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.

Snow Day to Start 2022

Happy Snow Day, y'all!

I hope that you're able to stay warm, safe, and dry while the snow falls. It's really falling heavily, so I'll be taking Bruno out in a bit to see what he thinks about all of this. Be sure to check Schoology for updates to your class. If you're in 2nd or 6th - be aware that this class will not be able to be made up. Try to take some time for class if you can today - there are resources to help you do this.

I'll be available via email if you need me. Please reach out and enjoy the day!

October 13

The 13th is PSAT Day. If you're a sophomore, this is just a practice test. If you're a junior, then you may have a chance to get some scholarship money out of tomorrow for the National Merit Scholarship Qualification.

Be sure to bring pencils, a calculator, a snack and some water. It'll be a grueling slog, but you'll do it.

Put in a bit of time for your classes in the afternoon. Remember that grey classes will have an enrichment day on Thursday. Our next class to advance the unit will be on Friday/Monday.

Snow Day! 18 February

Good morning everyone! We find ourselves with an official snow day today - no virtual or in-person learning will be held today. I wanted to let you know that I will be available over email today if you have any questions about anything.

If you have missing assignments - today gives you a wonderful opportunity to get caught up before our upcoming catch-up days and asynchronous time. If you're all caught up - I'd recommend getting ahead with your final tasks for Unit 3 (the research paper). 

I'll be grading and getting caught up myself through the day. Please reach out if there's anything I can do. When we meet again, I'll let you know of any updates to our schedule and lessons -- I'm sure there will be a few.

End of the Week - 8 May 2020

It's the end of the week! Next week we will begin AP Exams for all classes (except Russian which will occur in the first week of June). Remember to go to myap.collegeboard.org in order to access your demo, check your email address, and ensure that you are ready to test.

If you are a ninth, tenth, or eleventh grader, remember that you have the opportunity to decide how your spring semester grade will be shown on your transcript. You can either get the grade (factored into GPA) or you can get a PC19 (a pass, but no GPA). If you are trying to improve your grade be sure that you complete assignments here and when you submit, let me know if you want to improve your Semester 1 or Quarter 3 score.

Next week I will be working at school on Monday to distribute signs for graduating seniors - assignments for the week will be posted on Sunday afternoon. I will not be available for Office Hours on Monday, but I will be free on Tuesday for extra time if you need me.

Texting Notifications - Text to Enroll!

Dear Students -

I've set up a number for texting communication and announcements for the rest of the school year. I messaged some of you already today. If you got a message from: 919-864-0294 that's me. If you didn't get a text and would like to enroll, just text your name to that number and I'll reply.

I'm available at this number Monday-Friday from 8:30 am - 4:30 pm (and maybe a bit outside of those times too).

All the best!

End of Week Two // 17 April 2020

Happy Friday Students!

I hope that all of you have had a good week filled with some time outside when the weather is on our side and a bit of time for yourself - especially if you're in a crowded house. I've enjoyed hearing from you this week. If we're discussing work, reviewing strategy for the AP Exam, or just talking about books and what we're eating. As always, let me know how I can help and support you all. I'm always here for you, even if I don't see you every day.

Over the weekend, continue to work as you can. Make submissions and ask questions, but remember that I'm not working weekends right now. I'll assess work and respond to questions/comments/emails on Monday. I will also have new assignments posted on Monday. Remember that you can work on assignments from any week, and you don't need to do all parts of the assignments. Use this time to focus on what skills you need to review in advance of AP Exams or in advance of the next phase of your academic career.

I did want to say that any of you who are planning to continue in Russian, know that there will be adjustments made to the beginning of your next Russian course to fill gaps due to this interruption of instruction. Also, Russian students enrolled for the AP Exam, if you would like to be dropped from the examination, please let me know ASAP. I need to have the list finalized by the beginning of May.

Next week is the last week to submit work in order to improve your standing for the academic year so far.

