4 December - Wacky Wednesday

English 11

What a fantastic day today, everyone! You all were so productive during your catch-up day. I've got plenty of assignments to grade, and I'll get through them tomorrow and Friday morning. Everything in SiS will be updated before progress reports are sent out on Friday afternoon. There's no recording today because the slides really do a good job of covering what we did in class.

If you are still completing your reading (the documentary study) or writing (the outline) formative grades, be sure to turn those in as soon as you can. Remember to use the resources posted to help you with your outlining and writing. My goal in giving you those sentence frames is to make the writing a bit faster and easier for you.

On Friday we'll be focused on finishing our Research Write-Ups and discussing our sources. We'll also do a bit of reading on Friday to start to wrap up this unit of study on The Harlem Renaissance. On Tuesday of next week, I'll be out. You'll have your vocabulary assignment to complete. I posted the video with the assignment to help with it. We have a lot of major grades coming up! Thursday we'll be writing our letters and the week after we'll take our unit reading examination. You'll have more than enough time when we come back from Winter Break for revising or retesting.

7 October

English 11

Simple day today in English 11 - we took our unit reading test. At the end of each unit, you'll see something like what you saw today. I'll ask you to read something and show your knowledge of what you've learned in the unit. I'll have these tests scored and returned to you next week. We'll do some feedback and then open up the options for retesting. If you found today's test difficult, let's meet and discuss that before too long. Remember it's important to put in the work to develop skills, especially when it comes to reading and writing.

Next class is going to be a bit low-key since many of you are taking the PSAT that day. I expect you'll be a bit fried after testing. We're going to watch a video about our next literary period and have some small discussions about Unit 1. We'll also take a bit of time to work on projects. Here's to our next time together!

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.

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.

30 September - Happy Friday!

AP Language

Easy peasy, pumpkin squeezy as we round out September and kick off October! Today was our end of Unit 2 working day. There's a few goals that we have as we close out, so let's review:

1. Do you have a missing project? I'm working through grading and should have them finished by the middle of next week. Be sure to submit if missing. I'll give back rubrics with feedback to guide revisions if needed/wanted.

2. Vocabulary is open to be collected. Remember that words should come from class readings or resources (like the tone word sheet). If you don't know why you lost points on earlier vocabulary cards, be sure to reach out and ask. 

3. Our seminar is next class. Be sure that you have finished your choice reading and annotated it for the author's message and elements of the rhetorical situation. How does the author convey an argument? What stands out to you? What connections can you make?

4. Your final project for this unit has been assigned and reviewed. I'll be giving you some more time over the next classes to work on this further. For now, start by considering your examples and your thesis. What is America to you? How can you prove that? What's the counter argument?

Reach out if you need me!

AP Research

Lovely Friday! We took our time today to read a Level 4 paper and understand some of our key elements that are at play in the paper. From there, it was off to the mines as we are writing, finishing work from Unit 1, or completing reflections on our work so far.

Next week will be a lot of time for you to write your Annotated Bibliography. Don't be afraid of being repetitive. Use the templates and support that you have to complete this work. It may seem daunting to write twenty five entries, but the supports are there to help you do it.

Enjoy the weekend. Your Annotated Bibliography is due Week 8 - that would be October 14.

19 September - Blue Day

AP Language

Today we did a lot of analysis and practice geared toward our project called "What's the Situation". I was very glad to see the thinking going on as we worked together to understand Mario Cuomo and Abraham Lincoln. The most important takeaway is that if there are multiple audiences, there are often multiple purposes and arguments. Keep track of how the message is geared and crafted toward the specific audiences. This is one of the main tasks you have in your project.

Tonight, take time for your projects. Spending time on those is the best thing that you can do. They're due at the end of the week! Be sure that you have completed your reading diagnostic as well - AP Classroom remains open for practice.

Let me know what you need - Lion Time Thursday is a great time to work on your project with me. I'm also after school on Wednesday and Thursday this week.

AP Research

We are closing out Unit 1 this week and moving on to Unit 2. Today and next class are our final working days for Unit 1. During these days I'll be conferencing with each of you about your research questions and work with your sources up to this point. Be sure that you log these conferences, I mean to help at all times.

Remember that your categorized source list is due this week. On Friday, we'll have our lesson on the annotated bibliography and writing. I'm looking forward to that. If you have any work to finish up for Unit 1 including reflections, quizzes, or other tasks, now is the time to complete them.

