31 January - Chapter 2 and Jim Trueblood

AP Language

Great day in AP Language today as we dealt with one of the most difficult and complex chapters of the book, Chapter 2. During today's class we focused a lot on characters and their importance in the novel. As we move through this opening section of the book, it's important to see the way in which TIM interacts with different characters and how they affect him. Consider what he understands and what he doesn't understand. We often will understand more than he does because we can see things that he doesn't. 

Remember to use your motif trackers as you are moving through the book. All of the motifs are present in the Prologue, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2. As we move to Chapter 3, you'll start to see some gaps in the motif chart. 

Next class we'll be finishing up our work on James Baldwin. Be sure to read and annotate the second half of the article. If you lost your paper copy, the PDF is posted for you. Next week we'll get into Chapter 3 and 4. Keep reading and getting into this fantastic and challenging novel. I'm excited to help you continue to discover. Next class I'll be out and you'll have a substitute. Be sure to complete all of the tasks by the end of the day.

27 April

English 10

Absolutely wonderful day in English 10 today. I love watching you all read and engage with our memoir, Persepolis. It's a great book that tells a really fantastic story. We'll continue to learn more about Marji, Iran, and Islam as we work through the novel. Next class we'll take a bit of a pause and begin our first writing assignment for the quarter. We did a bit of practice for this today as we broke down a panel from "The Letter". We ended class with some independent time to finish up any missing or needed assignments - remember you'll have a vocabulary test next week! Thanks for a great discussion and class. 

AP Language

Today was a holding pattern for us as we didn't have class yesterday with the SOL. We were working through completing choice board items and conferencing to show growth and development of skills. I loved the conversations we were having today and the growth that you were showing me. We're going to keep in this holding pattern for the next few classes. Keep completing your tasks. Show me your improvements. Let's complete conferences during Lion Time or after school. 

Beginning Unit 2 - 28 and 29 September

AP Language

And off we go to Unit 2! In this unit, we'll be looking at texts from the Colonial period of America as we are reading and studying Arthur Miller's The Crucible. For tonight, I want you to get enmeshed in the culture of the Puritan world by reading Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry G-d". As you read, annotate for tone, the way he uses fear, and his topics. This is a great text for vocabulary as well - remember that you have another set of ten due later in the unit.

Finish and submit your Unit 1 projects as well as your Unit 1 vocabulary to the spaces to the side. I'll have grades updated as soon as I can. Keep in mind that Act 1 and 2 will be discussed next week. Be sure to begin your reading and annotating now. See the unit plan posted below or in the unit folder for your reading schedule.

English 10

Projects are due today to round out Unit 1. Be sure that you have submitted your work to Schoology for this first unit of the year. If you are missing any work from Unit 1, be sure that you've made a plan with me for how to complete and submit that work before the end of this week. It's important that we get everything settled before we move on.

Today in class we took time to get into our novels and focus on characters. Remember that in some cases, the characters are real people, since the books are pieces of non-fiction. We're looking at conflicts and how they impact the characters as well. We're also actively reading for new vocabulary as we work through these books.

If you have your projects done, then tonight should be about vocabulary. If those things are both complete, then take this time to enjoy your book. We'll start reading something together as a class next time.

Ending the Week - Thursday the 11th

English 10

Today was our day to begin our work on Solzhenitsyn, Soviet Realism, and the novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. I first read this novel when I was your age, and I remember being very affected by it. I think that it will give us all some great opportunities to think and reflect.

We played bingo today to review important concepts. I was glad to see so many of you engaged in learning and responsive in the chat. We didn't start reading in class, so this weekend, try to read the first seven pages of the novel. Fill out your notes focused on characters you meet. Next week we'll focus more on reading and discussing the main ideas.

Remember that we are finishing Unit 3 this weekend as well. If you haven't turned in your final interpretation, be sure to do so. It's one of the last big grades of the quarter.

AP Language

Today was a day to dig deep and analyze to put together some of the threads we looked at last class. I was excited to see the connections that you're making in this novel and the ideas that you're building. Remember that we're just starting, so it's best to view all of this as ideas in progress.

Over the weekend be sure to read and focus on our next chapter set - Chapters 5-7. This is a shorter span of the novel, the videos will help on YouTube, especially Chapter 5. There is a fair amount of violence in Chapter 6 - consider your motifs and how this violence is representative of cycles in the text. As you read, collect vocabulary - cards will be due soon.

Don't forget to submit your analysis assignment for today by Monday.

