Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Homework for B-Day Students: 31 January 2017

AP English III:

There are a few things that you need to take care of tonight for next class. First, we have the post below which is the three essays to analyze and score. Remember to read each essay, give a score from one to nine (highest) and justify the score. You can do this in your synthesis pack for this question or in your notebooks.

Second, we have vocabulary work. Select two words from three authors we have studied and do a vocabulary study for each word. In the study be sure to include the word, part of speech, source quotation, citation, definition, word parts and meaning, and synonyms with details as to how the meaning is different.  We'll share some of our words on Thursday.

Lastly, we have the reading of Brent Staples's "Just Walk On By" - the article is here or in 50 Essays. Take a look at the piece and consider especially the idea of the veil/double consciousness. It's highly productive here.

You should also keep moving forward on refining your research topics - more on that next class and next week!

English II:  Next class you have a Benchmark Exam! Prepare yourself!

AP English III - Synthesis Essay Samples

AP English III Students - 

Due to our copier issue your sample essays are located online. Remember that part of your homework for next class is to read and score each essay. You should develop justification for the score based on the essay itself. The essays are located at this link.

There are three essays to read and score A, B, and C. You don't have to print the essays, but you should have notes on them if you do not print them.

Monday, January 30, 2017

Homework for A Day Students - 30 January 2017

English II

Next class we have our quiz on doppelgangers in Latin American Literature and the class after will be our District Benchmark test. Be ready to be tested and to show your knowledge over the next two classes.

Russian I

Tonight you have culture homework as well as grammar homework. First, culture - take your poet and do some research tonight. Find three facts about the poet that interest you. You should have information to share for next class. Additionally, start to work on reading and practicing with your fluency. If there's not an audio recording then you will find the poem on youtube and follow along as it is read aloud.

For grammar you need to go through the exercises we started today and finish the rest. Remember to focus on making your changes for case and to double check your agreement for gender.

Advanced Russian

Tonight for homework there are a few things to take care of which mainly have you finishing up what we were working on in class. For Russian IV - go on and read the fifth section of the First Night. Answer the question that follows. Keep track of new and useful vocabulary. Find another fact about the narrator and add to your list. For Russian III - finish the translation of the first set of exercises and complete the second and third on the new prefixes. For Russian II - work through to number twenty five in our current set of exercises. Make sure that you can translate the earlier ones (1-20).

Remember Russian II/III students, the only way to get the hang of verbs of motion in Russian is to use them!

Friday, January 27, 2017

I forgot the reading!!!

Agh! I remembered though! Here's the link to Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son".

Remember - just read Part One. In the .pdf file this takes you to page nine of nineteen. We may eventually read the whole thing as we go into Invisible Man. For right now, just focus on thoroughly completing Part One.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 27 January 2017

AP English III

This weekend there are three key things that you should work on. First, you have your reflection on being a Transcendentalist this week; I hope that through this experiment you learned something about yourself as well as the larger society of which you are a member. Reflect and think about this experience and express what you learned about yourself or society through this process. There are many routes that you can go with this reflection, but you should focus on showing what you learned and how you learned it.

Second, there's the beginning of the preparation for our research papers. Start by brainstorming three topics - these can be as general or as specific as you want. Remember that eventually these will be argumentative research papers, so it's important now to think about what interests you about this topic and what you want to learn more about the topic. Part of the process of developing this paper involves research, which we will begin next week.

Lastly, there's an article to read for Tuesday's class. The article is by James Baldwin and it's called "Notes of a Native Son" - it's a long piece, so only read Part One for Tuesday. Annotate heavily and consider how Baldwin uses personal examples to make a larger point about race and racism in society.

English II

Though we were cut short by the fire drill we were still able to watch our episode of The Twilight Zone, "Mirror Image". This will be the last thing that is on your quiz. For Tuesday's quiz we will have questions on "The Night Face Up" and on "Borges and I" as well as a paragraph response about the concept of doppelgangers. Make sure to study your notes and review the stories. Prepare for your quiz!

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 26 January

Advanced Russian:  All of you are working in your journals this weekend.

Russian II/III - You are working with the verbs ходить/идти and the verbs носить/нести. If you are in Russian III then you want to work with the в/во- prefix on those verbs. Write a brief story using these verbs. Write about 10 sentences. Practice on writing in the different tenses and focusing on cases. We'll go over these Monday.

