For your reading tonight we have Act IV. How is this part of the play effectively ending the play? How is Miller concluding his arguments? Why is it important what happens to John Proctor? Consider this and other ideas as you annotate the ending.

Once you finish the play - go to Miller's article. Go through his article "Why I Wrote The Crucible" and consider if you agree or disagree with Miller. You've read the play - you're an expert now - what do you think?

You can now redo your Act I and II quizzes - remember you must do it in person. You'll receive your paper back next class and can begin the process of revising to show your strengths.

Homework for A-Day Students: 16 October

Russian I

Now that you have your chart of the possessive pronouns for all genders and all owners, it's time to use what you have. On the back of the chart write ten sentences about items in your home. Who owns the item? Write a three word sentence stating who owns what. Make sure to use a variety of your possessive pronouns.

Also, keep studying your vocabulary, we will have a quiz next week on Chapter One nouns.

Advanced Russian

II - Write ten sentences in English about your Monday. Use a variety of verbs and tenses as you describe your day. Write ten separate sentences. And then, analyze the verbs you are using. Would you use a perfective verb or an imperfective verb? Why? Consider our reasons and descriptors that we worked through today.

III - Complete exercises six and nineteen using the new information and new words that you have learned today. Focus on putting the word in the correct form and then inputting the word into the sentence appropriately. Consider how you can use this information in your own interactions and use of Russian.

English IV

We'll be quickly finishing out the quarter with our resumes and character projects. Make sure that to prepare for our final classes this quarter that you find and have an application that you can work on next class. This may be a college application (Common App), a job application, or an application for the military.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 13 October

Happy Homecoming and Friday the 13th! Take a look at the tasks below to move through the weekend.

AP English III

If you did not complete your work on the Salem Primary Sources WebQuest, make sure that your work is complete by Monday evening. The assignment will lock at that time and anything in the document will be graded. As you move forward in your study of The Crucible consider how what you've learned from the primary source documents helps you better understand the actions of the play.

This weekend you should read and annotate Act III. Pay close attention to irony and honesty as you are reading this act. Those ideas would provide you a lot of information to annotate for.

Lastly, make sure that this weekend you spend time on your Drama Project. You should decide on your monologue or scene with a classmate and begin to memorize and study your section. This weekend provides you a lot of time to work through many parts of the independent project.

English IV

Make sure that this weekend you are working on your resume checklist so that next week we are able to quickly move through the construction of the resume. If you have any revisions to work through on your personal essays, that would also be very helpful. There are only two weeks left in the quarter.

Homework for the Weekend - 12 October 2017 - A Day

Russian I

That was a very productive class! I think that we did a great job reviewing on our rules around masculine, feminine, and neuter gender and then seeing how these ideas connect to the idea of possession and possessive words like my, your, and our. Tonight, practice with these concepts to reinforce the learning in class.

Complete exercise 11 and 12 at the end of Chapter One. For exercise 11, use your notes or the information in your textbook - you can find the chart we made in there too - and fill in the blanks. Make sure to look for and consider gender. In exercise 12 you'll be doing the same thing, but adding in a translating and writing step. If the words are in English, translate to Russian and then write a question and answer like the example. If it's already in Russian, just write a question and answer.

This will help you to do the other thing which is study your vocabulary! Remember our reflection today in class about applying better study habits outside of class. Spend time with this idea and practice. There's also a video you can check out here:

It goes into plurals and a lot of other information if you're interested. You just have to focus on singular.

Advanced Russian

Today we started moving into our new units! Yay! Russian II has a very interesting journey ahead as you start to move into aspect. You all should be focused on the new vocabulary that we used at the end of class today. Look at your verbs in the beginning of the chapter. Use them and learn them. Apply what you have learned about stems to the work you are now doing!

Russian II - You will find it helpful to locate the list of all aspectual verb pairs in Chapter Five. This is within the chapter. With it, you should analyze the poem in exercise one. Do you see an imperfective (one you already know) or perfective (new information) verb? What's the tense? What do you understand about the poem. This is exercise one at the end of Chapter 5.

Russian III - You will begin by looking at the first exercise too. This is a list of questions. Using your vocabulary list answer ten of these questions about yourself. Activate what you know. Analyze the question to think about the case you'll need in your answer.

Both groups should also review the reading at the beginning of the chapter. Mark unknown words and grammar structures. Try to summarize each paragraph, in English.

English IV

Next week is going to be a heavy week in terms of finishing our unit on The Canterbury Tales and personal writing. Make sure that if you want to revise your essay that you have done that. Way to go to those of you who already have. If you've made changes in Google Docs, please let us know via email. Also, we'll have the resume and the personal character project to finish. Make sure that you have done some work related to these two items (our planning sheet for the resume and graphic organizer for the characters).