Homework for B-Day / 19 February 2020

AP Literature

Today in class we spent our time with a close reading of Sonnet 18 and then some critical viewing of the Globe Theatre. We studied Act 2, Scene 2 and 3 - a very critical scene in Twelfth Night as the conflict and the plot is getting developed.

For tonight, you should continue with reading. We have Sonnet 29 and Act 2, Scene 4. Things for reading are available in the slides. Be sure that you are building your vocabulary cards - you should do one per scene.

If you have any missing work it should be turned in this week.

AP Research

Today was an important day. If you were absent, be sure to see me for the handouts that you missed and to see your classmates for the information as well. Our mini-lesson was geared on the Literature Review and how to create that section of the paper. Be sure to see the slides and the templates below.


Next class will be a full workday. We will also finish any conferences that we need to. There will be a drafting day on Tuesday. Be ready with your Intro + Lit Review and Method section ready to go!

Homework for A-Day - 5 March 2019

AP English III

Good work today with your unit examination on Transcendentalism and your synthesis timed writing. I'll be reading and commenting this week and will get that work back to you next week. I was also very happy with your Synthesis Sourcepack assignments. Most of you received near perfect scores. If you lost points, it was probably related to your citations - be sure that we've reviewed this before the outline is due.

The outline for your research paper will be collected on Monday. The outline should document your argument (DADS), key topics/reasons (at least 4-5), and the way in which you are using your sources (quotes/paraphrases) to support your argument. I'll be available all week in the morning for help on this. Remember all that we have learned related to argumentative writing.

Next class we'll begin our unit on The Grapes of Wrath. Please see the Unit Plan for details on this. Tonight you should do some preliminary research on John Steinbeck. Who is he? What did he write? What did he believe in? What were his politics like? Come in with some information so we can start reading!

English IV

Today in class we were really focused on getting some more reading done before we got into groups to discuss and work on our characters. I was happy to see that so many of you have a good understanding of your protagonist, antagonist, and some of the conflicts that are happening in your book so far. I think that everyone has a good understanding of the basic set-up of the novels so far.

Tonight - keep reading! Keep going! Get further into your books so that they get more interesting. Next class we'll be doing a workshop to prepare for Durham Tech and other college applications!

Homework for A-Day Students: 18 April 2018

Russian Students

Next class we will meet in the library for our Russian language field test. The test will cover listening and reading skills. Remember that the test is not for a grade, it is merely a chance to see what your skills are like and what you can do with the language. I look forward to hearing your feedback on the test.

Russian I

For tonight and on to the weekend you should prepare for a quiz on forming plurals in the nominative case. We've gone through the regular system quite thoroughly by this point - I think that most of you have it down. Continue to focus on learning your vocabulary! This will really help when it comes to forming plurals as well.

Your quiz will fall on Tuesday next week. Remember that I'll also be checking for your homework on that day.

Russian II/III

You will also have a quiz on plurals next week, but it will cover plurals in all cases - including the genitive plural. After our days of review, I think that you all also have a good understanding of how to complete these declensions. For tonight, you should continue to focus on your exercises that I mentioned in the last post. We will have time to review these on Tuesday and keep learning about our new grammar. I'll spend more time with Russian III on Tuesday, so that we can start to get an idea of how to form imperatives a bit more clearly.

English IV

Today we had a visit from a college counselor to go over an option that some of you may not have considered before. I hope that it was helpful for you. Make sure that you have completed your first week worth of work for your novels. I should have an author project, vocabulary card, and reading log from you. These grades have been entered on PowerSchool if you have completed them. Once that is done, you can start working on your character chart, which I outlined today in class.

Homework for B-Day Students: 12 February 2018

English IV

Your homework is the same as your classmates in 2A. Tonight I want you to read the next two letters from Frankenstein - Letter Two and Letter Three. As you are reading, look for details about Robert Walton as a person. Highlight or underline the details and then in the margins, write a word or phrase that states what this says about him. This is very similar to what we were doing in class today with our chart.

Next class we will review this before we start on the real story of Victor Frankenstein and his creation.

AP English III

I feel as though there was some very natural confusion as we started reading Invisible Man today in class. This is very natural. I keep finding things that make more sense every time I take a group of students through this opening chapter. Today in class, as we read, we completed our annotations via our motif charts, focused on understanding elements of post-modernism in the text, and got a full understanding of the narrator/main character.

