5 May - Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

English 11

A good start to the week for us today as we worked through WEB DuBois and the end of our preparation for the Reading SOL on Thursday morning. Remember that on the SOL you'll have a lot of passages to read and then to answer questions about. The questions will range in type from vocabulary to literary devices to theme and topic type questions. Over the last few lessons, I've been trying to show you different types of texts and ask you the sorts of questions that you'll see on Thursday. Hopefully, you're well prepared.

On Wednesday, you'll finish your review and submit your two review assignments - The Game Plan and the Review Bank. I've gotten a great guest teacher who will go over strategies and sample items to help prepare you. On Friday, we'll take some time to reflect and review before finishing up our Drama Project work. 

As always, reach out with any questions or concerns. Remember that at the end of the year it is important to not miss any assignments. Make them up as soon as you can! Also, continue to revise assignments as you want to so that you get to the achievement level that you want in this class. See you soon!

23 April - Wacky Wednesday Yet Again!

English 11

Solid work today, everyone! I hope that you enjoyed Flannery O'Connor and her spin on life in the Southern United States. Today we read "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" and explored the grotesque, Southern Gothic, irony, and the idea of a ruined Christ figure. It was a heavy reading day, but these are the days that steel us for future testing.

We read the story in order to discover our devices and to explore the darker side of human society. This is definitely one of those stories that will stick with you for a while. Is Lucynell still sitting in that cafe?! We didn't have as much time at the end to discuss some of the meaning from the story, so we'll have to hold that to the end of the unit when we pull together some loose threads.

For tonight, focus on finishing your vocabulary work and your play reading. Friday's class will be focused on our Drama Projects, so having a good chunk of the reading done will help to facilitate that. Remember to use your resources to help you read. They're posted in the Unit Folder. I've posted the common version of our SOL Reading Review Bank, so be sure that your version is updated. If you haven't yet finished your MAP test, be sure to schedule time for Lion Time to get that complete. Looking forward to Friday!

21 April - Welcome Back!

English 11

Welcome back, everyone! I'm so excited to have seen so many of you today. For those who were away, know that you were missed. I look forward to seeing you, soon! Today was a bit of an everything day as we worked through some key reading tasks. I hope that everyone will note my intentionality in the next few classes. It's all about reading right now as we do our final preparations for the Reading SOL. Personally, I'm a bit anxious about this test because it's an unknown for a lot of us; however, I'm sure that if we work together to prepare with purpose, we'll do great things together! On to the recap...

We started out with some time for reading. We're in different places with our plays, which is okay, but the goal is the same. You should be done reading the majority, if not all of your play, by Friday. I've posted videos and audio books to help. In some cases, watching while reading will really help. Plays are meant to be seen, ya know. After reading, we processed by discussing and note taking. I loved the engagement and connections we drew between stories. Be sure that you're actively checking in with your Reading Review Bank assignment after every class. You should be getting more devices each day. Check in with a peer or with me if you need help.

After lunch we played a bit of a bonus round from our discussion before vocabulary. The end of the day was independent working time. If you're missing the Vocabulary Summative from Day 68, that's a major priority. You can do the test or the project, but it needs to be done. Zeroes will go in the gradebook on Friday. We also need to finish up the MAP test. If you already started it, you can probably finish it in a LT B or C. If you haven't started, you might want to reserve a whole LT for this. I appreciate that many of you made appointments.

As always, reach out with questions! I'm here to help as much as I can. We've got about three weeks until our Reading SOL and six weeks til finals...Let's finish strong!

10 April - Off to Spring Break!

English 11

Simple day today in English 11 as we did some business for FCPS and a bit of preparation for our Reading SOL. Today we took the final round of our MAP Literacy Test. This is mostly a reading comprehension and vocabulary assessment. The information from this test helps me to prepare you for the upcoming Reading SOL by letting me know what I need to teach and review in these final classes. If you didn't finish the test today, or if you were absent, please plan to come to Lion Time on April 21. This is a very important test to finish!

After finishing the test there were chances to complete vocabulary work, enjoy your plays, or work on your SOL Reading Bank. I tried to have a quick check in with each of you as you finished your test today as well. If we didn't get a chance to meet and talk, we'll do that after break. You can always come to Lion Time for a conference too!

I hope that you all have a great break! I'm going to be in North Carolina for Passover with my family on Saturday and then we go to Florida on Monday for a few days. I'm excited to be at the beach with a book - that's for sure! I can't wait to see you when we get back for the final push to summer!

