Homework for B-Day Students: 17 February 2016

AP English III

With the snow day on Monday we've had to make a few shifts to the calendar, so pay attention to the information below.

• ACT PreAdministration will happen on Friday during 2B.  We will not have a normal class on Friday because of this.  3B students should bring resources to work on research outlines.
• Research outlines are due on Tuesday.  In the outline you must have your argument, your topics, your research (quotations/paraphrases) with MLA citations and commentary which explains the importance of the evidence.  You must also have a final Works Cited page which includes all of your sources.
• Any resubmissions of Huck Finn are due on Friday.  It doesn't matter that some of you won't have me on Friday.  Get it turned in if you want a new grade.
• I need to check your blogs.  Please post a comment to this post in which you give me your blog URL.  This is a must for ALL groups.
• Reading of Invisible Man has shifted a bit.  Your next reading goal is Chapters Seven, Eight, and Nine.  These are due on the 25th of February.  Your analysis post for these chapters will also be due on this day.
• Right now I have your synthesis timed writing planned for the week of the 29th.

I'm available Thursday afternoon for extra help on outlines and research.  See me if you need to!

English II

I was so glad that so many of you had such strong reactions to Mersault today in class.  Keep this up as you keep reading.  For tonight, make sure that you have finished Chapter One and that you have collected your five vocabulary words.

Next class we will be finishing our Latin American Literature examinations and working on our projects as well as working through Chapter One of The Stranger.  Make sure that you are prepared to work on your projects - bring a rough draft if you have one.  Remember that projects are due from Thursday to Tuesday the 25th.  After Tuesday I will not accept creative writing projects for full credit.  Also remember that projects count the same as a test - this is a way to help your grade, not hurt it.

Homework for A-Day Classes - 16 February 2016

English II

Today we started our work on The Stranger by Albert Camus.  An excellent philosophical book that will make you really think about choices, morals, and the difference between good and bad.  For tonight, make sure to read the rest of Chapter One.  As you read, pay attention to Mersault's character - What type of a guy is he?  How does he respond to the world and the people around him?  Find five good vocabulary words as you read.

Your projects on Latin American literature can be turned in Thursday to Tuesday.  We'll have a bit of class time on Thursday and Friday to work on the projects - if you can turn it in finished then, great!  If not, you will have until Tuesday to turn it in for full credit.

Russian I

Today we had our quiz on adjectives.  Remember to continue studying and preparing the information we learn so that you can keep it in your heads.  For tonight, you should complete your floor plan and writing projects.  Remember that these are due on Thursday.  You'll need your floor plan with five rooms labeled and three items labeled in each room.  You also need your paragraph which states the ownership of the room, describes the items in the room, and explains an action that happens in the room.

Russian II/III

Today we had our workshop for our projects which are due on Monday.  Next class you'll have your quiz on verbs of motion.  Know your conjugations, know your prefixes, know your cases and prepositions.  Be ready!

SNOW DAY #4 - 15 February 2016

I guess that Lincoln and Washington really wanted us to have today off.  Here we are on another snow day - I've not gone outside yet this morning, but it certainly does look slick on my street.  Here are your reminders going into our next class.

Russian II/III

We will have our quiz next class on verbs of motion.  Be prepared for that by doing the following:  know your conjugations of your eight basic verbs of motion, know the prepositions and cases paired with these verbs to indicate going to and coming from, know the English equivalents of these verbs. Russian III, make sure that you know the meaning of your prefixes and the way in which the prefix joins to the verb, especially with идти/ездить.

Russian I

You will also have a quiz next class on adjectives and agreement.  Make sure that you know your endings, your changes, and the meanings of these cases in terms of grammar.  You've plenty of exercises in your textbooks and there are some great ones online too.  I recommend:  this one  on the nominative and this one on accusative from UCLA.  Once you've gone there you can feel free to explore this site for more on Russian grammar and exercises.  A great resource!

English II

I'm spending my morning planning out our unit on Africa - we'll be reading our main novel of the year and several short stories, poems, and articles about the continent.  Next class we will begin on our novel and try to finish up our creative writing projects.  You should spend your day today doing two things to prepare for our next class:  first, make sure to review your notes since you'll have a few minutes to check your multiple choice section on the Latin American Literature exam; second, draft your creative writing project - have ideas down on paper and as much of your assignment done on paper or on the computer.  If you work on the computer, try to get an electronic copy by sharing in Google Docs or e-mailing the document to yourself.  Remember the importance of completing long-term assignments on time and well!

AP English III

I will see all of you on Wednesday, I hope, with your blogs completed up to Chapter Six.  I've seen a few blogs and I really like what I am seeing.  Remember that your entries don't have to be over complicated right now - this is a slight increase of the motif chart (with a bit more explanation).  We'll be coming up on our first synthesis posting soon, and I'll go over in class about those and the requirements (they'll be beefier).  For our next class make sure that you've completed the reading up to Chapter Six, that you have annotated thoroughly, and completed your motif charts for the reading.  I would also recommend going through and taking a look at some choice vocabulary.  You'll have a set of cards due soon.

Additionally, take a look over the information I gave you related to the synthesis prompt.  We'll be completing one of these soon.  Don't forget about your outlines for the research papers.  They're still due next week.  Use today to get ahead on those!

Homework for B-Day Students: 12 February 2016

English II

Today we had our examination on Latin American literature.  If you didn't finish your test, don't worry.  We'll have some time to make sure that everyone is done on Monday and Tuesday.  Feel free to come in before or after school or during lunch.

This weekend you should all spend time working on your projects since we will go to the computer lab on Tuesday to work on typing these projects.  Be sure that you have some work done so that you can be productive on Tuesday.  The projects are due on Thursday.

AP English III

This weekend you have the reading of Chapter Five and Chapter Six of Invisible Man.  Remember that in Chapter Five there are a few motifs that you will not see; however, in Chapter Six they are all present.  For Tuesday's class you should complete your first three blogging posts - the introduction post, the post covering the first three chapters with vocabulary, and then the post covering Chapters Two through Six.  After this, we will be caught up and the expectation is that you will have your post complete when the reading is due.

Make sure that you have shared your blog URL with me either via email, sharing, or via this post.  You can leave the URL as a comment so that I can find it.

Also, don't forget to look over your information on synthesis (both the AP prompt and the research paper assignment).  You should be completing the building of your argument and outline this week.  We'll go over what I want for the outline on Tuesday, but you already know what it is - remember your summer assignment redone outline.  Follow that format to get off to a good start with this assignment.

Lastly, don't forget about our upcoming ACT.  Study and prepare!

Homework for A-Day Students: 11 February 2016

I hope that everything went well with the substitute.  Here are some reminders for you all this weekend.

Russian I, II, III

You'll all have your quizzes on Monday make sure that you are preparing yourself over the weekend.  Russian I Students, you should be focused on your adjectives in the masculine, feminine, and neuter genders for the nominative, accusative, prepositional, and genitive case.  You should also have a clear understanding of the meaning behind the cases and what jobs they perform in terms of grammar.  Also, complete your home projects.  You should have your plans done for your houses as well as your paragraphs for each room.

Russian II Students, your quiz will focus on the eight verbs of motion related to going by foot, going by vehicle, taking by foot, and taking by vehicle.  Learn your conjugations, know their uses, and pay attention to your exercises.  There are a lot of extra opportunities to review this topic online if you just search for the topic.

Russian III Students, you have the same idea for your quiz on Monday, but remember that you have to be able to add prefixes to the verbs and understand not only how to add the prefix but also what that addition does to the verb itself.

English II

If any of you did not finish your quiz today with the substitute, please see me tomorrow or Monday to finish.  Next week we will have the priority of finishing our creative writing projects and then moving on to our next unit in which we will study literature and non-fiction from Africa.  Over the weekend, spend your time trying to complete a rough draft of your creative writing work.  I will be trying to get us computer lab time on Monday to type up your work before I collect projects on Wednesday.  Remember the importance of meeting your deadlines this semester!