Homework for B Day Students - 11 October 2017

AP English III:

If you did not submit a final draft pack in today's class it is very important that you complete and submit the paper by Friday so that Mr. Bernhard and I have a chance to grade and review your work this weekend. Remember that you will get one chance to resubmit after we return the final drafts back to you with feedback. I found many of your essays shared to me in my Drive folder, I will print and pair essays or leave comments online for you as I complete your rubric.

For next class you should read and annotate Oluadah Equiano's "Narrative of the Captivity" - remember to set a purpose for your reading and then to accomplish that purpose. You also have three vocabulary cards due on Friday. I will be checking your vocabulary bookmarks as well.

As a more long term thing, make sure that you are working on your Act III reading as well as your Drama Projects. There is not a lot of other work going on this weekend - so you have a great chance to get a lot done with your Drama Project.

English IV:

Make sure that if you want to revise your essays or do anything to raise or turn in any missing work then you should get that done as soon as possible. Also, make sure that you are continuing to work on your resume checklist - we'll be going through finishing a lot of that work up very soon.

Homework for A Day Students - 10 October

Russian I:

For homework tonight you should use your textbooks and review Chapter One in order to complete the Chapter Preview work. Make sure that you review the topics and consider what's going to be easy for you and what will be hard.

Here is the link for the vocabulary for Chapter One. You'll need to go to around 9:30 in order to start the Chapter One vocabulary. Before that is a good review of the alphabet.

If you have any missing work it needs to be in ASAP.

Advanced Russian

You all also have your Chapter Preview for homework tonight. Russian II should focus on Chapter Five and Russian III should focus on Chapter Eight. Here are the links to the audio files so that you can review your vocabulary and pronunciation. (Chapter Eight) (Chapter Five)

Remember that we will finish our unit exam on Thursday in the first half before lunch. After lunch, we will begin to get into our new chapters.

English IV

Make sure that you have completed your resume checklist for Mr. Bernhard so that we can move through creating our resumes in the next few classes.

Monday Night Homework - B Day - 9 October 2017

English IV:

Make sure that you have filled out the resume checklist for our next class. Our final writing piece in this unit will be your personal resumes which you will complete with the information on this planning sheet. You should also make sure that you have done work on the character projects so that you can quickly complete those in the next few classes. We'll be finishing this unit up quick, be ready!

AP English III:

On Wednesday we don't have any reading due. You have Oluadah Equiano's Narrative to read and annotate for Friday's class. Feel free to begin on it now. You also have Act III to read and annotate for Tuesday's class. Again, get ahead on the reading so that you have time for other things.

The main task for Wednesday is your final draft of your essay. For the final draft packet make sure that you turn in any and all outlines - this is your final chance to resubmit on outlines. You also need any and all rough drafts, but especially the one from our editing conferences in class. Lastly, you need the final draft with cover sheet filled out and honor code signed, the essay, and then the rubric. These should be stapled together.

Lastly, if you have anything missing (vocabulary cards or annotation checks) make sure that you have submitted these things in order to get credit!

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 6 October

Russian Students:

Keep in mind that you have unit examinations on Tuesday. Since we are ending a unit, any missing work or work that you want to turn in on Tuesday so that we have it for the unit to finish.

Russian I:

Your test will cover the alphabet - its shapes and sounds. Make sure that you also know the rules around formality, your cognate vocabulary, and your greetings, introductions, and farewells.

You'll also have to be able to analyze gender in words. Review your notes and handouts as well as anything in the folders which relates to this first unit.

Advanced Russian:

You've got a lot of verbs to find on your exam on Tuesday. Make sure that you can analyze verbs to find their infinitive as well as their stem. You'll be doing some transcription work related to these verbs in the texts that you will find. As well, there will be free response work related to the main themes we've been discussing lately (becoming something/being somewhere).

English IV:

Over the weekend you need to finish your resume checklist and review and revise your "Me You Don't See" essay to account for the feedback you've been given and raise your grades.

Homework for B Day Students - 5 October 2017

English IV

I was very happy with how class went today. Everyone came ready to focus and discussion was very lively. Let's keep this momentum going as we move through the rest of the semester! We will be finishing our unit on the Canterbury Tales very soon, so if there is any work you have missing, be sure to turn it in as soon as you can. We'll be working a little more with the Canterbury Tales, before finishing up the unit with a test and a final writing assignment. Remember that all missing and redone work needs to be complete by the time we give the final unit exam. Have a great weekend!

AP English III

Remember that on Monday you will be taking a quiz on Acts I and II of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. For the quiz, you will be expected to answer multiple choice questions, perform quotation identification, and write free responses. Use your time wisely this weekend to study Acts I and II. As far as your In Cold Blood essays go, final drafts are now due on Wednesday, October 11. Mr. Miller and I have opened up some more slots for writing conferences, and highly encourage you to come see us for help. Many of you have already done this, and can vouch for their usefulness. Have a great weekend, look forward to seeing all of you on Monday!