Lastly, on a personal note, here's what I've been doing with my time this week and a few realizations I've made about myself:

• I finished reading Vasily Grossman's Stalingrad, and now I'm on to Michelle Obama's Becoming. I'd recommend both for different reasons. Next on my list is a book called Severance by Ling Ma. It's recommended with a warning by a former student of mine, so I'm looking forward to it.
• I've been playing a LOT of PlayStation. I bought Final Fantasy 7 Remake last week, and it's consuming a lot of time. Confession - I play during Office Hours sometimes if there's nobody working with me. I remember why I was able to stay up later when I was younger; I was usually playing video games deep into the night and holding myself awake with them and the autonomic responses of my fingers. Then, as now, I stand up and the lizard brain takes over. Once I lay down, I'm out.
• On TV I've discovered a show called Women of the House. It stars Delta Burke, whom I just find totally hilarious. It's a spin-off of another show called Designing Women about a group of well, designing women in Atlanta. In the show Suzanne (Burke) is a Republican congresswoman who takes over after her husband dies. It's a weird mix of politics, humor, and the nineties. I'm laughing.
• In terms of music I've rediscovered a musical group called HaDag Nachash. They're Israeli and their name means The Snake Fish in Hebrew. The video below is a good song of theirs that finds its way into my runs this week.
• Realization: I've gotta be doing something, and when I can't do the thing I want to do; I find something close by to fill the gap. Point: I can't get fancy coffees anymore, so I cleaned my espresso machine to make it work 100% again. It took me about an hour to clean that thing. Point: I can't go to the gym anymore, so I run so much more now. I've done 50+ miles this month so far. I've fallen in love with running again - just put on some music and turn my brain to the simple process of left/right and breath in and out. Helpful right now.

Miss you all so much! Let me know what I can do for you!

Beginning of Week Two - Phase Two // 13 April 2020

Good morning everyone! Welcome to Week Two. Today is technically a holiday for Durham Public Schools, so I will not be available today. I will be on my regular schedule for the rest of this week. I have posted the assignments for the week in Google Classroom today and will have everything returned to you by the end of the day tomorrow if there is something waiting for my eyes. For now, let's look at the summary of our week.

AP Research: Complete Week 1 (if needed). Finish paper (original timeline). Review final section guide. Meet with me for final review. Submit paper.

AP English Lit: AP Exam Review Packet - Annotations, Outlines, Responses. Submit one essay to be scored and commented upon.

Russian 1: Begin Chapter Three. Learn about adverbs and how to use and form them. Complete DuoLingo lessons for support.

Russian 2: Begin Chapter Seven. Focus on learning plurals in all cases. Focus on the difficulty of genitive plural (tons of irregularities/exceptions).

Russian 3: Begin Chapter Nine. Using modals and imperatives to tell people what to do. Focus on aspect and how aspect choice leads to mood and emotional connotation. Videos to support.

Russian 4: Begin Chapter Twelve. Final Chapter! Learn about verbs of positioning and placement. Review conjugations.

Remember that we still have AP Examinations (Research, Literature, Advanced Russian) to prepare for and tasks to do in order to keep sharp. I am here to continue to support and help you no matter what it is that you may need right now. Please reach out. I also wanted to say a quick thing about grades.

Seniors - Any work that you submit can be added to your S1 grade. This grade will be used to determine your GPA and class rank for final transcripts this year. You will get a PC19 (Pass due to COVID-19) for the Spring Semester as long as you are passing the class in Q3. If you submit work right now I can add points to S1 or Q3 if you are not already passing Q3. The maximum number of points is TEN.

Underclassmen - Since you are not graduating this year, you will remain focused on your Q3 grade. Any work that you complete right now can be applied to your Q3 grade in order to raise your GPA/Class Rank for the year and earn a credit for the class. Again, the maximum number of points is TEN.

End of Week 1 - Easter Weekend - April 11, 2020

I meant to post this yesterday, but I got carried away with my new video game, so my apologies are included as well.

We're at the end of Week 1 of Supplemental Instruction. I appreciate everyone of you so much, and will continue to give feedback to any and all assignments submitted - no matter when they are submitted. Feel free to continue to use these assignments to focus on the skills you find necessary or needing improvement.