Tonight you should begin reading Chapter One. All of the motifs are present in Chapter One. You will also want to complete a vocabulary card from Chapter One - just like we did with the Prologue. As you read Chapter One, pay attention to the symbolism of the boxing match. We'll try to tie things together and make understandings on Friday.

Remember that next class we will have our first synthesis timed writing and on Friday your synthesis sourcepack for your own research paper is due. The work due on Friday should be submitted electronically via Google Classroom.

I look forward to taking you all through this fun and complicated novel. Remember - just keep reading!

Homework for the Weekend - English Students - 30 November 2017

English IV

Today, we began class with a quotes quiz. This served as a good review of some of the characters present in Act I, and gave us more practice translating Shakespearean dialogue into our own style of English. After that, we covered some things that make comedians/actors/jokes funny: tone of voice, pacing, and volume. We then did a whole group activity and began our study of Act II, finishing out our character charts. If you have missed days and don't know some information about a few of the characters, I'm including some on this blog post. Come to class ready for a quiz on Monday, and have a great weekend!

Olivia: rich woman in Illyria, mourning her dead brother, in love with Cesario (Viola)
Duke Orsino: political leader of Illyria, loves Olivia, employs Cesario (Viola) to woo Olivia
Viola: shipwrecked woman, pretends to be a woman to work for the Duke, in love with the Duke
Sir Toby: Olivia's drunk uncle, acts silly all the time
Malvolio: Olivia's assistant, doesn't like anybody
Feste: Olivia's jester, messes around all the time, very witty
Sir Andrew: kind of a goofball, friends with Sir Toby, tries to woo Maria and Olivia
Sebastian: Viola's brother! He's not dead! Thinks Viola is dead, goes to Orsino at the end of Act II, Scene 2

Homework for B Day Students - 14 November 2017

English IV

Today, we went through the same lesson as your counterparts on A Day. Next class, we are going to continue our study of Twelfth Night, focusing on characters and preparing for a class "production" of the play. We will also spend time in the library working on college applications. Have a great rest of your night, and see you on Thursday!

AP English III

Today, we learned about a new style of AP Timed Writing: Rhetorical Analysis. We also continued our conversation about themes, strategies and motifs in The Great Gatsby and went over some new (and old) rules for good writing. Before next class, please read and annotate "The Gospel of Wealth" by Andrew Carnegie, which is accessible at this link. When we arrive, we will analyze specific passages from Chapters 2 & 3 of Gatsby in light of Carnegie's writing. Have a great week, start reading, and see you on Thursday!

Homework for B Day Students - 25 October 2017

English IV

Make sure that if there's anything from the Character Project missing that you have what you need to complete that work. Your grades have been updated in PowerSchool. If you have a zero, you should ask what to do in order to complete that. The last day of the quarter is Friday.

AP English III

Any and all resubmissions of your In Cold Blood essays are due tomorrow. You can drop them off at any point from 8:00 AM to 4:15 PM. No essays will be accepted after 4:15 PM. Be sure that you resubmit at the very least your original essay with cover sheet and rubric as well as the new one.

You should also take this time to put forth a lot of work on your Drama Projects. We will present those on Wednesday and Friday of next week.

Lastly, buy a copy of The Great Gatsby in order to get ready for our next unit. It's an amazingly rich text and you will definitely want your own copy of it.

Homework for Monday - B Day - 23 October

English IV

If you are still holding on to any pieces of the Character Project make sure that those are finished and turned in ASAP. Zeroes have been entered in PowerSchool for these assignments. Remember that the grades will be put together to be a test grade - so don't let yourself do poorly!

Also, you can continue working on your Resume on Google Classroom. The assignment should be proofread to show clarity and good handle of rules for good writing.

Be sure that you are looking over your notes on The Canterbury Tales - we'll be moving on to our next unit soon which means an end of unit assessment.

AP English III

On Wednesday you will take your quiz on Acts III and IV of The Crucible. The quiz will be much the same as the last quiz. Make sure that you have your books with you so that I can finish checking your annotations.

You now have your rubric for your Drama Projects to direct your work this week and this weekend. Half of you will present on Wednesday, half of you will present on Friday (next week). Remember that if you are working with a partner on a scene you can submit the same context/importance paragraphs, but the visual comparison and explanation will be individual for all. Instructions for all elements of the project can be found on the assignment sheet or the rubric.

Lastly, make sure that you are actively revising your essays. Revisions are due Thursday!

We'll start The Great Gatsby soon - you will find it helpful to go ahead and purchase a copy of this wonderful book.