Homework for B-Day Students: 10 February 2016

English II

We didn't have a chance to do our free response writing today, so we will have to push that to Friday's class.  This means that we will finish the entire test on Friday.  Make sure that you are prepared.  I'm glad that many of you checked out textbooks so that you can review the stories and be ready for Friday.

Any time you have left after you finish the exam on Friday will be spent on your creative writing projects.  Remember the importance of completing your major projects on time!

AP English III

I'm happy to have papers from those of you who needed to hit the first resubmission date.  Remember that these will be ready for you on Monday.  Come and see me to pick them up so that you can turn it around for the next resubmission if you so choose.

In terms of other work to complete you have the reading of Chapters Three and Four for our class on Friday.  We will work through a reading guide as a class.  If you will not be in class, use this link to access the reading guide so that you can complete it while you're skiing.

Remember that your blogs will be checked on Friday.  You'll need to have the introduction post, the analysis post for Prologue, Chapter One, and Chapter Two.  With the analysis post, remember to also have your vocabulary.  One word for each chapter.

Additionally, make sure that you are working regularly on your research papers and topics.  You should have a working argument statement that you can use to guide your research.  Begin to work through your sources and build the support for your argument.  This will ensure that you are working in a timely way to complete everything.  Remember your outlines are due on 2/22.  This is the day you have to lock in your topics!

Homework for A Day Students: 9 February 2016

Russian I

Please take to heart the discussion we had today about the amount of work and what you need to do outside of class.  Remember, if you don't know what to do then come and ask me what you should do.

You will have your quiz on adjectives in the prepositional, nominative, accusative, and genitive case on Monday.  Your house projects are also due on Monday.  Remember that the house project is meant to help you get ready for the quiz.  Use your brains and your notes, don't rely on the translator.  You won't learn it if you don't do it.

Russian II/III

You all will also have a quiz on Monday focusing on verbs of motion and their uses.  To prepare, you should be working on your projects related to your excursion of a neighborhood or a few neighborhoods in Russian.  A lot of you got some good work done with these projects today in class.  Keep working on these and especially writing your sentences which discuss the different types of actions that are happening.

English II

On Thursday you will take the multiple-choice portion of your Latin American literature exam.  Today you had the free-response.  Study the review guides, especially the plot and character review, the vocabulary, and the literary devices.  You'll have questions on all of this as we go through the exam.

You'll also be visited by Guidance on Thursday for them to discuss registration for next year.

Homework for B-Day - 8 February 2016

English II

Tonight you have two major things to prepare as we move to Wednesday's class.  First, make sure that you are preparing yourself for the first part of your exam next class.  You're going to want to make sure that you study the literary devices portion of your review guide to prepare for your free response questions.  You'll be able to choose one of the three questions for your answer, so prepare for that.

Additionally, make sure that you are putting in some work each night on your writing project.  I'll collect them next week and we'll have time toward the end of this week to work on them in the computer lab.

AP English III

There is a lot to go over with all of you and I'll try to be as clear as I can.

1. Motif Blogging Project - By Friday's class you should have your first two posts settled and they are documented for you in the instructions blog which is posted below.  Please send me a link to your blog once you have your posts done.  Don't forget that we are adding the vocabulary - one word per chapter.  You can include this in your analytical post for Friday.  For next week you will have your post on Chapters Three, Four, and Five due on the same day - the day that the Chapter Five reading is due.  After this we'll be all caught up and can keep using the reading schedule to set our posts.
2. Reading Schedules - You should be to the end of Chapter Four by Friday's class.  Make sure that you keep up with your personal vocabulary and the motif charts as you are reading.
3. Developing Your Topics - Hopefully our workshop went over what you need to do moving forward with your research paper topics.  Please come see me if you need more help.  Remember to resubmit your topic if you feel it necessary.
4. Resubmitting Huck Finn Papers - First round of resubmissions are due for you all on Wednesday.  Second round is next week on Tuesday.  I will not accept any resubmissions past that date.  Accept the gift that this is and resubmit if you feel it necessary.  Remember that I need the original paper and rubric along with the new.

AP English III Motif Project

AP English Students -

Here is the link to the instructions and examples blog.

Make sure to keep up with the instructions blog - it'll be helpful as we move through this project.

A Day Homework - Weekend Edition - 5 February

English II

There's not too much for all of you to do this weekend; it mostly has to do with your projects and your exam.  You'll want to study the literary devices and the vocabulary we went over today in class.  Next class we will finish our review game and then have some serious time to work on projects in the computer lab.  So that you are able to use the computer lab time wisely next class, make sure that you put some work in on the planning and selecting of the project over the weekend.

Russian I

You all will have your quiz next class on adjectives and nouns in the nominative, accusative, prepositional, and genitive case.  You should be able to talk about ownership and possession (have/has), location, and you should be able to describe things.

For your vocabulary, focus on colors and the rooms and items located in a house.  Working on your project this weekend will definitely help you in preparing for your quiz.

Russian II/III

Your quiz is coming on Thursday since so many of you were taking the practice AP Exam today.  For next class spend time working on your verbs of motion exercises, especially the ones using the verbs ходить/идти, ездить/ехать, носить/нести, возить/везти.  For Russian III students you also need to keep track of your prefixes and the way in which these join in to verbs of motion.

Don't forget your projects too - you should be working on them regularly.

Homework for B-Day Students: 4 February 2016

English II

Great discussion and energy today in our work on doppelgangers and the story "Borges and I" as well as with Twilight Zone.  For tonight, I noticed a lot of you take your Marquez writing with you - please resubmit that with attention to the comments that I gave you on the assignment.  Further, make sure to pay attention to the creative writing project on Latin American writers.  You should pick one of these three projects so that we can have a productive workshop next class.

AP English III

Also a very great discussion today of the Battle Royal and chapter one.  As you continue into the weekend, there are a few things to settle.  First, make sure to keep up with your reading bookmark and your motif charts.  Chapter Two will have all of the motifs present, so keep this in mind as you are reading.  Furthermore, be on the lookout for good and meaty vocabulary that you would hope to investigate for a future set of vocabulary cards.

Read over the motif blogging project and consider the people with whom you would like to work in this assignment.  We'll begin on the project next week - make sure that your Google account is working!

If you have time, try to read and annotate Part Two of "Notes of a Native Son".  Here is a link to the text if you need it.  You'll need to scroll through the first article to find "Notes of a Native Son".

Lastly, don't forget to continue your research for your papers.  I will get you your topics back next class with feedback.  Make sure that you start to find and consider sources now so that you are ahead of the game when you receive your topics.

Homework for A Day - 3 February 2016

Russian II/III

There's no homework to be collected for next class, but you should continue to work through the exercises I gave you today to continue practicing your knowledge of aspect and conjugation.  Remember to focus on your verbs for walking, going by vehicle, carrying, and transporting.  These will be the main verbs on your assessment next week.

Your quiz will fall on Thursday next week - it will cover the verbs of motion and their uses.

Seniors - You'll have your practice exam on Friday.  Don't forget it begins at 2nd period!

Russian I

It's much the same for all of you in terms of what to do.  Make sure that for next class you have your floor plan done with your five rooms labeled in Russian and your pieces of furniture (three) labeled in Russian in each room.

As you do this, continue to review adjectives and nouns in the nominative, prepositional, genitive, and accusative cases.  Your quiz on Tuesday of next week will focus on these.  Next class we will work through some sample exercises to help you prepare.  Study your colors and know that vocabulary!

English II

Remember to select which of the three projects you will complete for our Latin America unit project.  We will start on them next class.  If you are going to redo your Marquez writing, please try to get that resubmitted for next class so that I can update your grades.