I'll be posting new work on Monday and returning everything submitted over the weekend. Monday is a holiday for DPS, but I will be working a bit. I also have appointments settled for Monday which will be kept. Starting Tuesday I'll be back on regular schedule for Office Hours and recordings/lessons.

As always, let me know what I can do for you.

Starting Week 1 - Assignments Posted / Online Lessons

Dear Students -

Assignments have been posted in Google Classroom for all classes for this week. I'll be available tomorrow via ZOOM and will post the link and schedule for online classes this week tomorrow.

You can also email me questions or leave comments on the class posts in Google Classroom. Remember that all previously assigned work is on PAUSE for the time being. You can submit any of this work and we can conference over it and review it together. This is a great thing to do this week in the afternoons during open time.

AP Students have access to free online lessons that align with topics to be covered on the modified AP Examinations. Currently for my students there are only lessons for AP English Literature. When there are lessons for Research, I'll post those too. Here is the schedule:

AP English Literature and Composition:

Wednesday, March 25, 2020 - 12−12:45 p.m. ET:  Explain the function of structure in a text.

Thursday, March 26, 2020 - 12−12:45 p.m. ET: Explain the function of contrasts within a text.

Friday, March 27, 2020 - 12−12:45 p.m. ET: Explain the function of specific words and phrases in a text.

I hope that you all are doing well. I look forward to seeing some of you this week during our online classes and meeting times.

March 18 - Update - DPS Announcement

Dear Students,

I hope that you all are doing well during this time. I know that my own anxieties have been activated over the last few days, but I'm doing what I can in order to mitigate those worries and keep myself and others safe and healthy. I've been reading outside, doing some work to set up these next few weeks for us, and spending time with Zoe.

Durham Public Schools has given us further guidance about what instruction will look like during this time. We teachers are not permitted to give grades for assignments given or collected during this time. This is a time for us to focus on reviewing the information and skills we have already learned. For this reason I am suspending the assignments already given to you all. All of the work that was to be collected to close out the third quarter will be collected at a later date. I would suggest that you finish these assignments quickly (if you can) so that you can submit them to be scored at a later date.

Beginning on Monday I will start to post lessons/activities/materials in our various Google Classroom pages. I will also post a schedule of my availability via phone, Google Hangout, and Zoom conference for those of you who need to ask questions or would like to review the activities with me. I will give you feedback for whatever you submit, but no grades will be given during this time.

If you have assignments from earlier in the quarter that you would like to resubmit, please wait until we have further guidance about grades during this quarter. I will collect any work, but I will not be able to issue grades until I have further feedback about this situation.

As always, please reach out if you need something. I'll do what I can!

DM

Updates for All Classes - 13 March - Before the Closure

AP Research

Welcome to crazy town everyone. Over the next few days (or weeks) I hope that all of you stay safe and secure. Remember to think and be smart. Don't panic. Plan! Don't freak out. Focus!

You should continue to move forward with your work for this class as it related to your Academic Paper and Presentation/Oral Defense. I have posted the reflection questions in the document to take you to the end of the quarter. Additionally, I have posted PREP Check 3.2 to outline what is due for your final PREP Check. Be aware that you will need to be creative in your approach to peer editing during this time, but I think that you can do it.


Once I have an idea of the expectation related to instruction, I'll let you know. Let's just keep moving forward with what we know we need to do. Remember, 46 days are left until we submit!

AP Literature

If you did not complete your sonnet group projects today and submit them, please be sure that they are submitted by the end of the day on Monday so that I can assess them and get them in the gradebook for you all. Remember that we will not be evaluating each other as members of the group. Since we are not able to present in person, I would like for you to submit a recording of what you would say to accompany your slide. You could also submit a video with your slides if you would like.

Outside of this be sure that you are finishing Twelfth Night in advance of our timed writing on this text. I'll post reading and analysis guides for you next week. The timed writing will likely be the final assessment for Q3. We will return and jump into our independent novels. Go ahead and get started on your pamphlet, heck, go ahead and read a few extra books if you can!


Stay safe during this time, I'll keep you all updated as I learn more.