The Beginning of the End - 18 May

AP Language

Today in class we got in a time machine to return to ancient Athens and learn from Plato about reality, truth, and the process to find it. As we read the "Allegory of the Cave" we see many of the same steps in TIM's journey to knowledge and truth - it's important that we reflect on the process we see and the mirror for ourselves which may be held up here. Plato and Ellison ask us to always consider what we know and where we got that knowledge from. 

Next class we'll finish with Invisible Man and have time to begin our work with our final assessment on the novel. I'm excited to see everyone's creativity and thought when it comes to this novel and the ideas that it leaves you with. If you have anything missing for class - be sure that it is complete as soon as you can.

English 10

Today in class was our time to complete our final assessment for One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. If you completed the test or project today, great! If not, be sure that you're finished and submitted by Friday so that I can do final grading. If you had any extra time in class, that would have been used for final notes/vocabulary and any missing assignments from this unit.

Next class we'll begin our final portfolio for English 10 - the instructions are already uploaded for you to review. The final classes of the year will be spent devoted to our final portfolios, so everyone will have the chance to complete everything during class.

Thursday - January 14

English 10

Today was our working day to finish with the film version of Persepolis as well as our planning for the media review. The due date on the media review has been extended to Monday. Remember that the viewing guide will help you with your evidence if you decide to write your media review on the movie instead of the book, but you can write on either one.

I posted an assignment called Essay 2 Preparation. Our final grade of the quarter and semester will be our Quarter 2 SOL Essay. We'll write that in-class at the end of next week. This planner pack has your prompt, graphic organizers, and review on constructing your essay. This assignment isn't for a grade, but doing it will certainly help your final essay grade.

Be sure to check and make sure that any and all assignments are submitted before the end of the quarter on Friday the 22nd. Use the recording the review the assignments posted.

AP English Language

Today's class was a chance for us to finish our revisions and finalizations of our research question while also moving forward into the outlining of our argument and response. Remember that these databases you have access to are goldmines - they do the citations, provide both primary and non-print sources, and you can save directly to your Google Drive. As you continue to work this weekend and through next week, focus on collecting sources and organizing your ideas to clarify your argument.

Submit your finalized research question and argument by the end of the weekend for my review and scoring. Also, don't forget about the practice on AP Classroom. Next week we'll be highly focused on the development of the outline to move forward into drafting and conferencing.

Blue Day - 22 October - End of the Week

AP Language

Good analysis today with Equiano. I've left the documents there as a great example of tracing tone and active annotating around a shared purpose. This was a great practice toward rhetorical analysis - our writing skill for this unit. In this type of writing our focus is to trace the author's argument through the explanation of their choices. We focus on literary/rhetorical devices to organize ourselves and draw connections.

I've uploaded the recording on rhetorical analysis for you to review as needed. For this weekend, be sure to take fifteen minutes for your Multiple Choice Practice on AP Classroom. The main task is to read! Enjoy Huckleberry's adventures! Don't forget, there's the chance of an assessment based on your reading next class!

English 10

Today we had our guest speaker, Ms. Anne Nolan, who went over some of the nuts and bolts of graphic novels and elements of their construction and style. The notes and recording have all been uploaded. We put a lot of this into practice as we read and studied Chapter One of Persepolis - "The Veil". 

Over the weekend there's nothing to do except to finish and submit your Unit 1 Projects. If you have any other missing work, it should be turned in to be scored. 

Next class we'll be reading more of Persepolis and doing some research into the text. I'm looking forward to it!

Homework for A-Day - 16 December

It's the last week of school this decade! Be sure that you're completing your major milestones so that your break can be restful and relaxing!

AP Research

Today in class we had our first POD viewing session - Big Hero 6 and Cultural Hybridization. I think that watching the POD helps to really demystify the experience and the task that we have ahead of us. With the fire drill, we didn't have enough time for individual work, but that will find us on Wednesday.

On Google Classroom I posted the slides for today's class. The most important slide is probably the final slide where I outline what I'll be looking for in your PREP folders. Be sure that if you have any edits for your project that you have made them. Wednesday will be a day for working. Be prepared!

Russian I

Today in class we did a lot of case review today in order to understand how the cases are used and how to change words to show the cases.


Be sure that this week you are working to complete your work related to learning the cases. You'll have a small quiz on these on Friday. There's also always vocabulary to study and review. There are also exercises to help you with your studying. Remember that you can't do all of the second exercise - avoid talking about playing!