Homework for B-Day Classes: 2/2/2016

Here are your reminders for tonight everyone:

English II

There's nothing to complete tonight except for the writing about Marquez if you did not finish that today during class.  Make sure to take some time to review your notes today on Neruda and his sonnets and odes, remember the possibility of our daily quizzes!

Lastly, we will have our exam on Latin American literature next week.  We'll be reading one of our last texts next class and finishing up the unit in the next few days.  Start studying and reviewing in preparation for your test!

AP English III

There are two major tasks for you all to complete tonight.  First, make sure that you have completed your research topic assignment.  Make sure that you have done some of your preliminary research using SIRS or some other online sources so that you can start to specify your paper, topics, and your questions.  For this assignment, we don't need anything too specific -- remember that part of the process of research is to make the topic and assignment more specific.  Stay focused on the aspects of the DADS argument that you will have to prove in this assignment.

Secondly, take a look at your reading bookmark for Invisible Man and read Chapter One.  There are all of the motifs in this chapter, so make sure that your motif chart reflects all of that information.

Just another manic Monday...1 February 2016

Between covering a class this morning and coaching swim practice before school even started it has been a crazy day.  Phew.  Here are your reminders moving to tonight.

Russian II/III

Please make sure that you are nightly reviewing your conjugations of the verbs of motion.  This is key as we keep going through the unit since the verbs are the key goal we have within the unit.  Make sure that you can conjugate both prefixed and non-prefixed verbs of motion in both aspects/types.  For homework tonight there is a different assignment for each group:

Russian III - Make sure to finish the prefixed verb of motion assignment we began to review today in class.  Then, make sure to finish the selection exercise that I gave you today.

Russian II - Now that you know about the prefix по added to unidirectional verbs of motion you have an exercise where you must select the proper verb for a given situation.  Translate, look for key words, and remember that there are certain rules to follow when making your choice of verb - try to internalize these rules now.

Russian I

Continue to focus on learning your adjective and noun endings for Nominative, Accusative and Genitive cases.  These three are our first goal as we begin the adjective unit.  To help you do this we have our vocabulary project.  For tonight, do some planning work.  Select the five rooms from your vocabulary list that you would like to make in your floor plan and then make a list of the three items that are in that room.  Use adjectives to describe the items.

We'll start the writing and planning for this next class.

English II

There's no homework to complete tonight for a grade.  Make sure to review your notes on sonnets, odes, and Pablo Neruda in case we have a warm-up quiz next class.

Homework for B-Day Students: 29 January 2016

Happy weekend, y'all.  Here's what you need to take care of this weekend:

English II

For the weekend, please make sure that you have finished your writing on "Tuesday Siesta" - you should complete the writing sheet and paragraph on your question.  I'll collect this work from you on Tuesday.  

During Tuesday's class we'll be moving forward to look at our next author and texts - Pablo Neruda's poetry.  Look forward to that!

AP English III

There are a few things that you all need to take care of this weekend.  Excellent job on the skits today - the writing and presentations were wonderful!  I'll have your grades uploaded this weekend and feedback to the groups will be on the gradebook under comments.

First, make sure that you have your copy of Invisible Man for class on Tuesday and that you have fully read and annotated Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son", Part One.  We'll be referencing him as we discuss the Prologue to Invisible Man.

Second, you'll need to spend time working on your research topics.  Do some pre-research and consider your topic and the point you want to make.  If you don't already have a Durham County Library borrower card and PIN, get that this weekend; you'll need it on Tuesday to start your research.

Homework for A Day Students - 28 January 2016

I was very glad to see a good note from the substitute today.  Thank you for doing what I left for you while I was off coaching.  We had a really great meet!  Here are some reminders for you for tonight:

Russian Students (I, II, III)

Continue to practice with your vocabulary and work with verbs of motion (II/III) and adjectives (I).  I won't be seeing all of you again until Monday.  When I see you on Monday I expect to see that you have been learning the new content so that we can practice and keep moving forward next week.  I hope that you enjoyed the films today!  As a good practice, work on writing about the films you watched today using your new grammar.

English II

You should have had enough time to finish the writing of your paragraphs on your new question to "Tuesday Siesta" today in class.  You should have also finished reading the whole story.  Make sure that for Monday you will be able to submit your whole writing sheet with the question, outline, and paragraph completed.  We'll move on to our last Latin American authors next week and then it's off to Africa!

Homework for B-Day Students - 27 January 2015

And we're back to it everyone!  It's been good to see you again.  Here are your reminders for tonight:

English II

If you didn't finish the writing of your new question for Marquez make sure to finish that tonight so that we can have our writing workshop next class.

AP English III

Let's go over next class in order of importance:

1. Your skit presentations will be happening next class.  Make sure that your background and script have been shared to me (mrmillerjhs @ gmail [dot] com) in advance of Friday's class.
2. Make sure that you have practiced and prepared.  Have your props and costumes ready.
3. Read Part One of Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son".  The link is here.  It's also available in 50 Essays.  Continue to note what Baldwin is doing in relation to the ideas of The Harlem Renaissance that we discussed today in class.  Consider the similarities and differences between Baldwin's approach and Hurston's approach in their texts.  Annotate by taking notes if you can't print the text out.
4. You'll need your copy of Invisible Man for Tuesday, February 2nd.

And another one.

See the lower post for what you should do to prepare for your next class. Hopefully this is the last one. School is closed again tomorrow. Here's to seeing you all on Wednesday. I hope!

Snow Day Number 2 - 1/25/2016

Here we go again.  I figure we'll be good to go on Tuesday morning, but you never know.  Everything below still applies, we just put it off another day.

See you soon!

Snow Day Number 1 - 22 January 2016

It's happened.  We're not at school.  Here's what this means:

• Monday will be a B-day.  Tuesday will be an A-day.  If we're still out of school on Monday then that just moves down one day.
• AP students should complete the reading of Hurston and prepare for our final day of skit work.  Presentations of skits will now be on Wednesday.  You will still need Invisible Man next week; I now need to adjust the reading schedule.
• Russian students should continue studying vocabulary.  Russian I - Feel free to work with the other animals and some of the other adjectives other than colors.  Russian II and III - begin writing with your new verbs.  There are exercises at the end of your chapters that you can start to look at as well.
• English II - B day students will have their i-Ready test at our next class.  A day students should complete the reading of "Tuesday Siesta" and the writing/vocabulary assignment that I gave you.

Hopefully we'll all see each other on Monday.  I'm going to make myself another coffee and play some PlayStation after I finish some more work!  Enjoy the day!

Homework for A Day Students - 21 January 2016

English II

Today we took our i-Ready test in class for your reading comprehension and skills.  I look forward to going over this data and using it to make my teaching better for you.  Here's what you need to accomplish for tonight - the writing work on "Tuesday Siesta" by Marquez.

Follow the steps on the handout I gave you in class.  Start with the summary from last class - if you need the full text of the story, use this link.  Write your summary in the grey box on the story.  Then, do your vocabulary for step two.  Lastly, you have your writing for step three, four, and five.  You can do all the work on the handout.  I'll check it next class.

Russian II/III

We need to spend time reviewing the conjugations of the verbs of motion again.  Stay focused on the unidirectional verbs since they're the wonky ones.  The multidirectional verbs are pretty straightforward once you remember the mutations.  Start here tonight.

Russian II - Make sure that you've completed one through ten on your assignment sheet.  We'll go over that next class and talk through the questions.

Russian III - Spend time with your cases, prepositions and prefixes.  Really understand and learn the way that these are all paired together and the way in which these are paired as opposites.  Read the information in your textbook from pages 410-418 - this will go over the verbs, the prefixes, and give you great examples of how they are used.  We'll go over this information together on Monday, but I want you to read it now and develop questions and baseline understandings.

Russian I

Learn your vocabulary!  Especially your adjectives.  Start with the colors and the word for "what type of/what kind".

Don't forget your writing assignment.  Select your two animals and describe them.  Tell what they have.  Make sure to check your adjectives for agreement!  I'll check this for completion next class.