Russian IV - Read the fourth section of White Nights and translate the passage in your journal. You should also answer question one. This gives you a chance to add more to your graphic organizer about the main character, do that.

Russian I:  We have now reviewed how to work with adjectives and possessive pronouns in the nominative, accusative, and prepositional cases. This weekend, complete the three exercises as practice. Remember to answer the questions. Change your endings to show the proper cases. Attempt all of the questions in the exercises.

Also, don't forget to keep studying your vocabulary and grammar notes!

English II:  If you did not finish the one-paragraph response today in class then that is due next class. We have read Cortazar and Borges. Next we'll watch a film and then prepare for our quiz on these stories.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Homework for B Day Students - 25 January 2016

AP English III

With today being a PLC Day we didn't have the chance to delve into DuBois the way that I wanted to. That's okay though because he lines up really well with Hurston (the reading for tonight). Take time to read Zora Neale Hurston's "How It Feels To Be Colored Me" - it's in 50 Essays or at this link.

As you read, try to find elements of Transcendentalism. Do you see how she is working through the idea of double consciousness? Try to relate her to DuBois and the others.

Also, I will collect your final reflection on Transcendentalism next week. Continue the experiment to Friday and take the weekend to reflect and write about the process of simplifying.

English II

No required homework for tonight. Enjoy the end of the semester!

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Homework for A-Day Classes - 24 January

Advanced Russian:

Russian IV - Continue reading White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky. As you read, track new vocabulary and use any resources (in the book/dictionary) to find useful roots and translations of words.  You should finish reading to the end of section three. Answer questions and take note of sentences that you don't understand, so we can investigate them together.

Russian III - Focus on analyzing your prefixes for their preposition and case pairings. Go through all the pages. Then, focus on the first prefix (to go into) and complete the exercise. Select the appropriate verb.

Russian II - Focus on the next ten in the present tense section. Select the proper verb - multidirectional or unidirectional based on the context. Try to conjugate the verb to the proper form.

Also - please have your poems (in Russian) with you next class.

Russian I

Spend time with your vocabulary - especially with the adjectives. Study and practice turning the adjectives into their different forms for gender and for cases. Remember to make a list of items in your house as well as their location in your house.  This will be the beginning of our floor plan activity which is coming soon. Don't translate the items - bring a list in English and we will translate together.

English II

Some of you from your progress reports see that you need to finish your final project - the comic book. If you have anything else missing I hope to see you tomorrow to get that settled.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Homework for Monday - 23 January 2016

AP English III

This week you all will be completing one of my favorite projects of the year - the Transcendentalist for a week project. Remember that there are two portions - you should keep daily reflections about your process and these daily reflections will be the source for your week-long reflection which is going to be collected on Friday.  Read the assignment sheet carefully and think about yourself this week. Track your growth, and your mistakes, and think about why all of this matters.

Secondly, make sure that you read W.E.B DuBois' first two chapters from The Souls of Black Folk. As you read and annotate, stay focused on "the veil" and the idea of "double consciousness". This lines up well with the same ideas Thoreau showed us with the two eyes.  Hopefully on Wednesday we'll start to see how all of this comes together.

English II

You don't have any homework to complete tonight; however, if you saw missing assignments on your progress report you will need to finish and turn those in Wednesday since Wednesday is the last day of the quarter. Be sure that you've taken your test on Persepolis and turned in your comic book project.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Homework for the Weekend - 19 January 2017

Everybody's readin' for the weekend...


English II:

Over the weekend I want you to read part two of "The Night Face Up" - I gave you a handout that has the story on it. As you read, take notes around the plot and the character. What is happening to the character as the story develops? What is happening in the story? Keep track of his dreams versus his waking life.

AP English III:

Over the weekend you'll be finishing up the reading of Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior's "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail" - keep following up on the annotating and discussion we did today as you are reading through the second half. Hopefully, having the context from the Alabama clergymen helps you to make more sense of the points King is making and why he is making them.

Following that, you're going to take a look at Henry David Thoreau's "Where I Lived and What I Lived For" - the essay is available in 50 Essays and it's also at this link. As you read Thoreau, connect back to Transcendentalism as he is a clear disciple of Emerson. But also consider the way in which the ideas that King presents are similar to those of Thoreau.  Read and annotate closely. How is Thoreau making his point to you?  What is his point?

