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!

14 September - Grey Wednesday

English 10

We started our work with Desmond Tutu's speech and will finish our work with it next class. We'll also be saying good bye to South Africa next class, so be ready for that too. Our work in class today focused on the idea of identifying claims and the evidence that supports that claim. I like that we were able to find some key claims and the support for them that Tutu uses. It's great to see the way that authors build their ideas; we'll be doing similar work, so using their work as models for us is very helpful.

Be ready for writing next class. We'll be doing some instruction and then I'll ask you to show me what you can do! 

See you Friday!!

Beginning the Week - 2 March 2021

AP Language

Today was our day to begin the study and analysis of Invisible Man. This is going to be a long slog, but it's well worth it. In my opinion, this is one of the most important novels written in the last 100 years in the United States. It will give you new perspectives on old and contemporary issues in our society. It's not an easy read to be sure, but it is rewarding. 

As you read, continue to use the tools you've been given. Annotate. Use your motif charts. Collect vocabulary. Be active and think as you read. We won't figure everything out, but together we can figure out more.

Next class will be our final day to submit essays, conference on the writing process, or complete the AP Classroom FRQ. I'll be available on Wednesday during Lion Time for any needed conversations.

Next week we'll focus on Chapters 2-4. Use the YouTube videos to help you make sense of these difficult chapters. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

English 10

Today in class we took time to discuss some issues related to grammar before jumping in to the last task in our unit - the final interpretation. I know that the outline for this document is complicated - that's because we're working with a complex skill. The goal is always the same though: creating clear claims which are supported with evidence. I was very happy to get the chance to conference with you today - if we didn't meet today, then we will next class.

As you are working today, the main task is the outline. Completing your outline will give you a lot of great work to help you put together your final interpretation. We'll chat about outlines next class if we didn't today - work through it as much as you can so that we can have a productive conference. We can also meet on Wednesday during Lion Time if needed.

Homework for B Day Students - 18 September

Due to the two-hour delay today we did not get through everything in our classes. Be aware of this if you look at the slides from class in Google Classroom. Here are your reminders of what to do before our next class.

AP Seminar

At the end of class today we divided up Freakonomics in order to prepare for next class. Next class we'll start working through some parts of our final assessment - the End of Course examination from College Board. To prepare for our first task, Task A, I want you to go through your chapter of Freakonomics and look for the:

• claims that the chapter is making
• evidence being used to support the claim
• overall argument of the chapter

You will also want to consider the "line of reasoning" - we'll be discussing this more on Thursday.

Don't forget that you have your first major assessment coming on Monday. You'll be answering questions on Freakonomics and you'll be completing EOC Task A. Remember that if you are submitting the summer work late (questions and annotations) you need to have that in to me by Monday.

Russian II/III

Today we reviewed the formation of the future tense as well as the declensions for accusative and prepositional case. Next class we'll apply many of these notes to our writing and speaking activity. Tonight, you should spend your time preparing for your assessment on Monday. Take a look at Exercise 8Г at the end of Chapter Four. This exercise identifies verbs and stems. Work with these - understand what the stem is telling you and the process of conjugation. That will be your major task on Monday. Make sure that you have your cards complete.

Russian I

We finished learning the alphabet today! Hooray! Now you can complete your handwriting packet as we get ready for our first quiz on the alphabet. You need to be sure that you know all 33 letters and the sounds that they make. We'll continue to play and practice with words and sounds as we review and prepare for the quiz. I would like to collect your handwriting packets from you on Thursday, but if you need to finish over the weekend, that's fine too. If you're having trouble with the alphabet, I would suggest that you listen to the alphabet song several times or find another good video to review. So much of this is auditory, so just looking at the letters won't help too much.


As always, come and see me if you need any help or assistance! See you Thursday!