20 January 2016 - Homework for All Classes

English II

I noticed that some of you are missing the Persepolis movie review only at the last minute.  If this applies to you please make sure that you email this assignment to me or bring me a hard copy tomorrow.  I must finalize my grades at noon, so the work needs to be in soon.

Remember what I said today in class.  It's just me for the rest of the year and there are no more second chances.  Do what you need to do and be consistent - you'll be fine.  Don't repeat the same mistakes.

AP English III

I also want all of you to take to heart what I said today about missing work and expectations.  Remember that it's just me for the rest of the year - we have a lot of heavy lifting ahead of us before we hit the AP Exam in May.

For homework tonight you should read and annotate Zora Neale Hurston's "How It Feels To Be Colored Me".  As you read the text, pay attention to the elements of Hurston's voice in the piece (tone, diction, and tone shifts).  Also, notice elements of African American culture at the time like music, dance, and the idea of Africa.  This piece is also highly focused on her identity as an African American woman.  Notice how she constructs this in the text.

We'll be working through this text as we do our introduction to The Harlem Renaissance and using this text as an exemplar of the movement.  Be ready for a fun Friday!

Внимание! Внимание! Студенты русского языка!

Russian I, II, III:

For those of you who were in class on Friday for the whole session I have graded and saved all grades on the midterm.  Your grades are now up to date for the quarter.  I have discussed with those of you missing the midterm and performance task my availability on Tuesday, make sure that you are there during that window - the earlier the better.

Homework for the Long Weekend - A Day Students - 15 January

English II

No real homework this weekend, but if you have anything missing you need to get it turned in and made up on Tuesday.  I'll be in my classroom from 7:00 to 12:00.  Please come in and get things settled so that your grade is a real reflection of your knowledge this quarter.

Russian I, II, III

Spend this weekend looking over your new vocabulary words for the new unit.  Russian II and III students, make sure that you complete the writing of sentences using your new vocabulary to begin learning how to use these new nouns, adverbs, and verbs.

If any of you have things to finish or make up, please see me on Tuesday morning as well.

Homework for B-Day Students: The Long Weekend - 14 January

AP English III

Your main task for this weekend is to put forward a lot of work on your skits - the missing scenes of The Great Gatsby.  I would highly suggest using Google docs for your script and that you use Google slides for your backgrounds and such.  Then you can share everything to me (mrmillerjhs @ gmail [dot] com) and have it settled.

Remember that you'll have two more work sessions in class as a group - thirty minutes on Wednesday and Friday next week.  Then we will present these in class on the 26th.  Presentations should be no more than five minutes per group so that we can have time to see all presentations.

The only other task you have for this weekend is to secure your copy of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.  We'll start our unit on The Harlem Renaissance on Friday by reading some related texts; you may want to start your reading of Invisible Man sooner though since it is a long and complex novel, one that I hope you will enjoy.

English II

There is no homework for the weekend if you are completely satisfied with your grade and standing in class.  However, if you are missing assignments (especially the Persepolis movie review or any other major projects) then you should do some work this weekend.  Get these assignments completed and emailed to me or turned in to me on Tuesday morning.  I'll be at Jordan from 7:00 am to around 12:00 - you can come in and turn in work or even take a missing quiz or test.  Anything that we can do to raise your grade we need to do!

Keep in mind that this is the last quarter of the minimum fifty grade.  After this you will earn the actual grade each quarter, no matter how low it is.  The good news is that you still have most of your grade to earn, you just have to earn it.

Homework for A-Day Students: 13 January 2016

English II

It's the final call for any missing work or assignments.  I've plugged in zeroes for any work I haven't seen and given partial credit where I thought I could.  Some of you are failing for the quarter because of missing work, so please get this work turned in.

On Friday we'll continue with our study of Latin American authors and take a look at a short story that isn't nearly as strange as the first one we read.

Russian I, II, III

We did the writing portion of our exam today and then on Friday you'll have part two.  Make sure that you've studied your grammar, vocabulary, and other necessary topics since you'll have a traditional exam format of multiple choice, writing, and listening.  Hopefully I'll have reports on your performance today by next class.

English II- A Day students

Students:

Here is the link to the complete NY Times article about El Chapo: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/11/world/americas/theatrics-surrounding-el-chapos-capture-distract-from-mexicos-real-woes.html?_r=0

Because of the missing page and the exam, you have until Friday to complete the reading guide. I'll announce this in class. I will also have printed copies of p. 2 on Wednesday if you prefer that. You may have time to work on this after your exam.

11 January 2016 - Homework - A Day Students

Russian II/III

All of you should be preparing for your performance task on Wednesday which is the writing of your letter.  Remember that you can prepare your note cards with vocabulary to help you compose your writing assignment and bring that with you on Wednesday.  It looks like many of you have a good idea around your writing, just don't forget the basics.  If you want more one-on-one help with your writing, please see me tomorrow (Tuesday).

Russian I

You should focus on the studying of your cases and verb conjugation rules for your exam since those are the two areas bringing many of you down.  Next class we will be doing some writing for our exam.  We will first begin with some translation work, then after lunch you'll be writing for me in Russian.  Keep working on your family writing to prepare for this since you'll be doing one of the paragraphs in this timed writing environment.

Don't forget that for all of you that there will be the test on Friday.  If you miss the test on Friday you will only have Tuesday morning at 7:00 to make up the exam.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day Student - 9 January 2016

English II

Complete your missing major work if you have any.  There are some of you whom I put on the board to remind you about particular assignments like your Persepolis movie review or your Persepolis graphic memoir project.

Next week we will have our district benchmark; hopefully our reading activity and game gave you some good practice for this upcoming event.  Study your vocabulary and literary devices; it'll help.

AP English III

You have a timed writing coming to you on Tuesday; it'll be a rhetorical analysis.  Look at your previous writing assignments for comments and aim to improve.  Remember that the main issues were in the discussion of your findings.  Analyze the text to find significant rhetorical devices and explain how they help the speaker/author convey his/her argument.

Additionally, don't forget about the rhetorical triangle between the speaker, audience, and topic.  Always consider the audience - how does the speaker specify his topic and argument for that particular audience?

AP English III - Special Note

Remember that we will start our next unit in the beginning of the third nine weeks and it will focus on Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.  Please go ahead and secure a copy of this book now so that you have it when we begin.  I would recommend getting a copy published by Vintage International so that we have the same page numbers.  Here's the link to Amazon's page on this edition.

Order Invisible Man

My edition is the old one with the red and white cover, the new has the green cover, but the page numbers should be the same.

Homework for A Day Students: 7 January 2016

Russian II/III

This weekend is meant for you all to spend time working on and developing your performance task for Monday's workshop.  Remember that Monday's class is basically a study hall/workshop for the writing assignment and for the midterm.  I'll have time devoted to work with each of you, and then I'll be available as you need me.

We have two days for the midterm, Wednesday is the performance task and Friday is the exam.  Make sure that you're prepared for this.

Russian I

This weekend I would recommend that you spend time studying your case notes and your verb notes so that you're getting prepared for the exam next week.  The work we did today to go through verb conjugation and the cases is valuable.  Next class and Wednesday we're going to continue working through that packet so that we can continue to study and review concepts.  After this we're getting into the next chapter, which means we'll learn about using adjectives!

English II

Again, no homework but many of you learned today that you DO in fact have a missing assignment.  If you didn't get back a movie review on Persepolis today then it is missing and you have no credit on that assignment.  Take the time this weekend to finish these assignments and be ready to close out the quarter.

Homework for B-Day students-January 6, 2016

AP English III
Today in class we worked on MLA formatting and citation. Most of the information you need is on the handout, but all of that and more can also be found at the pages linked in the previous blog post.

