30 November - End of the Month

AP Language

Full day in AP Language today as we discussed our choice articles for the end of Unit 3 and began our discussion and work on The Crucible. The notes at the end of the recording on allegory and The Crucible are important to review as you get started with reading. By the time I see you on Tuesday, you'll want to read and annotate Acts I and II. Pay attention to characters and symbolism. Consider the connections to the world of the 1950's in America we were discussing today.

Next class is our end of unit working day for The Great Gatsby. You'll have vocabulary due, your reflections and any other tasks for Unit 3. We'll also be reviewing the most recent timed writing, so you won't have a complete class period to work.

Enjoy the reading. The Crucible is an absolutely fantastic book!

AP Research

We're on our final days to prepare for the IRB which meets on Tuesday the 6th. You'll need to have your proposal folder complete with your: AP Research Proposal Form, any survey/interview questions, any consent forms, and other tools as needed. Be sure that you are checking yourself for alignment and for final touches. It's natural to make changes, be able to explain why you are making the changes you are making. 

Next class is the final working day. We'll conference as well. Be ready! Be justified! Be aligned!

29 November - Grey Day

English 10

Solid day today in English 10. We did our first silent conversation, took time for Membean, and explored a poem called "Babi Yar" by Yevgeniy Yevtushenko, a Ukrainian poet. In reading the poem, we started to focus on the ideas of memory, truth, and deception. The poem acts as a memory and a monument to a horrible event. We'll continue to focus on this theme in the next few days as we watch a film about a Holocaust concentration camp from which the Jewish prisoners escaped. It's a great story. We'll use this as well as our other texts from this part of the unit to complete our next definition essay. Be ready for that before the end of the month.

If you're missing any assignments, now is a good time to complete them. Check your SIS for an accurate accounting of your grades and assignments to this point.

Welcome Back! 28 November

AP Language

Today was a workshop day to construct our visuals displaying color at work in The Great Gatsby. The goal in this summative assessment is to display your skill as a reader and understand the way that Fitzgerald uses a specific color to create a meaning in his novel. The organization and construction of the meaning in this novel is painstakingly built by Fitzgerald, this is a means to display your understanding of that.

Be sure that you have submitted your reflection questions which display your thinking in words. Sometimes art can be difficult to understand, so the reflection questions will help you display your skill. If necessary, your motif tracker MAY be assessed if skill demonstration is lacking in the other areas. 

Next class will be our end of the unit seminar related to non-fiction connections to The Great Gatsby. Select one of the posted articles and read/annotate. Consider connections to the unit and novel. Be thoughtful and critical. We'll be starting our next unit on The Crucible this week as well. Be aware of your due dates for vocabulary to round out Unit 3.

AP Research

Today was a day for our first POD viewing. We watched, we analyzed, and we discovered the route to a high scoring presentation. The rest of this week is devoted to completing your proposal form and any supporting documentation for that proposal (consent forms, surveys, etc.). The IRB is going to meet next week, so everything needs to be completed this week/weekend. 

The next two classes this week are going to be workshop days. We will meet together to discuss your work to this point as a graded conference. I'll see half of you on Wednesday and half on Friday for conversations. Be ready to show me your IRB/Proposal at this point. 

Off to Thanksgiving - Grey Day

English 10

Easy day today in English 10. It was our pre-holiday catch-up day. If you are missing an assignment, today is the day to complete work. The most important work is the essay from Unit 2 on heroes or villains, since that is a major assignment. Many of you are also missing the work from the substitute day. That assignment is open to you in Schoology in the Unit 3 folder. 

If you would like to continue to work and submit things over the holiday, that is acceptable. I will continue to receive and score your work. When we return, we'll start to focus on resistance and fighting back as themes in our unit. I'm excited to share the next few texts with you. Enjoy Thanksgiving! Be safe!

