25 October

AP Language

Solid day today in AP Language as we had our first synthesis day. As we keep reading through The Great Gatsby we will gather our thoughts every three chapters. Today we discussed most of the major ideas in the book and the key arguments that Fitzgerald is presenting to us. Keep using our key passages, our annotations, and our conversations to track these major developments.

We also discussed our final project on The Great Gatsby and the tools you'll use to complete it. Track the motifs as you keep reading. Notice how the ideas build on each other in order to accomplish a full argument. Work with friends to track ideas - it makes life easier. At the end, we'll build a visual of the motif and write about a key passage in which the meaning is developed. 

For next class, read and annotate Deborah Tannen's article "There Is No Unmarked Woman". Think about the women we've met in The Great Gatsby. Consider their roles and the way in which they're marked. Don't forget that project revisions are due by 10/31. Remember to give me your rubric and resubmit the project on Schoology.

Kicking Off Week 5 - Blue Day - 6 October

Welcome to a new week students, as we are drawing near to the close of our first quarter of school as well as the end of our first units. Be aware that we will start working on our final projects for this unit this week! Here are your reminders based on our work today in class.

Remember - if you stated that you want to check out a book from school for this year, you can come to Fairfax HS on Monday the 12th from 12-2 or 4-6. Make sure that you have a piece of paper with the student's name, teacher's name, class period, and class. I'll go over the procedures on Thursday for you all.

AP Language

Today was a day for our gallery walk. We interacted with each other by looking at our texts (via our shared slide deck) and by hearing each others thoughts (via our classroom FlipGrid). I hope that you enjoyed the chance to learn from each other and interact with each other in the ways that we can, right now. Remember to submit your reflection on this activity for your final points of the project. If you choose to resubmit your slides, please do so by the end of the week.

From there we moved into feminist theory and literary criticism. Be sure to complete your story and post to the discussion board when you finish. Later this week - be sure to reply to a post from the opposite story. Another chance for us to interact and learn from each other. 

English 10

Today we took some time to get caught up or ahead, based on where we find ourselves in class. Then we jumped to close reading and annotating. We reviewed our process of close reading and determined it's best to always start by stating a purpose for our reading. Remember - If you say you're looking for something, then you're likely to find it. We then applied our skill to different religious texts before submitting ideas to a class discussion.

For tonight, there's no homework assigned. If you're behind on other assignments, use this time to get caught up. We'll start talking about writing and revising on Thursday, so remember that you'll be able to rewrite your essays soon for a new score.

Homework for B Day - 29 August

Remember all that I am still collecting paperwork. If you didn't have it today, please have it in by the end of the week.

AP Literature

Today in class we worked through Hemingway and really flexed our muscle with level one and level two interpretation. I was happy to see a lot of engagement and time spent focusing on the text. I was also happy to see you take risks with your ideas and interpretations.

Remember that for next class you have a small writing assignment due. You should take one like of dialogue from "Hills Like White Elephants" and write a feminist interpretation of the line. Your interpretation should be able to explain what in the line gave you the idea and its meaning. We'll keep working with Hemingway next class and transition to another author too.

AP Research

We've set up our PREP and we have a good understanding of key terms. All great things for us to do at the beginning of this course. Tonight you have work to complete in your PREP related to the Nobel Prize winner - do research and discern their problem statement, gap, and research question that won them the Nobel Prize. Consider how this work can be a model for you as you begin your QUEST.