On Friday you must have with you:

• A printed final draft (as I said in one class, I am okay with double-sided printing)
• Your first and second drafts that were reviewed by your peers
• Any peer review sheets that you have
• A number of you were absent on the day we did peer reviews and may not have sheets. Show me evidence that you completed a peer review via email or some other method or include an explanatory note.


• Your big manila envelope in which to submit your materials
• Your portfolio--I plan to give back Huck Finn tests
• A copy of The Great Gatsby for our classwork that day.

English II
As before, your homework is to get in any missing work. We will continue with our reading game next class and probably finish reading the Cortazar story.

Please do not lose your vocabulary notes from today, and bring them back to class with you!

AP English III- Links for class

MLA paper formatting and sample first page: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Formatting quotations: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/03/

Sample works cited page: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/12/

How to cite books: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/06/

Sample MLA paper: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/13/

Homework for A-Day: 5 January 2016

Welcome back to all of you! It's time for a new year and to finish out the second quarter, which is happening next Friday! Here's what you need to take care of to prepare for next class.

Russian II/III

Today you all got your final performance task for the unit. Now is the time to start to prepare. Go through the assignment and plan out what you're going to say and make sure that you're going through all of the requirements of your particular assignment. Look up vocabulary that you're going to need, so that we can practice and work with it during our workshop day on Monday.

If you're missing any work or need to do resubmissions/reassessments, please take care of that this week.

Now, on to the exercises.  Russian II and III, these exercises are for practice and to develop mastery.  Russian III students, we will work through exercise nineteen next class, make sure it's complete.  Russian II students, you have exercises solely for practice - we'll take a look at those tomorrow, but not for a grade.

Don't forget - midterm next week.  Wednesday for performance task and Friday for test.

Russian I

We'll have our test next week and you all also learned about your performance task - you'll have to present one of your paragraphs on your family in a timed, testing environment with no notes or help.  Make sure that you review your previous drafts to prepare for this.  Keep using and reviewing your chapter one vocabulary; the more you use it, the more you'll know.

Many of you have missing or very low scores in quizzes, projects, and previous assessments.  Remember that the last time to work on resubmissions/reassessments is this week.  Please settle your business.

English II

We'll keep reading Cortazar next class - I hope that you're liking the story; it gets really good as we keep going.  For tonight, make sure that you're finishing your missing major work. If you don't know what you're missing, please shoot me an email and ask.  Better that you check and be sure than not check and do badly for the quarter.  You all (4A) had a great start to the year today, let's keep it up!

Homework for B-Day Students-- January 4, 2016

Welcome back, everyone! It was so lovely to see your smiling faces today.

AP English III

Today in class we peer-edited our second drafts for style, clarity, and grammatical issues. We also discussed your initial impressions of The Great Gatsby, talked about characterization, and worked in groups to gather significant details about various characters in the novel. Next class, we will continue to share our findings and extend our discussion to Gatsby himself and Nick.

We used a version of the "Editing and Proofreading" handout from the UNC writing center, which can be found here in the second column: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/

For Wednesday: Bring a digital copy of the most recent version of your essay that you will be able to access from the library. We will be working on MLA formatting and citation in the Dell lab during the first part of class, but please meet in the classroom.

For Friday: Final drafts of Huck Finn papers are due. You need to turn in your draft in your manila envelope, so bring this if you still have it. You will be turning in:

• Your first draft
• Peer review sheets that you received from your initial reviewers before break
• Your second draft
• Your final draft
• A cover sheet (will be provided on Friday in class)

To give you a sense of how we'll finish the semester, I plan to give back your Huck Finn tests on Friday. On Tuesday of next week, we'll have another Rhetorical Analysis AP Timed Writing. Next Thursday, we will be watching clips from both Gatsby films and analyzing these adaptations of the text. We will not have time to watch the entirety of either movie in class, but I recommend watching them outside of class. 

English II
You have no assignments for tonight. We'll begin reading a short story by Julio Cortazar next class. The end of the quarter is quickly approaching, so if you are missing a major assignment--the graphic memoir project or the movie review--now is the time to get that done!

Homework over the Break - A Day Students

I'm sorry that I didn't get this up on Friday.  Here's what you all need to get done over break.

Russian Students

All of you should be spending time over break to study and review the grammar and vocabulary that we have been learning so far.  There are some essential grammar skills and more specialized grammar skills for you too.

• Russian I - You should be focused on unit one.  The information on cases, verb conjugation, and the vocabulary too.  Don't forget gender and possessive pronouns.
• Russian II - You've been doing a lot with verbs so stay focused there.  Don't forget all of your vocabulary and the expressions related to time.
• Russian III - You've had a lot in this unit - also related to verbs and aspect and modals and imperatives.  That's a big unit.  There's your vocabulary too.

Russian I all got their drafts of the family writing back - make sure that you are going back and revising these assignments as well as finishing them up so that they are complete.  See my previous post about the example regarding my mom.

English II Students

No official homework over break but a LOT of you have make-up work to complete.  The priority in make-up work is the Persepolis movie review or graphic novel project.  There's the quizzes and tests too, which you'd have to do in school.  Make sure if these big projects are missing that you have them when you get back from break as we'll only have two weeks left in the quarter.  If you have questions about your make-up work you can send me them:  mrmillerjhs @ gmail (dot) com or daniel (dot) miller @ dpsnc (dot) net.

Enjoy the break!  Happy 2016!

Homework for B-Day students over break

AP English III

• Read The Great Gatsby. Be sure to read carefully and annotate.
• Complete a second draft of your essay for Monday, January 4.
• Final drafts of essays are due Friday, January 8. 

English II

Make up any work that you are missing. Your priorities should be your graphic novel project and your movie review, as these are big test grades and worth most for your quarter grade.

Homework for A Day Students - 16 December 2015

It's almost the last A day of the year!  You've just got one more left!

Russian II/III

Your homework for tonight is to prepare for your presentations.  The instructions are below for each of the sections -

Russian II - You should submit to me your first and second draft as well as a final draft.  You should also submit your verb analysis in which you tell me: 1) the aspect of your chosen verb; 2) the pair for the verb; 3) the tense of the verb in your writing; and 4) the meaning of the verb's tense and aspect in your writing.

Don't forget that you are also completing images of your verbal actions.

Russian III - You should submit to me your final draft of your script which you will present before the class as well as your verb analysis.  The verb analysis instructions are the same as what Russian II will complete.  Make sure that you have practiced your lines and reading before you come to class - don't let your fluency and comprehensibility score suffer since you haven't practiced.

Russian I

For homework you should continue to work on your family writing and paragraphs.  You'll see a grade in your PowerSchool which will reflect your work on the three paragraphs you gave me today.  Make sure on Friday when you get your notes back that you apply these to the rest of your writing.  Remember to follow the model in the previous blog entry.

English II

For homework tonight many of you need to turn in missing work or assignments.  You all got progress reports which outline what is missing and where you currently stand in class.  Don't allow these blanks to become zeroes.  Get ahead of things and get it settled.  The most important things are the movie review on Persepolis, the graphic novel project, and any missing quizzes or tests.  You'll have to see us to take care of a quiz or test, but the major projects you can simply just turn in.

Homework for B-Day Students - 15 December 2015

AP English III

For homework tonight you have three stories by Ernest Hemingway to read and annotate.  Make sure that you've read and considered "Hills Like White Elephants", "The Killers", and "Old Man at the Bridge".  Hemingway is known for his plain style, but don't be fooled - there's a lot going on beneath the surface.  Spend your time looking at his choices as a writer and considering their meaning.

You should also get yourself a copy of The Great Gatsby - you'll be reading this over break.

Lastly, make sure that you have completed the peer editing requirement for your literary analysis paper.  If you are unsure about this requirement see Ms. Ginocchio or contact her directly.

English II

For all of you on Thursday we will collect the final drafts of your movie reviews.  For these you will need to use your writing envelope to submit your documents.  You will need to turn in:

• the viewing guide for Persepolis
• the rough draft
• the feedback chart from editing 
• the final draft

If you were absent on draft workshop day you should see me, Ms. Ginocchio, or a peer for essay feedback.  You will then be exempt from the feedback chart.  Many thanks to those students who have already given me a draft to read.  

