Friday, March 31, 2017

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Edition: 31 March

Advanced Russian:

Russian II and III - I gave you exercises to review the new grammar that you're learning, which was not assessed on today's quiz. Please complete the exercises as well as you can. We will review them on Tuesday in order to review the content. For Russian III - these exercises/concepts are particularly important as they'll help a lot with the next grammar point - participles.

Russian IV - Please try to finish reading White Nights this weekend. Keep looking for new and useful vocabulary as well as interesting sentences, especially those that challenge you and show where you need to spend time preparing for the AP Examination.

Russian I:

Please spend the weekend studying your vocabulary for Chapter Three - this will be useful if you want to reassess on the vocabulary section of today's quiz. We will review verb conjugation next class as well before we dip our feet into the new grammar content - forming plurals in Russian.

English II:

Use the study guides that you completed today in order to prepare for your test on Tuesday. Remember that you'll have an essay question on this test as well as sentence answers. There will be questions about: characters, plot events, literary terms (irony, climax, conflict, etc.), Greek culture, and themes.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 30 March 2017

AP English III:

Very good work today everyone on your symbol posters and analysis of the ideas throughout the text. I also think that many of you did a great job discussing Chapter Twenty Four. This weekend we have a few things to work through.

  1. Your research papers are due on Monday. For the paper I expect a checklist form, cover sheet, and rubric. All of these forms were provided in class. I will give you an envelope and you will submit your final draft and checklist in the envelope. I will only accept hard copies of the paper. Do not share it with me. I will not answer questions about the paper this weekend. You have until 4:30 Friday, the 31st to ask your question. After that, you'll have to ask each other or the Purdue OWL. Here is a link to the perfect formatting paper.
  2. Your reading of Invisible Man is not due until Wednesday. You should read, annotate, and blog on Chapter Twenty Five. We will discuss it on Wednesday and also finish with the Epilogue then too. 
  3. Your mural day will be Friday next week - it's important that you start to prepare now for this assessment.
English II:

After today's review you should be in good shape for the final assessment on Oedipus the King. Make sure that you study and review your notes as well as your study guides.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Homework for A-Day Classes: 29 March

Advanced Russian:  Remember that you all have quizzes on Friday. I've got the topics for your quizzes listed below. Outside of this, Russian II students should have their rough drafts ready for their weather reports about Durham, NC. We'll have a small writing and speaking conference on Friday as well.

Russian 2: vocabulary and grammar related to weather, uses of the dative case, no negation! lots of vocabulary!

Russian 3: short forms versus long forms, vocabulary (forming / using adjectives), vocabulary around countries and cultures

Russian 4: interpretive reading - multiple choice for Night Two and Three, vocabulary skills - roots

Russian I:  You also have a quiz on Friday. Your quiz will focus on using adverbs in Russian and forming them. Make sure that you study and review your notes and homework assignments. Also, make sure to know your major conjunctions in Russian.

English II: Next class we will have our review day and then we will move on to our test on Oedipus the King next week.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Homework for B-Day Students: 28 March 2017

AP English III:

Good discussion today in class to understand the importance of Rinehart and his symbolism throughout the whole text. I was happy to see so many of you annotating and developing your notes in the text as we read. Tonight, continue on to Chapter Twenty-Four when he attempts to rinehart his way to some information. Pay attention to vision/dreams/sex/power in terms of your motif charts. There's a lot of strange stuff going on in the chapter - generate questions and be prepared for Thursday. Also remember to complete your blogs for Chapter Twenty-Four.

As a final reminder, I will collect final drafts of your research paper on Monday, April 3rd. Next class we'll go over formatting issues and I'll release the rubric to you so that you have it for final edits. I'm available all week in the morning (8:00-9:00), at C-Lunch, and quickly after school (until about 4:15-4:20) to meet and discuss your papers with you.

English II:

Today we finished our reading of Oedipus the King. Next class we'll do some writing, play a final review game to prepare for our exam, and do more work with vocabulary. Make sure that you are reviewing your notes in order to prepare for your exam.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Homework for A-Day Students: 27 March 2017

There are only about twenty classes between the beginning and end of this nine weeks. It is very important that you maximize your time in this twenty class stretch to fully prepare yourself for the end of the year.

