15 September - Blue Day

Good Afternoon Students and Grown-Ups,

Be sure to continue to check Google Classroom for daily updates and reminders. Please ensure that any work from Week 1 is turned in today, including the Homework Assignment 1. Also, remember that in this class I will grade on standards, not assignments, and you have the opportunity to resubmit work after it is scored to improve your grade. Here are your class specific reminders.

English 10

If you didn't submit your Homework Assignment 1 - "My Single Story" please do so. I'd love to take this opportunity to better know you and your story more. Be sure to follow the instructions on Google Classroom.

AP Language

Today we focused on visual rhetoric and the rhetorical situation. We practiced with a painting, and tonight you'll continue that practice with a prescient image. Use your online textbook to find Ana Juan's New Yorker Cover. Apply your strategy from class. Answer the three "READ" questions with this text. You can answer them quickly (no more than a paragraph for each question). Submit your work as a quick practice with our skill.

Also, be sure that you've submitted HW Assignment 1 and your Summer Assignment. If there are questions or concerns, please let me know.

Exam Scores and Recommendations - Russian I, II, III

If you tested yesterday in Russian II/III or Russian I then I have scored your final examination and calculated your final grade for the year. I am happy to report that everyone who has tested will receive credit for the class. However, some of you are not qualified to continue on to the next level of Russian. Some of you, if you choose to advance, will need to participate in tutoring in order to solidify some of your skills.

If you are planning to continue to the next level of Russian, please get in touch with me about what you can do over the summer to improve yourselves. There are plenty of great online resources and YouTube channels that you can use in order to improve your skills!

Поздравляю вас!

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 15 September 2017

AP English III

Today was such a productive day! We've got some of the big conceptual understandings now about how to approach argumentative writing. Remember that over the weekend you have a major task - the revision of your outlines. All revised outlines should be turned in no later than Thursday the 21st. This is so that we can give you feedback to develop rough drafts. As you revise follow the steps:

1. Edit your argument so that it passes the DADS test. It's gotta be Debatable, Analytical, Defensible, and Specific!
2. Reorganize your textual support around clear and specific topics. Generate topic sentences that explain the connection to your argument.
3. Develop a refutation from the evidence in the text.
4. Explain all of your evidence in the context of your argument. Show how this relates and why it is important.

You have everything you need to improve your standing (aka revising outlines and questions) in this class and in your approach to writing. It's time to get it done.

Also, read Eudora Welty's "Listening" for class on Tuesday. There's a link to the article here. As you read, annotate the piece to discover what Welty's argument is.

English IV

If you have not completed your draft of "The Me You Don't See" spend time this weekend developing that so that you will be ready to submit your draft on Thursday next week. On Thursday we'll go back to the lab to do final checks before submitting.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 7 September

English IV

Over this weekend you should take some time to reflect on your brainstorming and outline so that you are ready to write your personal essay in class on Monday.

AP English III

We've started the path to good writing. It's time for you to travel it by revising. Take a look at the feedback and comments that Mr. Bernhard and I have put on your assignments and address those as well as the rubric as you work on resubmitting the In Cold Blood questions. We will continue to work on other elements of improved composition throughout the year.

Other homework for the weekend is vocabulary. I would like for you to take five words from either your AP practice sets, the articles we've been reading, or In Cold Blood and complete vocabulary cards for these. If you need guidance on how to complete a vocabulary card - see this document for instructions. The link should open a Google Document with instructions and an example. Account for all parts of the card. Use appropriate online resources. You can submit your cards via Google Slides shared to me (daniel_miller (at) dpsnc (dot) net), on index cards, or on paper. Have them submitted at the beginning of class on Monday.

Finally, review Section III of In Cold Blood with an eye toward your back cover annotations. In class on Monday we'll be working through Sections II and III.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day Students - 8/27/2015

I won't be seeing you all again until Monday, so here is what you need to accomplish leading up to then.

AP English III

Over the weekend I want you all to go back to Kozol and re-investigate him given what we discussed today about rhetoric and argumentation.  Reread and annotate the introduction and chapter two of Shame of the Nation.  I would suggest using a different color of ink to the one you looked at originally - that way both you and I will see how you have updated your approach to the text.  Approach this the way we did Alexie today - How is Kozol manipulating the relationship between the topic/audience/himself?  How do the rhetorical appeals impact his work and your understanding of it?

English II

This weekend you need to complete your final draft of your travel paragraph.  You'll turn it in to me on Monday for your first grades of the course.  Make sure that you also turn in your rough draft with the peer editing notes so that I can give you credit for that part of the assignment.

AP English III Summer Assignment Help Sessions

Upcoming students of AP English III.  I am teaching summer school this session and am making myself available to help you with your summer assignments.  I am on campus from 8:00 am to 12:30 Monday through Thursday until August the 5th.  Please come in and ask for whatever help you may need completing your assignments.

To my former AP English III students, know that I can help you with your college essay drafting and revising process if you've already started on those.