Friday, January 17, 2025
17 January - End of the Week
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
25 April
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
18 April
English 10
I was very glad to be back with you all today. I'm still going through some challenges, but they're reaching some closure, and that helps with healing. Thank you for a really great class today. We began our reading of Persepolis by analyzing and reading Chapters One and Two. We'll study a few chapters every day of class. I was glad to see everyone reading and enjoying the story. The whole book is in two parts, but we're just reading Part One.
We focused today on characters and conflicts. We also dipped our toes into allusions since the book is filled with them - mostly history and culture from Iran.
Be sure that you've completed the EdPuzzle on Iran. If you need a code, it's ficrova - I'll be checking EdPuzzle again and updating grades. Next week we'll have a grammar test, so be ready with some NoRedInk practice. See you Thursday for another round!
Friday, March 17, 2023
17 March - Happy Friday
Friday, October 21, 2022
Friday the 21st - End of the Week
English 10
Super easy day today leading into the long weekend. We finished our work with Spirited Away in order to understand some elements of Asian culture at play in a text - I hope that you noticed the hero, the elements of their culture, and the idea of mindfulness and focus on the moment. I love this film and the director/writer has a lot of other great films out there too.
We then moved on to two computer based tasks - Membean and NoRedInk. Thank you for your efforts. Please get your permission slip signed this weekend. We'll use Membean in class every day to help improve our vocabulary through the year. Next class is going to be a writing class, note that we'll be starting Quarter 2 with a major grade, so be ready for that! Enjoy the long weekend! Happy Diwali!
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
19 October - Grey Wednesday
Thursday, November 4, 2021
Beginning Quarter 2 - 11/4 and 11/5
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
27 and 28 October - This is the end...
- AP Classroom FRQ and MCQ (10/29 or 11/3)
- Timed Writing - The Crucible Unit Exam and Mini-Project (11/8 or 11/9)
- Vocabulary Cards 2 (11/8 or 11/9)
- Websites will be scored the week following.
Thursday, October 21, 2021
21 and 22 October - End of Quarter 1
Friday, October 8, 2021
8 and 12 October
October 11 is Indigenous People's Day and a student holiday. Take few moments to learn about the people whose land we now occupy. Learn some words in an indigenous language. Read a text by an indigenous author.
AP Language
Today was a day for our second timed writing. We're still focused on argumentative timed writes as we build our skills toward our first rhetorical analysis. I'll review your work and have scores back to you by the time we see each other again.
Over this long block of time until we see each other again you have a few things to settle. First, there's our project. If you're the website technician you should go to sites.google.com and start your site. That's all. We'll set up the template next week. Everyone in the group should select a text from the genres - read it - and begin to annotate and plan. Use yesterday's lesson on rhetorical analysis to begin your outline.
We also will have reading for next class. Select one of the two Zinn excerpts to read for Friday the 15th. Pay attention to the way in which Zinn appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos. What does this help us to further learn about the Puritans as a people? About the colonial era?
Remember that any resubmissions of Unit 1 Projects are due by 10/22 for all classes.
English 10
Today was a day to talk about grammar (run-on sentences) and essay rubrics. Remember that our essay rubric is going to be the same rubric that will be used all year with all of our essays. We did a great self-reflection on our writing skills and then we summarized the rubric to understand what's required of us.
If you didn't finish arts and crafts in class, please try to do so before the next time I see you. I will try to give you a bit of time on Friday to complete your work. Now is a good time to read, since I won't see you for a while. Remember to reach your reading checkpoint before the 18th.
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
September 14 and 15
Thursday, April 15, 2021
End of the Week - Thursday the 15th
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Welcome Back - 2021 - Kicking off!
AP Language
Today was our classroom catch-up day for 2020. Remember that you can resubmit assignments (such as the Huck Finn test, your rhetorical analysis essays, or other already submitted work) or you can submit missing assignments for credit. This is also a good day for you to email me for ruble cash-in to raise scores. Remember that the quarter will end soon!
The next unit will focus on research writing to prepare for the AP Examination and question one. Your first task is to develop your research topic and question. Next class, we'll work to complete this first step - the assignment and materials are posted for you to begin now if you would like.
Following this writing unit, we'll have our reading of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. This is a challenging novel, but it's a good one worthy of your efforts! To help you navigate this wonderful novel, I'll be making videos. The video for the Prologue is here to help!
English 10
Notes and takeaways from today's class are posted for you to access. After our review of grammar (especially on apostrophes and commas) we took time to read "The Veil", discuss dynamic and static characters, and understand the way that parallelism works in a text.