Advanced Russian:  All of you will have a quiz on Friday which will cover vocabulary and new grammar concepts in this unit. This week is meant to be our review/reinforcement week before the quiz.

Russian IV: Finish reading "Night Three". Translate and answer in English the six questions at the end. With each boldfaced word in the reading, work the word back to its original form (nominative case or infinitive) and then determine the meaning and significant word parts.

Russian III: Continue researching and writing using long-form, short-form, nationalities and sentences using который about your Former Soviet Republics. You should write a brief paragraph for each nationality.

Russian II: Work on your weather reports focused on Durham, NC for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We'll spend time later to research the weather in the Russian city of your choosing. Remember that you can easily accomplish the goals outlined on your project sheet. Then, we'll do the same type of descriptions related to the Russian city.

Russian I: You also have a quiz on Friday focused on adjectives becoming adverbs and your vocabulary. To prepare for this, complete the two exercises today. In the first one you are filling in the blank or combining sentences using the words for "also" in Russian. In the second, you are activating your vocabulary to answer questions using adverbs. Review your vocabulary to finish this.

English II:  We will quickly finish with Oedipus and have our unit exam next week. You should begin to prepare for this by studying your vocabulary today and learning some of the key definitions for terms within this play.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 24 March

If you have any missing assignments for Ms. Barber it is important to email her directly about those assignments. Her deadline for late work is Sunday. You can contact her at mary _ barber @ dpsnc (dot) net.

AP English III

Over the weekend you have a few things to do with Invisible Man.  First, read Chapter Twenty-Three. This is a lengthy chapter in which a lot happens. The Invisible Man starts to realize his own power. Look for your motifs as well as the new character of Rineheart. He's important. Also, start to pull your blogs together. Make sure that all of your posts are there and that you have completed your second synthesis post (covering Chapters 10-23). In the synthesis post you should start to determine what Ellison's argument is related to the motif you are studying.

Lastly, remember that next week is your final week to receive feedback on your papers.

English II

Study your vocabulary words! We'll finish Oedipus the King next class and then have our final test on it before going on to our Asian Literature and Culture unit.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Homework for the Weekend - 23 March 2017 - A Day

It's the last A-Day of the quarter. Your grades are basically finalized. Please make sure if there's anything else to do that it is done tomorrow morning.

Advanced Russian:

Russian IV:  This weekend I want you to keep working through the reading of "Night Three" in White Nights. Complete sections 28, 29, and 30. From each section, find two sentences that are interesting to you in terms of the grammar and structure. We'll work through them together on Monday.

Russian III: Today in class you learned a bit about the word который and the myriad of ways it's used in Russian. To keep working on this new information, complete exercise eight. As you complete the exercise, fill in the blank with the proper form of который and then identify the referent for который. On Monday I will spend time to take you through the concept more thoroughly.

Russian II:  We have discussed today the usage of the double negative in Russian versus the single negative and also versus the construction in English. Keep in mind that the double negative in Russian is completely opposite to the double negative in English. As a practice for this, complete exercise twelve. Answer the questions using a double negative construction and translate the answer into English.

Russian I:

Today in class we learned about Russian conjunctions and how they are used. Also, we practiced combining sentences using conjunctions. Remember that you want to eliminate repeated words as they aren't needed in Russian. To continue to work on this concept, please complete the final set of sentences and combine them. You will turn in this work on Monday - so make sure that it is as complete as you can make it.

Russian Students - Don't forget that the Olympiada will be held at Duke University this Saturday at 10:00. 

English II:

We'll be finishing up our unit on Oedipus the King pretty quickly next week. Keep in mind that the work you did today will count as part of your grade for the fourth nine weeks.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Homework for B-Day Students: 22 March 2017

AP English III:

Always question your reality, children. Always look for the fire within the cave. For tonight, you have one thing to complete to turn in and reading to complete.

First, please write a one paragraph response to each of the following questions. You may draw on your experience reading Invisible Man, "Allegory of the Cave", and the reading on addiction. The questions are as follows:

1.  According to the article, do people in "the cave" make healthy decisions?
2.  According to the article, do people naturally want to remain in "the cave"? What does this say about human nature?
3.  In what other ways might a person be in "the cave"? Think about other parts of our society (fashion, careers, lifestyle choices, etc.)

