27 and 28 October - This is the end...

Quarter 1 is now officially over. Grades have been posted for Quarter 1. No changes will be made. Remember that quarter one counts less than your other quarters because I know that you are readjusting to things. If you've faced challenges, it is important to reflect on those and chart a new course forward. Don't keep repeating the same process and expect a different outcome. You should also know that the course will begin to get more difficult as we move forward. With that, on to the the updates.

AP Language

Today was essentially our end of the unit for The Crucible. We discussed some of Miller's ideas and purposes through the play as we participated in a jigsaw discussion on excerpts from his article. I think that it is extremely important that we noticed the ways in which history and humanity stay the same throughout the eras, even though there are significant changes. 

After that, we launched into our mini-project where we're comparing Mean Girls and The Crucible - the playlist for the clips are linked on Schoology. Remember to use your viewing guide and select ONE element for your compare/contrast. Decide if the elements are generally similar or different between the two texts and then explore the importance of this similarity OR difference. You'll construct a visual comparing/contrasting the two elements (character, conflict, theme, motif, setting, etc.) and then the mini-essay. Follow the outline on the back of the viewing guide for the mini-essay.

Be aware of the following assignments that will open Quarter 2:

• 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.

We're opening Q2 with a lot of points! Use this weekend to get ahead and be prepared. Remember that we're going to be studying The Great Gatsby next.

English 10

We had a very chill and easy day to end quarter one. I am very happy that so many of you completed your test corrections and used this opportunity to raise your scores before the end of the quarter. I also hope that by reviewing your work and your answers that you see your mistakes, and don't repeat them in the future. After test corrections, we took time for some grammar and then moved to our novels.

We will finish this unit by Thanksgiving Break. Your final assessment on your book will be a project - more on this later - that focuses on how the characters have grown up through the course of the book. There is a graphic organizer we'll begin to fill out to help us track these changes. For now, it's important to keep reading!

Next class we'll have our NoRedInk Diagnostic Test (remember you'll get a 4.0 for completion of the test) and any time afterwards will be for you to collect and complete vocabulary. These two assignments will be your first grades for Quarter 2, and both are very easy ways to start with a 4.0 - just do the thing!

Homework for A-Day Students: 29 October 2018

AP English III

Remember that your main task on Wednesday will be your quiz on Act III and IV. The quiz will follow the same structure as before with multiple choice, quotation analysis, and a free response question. Be sure that you have your book for the multiple choice.

The rest of the week you'll be focused on finishing Mean Girls as your final text for the unit. Remember that for your unit assessment on the 6th of November you'll be expected to explore a theme shared between all of the texts - your viewing guides can be used for this assessment as your evidence.

You will also have your annotations checked on The Crucible as well as vocabulary cards 11-15 collected on this date.

English IV

On Wednesday you're going to have your quiz on Act I of A Doll's House. Today in class we went over your main vocabulary words, the key events in Act I, and we finished our study of the play by looking at the film to review. You now have everything that you need to be successful on the quiz. You'll also have a bit of grammar and writing to do on this quiz. The quiz will be open book and open note - use your resources to do your best work!

Homework for B-Day Students: 1 November 2017

English IV

Your work is the same as your colleagues in the A-day group. Begin collecting and reviewing your notes on The Canterbury Tales for review and to prepare for your exam next week. The exam will cover The Canterbury Tales as well as information around writing and vocabulary. Prepare yourselves! We'll continue to review on Friday.

AP English III

You may continue to present your monologues on Thursday (before or after school) or on Friday (before school, after school, during B lunch, or during class in our time). All visuals and paragraphs will need to be collected by Friday so that Mr. Bernhard and I can have them graded in time. This project is a good example of how to work in this class. You can't do this project all in one night. It can only successfully be done if you work on it a bit at a time. Hopefully those of you who procrastinated on this assignment will learn from that mistake and rectify this in the future.

You will also have a timed writing on Friday. We will start with the timed writing. It will draw on The Crucible and Mean Girls - you will be expected to draw on those two "texts" for the majority of your evidence. You will be able to use your notes for the assignment, but your notes will not be graded themselves.

We are starting this quarter with six "test" grades - make sure that you're not getting yourselves into a deep hole. See me if you need help.

Homework for B-Day Students: 17 May 2016

AP English III

Tonight you all need to work on two things at the same time - the work which will finish out our year.  First, you have your compare and contrast assignment on Mean Girls and The Crucible.  Remember that you are focusing on a motif and then elucidating that motif using evidence related to characters or conflicts.  Recall that you have to be making a clear insight about our society related to this motif.  Prove and relate that point!

Further, we also know our final day of class will be on the 25th of May.  You'll have your Character Cafe this day.  Bring in your snack/party item as well as your costume for our day.  You also have your entry ticket to the party which is your completed "Character Bone Structure" activity sheet.  The answers on this sheet should be based on the text in which the character is found or the author him/herself.

English II

We have our website presentations beginning next class.  Half of you will present on Thursday and the following half will present on Monday to finish our year.  Please make sure that you have used the rubric to prepare your final product.

The key things to remember are:

• you must have at least two focus paragraphs for your website
• you must deal with the other questions/pages - if you can't find information, address that fact and move on
• your must have at least one photo per page
• you must cite where your information has come from
• you should have an introduction to your website on the home page
• you can have notecards for your presentation

This is your final major grade of the year - make it count!

Homework for B Day Student - 11 May 2016

AP English III

I hope you crushed it.  I hope that there was nothing left for you to give and you put it all on the paper.  Good work.  Remember to bring your things for our study of Mean Girls on Friday.

English II

Tonight for homework you should finish the rough draft of your first focus paragraph for your website.  Remember that you need to clearly answer the research question, provide evidence to support and clarify your answer, and then explain that evidence.  If you are using any information from your research, it should be cited.

Additionally, you may want to go ahead and finish up your MLA citation for your citation page based on this paragraph.  For example, if you've used one source to write your focus paragraph you will want to create your citation for this source on your citation page.

We'll have a writing workshop next class to start finishing up this assignment.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day Classes - 1/23/2015

English II

If you didn't finish your tone illustration from Pushkin's "I Have Visited Again" then you will need to finish that over the weekend.  In addition, don't miss assignments in the second semester.  If you didn't get your vocabulary work done, you'll need to make sure that you consistently do the rest of your assignments for the quarter!  Don't make the same mistakes you made last year.

AP English III

For homework this weekend you have two things to do.  First, finish reading The Crucible.  As you finish reading, finish your annotations.  Pay attention to the ideas you see in the text and the ideas you've seen throughout the whole text.  Make sure that your covers show your reading from the text.

When you've finished the text, then move on to your writing assignment.  Your writing is a simple three paragraph essay which answers the prompt:  What would Arthur Miller think of Mean Girls?  As you write follow this structure:

Paragraph One:  DADS Argument based on the prompt.
Paragraph Two:  Body Paragraph.  Use an example from The Crucible as well as one from Mean Girls to support and prove your argument.
Paragraph Three:  Brief conclusion.  Reconnect to the argument.

In all your piece should be no longer than one page.  Focus on getting to the point quickly and clearly.  Answer the question and be insightful.