Lastly, some of you are still missing other major work or projects.  Get these things settled.

Homework for A Day Students - 14 December 2015

English II

For tonight you need to get your draft packets together for your movie reviews.  Remember that in your packet you need to have the following items:

• your viewing guide to Persepolis
• your rough draft
• your notes from peer editing
• your final draft

Make sure that your packet is complete so that you can get all of your possible points.  Your movie reviews will be test grades, so make sure that they're reflective of the work you've done this quarter.

Russian II/III

You have second drafts of your writing due for me on Wednesday.  Make sure that you've corrected your mistakes and that you've really focused on your spelling.  You need to make sure that you will have your verb analysis due for me on Friday.  Remember for the verb analysis you will need to tell me about the aspect, the tense, and the choice of aspect for the particular situation.  

We'll meet in small groups/partners to go over these pieces on Wednesday.

Lastly, don't forget your exercises (III) or your reading analysis (II).

Russian I

Tonight you need to add two sentences to your family writing.  Tell me what a member of your family has and what they do not have.  Remember the following information should be in your paragraphs:

• the name of the person, their relationship to you
• where the person lives
• what the person does as a hobby/activity
• possessions and lack of possessions

Here is an example of what you can make - 

Это моя мама.  Ее зовут Патриция.  Она живет на Аляске.  Она смотрит телевизор.  У мамы есть кошка.  У Патриции нет друга.

AP English III Rough Draft Peer Review

This post is for students who were absent on Friday, December 11th. Other students can ignore. 

Click through to see the entry and your instructions.

Weekend homework for B-Day Students: December 11

AP English III
Your main homework is to review for your test. Your study guide can be accessed here.

For students who were absent today, you missed our peer review workshop of our rough drafts. You will have to complete this outside of class. Tomorrow I will compile a list of everybody who was absent across both sections and try to organize some way for all of you to do this. If you have not sent me a draft of your paper, please do so. I will send out a message tomorrow with instructions about your peer editing and giving you the document we used to give our feedback.

English II

Your homework is simple: study for your grammar quiz! This quiz will cover apostrophes in general and the following words: whose/who's, it's/its, and there/they're/their.

Here are some helpful web comics from the Oatmeal if you are still confused:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

Also, do not forget to be working on your final drafts of you movie reviews. Those are due before break!

Homework for the weekend: English 2A

English II

Your homework is simple: study for your grammar quiz! This quiz will cover apostrophes in general and the following words: whose/who's, it's/its, and there/they're/their.

Here are some helpful web comics from the Oatmeal if you are still confused:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

Homework for the Weekend - Russian Students - 12/10/15

Russian I, II, and III

There is no required homework this weekend but all of you have the ability to reassess on standards and submit your reassessment work to me on Monday/Tuesday to earn new scores in the gradebook.  Below are the reassessment options.

Russian II and III

Служебный Роман - Viewing Guide G/SC/V - Write a brief paragraph (3-4 sentences) using vocabulary from the film which expresses your opinion on a theme or character from the film.  Cu - In English, compare the film to an American film.


Journals - Select one entry and make corrections.  Complete one entry for missing credit.

Quiz 9.1 (III) - Using food vocabulary and modals write a brief dialogue between a waiter and customer. The waiter should express what can and can't be ordered (заказать). The customer should express wants, needs, and preferences.

Russian I

If missing the family writing workshop - complete this first. Write your paragraphs on six family members including yourself.


Quiz 1.3 - Make a chart for the following ten words and identify their gender, declension pattern, and then identify the words in the nominative, prepositional, and accusative
cases. (G/V)

урок, озеро, карандаш, ручка, мать, девочка, кошка, конспект, площадь, письмо


Take two of these items and state your ownership of them. (SC)


Read this brief dialogue and explain the relationship between these two people. With whom would you speak this way? With whom would you not? (IR/Cu)


1: Здравствуйте Владимир Владимирович.

2: Здравствуйте Алла Сергеевна.

Homework for B-Day Students - 9 December 2015

English II

For homework tonight you should be able to complete the rough draft of your movie review assignments.  Keep in mind the four paragraph layout and the use of your viewing guides to help you write your reviews.  Remember that your thesis will be found in question six and your analysis of the device in the film will be seen in questions three and four.  Bring your review to class with you on Friday so that we can have our editing workshop for these.

AP English III

Excellent work today with your literary criticism work; I hope that you enjoyed reading and evaluating these different pieces.  For tonight, you should be focused on finishing your rough drafts.  If you're still having issues in the development of your topics then please try to see Ms. Ginocchio tomorrow to work through these questions.  Remember that you must have a hard copy of your writing for Friday.

Homework for A Day Students - 8 December 2015

English II

Your main goal for tonight is to finish your rough draft for your movie reviews of Persepolis.  Remember that you need to have all four paragraphs (introduction, plot summary, analysis, and conclusion).  Use your viewing guides to help you especially with the analysis work - you'll need your viewing guides for those ideas and to fill in the paragraphs.

Make sure that you have your rough draft in class on Thursday - we'll work through the drafts and work to make them stronger.  Your final drafts and viewing guides are due on Wednesday of next week!  Don't forget, you have a grammar quiz on Monday!

Russian I

You have a quiz on cases next class.  Make sure that you are studying your chapter one vocabulary - the nouns - and that you know your declension patterns as well as your declensions for Nominative case, Accusative case, and Prepositional case.

Outside of this, you will want to know your vocabulary around greetings, introductions, and farewells.  Lastly, make sure you know your pronouns.

Russian II/III

All of you have your final first drafts of your writing assignments due at the beginning of class on Thursday.  Make sure that you can meet this deadline.  There will also be our quizzes on Thursday - here are your studying goals:

• Russian II - know your aspectual pairs and the meaning of each of the aspects; know your types of verbal action (there are five), know your conjugation patterns and be able to identify tenses.
• Russian III - know the types of imperatives and how to form each type - hopefully the practice today helped; know the difference in tone with imperatives between aspects; know your conjugations.

See you all on Thursday, then we're just one week away from break!

Homework for B-Day Students: December 7, 2015

AP English III

Your homework is to work on your rough drafts (due this Friday) and prepare for your Huck Finn unit test (next Tuesday). You can access a PDF of your study guide here. If that link does not work for you, e-mail me and I will send it to you as an attachment.

Remember, you must have a rough draft printed for class Friday!! Plan ahead for this.

English II
Your homework is to continue working on your drafts of your movie reviews and prepare for your quiz on vocabulary and image analysis. Your quiz is Wednesday, and rough drafts of your movie review are due Friday.

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Students - 4 December

Russian II/III

You have writing assignments to complete this weekend.  For the level threes it's your dialogues - remember to have all five modal expressions as well as different forms of imperatives.  I'll collect these from you on Tuesday for a completion grade and to give you feedback on your writing.  For the level twos it's your aspect situations.  Remember that all I need is the writing; don't worry about the images as we'll do those later on.  The writing is the more important part.

Also, don't forget to translate the chorus of our song!  Focus on aspect and the tone created through the use of aspect.

Russian I

You should be able to finish page one and two of our review packet now - make sure that these are done for Tuesday's class so that we can finish with page three.  Also, we went through the family writing - make sure that this is complete for all of your family members.  You're writing about four people and yourself.  We're building these paragraphs each time we learn a case, so it's important to hang on to all your drafts.

Make sure that you're ready for the quiz on Thursday - it'll cover chapter one vocabulary and our three cases - nominative, accusative, prepositional.

English II

On Tuesday you'll have your quiz on Persepolis and vocabulary.  Study your reading guides and the vocabulary words that we've reviewed in class.  Today we finished watching the film and began writing our movie reviews - these drafts are due on Thursday.  Remember that it's a four paragraph assignment.  Follow the outline I gave you in class and use your viewing guide to help you with the writing of the assignment.  If you need help, please come and see me.