Second, you have reading in Invisible Man - Chapters Twenty through Twenty-Two. Remember to complete your motif blog post and annotate heavily. There's a lot of "Allegory of the Cave" going on in this section. It'll be productive for you to think about.

Lastly, continue working on your research papers. The final drafts will be due very soon!

English II:

This is the final call for any missing or make-up work. It should be in our hands by the end of the day tomorrow!

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Homework for A-Day Students: 21 March 2016

Advanced Russian:

Russian II: Tonight I want you to do some reading in your textbooks for the next grammar point we're going to study - the double negative. In your textbook, read pages 282-285. Be able to answer the following questions:

  1. When do you use a double negative in Russian? When a single negative?
  2. How is genitive case used with negation?
  3. How are the words nobody and nothing declined in all cases.
Once you've done the reading, try the translation assignment. We'll review that on Thursday.

Russian III:  To finish your study of long and short-form adjectives, complete exercise five. Fill in the blanks with a long or short form. Be able to translate the sentence.

Russian IV:  Complete the reading of "Night Two" in White Nights. Once you've finished, answer the following question in a mixture of Russian and English:  What do we as readers better understand about the narrator and Nastenka at the end of the second night? Give five facts about each character (in English) and the textual support for that fact (in Russian).

Russian I:

Tonight for homework you have two exercises on using adverbs. In the first exercise you are rewriting the question or sentence and adding in the adverb in a logical space (the word is given to you in the exercise in the adjective form). In the second, you are studying your vocabulary to fill in the blanks. Be able to translate the sentences that you fill in the blanks with.

English II:

Today we took our test on Oedipus the King and began our final research projects on Greek Culture. It is very important that you check PowerSchool and complete any missing work. 

If there is anything that you would like to turn in or resubmit it needs to be done by Thursday!

Monday, March 20, 2017

Registration Links - AP Review Sessions

AP English III:

If you are interested in attending the DPS review sessions for AP Exams, use the links below.

April 22
April 29 (I'm leading the AP Language Review session for this date.)

Homework for B-Day Students: 20 March 2017

We are now in the final week of the quarter. It's important that you work to meet your deadlines this week as I will finalize all grades on Friday afternoon. Also, Ms. Barber's last day with us is Thursday. So any work to her needs to be submitted on Wednesday.

AP English III:

Tonight for homework you have a really fun piece to read - "The Allegory of the Cave" by Plato. Like Cher or Madonna, Plato is so famous he only needs one name. The piece is written as a philosophical dialogue between a teacher and a student - this structure is a key means by which you should navigate the text, notice the paragraph breaks. Everything in the piece is meant to be symbolic; it's important that you think critically as you read to connect the dots from the allegory to the real world. Remember that Plato was most concerned with what things really are, the truth of them.

I've also found visuals to be helpful with working through Plato. This animation from YouTube really helps. I'd read and watch the cartoon at the same time.


Read and annotate fully. Ask questions and prepare for a meaty seminar on Wednesday. This reading sets us up clearly for the next section of Invisible Man which is due on Friday (Chapters Twenty to Twenty-Two). Make sure that your blogs are updated by the end of the day on Friday.

Lastly, it is highly important that you make your writing conference this week and finalize all of your research paper documents. Please check your PowerSchool account regularly to make sure that your grade is reflective of the work that you have updated and submitted.

English II:

Today in class we started our final mini-research project as part of our Greek Theatre and Culture unit. The assignment and workspace can be found on Google Classroom. We also took our test on the first half of Oedipus the King

It is highly important that you make sure that all of your work is turned in. Especially make sure you've completed the:
  • Greek Gods and Monsters Project (on Google Classroom)
  • The paragraph about the purpose of irony or blindness in Oedipus the King
  • The Character Mask Assignment
  • The Dinner Party Assignment
If you are unsure what these are or need instructions, please let me or Ms. Barber know ASAP.


Friday, March 17, 2017

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Edition - 17 March

Today I remembered to do this before leaving work. Yay for me. Go Heels!

Advanced Russian:

We are quickly approaching the end of the quarter. If you have yet to submit your project or take/finish your Verbs of Motion exam, the time is drawing quickly to a close. Finish and settle these assignments ASAP. See me if you need help or assistance.

