17 December and 3 January 2022

AP Language

Today was a lovely day! We worked through the end of The Great Gatsby and had wonderful analysis and discussion of some key passages. I am so glad to see the depth of thinking that you're accomplishing with this text. Keep this going! It'll lead to a great outcome as you keep working and thinking and growing.

Most of our conversation focused on outcomes and resolutions. Be sure that you've updated your annotations based on our conversations in class. I'll be checking your books soon after we return from Winter Break.

There's no homework over the break. When we return, though, we have a few things to work through. There's our end of unit seminar (choose one of the articles for this), our vocabulary assignment, and our final work with the novel. Review the project and be ready for some workdays when we return! Also be ready for a fast end to the quarter - it'll be here before you know it.

English 10

Today was our classroom catch-up day. If you are missing your reading notes, your author paragraph, or your research on your country then today should have given you ample time to complete those tasks. If you need more time, please finish over the break and show me your work when we return. If you are missing anything from Unit 2 (like our soundtrack project) I hope that you will get that turned in as soon as possible so that I can update your scores in the gradebook. 

We took time in class today to watch Persepolis. If you missed today's class - feel free to find it online and watch if you'd like.

When we return from break we'll be focused on finishing this unit and completing our final steps of our project. It'll be a quick finish, so be ready to work diligently to complete your assignments. Keep in mind that NO LATE WORK will be accepted during the last week of the quarter.

15 and 16 December

AP Language

Today's class was a writing day! But, it was a bit of a special writing day since you were the one who constructed the prompt. I hope that through this mini-project you've developed a process by which you can break down and analyze a text in order to extract and trace the meaning in the passage. By increasing your speed and skill with this throughout the rest of the year, you'll be completely ready for the exam (and life, on a larger scale - sorry in advance for ruining all movies).

Next class we'll be discussing the end of The Great Gatsby - Chapters 8 and 9. It's a sad, but rich ending, so I hope that you enjoy it. I'm looking forward to a rich end to a wonderful book. Be aware that your vocabulary will be due in January. We'll also have our final seminar - choose one of the articles to read and annotate in advance of that seminar day.

English 10

Today was our reading day! We locked in to our author/creator and spent our day focused on studying our text or texts of choice. I am so happy to see how focused and dedicated you all were today in class. Keep in mind that if you didn't finish your notes, then you'll have the chance to do so on Friday during our Unit Catch-Up Day.

If you have any missing work from this part of the year, it's important to get it done as soon as possible so that I can update your scores as soon as possible. Use the time on Friday if you need to for this, but be sure that your reading notes are finished first.

13 and 14 December

AP Language

Today we focused on non-fiction, genres, and a new type of non-fiction called process analysis. This allowed us a chance to go back to the end of Chapter 7 and see the process of Myrtle's death in a new light. I think that we were able to understand a lot more about what Fitzgerald was trying to accomplish in that scene now than we did before. Be sure that your group work on Woolf/Petrunkevitch is submitted so that I can review that - just one for the team.

Tonight you need to complete and submit your prompt for your rhetorical analysis. For this I need your prompt (see the samples in the folder), your excerpt, and then your rationale for the excerpt. It must be submitted to Schoology so that I can print them for you. Next class, you'll complete the timed write!

The last reading - Chapters 8 and 9 will be covered at the end of the week (or beginning of January). I hope you enjoy the end of this book - the last paragraph is one of the best written paragraphs in American literature, I think. I've also posted your final choice articles for our seminar in January. Lots of stuff to get ahead on - but be sure that your prompt is submitted ASAP!

English 10

Today's day was a day for us to focus on Step 3. At the beginning we codified our choice of which author/creator we'll study and now we'll move into Step 3B - Which text/piece will we study? Use the slides from today's class to select your note taking method for your text. Based on the type of text, you'll want to select a note taking method that works best.

I recommend using TP-CASTT for songs/poems, the idea web is great for paintings, sculptures, and non-fiction pieces, the story map is fantastic when studying fiction or short stories. Pick your text(s) and begin your notes. Next class is going to be what I call a "reading day" - you'll have all class to work through your reading notes and hopefully have those done before the end of the week.

When we return from break we'll work through Steps 3C and 3D. Keep in mind that these are our last major grades of the quarter - be sure that you're meeting your goals and staying on your grind!

9 and 10 December - The End of the Week!

Just one more week of school until Winter Break! Keep pushing!!!

AP Language

Today's class we kept zooming in in order to strengthen our annotation skills. Today it was all about two lines of dialogue since Chapter Seven is so dialogue heavy. We read, we illustrated, we annotated, we worked! I love what you were able to find and note - especially related to how decisions are being made in the text. Remember, we're nearly done.

Over the weekend I'd recommend re-reading the end of Chapter Seven (Myrtle's death) and consider the slide we didn't get to today. The reading for the weekend is a choice - either Woolf or Petrunkevitch. Both texts are what we call a process analysis so pay attention to the steps in the process in the article. We'll also return to our projects next class - be sure to have an excerpt, Level 2 annotations, and your rationale for the passage's importance.