Off to Thanksgiving Break - Blue Day

AP Language

Today was our day to finish our work and conversation on The Great Gatsby. We focused on conclusions and arguments - it's important to notice how Fitzgerald is completing the novel by making his various points clear to us as an audience. There are so many messages in this novel - consider the ones that you understand the most thoroughly. You don't have to understand everything, but you need to understand something and thoroughly.

We finished class by focusing on our motif trackers. These should be mostly complete when we return to school so that you can complete your visual and the questions at the back of the tracker. We also have vocabulary due the week that we return. The week we return is for summatives and wrapping up the unit. We'll soon move on to Unit 4 and The Crucible.

Note that if you were not in class for the writing day, then you'll need to come on 11/30 to complete your double timed write. If you are not satisfied with your writing scores there will be a reassessment option. Enjoy Thanksgiving. There's no work assigned, but if you are behind then you should get caught up.

AP Research

Easy day today in AP Research land. We took a quick assessment to check our ethical practices and alignment to our guiding principals of beneficence and non-maleficence. The rest of our class time was given over to preparing for our IRB meetings.

Remember that all of your documents to support your research proposal should be completed by the week of December 5th. The IRB will meet, review proposals, and then give approvals and/or edits. Remember the principal of alignment between the steps of your proposal. Check your surveys for bias and leading questions. Working with your peers is great during this time as they will often see your blindspots.

Enjoy Thanksgiving! I hope that it's a restful and relaxing time! Eat lots of pie!!

Cheers to the Weekend - 18 November - Friday

English 10

Solid day today studying "In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself" by Szymborska. She's a wonderful Polish poet, awarded by several presidents in Poland and the Nobel Committee too for her work. I hope you enjoyed it. We finished our day with vocabulary and time to get caught up. Remember that if you are behind on the work from last class, that assignment is still open to you.

Next class is going to be our Unit Catchup Day. If you have a missing assignment, that class is designed for you to get caught up before we go out on Thanksgiving Break. Let me know how I can help you. SIS has been updated with everything turned in to this point.

17 November

AP Language

Today was our assessment day - double timed writing - Question 2 and Question 3. I am very much looking forward to scoring these essays and getting you feedback to push you further into your development as readers, writers, thinkers, and communicators. I hope that you found that the prompts approachable and that you see improvements in some of your writing skills. 

Over the weekend, spend your time with Gatsby. We're finishing the novel before Thanksgiving Break so that we can focus on our summative assessments upon our return. Read and annotate Chapters 8 and 9. They run together to complete the conclusion of the novel. Think about who wins and who loses and how this helps Fitzgerald to communicate an argument about an idea. Your vocabulary can be submitted. Don't submit the motif tracker, but keep developing it. Be ready for assessments when we return from Thanksgiving. We'll complete most of the work in class. 

Our next unit will be on The Crucible by Arthur Miller. If you'd like your own copy of this play, now's a good time to order one.

AP Research

Today's class was very similar to our last class - it was our IRB Working Week this week. The work that we are doing now is some of the most important work that we have to do. I appreciate seeing your effort and the support that you are giving to each other. I'm also glad that so many of you are finding a new purpose for the work that we have done earlier in the course like our Annotated Bibliography and our Research Posters.

Next class we'll be having our Ethical Practices Check. This is for a grade. I've opened up your newest PREP Reflection question as well for the weekend. Continue to work, plan, and create. The goal is the pass IRB with as few revisions as possible in order to begin your work with your data.

Have a great weekend!

15 and 16 November - Blue and Grey Updates

Happy Tuesday/Wednesday Everyone - I'm going ahead and posting this today for everyone since I'll be out tomorrow doing some follow-up from last week's appointments.

AP Language

Class is focused on Chapter 7. Everything comes to a head in Chapter 7 and we have several turning points in the text. Remember that we're reading this novel not just as a story about these characters, but also as an argument about ideas related to America. The thinking and questioning of the text in today's slides should help you to see how these ideas are moving to resolution and to see the statements that Fitzgerald is forming. Considering who "wins" and "loses" in this text and why is a great way to formalize arguments. 