Russian II - Over the weekend, continue your work with new vocabulary as well as with the dative case. Complete the exercises using the dative case and weather vocabulary. This is also a good review of your counting rules as you talk about ages and temperatures. You only have to do the evens or the odds from each exercise; you do not have to do all.

Russian III - Today we started to learn about short-form adjectives which look a lot like nationalities, but are not. Practice by taking the list of adjectives I gave you and turn them into their short forms. Not all of them can create short forms, remember to draw on your notes. Once you've made your short forms, make some sentences using the adjectives in short and long form. Make sure that you can explain the difference in meaning.

Russian IV - This weekend keep reading "White Nights". Try to finish this section of the story to the conclusion of Night Two. Also, as you read, keep up with any new vocabulary you encounter - especially words that use your new word part.

Russian I:

Today in class we began to learn about adverbs and how they are formed from adjectives. Take the vocabulary sheet that I gave you and complete the front side. Then, on the back, practice writing. Take an adjective and write a sentence with the word in its adjective form and then in the adverb form. Explain the difference.

Don't forget as well, we will have a culture quiz next week on The Diamond Arm. Review your notes and feel free to rewatch the film - it's on YouTube.

English II:

Next class we will have our assessment on Oedipus the King. Make sure that you know your major characters, the plot, as well as about the different examples of irony we have seen in the story so far. You can access the play online to review portions and you can also see me on Monday for anything that you've missed.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

B-Day Homework - Weekend Edition - 16 March 2017

Sorry for the lateness in posting this - when I have to go to the grocery store after work it really throws off my normal leaving work routine.

AP English III

Please make sure that if you miss your scheduled conference that you re-schedule as quickly as possible. There are still spots for next week. After your conference, make sure that you pay the notes and comments that you're given forward as you continue to develop the draft. There is no more required feedback on these papers before the final draft. Many of you have expressed a desire for a second conference - great! We'll have these the final week of March to prepare final drafts; they'll be drop-in conferences before school all week.

In terms of other work - make sure that as you improve and edit previous research project documents that you keep me in the loop about that. I plan on updating the gradebook this weekend; if you have made changes that you feel are not reflected in your grade, please let me know. Also, please make sure to share to and message my dpsnc (dot) net email address.

For Invisible Man you have your reading and blogging up to Chapter 19. This is a good chunk of reading, but if you pace yourself, you can get it done no sweat. Keep up with the motifs with the new motif charts you were given today.

Lastly, there's a writing assignment for you to complete this weekend related to the documentary you've watched and Invisible Man. In no more than three paragraphs, synthesize the information from Invisible ManAccidental Courtesy and "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" - you may also refer to other texts as you develop your argument to the question. What is the most effective way to combat white privilege/systemic racism? Where in Invisible Man do we see this privilege exercised? Is the Invisible Man working to dismantle these systems? Be sure to have this as a hard copy or share it at the beginning of class.

English II

Great work today on your workshop in class today. I'm really glad that so many of you were able to accomplish so much. On Monday we're going to have an assessment on Oedipus the King. You're going to have multiple choice questions, matching, and short answers. Make sure that you look over your notes - a lot of you took photos of them to help you study this weekend!

If there's any work you didn't finish today, make sure that's in soon! The quarter ends on Friday of next week!

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

PLC Day - 15 March 2017 - A Day Homework

Advanced Russian

Today we began on our new units, so tonight you should focus on learning your new vocabulary words.

Russian II - Read the two weather reports that I gave you. Practice reading them aloud several times. Get familiar with the vocabulary, the cases, and the other grammar used when discussing the weather. Write your own weather report about Durham. Be sure to activate as much of your new vocabulary as you can.

Russian III - Using your textbooks, complete exercise one and two. Practice with your language related to geography, cultures, and nationalities.

Russian IV - Read sections seventeen through nineteen of "White Nights" and answer question 17.1 and 19.1. Answer one question in Russian and another in English. Draw on evidence form the text as you answer.

Russian I

Tonight you should all focus on studying your new vocabulary words. Look through PowerSchool - if there are any assignments you would like to reassess, please plan to take care of that next week.