Russian I

Today in class we took time to work on our floor plan projects to close out Quarter 3. If you did not finish and submit your floor plan project, there is a space for you to turn it in electronically on Google Classroom.

Advanced Russian

I hope to see all of you very soon. Stay tuned to this website as well as your Google Classroom pages as that's where I'll be posting my updates for our classes.

Snow Day 2 - 2/21/2020

With the way my neighborhood looks, I would expect a normal day on Monday. Remember that our next school day will be an A day. The ACT is scheduled for Tuesday for all juniors - it will run first through third period.

See the post below to review what you should be working on. I've begun to score AP Literature Poetry Critical Analysis Projects. If you are missing this project, please submit via Google Classroom/Drive. The gradebook is updated for other assignments.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Snow Day 1 - 20 February 2020

Tomorrow we have our first snow day of the year with the predicted snow. I, as always, am skeptical of its arrival. Continue to work on the assignments outlined in the most recent posts. Certain classes should be aware of shifted dates as outlined below:

AP Research - Our writing workshop will be pushed back a day to accommodate a workshop day before peer review day. I do want you to have a hard copy of your paper for this round of peer review, let me know if you need me to print for you.

Russian I - We will only have our quiz if our next class is a full ninety minute class. У нас будет контрольная работа только если у нас будет девяносто минут на занятие.

AP Literature - Read your sonnet and Shakespeare. Enjoy! Get caught up if needed and submit work online.

Advanced Russian - Prepare for your upcoming quiz and work on your poet projects. Remember that the date of Olympiada is the same!

Opening the Year 2019-2020

Hello Parents and Students! Below is some important information to be aware of as we start our classes. Please see the notes below about each document.

Parent/Student Information Sheet

This is the same as the paper version which will be sent home on the first day of class. Please complete this online version or paper version for my records. If you complete an online version, please return the paper version with the student's name filled out and actual signatures at the bottom.

Google Classroom

Outside of this classroom blog I will be posting a lot in our Google Classroom space. This is a wonderful place to go if you have missed class or if you have missed something in class. Handouts, class notes, and other important resources will be posted here. Use the codes below for your specific class to gain access. Remember to join class using your DPS Google Account (first_last@dpsnc.net) and your DPS password (the same you use to access computers on campus).

AP English IV 2B: 2su59x  3B: biv7e7x

AP Research 1A: qwwkza  4B: mqb1ckk

Russian I: sw4ccj5

Advanced Russian: mg3obe

Important Announcement - AP English III

Students! 

I reviewed the AP lists that were sent out and see that a good chunk of class (4th period) will be absent due to testing. We'll move presentations and the class planned for Monday to Wednesday since fewer students will be absent. Those presenting - please be aware of the date change. Monday will be an in-class workshop related to the motif project. Please bring any special materials that you may need for this. I think you know what I can offer you in the classroom.

Homework for Monday - 29 April

Remember that we are shut down on Wednesday. Our next A Day is Thursday.

AP English III

Today in class we activated a good amount of our AP Skills. We did a lot of close reading related to multiple choice, but we also did some close reading related to our rhetorical analysis strategies. At the end of class, I took some time with you all to review the requirements of the motif project and to give you a helpful text if you've had trouble finding literary criticism.

For tonight you should be focused on your 1Q1P/Motif Projects. Remember that your literary criticism reading guide is due on Wednesday. This will work better if you have already found your quote and considered its importance to one of Steinbeck's arguments. On Wednesday we'll finish the novel in class through a dramatic reading. Be prepared for that!

Final presentations on the novel will be next Monday. Then we will begin our final group project related to the book. We also have a few days left to touch in on our AP Skills related to the examination. Remember that your motif projects will be due on the 10th of May.

For any of you who were unable to submit a resubmission of your paper today because of the printers being down in the library I will accept them tomorrow. You must submit the original, the rubric, and the new one. 

English IV

Today in class we had some great time to work with our vocabulary development, read a bit longer in our books, and to get started on our final projects. With our book project, I really want to push you to be creative and show what you've learned about your book. Remember that there are requirements for each part of the pamphlet. Hopefully seeing the example today in class helped you.

