31 January - The End of the Month

AP Language

Solid day in AP Language as we got our feedback from Exam 2 in all of our essential skills. The tools that you have on AP Classroom for feedback are really essential in this process of developing goals and being accountable to yourselves for your learning. Use the feedback to chart a course forward. As you read, consider the skills in which you see a weakness and apply it to your books. There are also several Progress Checks unlocked for you to practice. For the FRQ checks, come in during a Lion Time and we can review it together and I can explain your grade as I score. This is a great way to improve your writing skills.

The second part of class looked at our Synthesis SourcePack assignment. This is a crucial completion task. Remember that you're cobbling together your sourcepack to include your prompt and five to seven sources with citations. Use the examples provided in AP Classroom (Exam 2, Question 1 and Progress Check Unit 6) as well as the Synthesis Prompt PDF in Current Lessons. These are great examples of your final product. I'm also here to help. Failure to complete this assignment will mean that I choose your prompt for you.

Keep working through the research process. This is the week in which you should finish developing your question. The SourcePack Template is the most important task to complete now. Use the earlier work to complete this essential task.

AP Research

I love days like today in AP Research. They really are some of the best days. I was very pleased with the presentations we saw today for our second round of elevator pitches. We'll continue to pitch on Thursday with another round of four presentations. Remember that we're at the point in the class where the work that you see each other do and the relationships you form in this class are among your most powerful tools. I can't tell you what to do, but you can tell each other and give specific suggestions.

Continue working to collect data, write, review sources, and do the work that you need to do. Remember that you'll have a graded assignment each week to help me get grades for you this quarter. Your next graded assignment will be your plan for Unit 4 and Data Collection. Next class after our presentations we'll look at another major assessment for this unit - the BoK Analysis. Have your best source selected for next class - it'll be a great help.

Kicking off Quarter 3 - 30 January

English 10

We had an easy start to the beginning of the third quarter today with our class based research day. We spent time on the databases looking for information related to our problems that we can use to fill our letter with solid evidence. Then, we pivoted and considered the person. Remember, it has to be a real person to whom you can write. You'll need to pick a person and then research them. LinkedIn is a great place to go to see their educational and working history. That can help you to write your letter and choose information that will really relate to them.

If you've fallen behind, it's time to get caught up. We'll be working on this first major assignment for part of every class this week. It's a lot of points to start the quarter! Make them count!

End of the Semester - Blue Day - 25 January

AP Language

Easy day to end the quarter and semester in AP Language. We're focused on researching, finding key sources to use for our arguments, and refining our topics even further. Keep checking in with our discussion board post and reply to yourself and others. Help to make ideas more specific. Consider the work we've seen so far from College Board and a synthesis prompt and response.

What can you discuss? What can you analyze? What is the argument on the prompt that you can make on the prompt? What's a possible counterargument or another approach to the issue?

Next week we'll discuss feedback from the Exam and look at our first task, the Annotated Bibliography. You'll want about five to seven good sources and a more refined research topic in order to really access the lessons next week. Enjoy the long weekend - remember that I'm not available until Monday.

AP Research

Simple day to end the quarter and semester in AP Research today. We looked at our unit plan for Unit 4 - Data Collection and Analysis. The major task today is outlining the next six weeks of your work in the course. It's a good idea to make a plan now if everything goes perfectly. Design your bailout plans and backup plans now so that you can initiate them when needed. 

Throughout this unit you're focused on collecting the data to answer the question. A lot of you are focused on working with other people, so you'll need to give yourself the time and space to do this effectively. Be ready to be annoying and be ready to use class time super effectively. 

We'll have six elevator pitches on Tuesday and then the following six on Thursday. Be sure to submit your visuals to the space on Schoology. New reflection question is unlocked for your consideration. Enjoy the long weekend!

24 January - End of the Quarter/Semester - Grey Day

English 10

Today was our end of the quarter catch-up day to focus on raising and finalizing our grades for the end of the quarter/semester. If you didn't complete an assignment in class, it can still be accepted. You'll need to have it in by the end of the day tomorrow for it to be scored. 

If you're looking for something to work on, it should be your research topic and research write-up. Work with the databases to find information and prove your point about your problem/issue. We'll have a full class to work on our write-ups and our research when we return from the semester break and to start looking at the elements and structures of letter writing. Enjoy the break. Remember that I won't be available to respond to email from Thursday to Monday.