English II

If you are behind in the reading of Oedipus the King I would recommend getting caught up - you'll have a test on the first act soon. Also, if you are missing any assignments in PowerSchool or Google Classroom then you will want to get those turned in ASAP.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Homework for B-Day Students: 14 March 2017

AP English III 

Some of the things in this post are dealt with on Monday. We've got a relatively light day on Thursday.  For Thursday we'll be watching the next portion of Accidental Courtesy; please make sure that you have submitted your notes and answers for the first portion of the film. Hopefully on Thursday we'll also have a chance to finish our speech cartoons and some of the residual conversation from the section of Invisible Man which was discussed today.

For Monday, we have a large chunk of reading - Chapters Sixteen through Nineteen. By Monday you should post on your blogs for all of these chapters. You should also make sure that the synthesis post is up as well. As you read these chapters stay focused on the Brotherhood and its effects on Invisible Man. Keep note of new characters (Brother Jack, Ras, and Brother Tod Clifton) and the different ways in which these characters may link back to previous ones.  Your motif charts will be very productive through these chapters as well.

Lastly, we have our work on our research papers. Make sure that you attend your conference, update your draft, and finalize your previous documents. Remember that on Friday the 28th I'll be averaging your scores for your test grades for all of this work.

English II

Today in class we planned a dinner party for Oedipus and his friends and family. If you did not finish your "library notes" sheet, or your "dinner party" sheet, then please do so for homework! We will not have another day in class to address this content because we will continue reading the pay on Thursday.

Make sure to take your time with the worksheets, using colors, images, and symbols to connect your work to the text. This should be a relatively light night in terms of homework.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Homework for A-Day: Monday, 13 March 2017

English II:

If any of you have any missing assignments from Google Classroom (mainly research projects), then it is important that you turn in those assignments as soon as possible. This is especially important if you've missed a lot of class recently.

Russian I:

Next class we will have our exam on Units 1 and 2 - This will cover the Introduction, Chapter One, and Chapter Two. Remember to use your study guides as well as your review packets to prepare for the exam. The review packet is a great way to earn credit on previous assignments as well (as many as FIVE previous assignments). Don't miss this opportunity.

Advanced Russian:

We took tests today. Yay for that.

Russian II - Focus on studying your new vocabulary as well as finishing your projects. Don't forget to submit those assignments online as soon as you have them done.

Russian III - You also have new vocabulary and the world map in Russian. For each of the selected countries be able to state the name of the country in Russian as well as the adjective which relates to the country (language/culture). You should also read over the information on short-form adjectives. We'll focus on studying this content as the first part of Chapter 11.

Russian IV - You have your project due on Friday. Be sure that you are using language of comparisons to talk about the similarities you see (or the differences) between the life of Dostoevsky as well as that of the narrator.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Homework for B-Day Students - Weekend Edition - 10 March

AP English III:

This weekend you have a few things to take care of - I'll list them below in order of "relative" importance.

  1. Your rough drafts of your research paper are due on Tuesday. We will begin conferencing on Tuesday. Many of you have already signed up for a writing conference. For your draft, I am expecting a full introduction paragraph with argument as well as a complete topic written out. Have a hard copy of your draft in my hands on Tuesday.
  2. You have reading in Invisible Man for Chapters 13 through 15. This is an important section which starts to bring the Invisible Man into a new organization and into some important conflicts. Pay close attention to new characters but the way in which these new characters are like old characters too. Keep up with your motif charts and your annotations. Continue to draw connections!
  3. You have your first synthesis post for your motif blogs due. Your synthesis post should look at Prologue through Chapter Twelve (the posts you've completed so far) and look at synthesizing all of the information you've discovered so far to highlight what you think Ellison's purpose or meaning is behind the motif. Remember to draw ideas together and make a clear point. This may change later in your reading, but as a group you want to think about what you have noticed so far. Make sure that your synthesis and preliminary posts are up by next class so that your blogs can be graded up to this point.
Lastly, remember that I will begin to grade/re-grade synthesis sourcepacks and outlines tomorrow. Make sure that they are accessible to me.

English II:

There is no required homework this weekend. However, it would be a good idea to log in to PowerSchool and check your grades. If you have anything missing, this would be a good chance to complete that work and turn it in for credit. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns!