Advanced Russian

Today was a class for reviewing key grammar and vocabulary skills related to our most recent quiz. I hope that the review of the topics was helpful, the notes are posted. Remember that if you need additional support you can make quiz corrections and also check the exercises that you were given today.

Tonight focus on completing your projects and having them submitted before Wednesday's presentations. Russian III and IV only have FIVE MINUTES to present. You have your rubric, be sure to be prepared.


Friday is our New Year celebration! Be ready to have some fun and bring snacks if you'd like.

AP Classroom - AP LIT

AP Literature

If you did not complete the Unit 1 MCQ I have unlocked it again for you. Please complete this ASAP so that we can enter accurate Unit 1 Examination scores. I know that many of you have seen a drop in your score, this will be balanced by the project as the project and Unit Exam are worth approximately equal amounts of points.

We'll review the timed writings and feedback in the coming days as we prepare for the next ones.

Homework for B-Day Classes (and reminders for AP) - 2 April 2019

AP Seminar

As one of my favorite singers says, "Well I guess that push has come to this, so I guess this must be shove..." That's where we are in AP Seminar. We should regularly be checking things off and moving forward. I hope that today's workshop was helpful in that regard.

Revise and write and craft your IWA. Be sure that you are also designing your slides. Practice your Oral Defense questions with each other. Keep moving forward and ask for the help that you may need. If you were absent today, be sure that you find a partner to complete a First Submission workshop form - available on Google Classroom.

Advanced Russian

I'll be creating the space on Google Classroom for your projects on Thursday morning. Remember that Russian III is due this week and Russian II is due next week. Follow the guidelines for your project (recipe/weather) and ask for the help you may need. Remember that we are actively working on using our language to review the skills.

Today in class we began on new information - adverbs of quantity and count versus non-count nouns for Russian II - imperatives for first and third person for Russian III. There are exercises to review these concepts. Please complete exercises in Chapter 7 and 9 as needed focused on these concepts. The list of exercises is in the slides on Google Classroom.

Russian I

Today I gave you the study guide for your Unit 2 Exam which will fall next Friday. This exam will focus on the essential skills of cases (all six - nouns and adjectives) as well as verb conjugation. It will be very similar to the Unit 1 exam with more (seeing as you didn't know about adjectives before). Be sure to use your study guide and prioritize where you need to.

Additionally, we will begin on one of our last culture projects on Thursday - the former Soviet Union. Be sure that you have selected your top FIVE former republics (Russia is not an option). Do some preliminary research. We'll be choosing and starting on Thursday after we finish Office Romance.

AP English III

Be ready for your quiz on The Grapes of Wrath and be sure that if you have your chapter presentation tomorrow that you have shared your materials with me before class begins. We will have presentations and then the quiz.

Homework for B-Day Students: 2 Hour Delay Day - 20 February

AP Seminar

Lots of changes to the Unit Plan and homework plan since I made a massive mistake in taking us through the unit. Here are the recaps for you.

Tonight - You should watch the TEDTalk and use the form I gave you in class to formalize and finish your annotations. Be sure to take notes as you watch as well. We will be having a Socratic Seminar on Friday in which we pull together major ideas between the four documents that we will have studied by Friday's class.

I'll also be forming you into your groups for the final three documents to teach the class. You'll be taking the class through your document on Tuesday!

We'll be finalizing our work with the documents and moving on to the work on the IWA very soon. Be ready to finish our first round of document study next week!

Advanced Russian and Russian I

Today most of class was devoted to a project workshop. If your project is complete it should be turned in to the space on Google Classroom. Additionally, the poems should also be presented this week. If you have not yet completed your poem; it is time to finish your memorization and get it settled up. We will have exams coming very soon to wrap up our units.

Advanced Russian

Be sure that you have finished your exercises related to verbs of motion (Russian II) as well as the work related to conditionals and hypotheticals (Russian III). Friday will be one of our wrap-up and review days as we engage in actual tasks which will help us to prepare for the exam next week. Your Unit 6/Unit 10 examination will fall on Thursday.

A good way to prepare is to correct your quiz. This work should be done by Friday.

Russian I

If you are in need of extra credit for Unit 1, then your questions at the end of Chapter 1 are the best place for you to earn that credit. There are over twenty questions at the end of the Chapter 1 Exercises which you can answer for one half point of extra credit per answer. These questions are found on page fifty-six. The questions must be answered in a complete sentence and they must be done by hand. Any evidence of translator help will invalidate the whole response.