When you finish - make a list. What are the things in your life that are complicating your life? What would you want to do in order to "simplify, simplify, simplify" as Thoreau says? We'll have this discussion on Monday.

Lastly, don't forget that Monday is your last day of the quarter/semester. If you have any outstanding work, tests, missing grades in PowerSchool, then they need to be settled on MONDAY at the very latest!

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Homework for A Day Students - 18 January 2017

Almost the end of another week. Amazing how fast time is flying by right now...

English II:

I'm very proud of the work that so many of you did today during our class workshop. Many of you left with a clear idea of what you need to do to finish your projects up. No matter what that is, make sure that your projects are complete next class. We'll collect them then. Remember that these projects count the same weight as your test.

Russian I, II, III, IV

Next class we have our semester exam! Be ready! Be studied. Be prepared! You should have a full idea of what will be on the test. See the post below for your reminders.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Homework for B-Day Students - 17 January 2017

AP English III

If you have anything left for the monologues or Drama Project - that needs to get turned in ASAP. If you didn't do your monologue (2B) because of the time constraints, please make sure that's settled today or tomorrow.

Tonight we need to keep reading. Take the learning we've done around transcendentalism and apply it to Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail." You can find it in 50 Essays or at this link. As you read, look for the five tenets of the philosophy. Look for how Dr. King is appealing to his audience. Rip this piece apart - it's really productive.  It's pretty long too - make sure you've read through to around paragraph twenty for next class.

We also have our previous readings (Truth and poems). We'll touch on those as we discuss Dr. King.

English II

Hopefully with today's workshop you're feeling finished or near finished with your graphic novel projects. We're going to collect those next class, so make sure that if you didn't get it done today that you have it ready for us next class.

Also, since we started a new unit it's important that you study your vocabulary and notes every day!

Friday, January 13, 2017

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 13 January

It's great to get back to our regular lives. Here's the work to do over the weekend.

Advanced Russian:

We're pushing hard to prepare for our semester exam which is going to fall on Friday the 20th. I'll put the topics for the exam below. Make sure that you are studying actively and reviewing everything to be prepared. To facilitate this make sure that you have finished the translations for your chapter (Russian III/IV) or the aspect exercises (Russian II).

  • Russian II-IV:  Verb stems will be on the exam for all of you. Be able to work with all stems for your level and know conjugation patterns in past and non-past tenses.
  • Russian II:  Know how to navigate numbers, counting, and time expressions as well as the basics of aspect.
  • Russian III:  Be able to navigate modals, imperatives, vague language and aspect as well. Don't forget about sentence combining either.
  • Russian IV:  You've got your comparisons, your mutations in them, and your use of them. There's also going to be writing using verbs of placement and position and your interrogative word. Don't forget about all the verb knowledge you know too!

Russian I:

Today we did a lot of work to prepare for the exam especially around cases, translating and building sentences in Russian. This is really good stuff. For tonight, keep going. You need to finish the translation exercise we started in class.  Also, you need to take a look at exercise eighteen and make a list of words in English you would need to talk about yourself. Lastly, do exercise six - identify the case and translate the sentence. Exercise 2B is a declension exercise. Work fast and use your charts.

All Russian Classes:

We started getting into Russian poets and poetry today. Super fun times. Here is a link to an online Russian poetry website with information about authors, selected poems, and some even have the authors reading the poems in Russian.  Go to this website to find a list of poets.  Remember you need to select a poem and a poet over the weekend.

English II

Today you had your unit test on Persepolis. I hope that you all felt confident and prepared for the test.  Next class we'll be focusing on our graphic novels and finishing those up next week. Make sure that if you need to spend time working on those at home to get caught up that you do so!

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Homework for B-Day Students - 12 January 2017

AP English III

Your next class will be on Tuesday the 17th, following Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior Day. For our next class, make sure that you are prepared with the final draft of your rhetorical analysis of your monologue as well as your memorized monologue. You also need a copy of the monologue (annotated) to pair with your analysis.

In terms of our new unit on African American thought in the Harlem Renaissance, please read the article called "Ain't I A Woman" by Sojourner Truth available in 50 Essays or at this link. As you read, think about language and identity. How does language create power? You may find it helpful to look at Frances Harper's poem since she and Sojourner Truth share a lot of commonalities.

Additionally, read over the poems I gave you today so that we can work with those.