Remember that you should be reading regularly to keep going through your books. There will be a quiz on your books next week. Are you prepared? Have you been filling out your character charts?

We only have NINE classes left before we start final examinations. We're going to be focused a lot on vocabulary because this is the key to our standardized tests. We'll also start to work on sample questions soon too!

Homework for B-Day Classes: 12 February

AP Seminar

How appropriate that we'll be marking Valentine's Day with our TMPODs! Yay! I'm very excited to see the work that you all have done. We'll begin presentations on Thursday morning before school. You'll present privately to me in the classroom with our colleagues reflecting or preparing in the hallway.

Be ready! Remember that submissions are due to digitalportfolio.collegeboard.org by Sunday. I'll be putting your scores in this weekend as well.

Advanced Russian

For those of you who tested today in the Dell Lab, I hope that you felt confident and prepared. If you are not interested in taking the AP Examination in May, please let me know - but wait until you get your scores.

Today in class we focused on cases. Talking about coming and going to discuss our destinations and origins. The slides would be very helpful as we went over a lot of grammatical and vocabulary information. In the second part of class we used resources in class to develop our projects further so that we have all of our cities/stages written in Russian with appropriate prepositions and cases.

On Thursday we have our second quiz on Verbs of Motion. Be prepared for this. Additionally, many of you still need to present your poems. Be sure that this is done as soon as possible.

Russian I

Today in class we had two clear goals - to finish watching The Irony of Fate and to take our quiz on vocabulary skills and grammar skills focused on genitive, dative, and instrumental case jobs. I'll have the quizzes graded and returned to you by the end of the week.

There are many of you who still need to present poems for me. It would be best if you got this done on Thursday as we'll have another class day focused on writing our projects. Tonight is a good night to put your photos in your slide show. These projects will be graded next week and these are meant to prepare us for the Unit 1 Exam which is happening on Friday the 22nd of February. The Unit 1 test is going to focus on everything in Chapter 1. You'll get a study guide on Monday.

If you need to, please come in next week for extra review before the Unit Exam on Friday.

Snow Day #2 and the Russian III Field Trip

Hey All -

I've heard that there have been a lot of power outages in the area. I hope that everyone is able to stay safe and warm; as always, your health and safety are first priority. If you aren't able to accomplish some of your work because of issues with electricity/Internet, please let me know.

Hopefully we'll be back to school on Wednesday. I've seen that some AP English III students have submitted their synthesis writing; please do that if it is ready for me to read. I'll have scores uploaded tomorrow and comments too.

Russian III - Be aware that the trip has been postponed until the Spring. I'll be listening to your spoken presentations in two classes to be assessed. In the next class we'll be doing our dry run. Russian II - I'll also be looking at your visuals. You'll be explaining it in English.

AP Seminar's IWA scores are nearly complete. Remember that there will be a reassessment opportunity. I would suggest that if you want to ask specific questions related to your grade, please do. We can start that resubmission process a bit earlier. I would say that with those of you who have earned lower scores (below middle) did not produce an actual IWA in that it was not presenting an argument with clear limitations, implications, or objections. These papers tended to rely on summary of source material as opposed to synthesizing and applying source material toward the explanation of an argument. As of now, the scores are raw scores - they'll be converted to a scaled score once the scale is determined.

Russian I - I did not see completed projects from everyone. Those that I saw have been scored. Again, feel free to begin reassessing based on scores and feedback. You'll want to unsubmit and then resubmit. Please email me when you've finished this work. Do not use translators at all. Simply perform the task/sentences that you have been asked for. Everything else is coming very soon!

I've also graded the English IV work on A Doll's House - Make sure that you have a clear ACES response and that your work reflects the grammar rules that we have focused on especially related to punctuation and capitalization. If you can, finish and submit the rest of your projects.

Grades Complete

I have FINAL GRADES calculated for all students who have taken their final examinations before today. If you tested today or will test next week during make-up testing, then I (obviously) do not have your grades ready.

You can email me or see me on campus if you would like to know your final grades.