Homework for B Day Students - 19 October 2017

AP English III

You have your essays back and they're full of commentary to celebrate your accomplishments and to spurn your improvements. Here are the slides from today's class around Topic Sentences, Transitions, and the other Rules for Good Writing. As you are revising you can feel free to come in and chat with us (props to the people who already have) and you can bring us samples of the work you are doing to make sure that you are on the right track. Keep in mind that all revisions are due no later than Thursday next week. Anything received after Thursday will not be graded or reassessed.

Other than that this weekend you should spend time on your Drama Projects. I am deleting the written comparison between your play and The Crucible but I am keeping the visual part. For the visual you have a lot of options - just make sure that you are clearly comparing/contrasting one aspect of your play and the same aspect in The Crucible. You should also be memorizing your dialogues and writing your paragraphs to go along with the dialogue/monologue.

Lastly, there is a final quiz on The Crucible on Wednesday. It will cover Acts III and IV. The format will be the same as the last quiz with multiple choice questions and quotations. Study and review your feedback from the last quiz so that you will be more successful on this one.

English IV

Today in class you hopefully got a lot done as we are finishing our unit on The Canterbury Tales. If you can continue working in Google Classroom, please do so. Begin working on the resume, particularly, so that you are prepared and ready to end the quarter in a solid position.

Homework for A Day Students - 2 October 2017

Russian I

Don't forget that your alphabet exam will be coming next week on Tuesday. For this test we will have all of the skills from the alphabet quiz (letters sounds and shapes as well as cognate vocabulary) paired with the new information about formality, greetings and farewells, and gender. So, make sure that you're studying those most recent exercises that we've reviewed today.

Your main homework is to keep getting ready for this test - study and prepare. And if you haven't yet taken the quiz, you should do that ASAP.

Advanced Russian

Tonight for homework I want you to do the review activity at the end of Chapter Four to review the key grammar and vocabulary we've studied in this unit. Complete exercise number nine in which you will answer questions about yourself or about society, in general. As you answer the questions, use the vocabulary from Chapter Four and review the key parts of grammar including cases and conjugations.

If you did not have a writing conference with me today then we will meet on Wednesday to review your work.

English IV

Make sure that you have put a lot of work into the character projects from The Canterbury Tales. You can also begin to make revisions to your "Me You Don't See" essay assignments based on the feedback from Mr. Bernhard. If you turn in a new version of the essay, please make sure that you have turned in the old one too.

Homework for the Weekend - 29 September 2017

AP English III

We have a few things to take care of or to start taking care of this weekend. I'll go over the short term things first and then move on to the longer term items.

1. Complete your next set of Vocabulary Cards (6-10). You should pick words from "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry G-d", The Crucible, and your tone word sheet. Account for all parts of the card. Use appropriate resources and turn them in electronically via Google Slides or on paper.
2. Read and annotate Mary Rowlandson's "Narrative of the Captivity" - for this piece, pay attention to the depiction and view of non-Puritans, the role of women in Puritan society, as well as any biases or elements of sensationalism in the text.
3. For Thursday we'll be working through Act II of The Crucible. You may want to start the process of reading and annotating this now.
4. Next week is our conference week. Mr. Bernhard and I are available during lunch, before and after school. Please make an appointment with us to review any drafts or outlines so that you can move to the final draft and know that you have a solid piece of writing.

All of the resubmissions turned in today should be entered in the gradebook no later than Sunday.

English IV

Many of you chose to take with you some of the graphic organizers so that you can continue to work on your characters project related to The Canterbury Tales. Here's a link to an online version of The Canterbury Tales. Make sure that if you have to spend time working on this that you complete this work over the weekend. On Tuesday we'll return to the lab in order to finish our research and we'll complete the reading of "The Wife of Bath's Tale".

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 28 September

Russian I

If you have a zero on your progress report this indicates that you are missing an assignment. Please get the assignment in to me ASAP so that I can update your grades. Remember that in about a week we'll be having our alphabet test which will cover the alphabet, our cognates, greetings and farewells, formality, and gender.

To practice with gender, complete the worksheet I gave you today in class. Look carefully at the final letter of the word and determine its gender.

Also, continue to work through your exercises in which you are practicing your greetings and farewells.

Advanced Russian

Over the weekend I want you to take the work we were doing to discuss Battleship Potemkin and spend some time writing. Write a brief paragraph about some aspect of the film. Try to use vocabulary that you can control. Don't worry about speaking in a complex way - focus on communicating your thoughts and ideas.

