Cheers to the Weekend - 18 November - Friday

English 10

Solid day today studying "In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself" by Szymborska. She's a wonderful Polish poet, awarded by several presidents in Poland and the Nobel Committee too for her work. I hope you enjoyed it. We finished our day with vocabulary and time to get caught up. Remember that if you are behind on the work from last class, that assignment is still open to you.

Next class is going to be our Unit Catchup Day. If you have a missing assignment, that class is designed for you to get caught up before we go out on Thanksgiving Break. Let me know how I can help you. SIS has been updated with everything turned in to this point.

16 and 17 February

AP Language

Today was our full on library day to focus on the completion of our outlines. The better the outline, the easier the paper. We began by reviewing the requirements of MLA formatting and setting up our outline documents. We also reviewed the rubric in order to understand how to earn full credit for this assignment.

Keep in mind that an outline is a picture of your thinking. You don't have to use all of this as you move to the draft, but you'll find it easier to put together with a thorough and complete outline. Be sure to review the samples posted as you complete this task - they're very instructive.

English 10

A good day in English 10 today with some poetry, some focus on major ideas, and a bit of movie time at the end to relate to our themes that we're exploring in this unit. I also enjoyed seeing you all work through the silent conversation - I think that's a fun and interesting way to share our thoughts and see what people think, even anonymously.

Next class will be our full movie day for Escape from Sobibor. You'll get your viewing guide back to finish as you watch the film. Be sure that it's complete. If you don't finish the movie, then we'll finish it up next week. If you haven't done your vocabulary, do so now from the things we've read so far this unit. We'll be ending the unit in a few weeks, so be ready for another quiz and your end of the unit project.

31 January / 1 Feburary

AP Language

Good day today in the library - our goal right now is to develop our first research questions so that we can move into the process of peer review and further revisions. Remember that your final research question isn't due until next week, so the process of revising is key. Figure out the path you want to take. Carve out a part of the conversation that you can conduct in four to seven pages. Remember, narrowing your scope and focus is key - and the research databases are here to help you do this.

English 10

Today's class was a day to get Romantic (big R not little r). We talked about Romanticism as a literary movement, understood the main tenents of their philosophy and then looked at two poems - one by Pushkin and one by Lermontov.

We applied our TP-CASTT skills as we analyzed the poems and then did a bit of creative work as we analyzed the poems and understood their themes. We also worked through a fair amount of vocabulary. Don't forget to collect your vocabulary lists while you are reading - you have ten words due at the end of the unit.

Next class we'll be reading a short story by Anton Chekhov and doing an activity with it. I think you're going to really enjoy it. The recording is posted if you were absent or need to review - slides are under Materials.

30 September and 1 October

AP Language

Over the weekend, you should be focused on reading in Act I of The Crucible. Begin your front and back cover annotations. Track the ideas that you collect on the covers in the body of the text. Remember don't just blindly underline or highlight. Always give a word in the margin or a symbol to remind you of what you saw.

Next week is all about The Crucible. We'll be reading Act I and Act II. You may find it helpful to read it all in one sitting - it does move pretty fast. Pay attention to irony, the characters, the elements of Puritan society that you're seeing, and especially the idea of power.

Any missing work should be submitted as soon as possible. I should have everything graded and reviewed by the end of next week. Be sure to check SIS for any updates.

English 10

Today was a great day in English 10. We took a trip to Turkey to read the work of Mr. Nazim Hikmet and his poem "Some Advice to Those Who Will Spend Time in Prison." The goal of today's class was to understand the way to analyze a poem and break it down to discover its meaning. We focused on paraphrasing the poem, finding the emotions of the poem, and noticing the shifts in the emotions. All of this led us to our theme.

Over the weekend, you may not have any homework to complete. If you have submitted your project, then you are in a great place! Be sure that your vocabulary is nearly complete and keep reading if you would like. If your project is not yet in, this is the final chance to submit without a late penalty. Complete your tasks as soon as you can - reach out for any help you may need.

We're Back! 6 January 2020 - B Day

So good to see all of you and your beautiful faces! Remember that the year is going to be moving really fast as we go to our next big checkpoint - AP Examinations. Stay on your work and keep meeting your goals.

AP Literature

Hey everyone! Thank you for contributing great insights about Plath's "Metaphors." I am so impressed that we understood her overall message when reading the poem for the first time. I would encourage everyone to look at some of Plath's other poems!

Make sure that we study the TPCASTT process and how to apply it to a given poem.
If you want to practice TPCASTT for the quiz on Wednesday, I would apply it to Adrienne Rich's poem, "Miracle Ice Cream."

Also, don't forget that your poet projects are due next Tuesday! This is a hard and fast deadline! 


AP Research

Great work today and so good to see all of you! Remember that there's a lot for us to accomplish moving forward and that class is going to start moving in a lot of different directions as we work to collect and analyze our data. Work with each other. Help each other. Reach out to me when you need me.

Remember to fill out our checkpoint for today's PREPTime. Additionally, we have a writing goal coming up. You should be writing! Put things together. Use your templates.


Reach out with any questions you may have. Your final PREPCheck will be at the end of the quarter and will count double. I'll be checking the same folders, you'll just be adding two more reflections for this week and next.