Homework for A Day Students - 4 October 2017

Russian I

For Friday, make sure that you and your partners have turned in your Russian city project so that I have all of the presentations. You and your group will present your information to the class on Friday. We will also do a final review on Friday to prepare for our examination which will happen on Tuesday the 10th of October.

Also, remember the list: You have flown in to Moscow for a three-day trip. Who will you speak with during your time in Russia, in order? Make a list of at least six people.

Remember that if you have any missing work for Russian I, that it needs to be in to me by Friday. After the unit exam you cannot make up any work from the previous unit.

Advanced Russian

Next class we'll be spending some time talking about our family members and their pasts and the jobs that they have had. Take the time tonight to respond and get together your ideas related to Exercise 11. Where did the person live? What jobs did they have? Where did they move? We'll do much of what we did today, talking through ideas and asking questions.

Don't forget that our Chapter Four examination will be happening on Tuesday as well. Make sure that your'e studying and prepared for this upcoming examination.

English IV

We will be finishing the unit very soon, so if there is any work that you want to redo or work that you missed and haven't turned in, make sure that it is turned in very quickly. We'll be doing a bit more with The Canterbury Tales before we move on to finishing the unit with an exam and final writing assignment. Remember that all missing and redone work needs to be complete by the time we give the final unit exam.

Homework for B Day Students - 3 October 2017

AP English III

Good work today on getting through Act One and a bit with "A Narrative of the Captivity" - remember that we will keep working through The Crucible and Mary Rowlandson on Thursday. To take us on to Thursday, make sure that you have done the following:

1. Read and annotate Act II - as you do that take a look at the ideas we drew out today in class. Apply these to Act II as you are going through and annotating to see how this act builds upon the ideas we discovered in Act I.
2. Select and begin reading a play for your drama projects. Remember you have a performance aspect as well as two writing assignments with this.
3. Continue to work on essays and remember you have final drafts next week on Monday.

If you didn't submit vocabulary cards, be sure to get those in as soon as you can.

English IV

Make sure that you are continuing to work on your character projects or revise your essays based on the feedback you received today in on your drafts. Keep in mind that if you do a new version of your essay, you'll need to turn in the original along with the new version too.

Homework for A Day Students - 2 October 2017

Russian I

Don't forget that your alphabet exam will be coming next week on Tuesday. For this test we will have all of the skills from the alphabet quiz (letters sounds and shapes as well as cognate vocabulary) paired with the new information about formality, greetings and farewells, and gender. So, make sure that you're studying those most recent exercises that we've reviewed today.

Your main homework is to keep getting ready for this test - study and prepare. And if you haven't yet taken the quiz, you should do that ASAP.

Advanced Russian

Tonight for homework I want you to do the review activity at the end of Chapter Four to review the key grammar and vocabulary we've studied in this unit. Complete exercise number nine in which you will answer questions about yourself or about society, in general. As you answer the questions, use the vocabulary from Chapter Four and review the key parts of grammar including cases and conjugations.

If you did not have a writing conference with me today then we will meet on Wednesday to review your work.

English IV

Make sure that you have put a lot of work into the character projects from The Canterbury Tales. You can also begin to make revisions to your "Me You Don't See" essay assignments based on the feedback from Mr. Bernhard. If you turn in a new version of the essay, please make sure that you have turned in the old one too.

Homework for the Weekend - 29 September 2017

AP English III

We have a few things to take care of or to start taking care of this weekend. I'll go over the short term things first and then move on to the longer term items.

1. Complete your next set of Vocabulary Cards (6-10). You should pick words from "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry G-d", The Crucible, and your tone word sheet. Account for all parts of the card. Use appropriate resources and turn them in electronically via Google Slides or on paper.
2. Read and annotate Mary Rowlandson's "Narrative of the Captivity" - for this piece, pay attention to the depiction and view of non-Puritans, the role of women in Puritan society, as well as any biases or elements of sensationalism in the text.
3. For Thursday we'll be working through Act II of The Crucible. You may want to start the process of reading and annotating this now.
4. Next week is our conference week. Mr. Bernhard and I are available during lunch, before and after school. Please make an appointment with us to review any drafts or outlines so that you can move to the final draft and know that you have a solid piece of writing.

All of the resubmissions turned in today should be entered in the gradebook no later than Sunday.

English IV

Many of you chose to take with you some of the graphic organizers so that you can continue to work on your characters project related to The Canterbury Tales. Here's a link to an online version of The Canterbury Tales. Make sure that if you have to spend time working on this that you complete this work over the weekend. On Tuesday we'll return to the lab in order to finish our research and we'll complete the reading of "The Wife of Bath's Tale".