From there, we took a writing break to work with our Perfect Paragraph Organizer. Remember that you should always use this structure when writing a response to a question like this. If you have trouble with short answer questions, this may be a great help for you.
Remember to take time for the viewing of the film. We'll have time on Thursday for this after we finish the book. Keep in mind that your final assignment is a review of the book or the movie, whichever you liked better.
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
13 October - Blue Day - Beginning Week 6
Did you miss the opportunity to pick up your novels for the year yesterday? If so, no sweat!
I'll be set up in the lobby of Fairfax High School on Monday, October 19 from 1-3 PM. Come on down and get your books! Remember that if you choose not to check out a book from school, then you can read on the screen via an eBook or PDF or purchase your own copies (hard copy or eBook).
AP Language
Today we had time to begin our reading and study of James Baldwin and to begin putting a bow on Unit 1 with our final projects.
Remember that all mini-project work should be submitted today to be scored. Additionally, Writing Diagnostic resubmissions are due on Monday the 19th.
This final project is due on the 26th. Remember that you can meet with me in advance to review your work and conference. Reach out to schedule a time during Office Hours on Monday - if that doesn't work for you, let me know. I can be flexible.
Enjoy your reading tonight of Baldwin's letter based on the work we did with the introduction. Vocabulary cards can be created from this text - try to get three new words from this text.
English 10
Today was a day to focus on writing. We spent our time working through notes and feedback from our writing diagnostics before taking another diagnostic focused on our grammar. Remember that by finishing the diagnostic you'll get full credit. This will be a helpful tool for us this year as we develop our writing by improving our grammar skills.
For tonight, you should focus on submitting any missing work from last week and revising your essay. Focus on showing your growth and understanding by applying our notes from the writing workshop. Any rewrites of essays are due on 10/19.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
March 26 - Zoom Lessons/Recordings and General Information
Remember that I'm available from 1-3 PM for Office Hours. We can review this work or just chat about anything you'd like.
AP English Literature: Today we took a look at the poem posted by College Board and the writing task. We did some close reading and analysis to really deal with how elements of a poem's structure are connected to meaning. Tomorrow we'll take a look at some of the materials posted for today as well as other feedback related to AP Classroom assignments.
AP Research: Today we built two calendars and discussed what a final assessment may look like given that there are no more PODs. One calendar is for those who aren't really affected by the school closure/national shutdown; the other is for those on the other side of that line. Please keep in mind that we still have working days in our calendar where you can conference and ask questions.
Russian Language: We discussed the main usages for nominative, genitive, and prepositional cases as well as some new/review vocabulary. A lot of what we're doing is just reviewing and reinforcing the basics. Tomorrow we'll go over the other cases. Remember that you have access to DuoLingo for free and you can join our class so that you can do focused lessons. Ask for the code if you need it.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Homework for A Day Students - 11 March 2020
Today was a day to kick-off Unit 5. This unit's goal is for us to have ample time in class for us to finish the work that we are doing in this classroom. Remember that your paper is the key because the POD is based off of your paper. I hope that our reading of a paper today was helpful for you. The takeaways related to the METHOD/LIT REVIEW/RESULTS and connections between these sections were key. You may find it helpful to reflect on all the papers we've read today as you consider what you need moving forward. If you need another sample paper, please ask and I'll find what I can.
Tonight, complete Reflection 23. This is the end of Week 23. Tonight you should complete writing through to METHOD (perhaps revising based on what we saw today) and start to outline your RESULTS section. We'll be doing some PEER EDITING on the 17th after tomorrow's work day. Be ready!
Russian I
Today we had a great day learning some new grammar/vocabulary as well as playing with dominoes to see the matches we can make in Russian for agreement. Remember that some of our words can be wild-cards -- they work with any gender and case.
For tonight you should finish your house project floor plan and a rough draft paragraph. You'll turn this in to me on Friday before the quiz so that I can check for completion and mark any errors. We will have our quiz on Friday - it will cover adjectives and their endings. I think that you'll be prepared if you keep studying your charts.
Outside of this, focus on vocabulary. We'll be wrapping up the quarter soon. Be sure to check for any missing work.
Advanced Russian
Today in class we had a day to work with music and find lots of language related to our verbs of motion. I enjoyed seeing a lot of you really listening intently, and finding that you were able to understand a bit of these songs once you focused on the grammar you know. This is a great type of activity to learn how to use language and grammar more conversationally.