Homework for B-Day students- Thursday, December 3

AP English III

Your homework is to read the essay by Toni Morrison. As you read, answer the questions:

1. What is her opinion of Huck Finn and why?
2. Do you agree with her opinion? Why or why not? (Use textual evidence.)

The text at the top of the page that got cut off is as follows:

1. "Then, in the mid-fiftes, I read it again--or sort of read it. Actually I..."
2. "...some,' tolls like an evening bell; the moments when nothing is said,"

Other upcoming work due and assessments:

• Rough drafts due Friday, December 11th.
• Huck Finn test on Tuesday, December, 15th.

Students with pre-excused absences, I will create a new blog post for you next week with links to all the PDFs and materials you need to get caught up. 

English II

You have no homework for next class unless you are missing work on your progress reports. There will be a quiz on Persepolis next Wednesday, covering image analysis and vocabulary. There will be a quiz on apostrophes and grammar on Tuesday, December 15. 

For those of you missing the paragraph, here is the prompt:

How was your childhood similar and different from Marji's childhood? Write a well-developed paragraph (with topic sentence, evidence, explanation, and conclusion) comparing and contrasting your childhood with Marji's. Include examples from your life and the text. Be sure to include one example of something you have in common and of something different between you.

Homework for A Day Classes - 2 December 2015

English II

Today we finished reading Persepolis.  Next class we'll finish the movie.  Since we're done with the book there are a few important dates coming up for you all:

• December 8th - Tuesday - Quiz on Persepolis (second half) and vocabulary
• December 14th - Monday - Quiz on Grammar (apostrophes and other common mistakes)

Some of you are still missing your projects and other work.  Make sure that these are turned in sooner, not later so that you can get as many points as possible.  If work is still missing on Friday, we will convert those to zeroes for your progress reports.

Russian II/III

All of you should be working on your writing assignments tonight in advance of our workshop day on Friday.  Friday's class will be spent writing, reviewing, and working so that we can meet our first deadlines for our writing assignments.  Additionally, we will spend some time looking at a few related grammar topics and perhaps singing!  Please make sure that you have done the planning work you need to do so that you can be productive on Friday.

Russian I

You need to complete all of the exercises on page one of our packet.  We will move on to the other pages of the packet on Friday, but make sure page one is done.

Tuesday, December 1: Homework for B-Day Students

AP English III
You have no homework due next class, but you need to be working on your rough drafts. These are due Friday, December 11th. As a reminder, these rough drafts must:

• Be 5-7 pages in length (not including a works cited page, which is unnecessary for this draft).
• Be typed and double-spaced.
• Be printed out by class time when they are due.
• Include an introduction, conclusion, all body paragraphs, and a title.
• Include citations for quotes.

3B only- please remember to turn in your Duke MAT permission forms to Ms. Ginocchio. This is a 5-point completion grade. 

English II

You have no new assignments due next class, but many of you have late work that is due this week before progress reports. Please check Powerschool to make sure you don't have anything missing. These will be converted to zeroes at the end of this week. Assignments that you need to complete are:

• Personal narrative graphic project
• Paragraphs comparing and contrasting your life with Marji's (homework from late October).
• Persepolis Test
• Persepolis Test corrections (optional, but highly recommended).
• Duke MAT program permission form (applies to 4B only).

Homework for A Day Students - 30 November 2015

Welcome back everyone!  I hope that your Thanksgiving break was restful and that you were able to spend some time on yourself.  Here are your reminders as you move forward to Wednesday.

Russian II/III

For homework you should finish the viewing guide for Служебный Роман - remember that one question needs to be answered in complete sentences in Russian.  The other questions can be answered in English.  Make sure that this is complete as it will be entered in to reassess on your previous viewing guide for the film.

Outside of this you should review the grammar and new verbs in your units.  Make sure that you are preparing yourself in advance of your assessments before Winter Break.

Russian I

For homework tonight you should add in a sentence about your family members which uses the accusative case.  For this, I would recommend going back to the hobby sentence.  Tell me what the person reads, or what the person watches, or what the person cooks.  Remember to add in an appropriate direct object after the verb.  Remember the requirements:

• sentence which introduces the person, states the relationship to you
• sentence which states where the person lives, uses the verb "to live" and the prepositional case
• sentence which states a hobby the person has/what the person does
• a sentence which uses the accusative case

You'll end up with anywhere from five to six sentences for each family member.

English II

For homework tonight you should make sure that you are studying your grammar notes and your vocabulary from Persepolis.  You'll have a quiz before winter break on both of these things.  Additionally, if you are missing your graphic novel/memoir project you will want to get that turned in either Tuesday or Wednesday to get credit before the progress reports come out.  There are also some of you who are missing the paragraph on comparing Marji's life to your own life - make sure that all missing work is settled!

Russian Language Resources

Привет русские друзья!

Я хочу вам показать много хороших сайтов, на которых можно найти очень полезную информацию о русской грамматике.  Читайте и учите!

I want to y'all to show a lot good sites, on which possible to find very helpful information about Russian grammar.  Read and study!

http://masterrussian.com/

There's a lot on this site and it's organized pretty well for you on the left hand side of the page.  There are large categories there, and a lot of those pages have subpages.

All Russian Cases

This is a subpage from above with information on all six cases and declensions.  If you look carefully you can find subpages on each and every specific case.

Common Russian Verbs with Conjugations

This is a treasure trove of information.  It gives you related words, conjugations, everything really - aspectual pairs, imperatives!  Whoa!  Russian I Students, there's more here than what we've learned; don't be surprised if you think a verb is first conjugation but it isn't - we'll get to those things later...

One Stem Verb System Information

This is only for II and III students - it doesn't use structural transcription and goes into more detail about some topics, but there's a lot here on OSVS which may be helpful to you.

Homework for Thanksgiving Break - A Day Students

Russian Students - You should be practicing and working on Russian content everyday over the break!  Don't slack.

Russian I:  By this point in the course you should know the following concepts -

• nominative and prepositional cases
• possessive pronouns
• gender
• subject pronouns 
• verb conjugation
• basic sentence structure "This is..."
• vocabulary in Chapter One

Make sure that you have studied and reviewed these concepts so that you are solid and sure coming back from the break.  If you haven't done your family writing, you should take care of that.  When we come back from break we will move through the other cases - know the prepositional so that you are able to learn the others quickly.

Also, practice your singing.

Russian II/III:  I identified skills or objectives for each of you to practice/study over the break.  Make sure that you are using these cards to follow through on your studying and practice over the long break.  Verbs and cases are good to review for all of you since those foundational skills are so important.  Make sure that you have notes on the first questions which we watched today in our film - we'll finish the rest of the film at the end of Thanksgiving break.

English II:  If you did not turn in your project today make sure that it gets in to me tomorrow.  If you need to email it, please send it to daniel (dot) miller (at) dpsnc (dot) net.  I'll confirm that I got your project.  Make sure that you don't miss the chance to turn in this project since it's a major grade for the quarter.

Outside of this, you will want to make sure to finish any make up work that you may have.  Many of you are missing the paragraph where you should be comparing your childhood to Marji's childhood.  If you don't have that, get it to us after the break or email it in.  Lastly there is the extra credit which is also due after Thanksgiving - make sure to complete that if you want those points!

Weekend assignments for B-Day Students

AP English III

Your only assignment is to complete your outline for your literary analysis paper. As I said in class, the parameters are:

• 2 pages max (front and back of one sheet of paper)
• Typed
• State your guiding question. This may be revised.
• State your working thesis
• Organize the body of your essay--showing the main evidence you will use. Include direct quotes if they are short. For long passages, you can just say "the passage where Huck and Jim get lost in the fog from Chapter blah blah." Give a brief explanation of how you will use each quote
• No need for introduction or conclusion.