8 April - Terrific Tuesday

English 11

You all were crushing it today in English 11. We started off by discussing author's purpose and brainstorming some of the reasons why an author would choose to keep key details like characters and settings ambiguous instead of specific. This took us into our study of John Dos Passos's U.S.A. We studied the "Prelude" to his larger novel to understand the role of the main character as a symbol for the blue collar American worker. We also discussed the stylistics in the text like listing, lower case letters, and shifts that made meaning clear.

From there, we focused on our SOL Reading Bank and processed the text. Today's text, as an allegory or short story, provided us a lot of conflict, symbolism, and character. We also were able to identify irony and tragedy as this text dealt with the tragedy of American capitalism. As you keep reading your plays, I hope that you'll take some time to process them with this tool.

We ended the day with vocabulary. The assignments will stay open for the rest of the week. If you did not finish your vocabulary assessment in class, please make that a priority. Next class we're going to take the time to complete our FCPS Reading Test. This will help me to prepare us for the Reading SOL since it tests your reading ability. Be sure to have your FCPS laptop to take the test. If you finish the test before the end of class, then you'll have time to finish any other assignments. 

4 April - End of the Week

English 11

Great end to the week today in English 11 - the only bad thing was that we were missing so many of you! If you're away, I hope that today's post, the recording, and the resources posted help keep you caught up. We started the day by working through our SOL Reading Review Bank. I went through Joy Harjo's poem "Anchorage" and was able to find several devices. You can feel free to use what I did. Remember that as you're reading and studying throughout the rest of this unit, the goal is to collect your devices. This is how you study for our SOL since most of the questions will focus on devices, topics, and themes.

After that, we got into our choice plays. It is my hope that you finish your play by the time we go out on Spring Break. We did a creative activity for a grade where we created the cover of the Playbill for this play. I was happy to see your Reading Interpretation skills take a new form. From there, we went into a rich conversation about our various plays. It was great hearing the connections that you were building about struggle, overcoming adversity, and the American Dream. We'll continue these conversations as we keep reading.

For the weekend, focus on reading your plays! Keep processing them using your SOL Reading Review Bank. Don't forget that we'll have a vocabulary assessment on Tuesday - so study up! Next week is the last week before Spring Break!

2 April - Kicking Off A New Unit

English 11

Today was all about new beginnings as we kicked off both Quarter 4 and Unit 4 - Drama and Character. In this next unit we'll be studying dramas and a few short stories in order to investigate the ways in which authors create meaning through characters. We're going to see how characters are representative of ideas, so when characters are having discussion and conflict, it's more ideas that are having discussion and conflict. All of this will help us to further understand themes and messages and the ways in which they're created.

If you have any work to complete for Quarter 3, now is the time. Please see me by Friday Lion Time to avoid any last zeroes. Remember that in Quarter 4, your grade is the grade that's reported! Let's play hard here at the end to ensure we finish the year strongly. 

We've got two major assignments that we'll be working on throughout the month of April. Our Drama Project and our SOL Reading Review Bank. I think that the Reading Review Bank is one of the most important assignments you'll complete all year. As we read we'll be scrubbing to review literary devices because that's the bulk of your SOL Exam. Once this is complete, turn it in! Use it to prepare and study actively for our exam.

Outside of that, be reading your new plays! Study for your upcoming Vocabulary Examination. I'm excited for class on Friday! We'll be reading and getting into our characters in our dramas. I'm excited to see what we come up with!

17 January - End of the Week

English 11:

We had a really great day today in English 11 to finish out the week. It was a filled day where we worked on a few different skills. We also took some time for reading and group meetings. Some of you were absent today, and you were missed! Your groups will be waiting to submit the group contract until next class when you're with us.

We started the day with a bit of grammar and talked about combining sentences. We reviewed the ways in which we can combine sentences and the sticky bits about some pieces of punctuation and their usage: Remember that colons are only used when the second sentence directly adds on to the first. Try applying some of these strategies as you're writing. We'll keep working more on this soon. From there we did some review of narrative elements and then began to apply them to our books. These are the terms that you'll be asked about on your Virginia Reading SOL, so it's important that we learn them now!

I'm really enjoying watching you all collaborate and read in your groups. It warms my heart! Next class you'll have a quiz on your books, so the best thing to do is to read in order to prepare. Weekends, especially long ones like this, are great for us to read. At the very end of class, we finished our last five vocabulary words. We'll practice and review next class.

Remember that the end of the grading period is right around the corner. If you're missing your letter or reading test from Unit 2, please make a Lion Time pass to settle that up. You can submit your vocabulary project whenever you'd like. All grades will be finalized on January 29, so don't wait! 