English II

You took a test today on Persepolis so there is no real homework to finish. Next class we will be working on our graphic novel projects and moving on to our next unit!

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Back to reality!

Tomorrow we're back to school! Be ready.  It'll be a B Day!

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Third one's a charm...I hope.

Here we are with another cancelled day of school - and I have to agree. The trip to the grocery store had a few dodgy moments, but the drive from Raleigh was pretty clear. I think tomorrow it'll all be cleared up, and we're back on Thursday for a full day.

AP English III:  If I'm right then Thursday will be your day for allegory presentations and the following Tuesday will be the day for monologues and rhetorical analyses. We'll also be starting to get into our new unit on the Harlem Renaissance and introduction to Invisible Man.

English II:  Your next class is the Persepolis unit exam (Thursday/Friday). If you are going to turn in the extra credit project it will need to be in by the end of next week. We'll be starting our next unit as we wrap up our graphic novel projects (please work on those at home since you have time - especially those of you who really want to work on the art).

Russian I:  Your exam will likely be on the 20th instead of the 17th. This gives us more time to review and practice. Make sure that you are working through the exercises in your textbook and reviewing Chapter One and the Introduction. Don't worry about the information around my/your - that'll be covered as part of Chapter Two.

Russian II/III/IV: Same as above on the exam and preparation. If you are working on missing work/reassessment items, be ready to do that on Friday. Remember to check PowerSchool as everything's been updated in there.

We will have final ruble/bathroom pass cash-in on Thursday and Friday next week. 

Monday, January 9, 2017

Another one...another one...SNOW DAY NUMBER TWO

DJ Khaled and Rick Ross are remixing this week. Yet another snow day.  I'm still stranded in Raleigh, and I say the roads are about fifty percent. Hopefully we can get back to real life on Wednesday.

Keep getting ahead and working on your projects and end of semester assessments which are upcoming.

Russian students, all of these snow days mean that we are eating into review and practice time for our exam. I hope that you're building that in for yourselves right now. Make use of the online resources that I posted a bit ago.

AP students, we may have to collect your rhetorical analyses before your monologue presentations. If you are ready to submit that, please have it ready for our next classes. Ms. McCormick and I are available over email to take questions and review drafts - but not the night before/day of. We will try to give you a separate class to prepare to give your monologues; however, if we continue to be out this week you may be forced to give your monologue the day we return. You should be prepared for this eventuality (if say our only day this week is Friday).

English II students, we have our test on Persepolis - if you were absent please email for the study guide and review game. It is helpful for the test.

Please communicate if you need to. I'm available. I've been reading, getting in political arguments on Facebook, and playing PlayStation. A pretty fun snow break, I think.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Snow Day Number One

So - we're out tomorrow. I'm stranded in Raleigh until the roads clear up, and I can get out of a parking lot which is currently a skating rink.

Next class day is a B Day. We'll be doing our allegory play presentations (be ready, AP students) and having our Persepolis Unit Examination (study your guides from the review game, English II).  After that we have Russian - do your exercises and study. We will have our exam before the end of the quarter.

My guess is we won't be back to school until Wednesday at the earliest. We'll see...

Friday, January 6, 2017

Russian Update - Grades/Powerschool

All Russian Students!

I've updated PowerSchool with zeroes or exemptions for assignments. If you have questions about an assignment marked with a zero, please email me daniel . miller @ dpsnc . net  -  or leave a comment. If you leave a comment, please leave contact information and name. Please include the name of the assignment.

Homework for A-Day: 6 January 2017

Let's go ahead and say that all of this refers to what's happening next class, whenever that so happens to be.

Advanced Russian:

You should continue to prepare for your upcoming exam on the 17th of January. For that you've got some things that you can be working on:

Russian II Students - Please work on the exercises in Chapter Five related to aspect. Especially numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9.

Russian III/IV Students - Please work on your translation exercises. Use this time to review grammar and vocabulary from the most recent unit.  Additionally, Russian IV, you can start with reading Dostoevsky.

Russian I:

You also have an exam coming up soon! Do exercises 2B, 6, 18, 19 in Chapter One to review. Do as much of these as you can and ask questions when we're together again about what you can't do.

English II:

You have your test next class - make sure that you are studying and preparing using your study guide we did today. If you were absent from today's class, see us soon and review what you've missed before the test.