23 January - Closing out Semester 1

AP Language

Wonderous work in AP Language as we're starting out the development of our research topics and questions. This week is all about this work so that we are ready to move forward when the second semester begins. Remember that your goal is to find five to seven sources which you can use to argue your position on the topic. If the issue is a debate or conversation, then what can you use to explain your position in the issue. One of your sources will be a counterargument - remember that this may be another approach to the idea or issue, and not just an opposite idea. Consider the nuance that many of the sources provide to your issue. One source will need to be a non-print source. One source will be your book.

You should use the Research Question document and the Research Write-Up document to track your progress and topic development. Talk to your group. Use your book! This will be due in approximately two weeks. Remember to have something made from each class to take you to the next.

AP Research

We're all continuing working on our end of quarter tasks in AP Research today. I'm working to read and review your work up to this point and provide feedback. Please check your documents for feedback. Remember that next class we'll have a Early Release - so we just have an hour together. We'll start our next unit on data collection. Be prepared to lay out your plan to move ahead and be ready to meet with your participants (if applicable) to generate your data! Be sure that your final two assignments are submitted to be reviewed!

20 January

English 10

Easy day to end the week in English 10. We spent most of the day in the library working with the databases to refine our problems and lock in our issue for our research. Now we're focused on researching and refining our problem and finding information about the issue. The information is going to be key as we are writing our letters soon. 

Next week we only have one class, and it's going to be our catch-up day. That's our time for wrapping up the quarter and getting our grades complete. You can feel free to work this weekend if you'd like, but we will have time on Tuesday.

19 January

AP Language

Wonderful day in AP Language to end our week together. We took our second group meeting to discuss passage one and work as a group to understand some of the main ideas and elements of our books. Using the Google Doc to track your progress and work is key - remember, we want to have made something every day. As you read and work - keep thinking about research questions. The document to help you develop these questions is posted, and next week we'll really be focused on that work. 

The second part of the class focused on reading skills - Claims and Evidence Reading and Reasoning and Organization Reading. Remember that these are only skills that improve with work, and the way that you work them is by reading. Apply these same questions to your books as you read and discuss.

Over the weekend, focus on reading. Get ahead in your novels. Many groups may be resectioning and segmenting because you have more time before your next meeting - that's totally fine. Be sure to keep space so that everyone in the group can be successful. 

AP Research

Today was our first of two working days to end the quarter and semester. As a reminder, you have two assignments due to end the quarter. Be sure that you submit your PREP reflections for the second quarter. This would be questions for Weeks 11-20. Have thorough responses, clearly cite sources if applicable, and be precise in your writing. Remember that some of these questions may be asked of you later in the year. If you haven't submitted your draft of your introduction and literature review, this is past due. Remember, an outline is acceptable - I need to see forward progress on your paper.

We'll continue working next week and begin Unit 4 - Data Collection - on Wednesday. The pitches will begin on January 31. Use the recording from the 17th to find the key questions to answer. Create sentence starters for yourself. Also, this is a great chance to start making your slides to begin the process of your POD. Lock in your edits and show me what you've got!

18 January

English 10

A solid day in English 10 as we began our unit on letter writing and research. The first part of this assignment is your research topic. It's due at the end of class on Friday. For this, you'll want to respond to the discussion board. Be sure that you are specific in your problem. You need to answer questions like WHO? WHERE? and WHAT TYPE? as you look at your problem. The databases we have and the slides from today's lesson are helpful in this work.

Next class we're in the library to work with the librarians to refine and decide on our research topics. We'll also start to collect sources in our note taking document. You'll want a charged laptop for our work. We'll also have time next week to finish up assignments that need finishing. Be ready for an end of the semester catch-up day soon!

17 January

AP Language

Really lovely beginning to our week in AP Language today. We were focused in on what the synthesis question is, what the prompt pack looks like, and what a high scoring sample looks like. I also took us through a bit of a revision activity so that we could focus on tweaking some of the content in order to clarify the content and especially the commentary. We ended our day with some time in our books to prepare for next class.

Next class is Meeting 2. Review the unit plan to see what you'll be doing. Remember that if you're responsible for bringing Passage 1, then you should have that selected in advance of the group meeting. Keep reading. Get into your books. If you have any work to complete from the AP Exam, it needs to be settled this week.

AP Research

Wonderful day in AP Research to start the end of the unit on method development. Today, since we're getting back into a focus on our presentations skills, we watched a POD. I hope that you enjoyed seeing the student's work and understanding the essential elements of the POD rubric and assessment. From there we talked about the elements of Elevator Pitch 2.0 and looked at some sample questions and work to help us put that together. 