26 April - SOL Reading Day

AP Language

Good luck on the SOL Reading today everyone! Take deep breaths, take your time, and understand what the question is asking you - no worries at all! We'll have another choice board working day for our next class. Try to put some time into finishing your first task if it's not already complete. I see a lot of in progress assignments on AP Classroom, so get those wrapped up. 

Next time I see you, your goal should be to conference and take me through your improvements and evident growth. You may find it helpful to annotate your work with this in mind. Don't forget to reference the skill descriptors as you are working in particular skills. I'm after school today (Wednesday) and Thursday to offer any help you may need!

AP Research

Great day in AP Research land as we are moving toward our submission date. We took time today to do some our best work, peer review. I loved seeing you all working together for this class and offering such wonderful feedback to each other. We also reviewed the instructions for DigitalPortfolio and how to navigate what the Originality Report means and how to use it. If you were absent, please check this very important recording from today.

Next class is Submission Day! Bring snacks! Bring drinks! Bring a celebratory mood. Let's kill it!

24 April

AP Language

Great day in AP Language land as we kicked off Unit 6 - Our Choice Board! This unit is designed to give you ample time to improve your skills in preparation for the AP Examination. Next time I see you, you'll be taking me through your work, showing and explaining your changes, and seeing the development of your skills in real time. Remember that I'm here to support you through all of this. If you get writer's block, let me know. I'm pretty handy with a sledgehammer.

For sake of ease, please submit an artifact of your task here on Schoology. It could be a note, a link to a doc, or whatever. This will help our revision conferences. You can also come in at Lion Time on Tuesday or after school on Wednesday/Thursday if you need me or more time with me. Remember, we have very little time left before the AP Exam.

Next class - Wednesday the 26th - you'll have the Reading SOL in the Aux Gym. Check your email for your seating assignment. Have your charged laptop, your computer charger, and your brains turned on. If you'd like a practice test - you can find one easily on Google. Just look for VA SOL Reading for 11th Grade. There are a few PDF tests out there to get comfortable with questions.

AP Research

We keep on rolling through our presentations with just two left for Thursday's Lion Time. As I'm looking at your work, the only thing I see that needs to be done is some final steps to close out the unit. Please be sure to submit your reflections for Quarter 3/4 to the assignment space. You should answer all of the remaining questions. 

Next class, Wednesday the 26th, we'll be doing some final peer review, turning in a PDF to Digital Portfolio, and using some of the online tools. Please have a draft submitted to DigitalPortfolio before I see you next time. DO NOT SUBMIT UNLESS YOU ARE CONFIDENT THAT YOU ARE DONE! I've submitted all scores for presentations completed. I'm very happy with what you've been doing. Let's finish strong!

27 and 28 April

AP Language

Today was our recovery day from the Reading SOL. We had time to read, write, discuss, or work as needed. I hope you enjoyed the time.

Keep in mind that there are several end of novel assignments/tasks that are now open to you. Complete and submit reflections. Once you've completed all five, you'll see your score in SIS. If you've had four conversations and logged your notes, submit your record of that work for your participation. Lastly, there's vocabulary cards. I'll take your set of ten if they're complete! Use this time to complete this tasks so that you can focus on your final projects as we move into May!

English 10

Today was our end of unit catch-up day. The main focus is our end of unit projects which are due on Friday in order to be considered on time. Other tasks to be completed today included any missing work like SOL Essays, Vocabulary Lists, or Writing Assignments. There were also a few of you who needed to finish tests, so you had that chance today as well. 

Next class we'll be starting our last unit of the year - Japan! We'll look at poetry, some sacred texts, and a film! I'm excited to share some great culture with you to close out the year!

25 and 26 April

AP Language

A very low-key class in AP Language to start the week. We started our day with reading, had time to discuss our reading so far and our ideas about the novels, and then time to finish our day as we needed. I hope that you're enjoying your time as you work through the novels - keep meeting your goals as you're reading and thinking.

On Wednesday you'll have your reading SOL. Because of this, Thursday's class is going to be a bit of a review/reflection/recovery day. Right now you should be focusing on reading your books, reflecting on your reading, and completing your tasks related to the novel. There's a bonus assignment unlocked for you to help with the most recent MCQ - complete it if you'd like! 

English 10

Today was the end of our unit on Latin American literature. I hope that you enjoyed spending time with our neighbors to the south. Remember that all of these authors have written much more than what we read in this unit - keep exploring if you read something that you enjoyed. Marquez's novel called One Hundred Years of Solitude is a personal favorite of mine. 

Today's exam will be scored and back to you by the end of the week. Next class is our catch-up day for you to finish your projects, your SOL essays, or any other tasks that may still be out there for the unit. The last unit of the year is next - JAPAN! We'll have a film as the main text in this unit, so lots for us to look forward to as we close the year.