Next class is your double timed writing. There are tips in the Weekly Exigence for how to prepare. The best thing to do is review your feedback from your most recent writing assessment and the feedback to the class. Focus on a few points (remember you can't fix everything at once) and consider how you'll do that differently on Thursday/Friday when you write. Bring a charged laptop - you'll be typing since the exam has gone digital. 

Outside of class, focus on finishing The Great Gatsby. Before Thanksgiving Break we'll work through Chapters 8 and 9. You should also be wrapping up your motif tracker and vocabulary. You'll have summatives coming due after Thanksgiving Break - so adequate preparation now will lead to great outcomes then. I'll be after school on Thursday if you need anything. As always, feel free to reach out.

AP Research

Today we kicked off our working week focused on our IRB Proposal and the tools related to completing our inquiry project for the year. The deadline for IRB submission is December 6. This is a firm deadline. By this date I need your completed proposal form as well as every tool related to your study including consent forms and surveys. The team will give you feedback to prompt revisions and then you will be free to move forward.

All of the work that we've done up to this point has been designed to create the structures you need to complete this work. Pull together your various threads. Formalize your ideas. Show your process. 

As a secondary task, be sure that you are also writing your introduction and literature review - slay many beasts at once in order to be successful. Next week we'll be taking a few checks to help us keep moving forward.

English 10

Today's class is a day with a substitute since I'm out dealing with some personal medical things. During class you're completing the assignment on Anton Chekhov's "A Problem". Open the assignment and the slides and work through them. The story is posted as a PDF and there's a recording of me reading the story with pause points. Be sure to submit your slides as your grade by the end of class - the work won't be accepted late since today is a substitute day. I hope that you enjoy the story about Sasha and the idea of what it means to be a "criminal".

Once you've finished the story, take time with Membean. Remember that you need to do TWO, fifteen minute sessions each week. Once you've met your goal, you're set. Enjoy the day, and I'll be back with you on Friday!

14 November - Ugh, Filters!

For some reason, the FCPS filter keeps me from posting and updating at school. I hope this is resolved soon, but the issue is with Blogger. Be sure that you're keeping up with the regular posts on Schoology. That really is the best resource right now for all of us until this is worked out.

7 November

AP Language

Lovely day for feedback in AP Language today. We updated our score sheets, saw a bit of growth, and reviewed targeted feedback for our next writing assignments. Keep in mind that the feedback you get is derived right from the work you've done. Take a look at the rubric you received and the work you did. Do you see the feedback in your work? You may want to annotate your work in order to prepare for your next attempt. We'll be doing a timed write again soon to resubmit these writing skills.

Tonight your goal is to complete Chapter 6. Read and annotate for more information about Gatsby and his past. Your timeline will be a helpful tool here. Also, be sure that you complete your motif tracker as you are reading. Keeping up with this assignment bit by bit will really help you. Consider why Fitzgerald organized the appearances of the color in this way. How does it help him to make an argument about an idea?

AP Research

Today was our kickoff for Unit 3 - Method, Approach and the Design of Scholarly Inquiry. This unit is the make or break method because it's what distinguishes the pass from the fail. You have to have a means to answer your question and you have to be able to explain and justify each part of that plan. I think that a lot of you are now seeing a new way to use your existing work, be sure to keep paying it forward as we move forward. 

For tonight, you should complete your Expert Advisor Research - find one potential expert in your field. Research them. How may they be helpful for you? This is a great chance to try to reach out and get additional help - for some of you it may be a chance to get ready for your futures. We'll discuss these people next class as a means to discuss ethics and proper work in our field. Also, keep writing. Use the plan and sketch your outlines. Putting the content together helps! 

The Weekend - 4 November - Friday

Remind people to vote! It's our duty to participate in democracy in order to keep it alive!