English 10

Today's class was a day for us to start to transition into our final step of our research process - Step 3. In this step we're focused on ONE creator from our country and an item (or items) that they've created. This is where our research on the culture and history of the country will come into play since so many authors reflect their culture in some way in their texts.

Tonight your country slides are due for Step 2. Please submit your work to Schoology when you're finished. Follow the template for what to do with each slide. From there, we'll move into Step 3 next week. First you'll pick your creator and then you'll move into your reading notes.

Also keep in mind that if you would like to resubmit your soundtrack projects, you now have your feedback to use in that process. If your soundtrack is missing, work to complete that project as soon as you can - get your points because we only have a few weeks left in the quarter.

7 and 8 December

Today was a relatively low-key day due to the Cultural Observation falling on the 8th. Bodhi Day is a Buddhist holiday for prayer and meditation.

AP Language

Today we engaged in a new note-taking strategy called sketchnotes which can be helpful when showing connections between important ideas or concepts when reading. I think that they're great in helping us think about a text like this one (which is so heavily visual) and hanging on to that visual aspect. Keep in mind that when colors or symbols are interacting, Fitzgerald is showing us the interaction between ideas. Consider which ideas win and which lose, for lack of a better word.

We also took time to work on the second phase of our rhetorical analysis project. The next step involves us building a prompt - so you have to have a rationale for the excerpt in order to do this well. Remember that you will need to show completed Level 2/DIDLS annotations and a rationale for your selected excerpt.

For next class, read and annotate Chapters 6 & 7. They run together. Six is short, seven is longer (but a TON happens and it really moves). Pay attention to character interactions and how cars play a serious role in the action. We're nearly done with this book, if you can believe it. So be alert for upcoming end of unit assessments.

English 10

Today's class was our day focused primarily on completing our research. This is the last day where you'll be getting a majority of class to finish this work, so you should be done or nearly done. Your slides or project (in whatever format) is due on Thursday/Friday. Keep in mind that you need to have a recommendation paragraph and your slides need to show in-text citations for your database.

Outside of working on our projects, we discussed writing a bit and what I'm seeing with your projects. All projects will be scored by the end of the week. If you'd like to do a resubmission, you'll have next week to turn that in.

Next class we'll take time to discuss the parameters of Step 3 and begin our process of finding our author and text(s) to study for the final phase of this work. Keep in mind that this phase will be a longer one because of the fact that we have to do research and read something by the author of focus.

3 and 6 December

AP Language

We really killed it today. We zoomed in on a significant passage in the forest of Chapter 3 - and we found a lot of significant meaning as we kept examining the text. I'm really happy with what you're seeing in the text - as you keep looking you keep finding. All of this work that we're doing is so important in building the skills to analyze and build a rhetorical analysis that works.

Over the weekend you're reading Chapters 4 and 5. Pay attention to the idea of time, especially past versus present, it's super productive. Build links to the ideas of fantasy/reality as you look at these chapters. You should also be able to finish your vocabulary at this point. 

Next class we're going to work through Chapters 4 and 5 as well as take our next step on our project workshop. You'll need to come in with Level 1 annotations of your text for the next workshop.

English 10

Today was a day to move into Step 2 of our new unit. We solidified our choice of country and then began the process of researching that country and building our slide deck about the country. We went to the library and heard from Mrs. C as she reviewed the tools of the library catalogue and the online databases. I love these databases - they do a lot of the work for you.

Next class will be our whole class workshop. You'll have the entire class to finish your Step 2 work. If you finish, you'll be able to move on to Step 3 - finding an author and a text by that author to study. Keep in mind that you have to finish each step before you move on to the next one, so no half-stepping and no missing assignments!

1 and 2 December

Welcome to December, everyone! Just a few more weeks until we go out for Winter Break. Be sure that you're using all the class time that we have efficiently - that will lead you to a great break!

AP Language

Today's class was a time for us to focus on Chapter 2 and all of the contrasts that are apparent to us through the chapter. What I think is really interesting is the fact that these two chapters, on the outside, are pretty similar. Consider the direction of the plot and the basic events: Nick narrates, goes somewhere, there's a gathering around a table, Nick leaves. But when we zoom in, these similarities go right out the car window.

We then touched in on Lorde and Hughes to understand what they are telling us and why these concepts may be important in breaking through this novel. We'll come back to them later, so be sure to read deeply if you've not yet.

Next class we're looking at Chapter 3. It's a bit of a long one. Pay attention to the way that tone is created in the chapter and the shifts that it takes. The minor characters at our first Gatsby party are pretty important as well. Today's slides are posted with our Rules for Good Writing.

English 10

Today we kicked of Unit 3 by looking at different countries around the world. In this unit, you're choosing your whole adventure. Which country? Which author? Which text? You can choose to read a set of poems, a short story, or an article for the later portion of this unit.

Next class we'll be writing about our country before we move on to Step 2 - the poster/brochure/slide show on our country. Having good research from today will really help you to conquer Step 2 easily. Then we'll have to do some reading and annotating to finish the project out. 

If you have your project from Unit 2 missing, tonight gives you a good chance to complete that work. Don't miss your chance to get caught up; now we're moving on and we'll have things to do every day of class.