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Homework for A Day Students - 9 March

Advanced Russian:

We will have exams on Monday covering verbs of motion (with prefixes for Russian III and without for Russian II) and covering the first half of White Nights for Russian IV. Be sure to study and prepare for this exam by:

  • reviewing your previous assessments and reassessments
  • reviewing the examples and explanation in your textbooks
  • focusing on case rules and conjugation patterns
  • studying vocabulary
Your final projects are due on Wednesday - don't forget to submit them electronically.

Russian I:

Your final exam on Chapter Two will fall on Wednesday. Make sure that you use your study guide this weekend to prioritize your time over the weekend and into Wednesday. It is very important that you spend time with your charts to recognize the ways in which endings change to reveal cases and why these cases are used at certain points in different sentences.

Be sure to review your vocabulary in Chapter One and Chapter Two.

If you have any last assignments which you would like to resubmit, make sure that these are completed ASAP.

English II:

See the previous post for reminders about homework. Remember that the most important thing is to make sure that your Google Classroom projects are submitted and finished!

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Homework for B-Day Students: 8 March

AP English III:

Though I wasn't here to hear everything I was very impressed with the way in which you all worked through the ideas of necropolitics and biopolitics in order to delve into the interesting and important ideas around Tyra, her life, and the lives of transgender people, in general. As you read these pieces, it is important to make connections back to Invisible Man and the ways in which race and sexuality can lead to invisibility.

For tonight, make sure that you finish the questions related to the documentary you watched in class. As you answer the questions, write paragraphs that draw on source material in order to make the point. Explain clearly and effectively. In terms of Invisible Man you have your reading of Chapters 11 and 12 for Friday. Make sure that your blog is also updated.

Lastly, there is your synthesis source pack for Friday as well. Use the template documents available in Google Classroom for this assignment. Remember that your outlines can also be resubmitted at any time. Accompany the resubmission with an explanation of what you have done to improve the piece.

English II:

Wonderful work today with Oedipus the King as well as with the characterization activity to design masks. Remember that if you have work to complete on Google Classroom that you need to log-in and submit those assignments ASAP as they are in the process of being graded.

If you have missed any reading of Oedipus the King - it may be a good idea to catch up on that reading. You can check out a textbook, or you can read the play online at this link. In this online version we have read to line 923/[770]. I don't know why there are two line numbers given.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Homework for A-Day Students: 7 March

Advanced Russian:

For Thursday you should be ready to present one of the stages of your Russian Amazing Race to class. If you are not ready to submit the final project, that's okay - you have until the 15th of March to finish the project. Please share it electronically or turn it in on Google Classroom.

Russian II and III Students - You have your exam on Verbs of Motion coming next Monday. We'll finish our review on Thursday. Consider your conjugations, your prepositions paired with each verb, and the different cases used for coming and going to different types of places.

Russian IV - Continue reading through sections sixteen and seventeen and developing your knowledge of Nastya's character. Remember to do the same type of analysis work where you consider her language and her reactions as insights to her character.

Russian I:

We will finish the presentations on Thursday. If you presented today, your grades have been loaded into PowerSchool. I appreciated all of the ways that the presentations were made interactive. I also liked seeing everyone try to make origami.

For tonight, continue working on the five sentences we have left on our grammar review. Remember to study and review your vocabulary and your grammar notes. You should be actively reviewing all of the information in the book through Chapters One and Two (focus on your declension charts). Your exam will fall on Wednesday of next week. These last few days should be filled with questions and review!

English II:

If any of you can work on Google Classroom to improve or finish any assignments, that is what I would recommend you do!

Monday, March 6, 2017

Homework for B-Day Students: 6 March 2017

English II:

If you still have work to do on Google Classroom it is important that you get that worked settled and submitted ASAP. There are two assignments there, which you may need to work on. One is the Latin American literature project where you are either doing creative writing or doing research on one of the various countries of Latin America. The second assignment is the more recent one on the Greek gods/goddesses/creatures. All of the instructions and assignments are in Google Classroom.

AP English III

For our next class - Wednesday - you only have to read and annotate the article which was given to you today on transgender people and queer politics. Read carefully. Remember that this was assigned to graduate students at Duke University - things will go over your head and the language will be dense - do what you can. Use the ideas of necropolitics to get you started as you deal with the text. It's also important to consider the way in which racial politics of the 1950's are similar to gender politics of today.

