End of Week 1 - Blue Day - 10 September

Good Afternoon Everyone -

Today was a great day in class - we all were engaged in some critical reading and thinking in all of our classes today as well as some getting to know each other activities. Our week in this class officially closes every Monday - so remember that assignments described below are due on Monday.

AP English Language

Today was a day to start our work on "What is America?" by looking at Thomas Jefferson's "Declaration of Independence" in order to understand the elements of and relationships between elements of the rhetorical situation. We'll be considering this with many of the texts we study this year.

For your first homework assignment, I've presented to you the "rough draft" of our document as well as a TEDEd video related to the revision of the document and Jefferson's writing process. Follow the instructions and submit your work via Google Classroom. If you have questions, please let me know via email or Office Hours.

Other graded assignments for this week are as follows: Notebook Cover + FlipGrid Recording. Tell Me About You Survey. You can also submit your Summer Assignment. It's due on Day 3 - Tuesday.

English 10

Today we investigated the idea of the "single story" by watching an EdPuzzle video and considering the connection between culture clash and stereotypes. I enjoyed our chat in the class and seeing your responses to the questions. Remember that if you didn't finish the video, or the survey, both are still available for you.

Your homework assignment is available in Google Classroom, and it will have you consider the idea of the single story in your own life. Follow the outline in the instructions to construct your slides. Be as creative as you'd like, but be sure to follow the outline. I'll be available for help via email or in Office Hours if you need me.

Other graded assignments for this week are as follows: Notebook Cover + FlipGrid Recording. Tell Me About You Survey. EdPuzzle - Single Story Questions

Also, as a final reminder for everyone, BTSN open office hours for parents will be next Monday, the 14th, from 11am to 12 pm, and next Wednesday, the 16th, from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm.  Students will need to make sure that their parents have their teachers’ office hour links and that they need to share their school laptop with their parents.

As always, let me know if you have any questions!

Day 1 - 2020 - Virtual Schooling

Good Evening Fairfax Families,

Today was a great day to kick off the 2020 school year. The virtual start provided some amusing missteps (like my forgetting to allow chat and audio/video permissions), but overall we had a great start. I've enjoyed watching your FlipGrid videos and seeing your interactive notebook covers. Here are a few notes from our first day of school.

All Classes (Especially Parents/Guardians)

The Blackboard space for class is pretty barren, because the course content is housed in Google Classroom. The main thing for you to draw your attention to is the syllabus and course policies document. This is available in FCPS 24-7 as well as in Google Classroom. I would highly recommend reviewing the document with your student and filling out the Google Form at the end of the document together.

If you did not share your Interactive Notebook or complete your FlipGrid video, be sure to do so. I've noticed that some people have submitted one or the other, in which case I've awarded partial credit. I'll check again tomorrow and correct any scores. Remember that homework should be complete by the end of Monday (in a perfect world), since Monday is your asynchronous/homework day.

AP Language (3rd and 5th)

Tonight you should get familiar with your online textbook for our class since we'll be using this in our next session. If you need the links for the FlipGrid or a reminder of the Interactive Notebook, check out our class slides which are in Google Classroom. As always, you can email me with questions/comments as well.

Further reflection on our key question of "What is America/an American?" is also warranted. We'll delve deeper next class and throughout the unit.

English 10 (7th)

I enjoyed our opening conversation on culture and our work with the poem "About School". We were hitting on some important themes related to culture clash and conformity today, and we'll carry those forward next time we meet. For tonight, I would reflect further on these ideas and how you've seen or experienced them in your life. Additionally, if you need to submit a video or share your Interactive Notebook, please do so. I'm looking forward to seeing your recordings and getting to know you better.

I hope that you had as good of a first day as I did. See you on Thursday!