Tonight, you should all focus on your projects. You should walk into class with a ROUGH DRAFT of one of your stages of your journey. Use the slides to see the example. Follow the template and remember that you're writing only A and B type sentences for the stages.
Your unit examination is going to fall on the 23rd of March. The projects will be due shortly. I'll have a unit study guide for you soon.
Monday, March 9, 2020
Homework for A-Day -- Spring Forward -- 9 March 2020
Today was our final working day for this unit. Hopefully by the end of today you were able to get to the point that you are either done with your POD/PAPER through to the data section. If you don't have this complete, I hope that you have a clear plan by which to complete this.
I will be checking all PREP Documents for you today. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Be sure that you are continuing to work as you can daily to maintain your progress toward your eventual goals.
Our next drafting workshop will occur on March 13. We'll take another look at another sample paper before then. We also have another round of pitches coming up soon! Be ready to keep going through the process!
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Homework for A Day Students - Weekend - 5 March
Dear students! Please turn in your documents for your PREP Check 3.1 to Google Classroom. If you don't turn them in by Sunday, I'll go hunting in your portfolio for what I need. As a reminder you should submit your:
- Data Sets/Planned Data Sets (depending on where you are in the collection process)
- Task Log
- Reflections to Number 21
- Record of Communication (Expert Adviser and Participants - If none, say none.)
- Paper Draft to Method Section
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Homework for (Super) Tuesday - 3 March 2020 - A Day
Good Morning All! Today was a day to begin our conferences and our check on data check. We will finish these on Thursday. I want to remind all of you that you are having your first PREP Check this weekend. I'll be looking at four folders for documentation. These are as follows:
1. Research Records - I should see data sets here. Even if they are blank, they should be here.
2. Records of Communication - Participants and Expert Advisers should be logged here.
3. Weekly Work - 21 Reflections. Task Log updated to most recent tasks.
4. Assessment Task Drafts - A draft through the method section.
Today in class we had a day to review our case endings and to begin on our grammar and vocabulary project - The House of My Dreams / Дом Моей Мечты. For this project you need five rooms and two items. You should use adjectives to describe everything, especially in your writing. We'll take a look at a sample paragraph next week.
I also reviewed the quiz goals for next week Wednesday. Make sure that you're reviewing your charts and grammar packets daily to be ready for the quiz. Working with the exercises that I've assigned are also helpful.
I'll be available for extra help on Monday and Tuesday for the quiz. You'll get progress reports on Thursday!
Advanced Russian
Today in class we did a bit of everything. We now have our paper that goes over ALL of the prepositions we can use with verbs of motion and Russian III/IV students learned the last few verbs of motion in the language. Remember - I will never ask you ask you about these words; they're just for extension and awareness.
From there we moved to review our translation exercise to see A, B and C type sentences and how to transform them into Russian. We finished with a review of our most recent quizzes and our newest project.
Next class we'll have time with Anna as well as time to work on the project assigned today. This will be your first in-class workshop, so remember there's just one left after that.
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Homework for the Weekend - 30 January 2020 - A Day
Today we shared our Elevator Pitch 2.0 in which we reviewed our questions, goals, methods, steps and hypotheses. I was happy to see some great work and some wonderful pitching and catching. The notes at the end for the good of the group are important as we build forward to our final PODs. We also have the content that we need to do Reflection 17, which has been posted.
See the slides for your reminders, notes, and calendar for February and March. It's time to collect, analyze, and write! Be done by Spring Break!
Russian I
I am so impressed with your skills and abilities to translate and work in Russian. Great work everyone. Monday is going to be our final day to review before the examination on Wednesday. Be sure that you have fully learned your case endings and your Chapter 1 vocabulary. Review all of your old tests and quizzes as you'll see a lot of those questions on this examination.
If you haven't finished your project, be sure that it is turned in by the end of the day on Sunday. They'll be marked as late after Sunday at midnight. Remember to have one sentence per slide and a picture that goes with the slide.
Be sure to use the slides attached as you are studying and reviewing! Have a great weekend.
Advanced Russian
Today in class was our final day to learn new content before the assessment next week. The quiz will fall on Wednesday and will cover the four main verbs of motion that we have learned (to walk, to go by transit, to carry, and to transport), the A, B, C concept and related grammar like cases and prepositions.
Over the weekend complete your practice exercises and study your cards. We'll be watching an episode of Орёл и Решка and talking about their travels - great practice for Verbs of Motion.