Additionally, for Friday, we have the reading of Chapters Eleven and Twelve as well as the submission of your source packs. The source pack instructions and template documents are on Google Classroom for you to use. Remember that this is a relatively easy assignment - you simply need to consolidate your sources and write your question. Follow the instructions. Ask for help if you need it. We will quickly move forward into rough drafts and writing conferences. It would be a good idea to start drafting your paper now. Rough drafts will likely be collected at the end of next week!

Friday, March 3, 2017

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 3 March 2017

English II:

If you have not yet finished your Latin America Research project it is important that you finish that ASAP. They will be graded this weekend. I loved the fact that so many of you were so into the create your own god/creature project. I also loved that so many of you were able to draw on your knowledge of the Greek gods as you did that.

We'll continue reading Oedipus the King next week.

Russian I:  

You all did a great job with your translations as well as with your grocery store advertisements. This weekend, I want you working more with your grocery store ads. Answer the question that relates to meal planning. You have 1000 rubles to do your shopping - what will you eat for breakfast (на завтрак), for lunch (на обед), and for dinner (на ужин). You should try to write complete sentences using the vocabulary we've been studying.

Also, don't forget, we'll have presentations next week on the holidays. If your holiday is in the first half of the year (January to May) then you should be ready to present on Tuesday.

Advanced Russian:

On Tuesday we'll have time to go back to the computer lab and finish typing our projects. I was happy that during the workshop many of you did research, worked on your maps, and wrote your different sentences related to traveling through Russia. Keep in mind that the final due date for these projects is the 15th of March.

Russian III Students - You'll have your Chapter Ten examination on Thursday the 9th.  Russian II Students - You'll have your Chapter Six examination on Monday the 13th.  Russian II Students, you should be able to finish the rest of the exercise we began today in class.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Homework for the Weekend - B Day Students - 2 March 2017

English II:

If you have not yet finished your research/creative writing project on Latin America, then it is really important that you finish that work ASAP. These projects will start to get graded this weekend, and we will see any work that you've completed. Your grade will be given based on what we see in the Google Classroom folder. Make sure that it shows a complete and thorough project.

I hope that you all had fun today working on the Greek gods, goddesses, and creatures. There's a lot of interesting information we can infer about Greek culture from knowing about their beliefs and their fears.

AP English III:

This weekend you'll be reading a very fantastic chapter in Invisible Man - I call it The Paint Factory. In this chapter you'll have a lot of productive annotating if you follow the color symbolism of white and black in the chapter. You'll want to read the paint as a metaphor for many things. Ellison uses this chapter to make a lot of points about the way in which American society is structured - see these ideas within the language of the text.

Read and annotate heavily. We'll work through Chapters Nine and Ten on Monday. This means that you should also complete the blogging for these chapters.

Furthermore, you should actively be completing your synthesis pack assignment as part of your larger research paper. In this assignment, you should be creating a sourcepack and question page, much like you receive for the synthesis question for the AP Exam. You can create this in Google Drive, or you can turn in a hard copy. I would suggest using Google Drive to make things easier for you.  As a starting point - create your question page and then find the most important parts of your source material. Remember that you will have to excerpt your source material, just like you get in a synthesis pack.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Homework for A Day Students - 1 March 2017

Advanced Russian:

Next class we'll have the time to sit and look at your written work for your projects. All of you should have some sort of writing to share with me next class, in Russian, to show how you are preparing for your project presentations. We'll have a day in the computer lab next week (Tuesday) to finish things up. Friday is more of a check-in day.

Russian III Students - Be reminded that you will have your Chapter Ten exam soon, likely at the end of next week.

Russian I:

We are quickly coming to the end of our unit. Today, by learning the pronouns in all of the cases, we have really finished much of the work in Chapter Two. Next you'll have a unit exam. We'll start to review for this next class.

Tonight, your priority should be to finish and prepare for your presentations next week on Russian holidays. I like that so many of you are going to be creative with your presentations; remember that if you need to get any supplies, you'll have the weekend to pull those things together.

English II:

Good work today determining elements of dramatic irony in Oedipus the King as well as working through Scene 1. Now that we've worked through the introductory pieces, the rest of the play will move pretty fast.

Make sure that if you have not completed your research/creative writing project on Google Classroom that you submit that ASAP. We will soon begin to grade these things.