English 10

Easy day in English 10 to wrap up our unit studying Asian literature and culture. Our final assessment was our three paragraph essay focused on the idea of a hero or a villain. We'll write this same structure of essay two more times this quarter. Today was your first attempt. Use this as a chance to see how you've grown from your very first writing assignment - the letter - and set yourself a goal for the second quarter.

Next week we're starting in on our third unit of the year - Russia and Eastern Europe. This is one of my favorite parts of the world and an interesting mishmash of cultures. I hope that you'll enjoy the texts and authors I'm going to show you. Enjoy the weekend. If you have Membean training to complete, be sure to log in and complete your 30 minute goal.

3 November - Thursday

AP Language

Really lovely day focused on Gatsby today in AP Language. The work we were doing around conflicts between past and present, fantasy and reality, and Gatsby and other characters is key. This is the mid point of the novel, and everything is going to turn pretty quickly. It's important to see what ideas are established before the changes occur.

This weekend is a great weekend to focus on getting ahead. If you've fallen behind on reading or the motif project or vocabulary, get yourselves caught up. Monday's class is a working day focused on resubmissions and our motif projects. Make next class great by being thoroughly prepared. I liked the energy today! Let's maintain!

AP Research

Lovely day to end Unit 2 in AP Research. Next week we're focused on starting our work on developing method. This is going to be a long, hard, winding slog, but we will reach the promised land of IRB approval and access to our research subjects.

This weekend should be a writing weekend for you. Pull together your resources to help you write - the PDFs in Schoology, your earlier work (your poster, annotated bibliography, source list, research question organizer), and the templates you have to help you. Give me a solid hour of writing this weekend to start working. I've also given you a new PREP reflection for Week 11 to complete. This is the beginning of Quarter 2 - mark that in your reflections.

Be sure that you use this opportunity to get ahead; there's a lot looming - so listen to your teacher and do what I say, please. See you Monday.

2 November

English 10

Welcome to Q2. This is a quick one because of all of our holidays built in, so it'll be important to stay focused and make up for any lost time. 

A very good day in English 10 in which we did a lot. Next class we'll be kicking off the quarter with our first major writing assignment - our heroes/villains essay. We've planned, prepared, and written, so we're ready for Friday. Come armed with your work up to this point. If you were absent for our workshops, use the recordings and handouts to catch yourselves up. I'm also available after school. 

Our next unit starts next week! I'm excited to take you to one of my favorite parts of the word, Russia and Eastern Europe. Be ready for the next phase of our adventure.

1 November - AP Language and AP Research

AP Language

We had a big conversation today in AP Language that we needed to have. Stop waiting to start the class and get going. It's not going to get any better with avoidance. I am here for you, but you have to do. You have to produce and you have to show. If you are planning to reassess your project for Quarter 1, please let me know via email so that I can prepare.

Today's class focused on Carnegie and his ideas about wealth, power, and charity in America of the 1890's. We reviewed concepts like logos, pathos, ethos, the rhetorical triangle, and the argument structure. I liked seeing your conversations and your disagreements about some of the ideas. It's important to make connections back to Fitzgerald as we read outside texts. Consider purpose, commonalities, and contrasts. 

Next class we're looking at Chapters 4 and 5. Focus on conflict and especially time. Read, annotate, and pay attention to the idea of truth and how it comes out in the text. Update your motif tracker and collect your vocabulary. As always, I look forward to seeing your thoughts.

AP Research

AP Research was wrapping up today with first presentations. We'll finish those on Thursday for the six who didn't present. One of the best things about days like today is seeing you all celebrate each other. Focus on getting comfortable at the board, speaking with confidence, and being sure of what you know. All of these practices will help us to do this.

Tonight focus on writing. You have everything that you need to start crafting your introduction and literature review. Use the files posted today as well as your sample papers, Body of Knowledge, and existing work. You have everything you need, you just need to put it together differently.

I look forward to seeing your next steps. Unit 3 starts on Monday the 7th. Check your messages for your recording.