Your examination on Unit 1 is on Friday. Extra Credit will be accepted before the examination begins or on Monday (at the latest).

Homework for A Day Students - 19 December

We are oh so close to Winter Break! I can feel it in the air! Here are your reminders to go forward into Friday!

English IV

Today we took our tests on A Doll's House and we had some time for finishing all of our project work. I'm happy that I have some great looking movie posters on my wall! We ended our class by discussing what makes a "perfect poem".

For next class I want you to bring a poem that you think fits the idea of a "perfect poem". Be ready to share a bit of your poem and explain to your classmates what makes it so good to you!

AP English III

We did a lot of great analysis today of Equiano's text as well as some big discussions about how the way in which our textbooks present stories can actually be racist too. Always be on the lookout for the veil! From there, it was on to our synthesis assignments and our upcoming proposals. Remember that your proposals are due on Friday. You should address all five questions either as a paragraph or just by answering the questions.

Additionally, we have reading for next class. In Beloved please read and annotate Chapters 14, 15, and 16. As you are reading, pay attention to all of the gaps we can fill in about our characters and their pasts. Next class we'll be building timelines for our characters in order to investigate what all they are carrying with them. We'll also talk about a new concept next class, which will begin to pull together a lot of the bigger ideas we've been discussing so far.

Homework for the Weekend - 4 October - B Day

AP Seminar

So, we're starting on the major task, huh. I'll have your template for your IRR outline posted in Google Classroom. Be sure to take a look at that. For the weekend, it's time to devote ourselves to our task. Remember a few very important things:

• as you work on your IRR you are also working on your TMPOD - these processes are related to each other
• work with each other and collaborate
• keep finding sources
• you may continue to revise your TMPOD as well

Begin to work in your lens and perspective to your group's issue/problem in education. What solutions are out there? What information exists? What are your thoughts?

Russian II/III

Next Friday is our unit examination, and that means that everything needs to be in by Friday to be scored. Today we worked through finding verbs in Bunin's story "Dark Avenues" - remember that if you are doing the replacement assignment for the quiz, you'll want to do what we did today in class.

I was very happy to see how well you found verbs and were able to work with them. This is a key skill, keep improving. Working with this skill will help prepare you for the miniquiz on Monday on verbs and conjugation.

Additionally you have your research to continue with. Now we know how to navigate databases and how to find Russian sources. Get information together - we'll start planning responses next week!

Lastly, there's some practice for cases - accusative and prepositional - work through the exercises at your leisure for practice. Submitting these is a great way to earn some extra points on your TPRS scores.

Russian I

We've also got a big exam coming next week on the alphabet, formality, and Russian geography. You'll need to know your vocabulary (greetings/introductions/farewells and cognates) as well as your alphabet sounds, and your rules around speaking formally in Russian.

You should make sure that any missing work is turned in by Friday. You should also be practicing and reviewing the work that I've returned to you so that you can increase your scores by reassessing or by submitting rubles for extra credit!

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 1 March 2018

Russian I

Very good work today in class today. I saw that a lot of you did well on our quick quiz and then everyone was able to complete their family trees. We also have finished reviewing our final set of declensions before our exam next week on Friday. Let's discuss what you should be doing this weekend to prepare.

1. Complete your rough draft of your family member paragraphs. As a reminder you are using the outline provided on your assignment sheet to write about one male and one female family member. Use your notes and vocabulary to accomplish this. Do not use translators. Practice and make mistakes - remember it's just a rough draft. This is due on Monday.
2. Complete your extra credit assignment on the back of today's in class work. Use your declension charts and your vocabulary lists in order to see which cases you need.
3. Complete any resubmissions of projects this weekend. Review your work on previous quizzes to redo them. I've put zeroes in for the house plan project if it hasn't been turned in.
4. Use the UCLA Beginner's Russian textbook for extra help. The link is available here. You will want to bounce around the chapters to review the important content. Use your study guides for this.

I'll see you on Monday as we keep pushing toward our unit exam. The test will happen on Friday.

Advanced Russian

We also have a big exam to prepare for - the Verbs of Motion examination. I gave all of you a study guide to use as you are preparing yourselves. You can also resubmit projects this weekend and prepare for any quiz resubmissions. If you are using the UCLA Beginner's Russian textbook for extra practice this weekend - you will want to direct your attention to Chapter 10 and beyond. Remember, you 'll have to bounce around to cover all of the content.