Thursday, January 5, 2017

B Day Homework and Reminders - 5 January

With who knows what going to happen over the next few days I'm going to describe things in terms of how many classes from today things will be happening. Adjust and prepare accordingly.

AP English III

I hope that you felt prepared and successful on the test on The Crucible today. You have some online and group collaborating to do over the weekend to prepare for next class's priority - the group allegory presentation. Remember, make a point through the art of allegory. The thing you have to remember is that you have to be specific; a point to point comparison is needed so that the audience can make sense of how they line up and what the point is. You should prepare a script, I'd share a Google Doc, and prepare for about 3-5 minutes of length. One scene or two short scenes.

In two classes we're going to have our monologue presentations and collection of rhetorical analyses on the monologues. You have the rubric, and if you don't come get it tomorrow while we're at school or email. Remember that in the rhetorical analysis you're focusing on explaining how the author is conveying an argument through this monologue. That argument should be one of the main ones of the whole play too. Look at language - get your hands dirty - and remember that these are plays. They've been spoken and presented. YouTube it. Tone is a key element of how authors make arguments. You have a day before we collect, so come in for a conference!

English II

Lots of fun today for the review game - there was only one question that couldn't be answered! Tehran! Remember to use your study guides and prepare for what we have next class. The Persepolis unit exam is going to have everything that we did today - characters, plot, culture, vocabulary, and writing.

Please do keep looking at your personal narratives and working on them (especially if we have some time to do it). We'll build in a bit of class time to do that too, and soon!

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

A Day Homework - 4 January

С новым годом!!!  Happy New Year to the A-Day crew.  Here are your reminders for tonight to bring you to Friday.

Russian Students - We will be celebrating Russian Christmas on Friday! Be ready for some culture fun!  Don't forget that you all have a midterm exam on the 17th of January!

Russian II - Tonight I want you focusing on your aspect knowledge in the past and future cases. Spend time with the examples in Chapter Five as well as with the commentary on those examples. Then, study the verb pairs on pages 202 and 203.  In your journals, I want you to write at least ten sentences using at least two pairs. Write a lot of sentences in past and future with the different aspects. Explain the difference in meaning. This is also a great chance to review conjugations

Russian III - Complete the translation exercise, number 21, in your journals. Be sure to review grammar in the chapter and vocabulary as you do the translations.

Russian IV - Complete the translation exercise, number 17, in your journal.  Review the grammar and vocabulary for Chapter Twelve as you do this.

Russian I - We've made a very important study guide today for cases. Next class we'll take a few more rides on the metro before we do some writing practice and cultural work. For homework tonight you need to focus on studying. Study your declension chart and study your vocabulary. Apply the one with the other and change the words. Know what those changes mean!

English II - Your reminders are below. We will have our exam on Persepolis in two classes. Next class will be our review day in which we will finish the movie and play our review game. Make sure that if you've missed any chapters that you get those read.

Also, we have the graphic novels coming due soon. If you need to get caught up on those, spend some time working at home if needed.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

B Day Homework for January 3rd

Welcome back from the break! I hope we all have a great start to 2017.

AP English III 

You have many assessments coming up in the next two weeks. Be sure to stay on top of them or your grade will start falling fast, and you don't want to do everything the night before it's due.

On Thursday, we have our exam on The Crucible.  Don't forget to bring your copy of the play for the annotation check. We're not taking late books this time. 

Part 1 will be character identifications (you choose four out of a list), where you say who the character is, their importance to the plot and to the allegory/Miller's argument. You need to cite specific scenes/moments in the play.

Part 2 will be the same as Part 1, except you'll be writing about the character you tracked.

Part 3 are short essays (one sentence argument followed by two or more well-developed body paragraphs and a short conclusion).  The essay questions will cover our discussion of The Crucible film, the character of John Proctor, and Mary Rowlandson.

We'll be working on our allegory plays in class after the test, and you'll be presenting them on Monday.

On Wednesday, your drama projects are due. This means delivering your monologue and turning in your rhetorical analysis and as well as your annotated monologue. We're giving you an whole extra week so you can have writing conferences with us--use it!

English II

Remember to review your notes and read parts of Persepolis you may have missed in class. The test is coming up in two class periods.  Don't forget you can do the extra credit project to help with your test grade.

Next class, we'll be doing a review game for the test and working on our narratives. If you are behind on the narratives, work on them at home.