Next class is a working day for us focused on the Elevator Pitch. We'll be writing, thinking, and crafting. This is a great chance to start putting your eventual slides together too. Remember to submit your drafts and your reflection questions. These are your final major assessments of the quarter. Be ready to pitch next week!

Friday the 13th of January - Scary Tech Issues

English 10

Ugh. Some tech issues hit a few of us as we were writing our final essays today. If this happened to you, feel free to complete the assignment on your own this weekend or next week with me in Lion Time. If you were absent, I would recommend using Lion Time so you have access to your folders.

Over the weekend you'll want to spend some time brainstorming ideas for the problem you'll be focused on in our next unit. We'll do the official assignment to start on Wednesday next week. Remember that there's no school on Monday in honor of Dr. King.

12 January

AP Language

Lovely day in AP Language land! We opened up our day with an understanding and teaching/learning lesson on specificity in our research questions/topics. Keep in mind that nothing is good, really, the first time you do it - writing and research questions are especially true of this fact. As you begin your reading and questing toward a research question, keep thinking and revising. The word is recursive. The process builds on itself. 

Check out the lesson progression and mark your calendar. Note that we're working through chunks to build this whole thing. If you miss class, you should see me to review what you miss and complete your tasks. 

The homework is reading. Meet your goals. Get ahead instead of playing catch-up. I will see you after the long weekend in honor of Dr. King.

AP Research

It was a workshop day for us today to get done the work we need to complete. If you're in the process of clearing your revisions from the IRB, be sure that you have shown those by the end of next week. If you're writing, then keep writing and submit your draft as soon as you can for me to review. If you're building presentations, then use some of our earlier recordings to help you set up your slides. Keep moving forward.

Remember that your final grades for this quarter will be your Quarter 2 Reflections (due next week) and your Intro/Lit Review Draft (currently due). The reflections will be scored for quality, the draft will be scored for completion. No feedback will be given on the draft because I can't, ethically. 

Next week we'll start working on Elevator Pitch v2.0. This will likely be a major grade to start Quarter 3 and Unit 4 - Data Collection.

11 January

English 10

A pretty light day in English 10 today for the middle of the week. We took our Membean Vocabulary Test and then worked on our writing workshop to prepare for Friday. Friday is our end of the unit assessment, our final definition essay. You can use your folders, your notes, and your outline that we worked on today. This grade will replace the earlier essay grade once it's completed. 

Next week we're going to be starting in on our research and letter writing unit. You'll have a lot of choice in this unit, and I'm excited to see what you come up with. We'll be talking about how to structure a letter, how to do good research, and some essential writing skills.

If you need to keep working with the outline form tonight, go ahead. The recording will help. If you were absent, you will want to work on it a bit before coming in on Friday.

10 January

AP Language

A bit of a Groundhog Day situation in AP Language as we finished our second AP Examination of the year. Our midterm exam. Over the next few days I'll be reviewing your work and giving feedback on AP Classroom. We'll have a day in the next unit devoted to reviewing feedback for the good of the group and understanding our grades in our skills. 

Tonight, be sure that you've completed your remaining assignments like your discussion board post and your vocabulary cards. Next class we'll be getting into groups and having books issued to us; we'll start to understand what a good research question is and how that will guide us throughout the next unit. We'll be focused on the Synthesis Prompt - Question 1.

If you've missed part of the exam or need to use extra time for whatever reason, be sure that you've coordinated that with me. I'd like to have all exams in to be scored by the end of the week.

AP Research

Wonderful day in AP Research today as we went back to Manzanar and understood the way to construct the method section of our academic paper. The method section is ironically one of the most important sections and one of the shortest actual sections. Note the way that the student highlights their assumptions, hypothesis, the breakdown of their method and of course, justifications of choices. There are also some great moments of reflection in the paper. 

We should all be focused on writing at this point. Next class we will have a whole class working and conferencing day. Some of you will need to clear edits with me, some of you will move forward to data collection. Remember to use your sample papers wisely as you are writing. Next week we'll begin to end this unit on method with our final assignment. 

9 January

English 10

Writing workshop day today in English 10 as we prepare for our final essay on Friday. Today our goal was the drafting of our introduction paragraph and the completion of our pre-writing. I was glad to see that so many of you were digging into history and other parts of the word to define your concepts. I'm already seeings some great growth in your approach. Remember that the whole goal as part of this is to get faster in our writing, planning, and especially our thinking. That's key when it comes to writing exams next year.

We'll finish our writing workshop next class by putting together body paragraphs. Be ready for your vocabulary test. Keep practicing with Membean if you need to. We may even get started with the next unit on Wednesday, but our goal is to be ready for Friday over anything else.