Also, continue to work with the article in Chapter Four. Complete the chart work we started in class by finding verbs, analyzing them as much as you can, and determining the subject, stem, and infinitive of the verb.

English IV

Very good work today in class everyone. Make sure that if you have a lot of work remaining on our Canterbury Tales character projects that you spend some time on that this weekend so that you can finish everything next week. We'll soon be moving on to a new unit.

Homework for A Day Students - 26 September

Russian I

Today we spent time reviewing the ideas of formality and informality in speaking and reviewed some of our greetings, introductions, and farewells related to this concept. For homework tonight you should complete exercises in the packet related to these greetings, introductions, and farewells. Complete exercises 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Practice your vocabulary and writing as you do this.

If you have any missing work - it needs to be turned in ASAP.

Advanced Russian

I've included a link to Battleship Potemkin here. Please use it to complete your viewing packets on the film if you have not already done so.

The main homework that you have for tonight is the reading at the end of Chapter Four. You have an article to read from a Russian newspaper. Don't focus on trying to understand everything, focus on getting main ideas and discovering verbs in context.

As you read, identify the verbs and the subjects for these verbs. After you read, answer the questions at the end in English - identify where in the article the answer can be found.

English IV

Many of you have finished a lot of your character work for our Canterbury Tales projects. If you still have parts to finish or if you need to finish your "Me You Don't See" essay - make sure that this work is complete soon.

Homework for B Day Students - 21 September

English IV

Remember that on Monday, we will go to the computer lab to finish our "Me You Don't See" essays and turn them in to be graded. If you haven't already checked on your draft in Google Classroom, make sure you do before Monday to see and respond to Mr. Bernhard's comments. Try to respond to these as soon as you can, so on Monday we are able to finish the drafts quickly.

Although we got some good work done, today's class meeting could have been more productive; we can always improve at staying on task and following directions. Before next class, mentally prepare to finish the Creative Writing part of the Canterbury Tales character project and get a good start on the Professional Writing portion. Have a great weekend, and arrive on Monday ready to work!

AP English III

Great job today grinding away at the timed writing prompt. Writing good essays in such a small amount of time is challenging, but you will be very well prepared come AP Exam season in May. Before next class, keep working on summer assignment and essay outline resubmissions, as well as resubmissions of vocabulary cards. We are getting close to time to begin writing our In Cold Blood essays. Have a great weekend, and don't forget that everything we do is getting you ready for success later on this year!

Homework for A-day Classes: 9 May 2017

С Днем Победы!
Happy Victory Day!

I hope that all of you in Russian class enjoyed celebrating the holiday today. Below are your reminders for our next class day.

Advanced Russian:

Either using you notes from today's episode of Night Swallows you should be building your character for the final speaking assignment. You should write a paragraph in English that discusses your person: Why are they on the show? What tension do they have with others? How will they act or dress? Make sure that you are drawing your character off of the episodes. Keep in mind, all of the episodes are available online.

You should also find ten words in Russian that would be used by your character. Write these with their translation at the bottom of your paragraph. I'll be able to give commentary on if the words are accurate or not.

Russian I:

Next class we will begin watching our final Russian film of the year and complete our PowerPoints related to our families, in Russian. Next class you'll have half of class to finish uploading your writing to your PowerPoint presentations. I'll check the PowerPoints this weekend and give any feedback to you on grammar.

Remember that one of your slides/paragraphs will be presented to me, aloud. We will do this next week on Wednesday. Be ready for that with all of your writing done!

English II:

You've gotten back a lot of your work and I've given you progress reports. If there is anything that you would like to resubmit or continue to revise in order to get a stronger grade, please do that before the end of the quarter. Next class we will begin writing our essay, starting with the introduction paragraph. Be prepared for that.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day Edition - 9 December

AP English III

We had a lot of fun today acting out that final scene from Act One.  Special congratulations to the actors who earned one hundred rubles.  Next class we'll move on to looking at Act II - make sure that you have thoroughly read and annotated.  Also, check in with back covers and your character list.  You have your one character to cover thoroughly as well as general annotations on the rest.

Next class we'll also spend time in our portfolios reflecting on writing.

English II

Some of you were able to finish your final drafts of your essays today.  This is great.  If you were editing today then you'll be finishing next week.  There's no real homework for you this weekend, but next week we'll be starting on our next writing project.  Think about your heroes.  Brainstorm about them.  Also, be sure that you're getting caught up if you've missed class recently.