English IV

Next class we will have a chance to watch the film Frankenstein and finish with our dramatic retellings of Justine's trial. As you are working over the weekend, be sure that you're focused on any low grades that you would like to improve as we are closing out the quarter. Remember that there are only three weeks left in this quarter. Then it's off to Q4, Spring Break, and the end of this wonderful year!

Homework for A-Day Students: 21 February

Our next classes fall on Friday! I'm excited to show you all my new Friday t-shirt...

English IV

On Friday we will have our vocabulary quiz on the first ten word parts in our lesson. Make sure that you have learned the meaning of the word parts, the alternate spellings (if any), and the ways that the words come together with different parts to form meanings.

I've given each of you a study guide with sample words for this quiz that you should use to prepare.

Advanced Russian

On Friday we will finish our film and begin with our summaries of The Irony of Fate using verbs of motion. Tonight you may want to think about the action that we have seen so far. What verbs of motion can we use to describe actions in the film? Where did they go? From where?

Tonight you should finish your translation work (Russian II) or your dialogue work (Russian III). Be sure that you are using this as an opportunity to review concepts and important vocabulary before we have our unit examination on these ideas. That exam will be coming after next week!

Russian I

Today we focused on family member vocabulary as well as some culture related to Russian names. All of this is to help us complete our next vocabulary project - a family tree. For this you are focused on four generations of your family - remember that you can use your actual family or you can make up members of your family too. All of the people need to be named in Russian (first, middle, and last). You'll write paragraphs about two of the people in your family.

We'll only work on this for a bit before I collect it! Also, some of you are still missing your floor plan projects. Make sure that those are turned in ASAP.

Be sure that you are studying and working on your project. You will have a spelling quiz on Friday!

English Homework for the Weekend - A Day - November 2

English IV (2A)

Today, we spent some time doing grammar practice and familiarizing ourselves with some of the funnier elements of Shakespeare's language. We then dedicated the rest of class to reviewing details from Quarter 1 (The Canterbury Tales, elegy, vocabulary) before next week's test.

Over the weekend, continue studying your notes and making sure you know the plot details from both "The Wife of Bath's Tale" and "The Miller's Tale." The more you study now, the easier the test will be. Have a great weekend, looking forward to seeing you on Monday!

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 6 October

Russian Students:

Keep in mind that you have unit examinations on Tuesday. Since we are ending a unit, any missing work or work that you want to turn in on Tuesday so that we have it for the unit to finish.

Russian I:

Your test will cover the alphabet - its shapes and sounds. Make sure that you also know the rules around formality, your cognate vocabulary, and your greetings, introductions, and farewells.

You'll also have to be able to analyze gender in words. Review your notes and handouts as well as anything in the folders which relates to this first unit.

Advanced Russian:

You've got a lot of verbs to find on your exam on Tuesday. Make sure that you can analyze verbs to find their infinitive as well as their stem. You'll be doing some transcription work related to these verbs in the texts that you will find. As well, there will be free response work related to the main themes we've been discussing lately (becoming something/being somewhere).

English IV:

Over the weekend you need to finish your resume checklist and review and revise your "Me You Don't See" essay to account for the feedback you've been given and raise your grades.

Homework for A Day Students - 4 October 2017

Russian I

For Friday, make sure that you and your partners have turned in your Russian city project so that I have all of the presentations. You and your group will present your information to the class on Friday. We will also do a final review on Friday to prepare for our examination which will happen on Tuesday the 10th of October.

Also, remember the list: You have flown in to Moscow for a three-day trip. Who will you speak with during your time in Russia, in order? Make a list of at least six people.

Remember that if you have any missing work for Russian I, that it needs to be in to me by Friday. After the unit exam you cannot make up any work from the previous unit.

Advanced Russian

Next class we'll be spending some time talking about our family members and their pasts and the jobs that they have had. Take the time tonight to respond and get together your ideas related to Exercise 11. Where did the person live? What jobs did they have? Where did they move? We'll do much of what we did today, talking through ideas and asking questions.

Don't forget that our Chapter Four examination will be happening on Tuesday as well. Make sure that your'e studying and prepared for this upcoming examination.

English IV

We will be finishing the unit very soon, so if there is any work that you want to redo or work that you missed and haven't turned in, make sure that it is turned in very quickly. We'll be doing a bit more with The Canterbury Tales before we move on to finishing the unit with an exam and final writing assignment. Remember that all missing and redone work needs to be complete by the time we give the final unit exam.