6 January 2023 - Closing out Quarter 2

AP Language

Ugh! The bane of our existence! AP Classroom. The program was super glitchy, so some of you may need to get in your extended time in Lion Time on Monday. Next class we'll complete the FRQ - Rhetorical Analysis and Argument; hopefully we won't have the same problems as we had today. 

If you have something to complete, please do so. A few of you need to submit your final five vocabulary cards and very few of you need to complete the discussion on your choice of book for Unit 5. We'll begin in earnest on that unit next week after we finish our exam. The next AP Exam will be after Spring Break, at the beginning of Quarter 4.

As always, please let me know what I can do to support you

AP Research

Fun times in AP Research today. Interesting work and interesting conversations related to data, data collection, and the way that we weave our limitations into our discussions and analysis. I like the way that we're getting super aware of what we're doing and why we're doing it. Keep in mind the importance of Peer Review during this process. Having a friend to check behind you for limitations and gaps is important. It's easy to develop blind spots in this work, a friend can help us stay clear on the path.

Over the weekend, be sure to complete your newest PREP Reflection Question. I've updated the document in Course Resources. You'll have two more of these questions before the end of the quarter. You should also be actively writing and creating content. Draft! 

Next week we'll have a lot of working time. Be sure to get your permission slips signed and completed. Also, clear your revisions if you haven't yet. See you next week!

5 January 2023 - Moving on Along

English 10

Great day in English 10 as we finished "The Overcoat" and discussed Gogol's messages about society in Russia in the 1800's and some of the connections to our world today in 2023. This is the last text that we'll read for our Russian and Eastern European Literature Unit. I hope that you found something to enjoy in this unit. Our next unit is going to be focused on research and letter writing. I'm excited to teach you some new skills and open up some choices for you.

The remainder of class focused on preparing for our essay. Next class we'll have a writing workshop and look at outlining a response. It should be a useful day to prepare for writing the essay. You'll be writing on Friday of next week, so the time we have in advance is to prepare for excellence. Remember that this is the essay score that matters as this is the final chance to show this skill this quarter.

4 January - Off to Second Semester

AP Language

Easy day to start the pivot to Semester Two today. It was a working day to close out our unit on The Crucible as well as to prepare for the next unit on research and synthesis writing and our upcoming midterm examination.

First, your FINAL set of vocabulary is due. For this unit, it's just five words. The words can come from the play, the articles we read, AP Classroom, or the tone word sheet. Next semester you'll be doing something different for Style Reading, so we'll pivot in a lot of ways.

Second, there's AP Classroom. The MCQs are one of the best ways to practice for the exam as practice questions and getting accustomed to the interface are key. Focus on your feedback and where you're facing struggles. Track the questions that give you pause. Keep practicing. Remember that if you do an FRQ practice, let me know via message or email so I can go and score it.

Third, next unit! There's a lot of choice in the next unit as you're creating your own research question based on your choice of a non-fiction text. Take time to make an informed choice and answer the discussion board post in the Unit 5 Folder. You'll lock in your choices next week. 

Be ready for your midterm examination. We're checking-in and moving on!

AP Research

Today was a day focused on data and alignment between data, method, and the research question. I hope that you found today's lesson helpful as you are getting ready to start collecting your data from your participants and sources. Today's lesson makes supremely clear how important it is to know what you're doing and why you're doing it. Our focus on assumptions and limitations was highly important. Remember that to show you're an aware researcher, then you'll need to demonstrate you're aware by having these clear discussions.

We didn't have a chance to finish the full lesson today, so we'll complete this work on Friday. Be ready for a reflection question on Friday as well. Remember that you do have a writing assignment due. Put together your ideas as they currently stand before we move into the next section and the writing of our third element of the paper. The best thing to do right now is write, draft, outline, and pull together your paper. Make content.

Welcome Back - 3 January

English 10

Welcome back to the grind everyone! I hope that you all found time to rest and recover over break. I had a good time seeing family and friends in Oregon and in North Carolina. There were definitely a few days on the couch reading and playing video games too. 

Today we reviewed "The Overcoat" read a bit more and prepared for the ending and Akaky's revenge for the theft of his coat. We also started working on our planning and pre-writing for our final essay. We have seven classes to the end of the quarter - you'll have the end of this unit, some assessments on Membean, and our final essay for the semester. Keep in mind that the grades will replace with your essay, so the goal is to show improvement or maintain. 

Next class we're finishing "The Overcoat" and focusing in on our essay prep. Be ready for a quick turn to the next unit!