I will grade these for effort and mainly aim to give you feedback that you can use as you move forward. 

One of your classmates asked for a sample paper, so here is a link to a paper I wrote this fall for an undergraduate class I'm taking at Duke. It's not the best paper I've ever written, but it demonstrates the basic idea of what you'll be doing. Click here to view the paper. That link should take you to a PDF hosted on my Google Drive account. If it does not work, please let me know!

Also remember that you should finish the novel over Thanksgiving Break.

English II

Your graphic personal narrative projects are due Tuesday. We will be doing in-class presentations.

The optional extra credit assignments will be due after Thanksgiving Break, but you may turn them in earlier if you wish.

Homework for A Day Students - Weekend Edition - 19 November

Happy Thursday everyone!  Here are your reminders for the weekend -

Russian I, II, and III

We will be reassessing on standards from the previous quiz on Monday.  Make sure that you are reviewing and preparing to earn back points and show mastery of concepts. Russian I Students - Focus on your cases, possessive pronouns, and your vocabulary in chapter one, especially the nouns.  Russian II Students - Focus on your counting rules and the spelling of your numbers.  Russian III Students - Focus on your use of modals as well as vocabulary in chapter nine.

Russian II/III

Other than preparing for your reassessment on Monday I would like for you to complete your journal writing this weekend.  The phrase for the week is "кому/чему не удалось" meaning "it didn't work out for whom/what".  Remember that this phrase uses the dative case for the person/thing it didn't work out for.  Think about this as you use this phrase.

Russian I

You have your reassessment to prepare for this weekend.  Additionally, you can spend some time working on your family writing.  Next class we'll likely get started on our next case - the accusative case, so be ready for that excitement!

English II

You all have your extra credit assignment to work on over the weekend and on through Thanksgiving break.  Remember that the assignment can be turned in early or not at all since it's for extra credit.

Your required work for the weekend is to finish your project - the personal narratives focusing on a moment in your life.  On Monday we'll have our presentations of the projects, finish discussing "The Passport" chapter and then likely work on the film.

Homework for B-Day Students - 11/18/2015 - PLC Day

Happy Half Day!  Here are your reminders for tonight.

AP English III

Your resubmissions of quarter one's argumentative essay are due on Friday to me.  I will then process grade corrections for the first quarter and you will see these reflected on your next report card.  Do not miss this deadline as you will not have the chance to turn it in again.  Outside of this, make sure that you have been working on your outline for Ms. Ginocchio as that assignment is due from you all on Tuesday, before Thanksgiving Break.  Lastly, make sure that you have yourself in a good place to be able to finish The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn over Thanksgiving Break.  We'll be finishing the book quickly after that.

English II

Your Persepolis personal narrative projects are due on Tuesday, the class before we have Thanksgiving Break.  Many of you were able to use the workshop to get a lot done on your projects; try to finish them tonight so that you are ready going into the weekend.  Remember that one of the largest parts of this grade is your presentation - think about this clearly.  Be sure to explain how your use of graphic elements helps you to enhance the story you are telling.

Homework for A-Day Students: 17 November 2015

English II

Your homework for tonight is the same that it will be for Thursday.  You have your graphic novel projects due on Monday which means that you need to finish them tonight and tomorrow night.  Many of you got some good work done today in class on these projects - keep that momentum going and finish it when you get home.  Remember that you can turn in your work early if you finish it early and it's complete.

Please pay attention to the rubric as you are finishing this project.  Your explanation of your art and how you used graphic details to add to the meaning of the work is important - make sure that you can answer this question clearly.

Russian I

For homework tonight you have reading to do in Russian.  I want you to be able to identify all of the verbs in this text - you have twenty since I gave you the first one.  You also want to be able to identify any cognates (words that are the same in English and in Russian) - try to be able to translate these words.

After you have read the text remember to do your Interpretive Reading work - What is the main idea of this text?  What are three supporting details?  Remember to do this work in English.

Russian II/III

II's - You need to complete exercise 5.2 and 5.3A - Remember to spend time using your verb list in chapter five to help you learn the different imperfective and perfective verbs.  That list will be invaluable to you.  I would also recommend continuing to study the examples in the textbook with the translations.  The only way to understand aspect is to experience it and to work through it; try to get as much exposure as you can.

III's - You need to complete exercise 9.9, write out all of the sentences and form imperatives in the perfective of the imperfective verb in the beginning of the sentence.  Focus on forming your imperatives and selecting the proper pair for the imperfective verb.

II's and III's - Make sure that you complete your cheat sheet (шпаргалка) focusing on the different grammar we've learned today.  These will be very helpful as we learn and review these concepts.

Homework for B Day Students - 11/17/2015

Sorry for the delay everyone!  Here are your reminders for Wednesday's classes.

English II

You have some reading to do tonight - please read the next chapter of Persepolis called "The Cigarette" - as you read, consider the importance of the cigarette in this chapter as a symbol.  What does the cigarette mean?  How does it relate to a larger idea?  Why is this larger idea important to the story and to Marji?  Consider these ideas as you are reading.

Next class we'll spend time working on symbolism and our projects - so be prepared for that.

AP English III

Next class you have your rhetorical analysis timed writing - review the idea of a rhetorical analysis as well as the process of completing this type of assignment.  Remember that in this type of writing you are proving someone else's argument and how they are supporting that argument.

Additionally, you have some pieces to be working on for your papers.  You have your outlines for your essays due on 11/24/2015 - please follow Ms. Ginocchio's instructions for completing the outline - remember that it isn't as detailed as the first outline you completed, but the more work you do in the outline, the easier the paper will be to complete.  Lastly, you'll be finishing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn over Thanksgiving Break, so you may want to move toward that goal sooner, rather than later.

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Students - 13 November

Russian II/III

Today in class you had your assessment on the first goals of your new units.  If there were areas that confused or stumped you, please focus on those areas this weekend so that you are prepared next week for a reassessment on these particular skills and grammar points.  Remember that with our new grading system you will not simply retake the last quiz, but instead you'll be asked questions that assess you on the same skills and standards.

In addition, if you have a journal to submit to me on Tuesday or any other missing work, please get that in.  Some of you are missing a viewing guide for Служебный Роман on the first part.

Russian I

Today in class we also had an assessment, so the same rules for the Russian II/III students works for you - prepare yourself for reassessment if you need that.  Your main task for this weekend is to review and revise your writing on your family members.  I should see rewritten paragraphs on your family members which have perfect grammar and spelling.

English II

For homework this weekend you will need to read "The Cigarette" - you have photocopies of the chapter to read.  As always, look for new vocabulary.  The major thing to think about is what the cigarette symbolizes for Marji.  She's making some big strides in her life, try to take account of them.

B Day Students - Homework - 12 November

And just like that it's Friday.  Here is what you need to accomplish for tonight as we move forward to next week.

English II

If you didn't have your planning work from our workshop to show me in class today then please have that to show me next class.  For the planning you need to take your event that is the focus of your narrative and break that into (at least) five specific points or smaller moments (what happened first, second, third, and so on).  Then, account for all of your characters and their emotions through your story.  Select a graphic element you will use in the creation of your narrative, and lastly draw your first frame.

We'll be spending some more time next class working through these assignments more.  Remember that they will be due on the 23rd and 24th of this month.

AP English III

Over the weekend you have your next major chunk of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to read, Chapters Thirty to Thirty-Eight.  Continue to think about your essay topic and plan - now that you've determined your topic and general idea, you should read the rest of the text with this idea in mind.

Don't forget that on Wednesday you will have your first timed writing of a rhetorical analysis.  Remember that we are basically doing this all of the time, you're now being asked to formalize it on paper for us.

Lastly, if you have any missing work in PowerSchool (namely vocabulary cards) get those turned in ASAP!  And 3B students, don't forget your permission slips.

A-Day Homework - 10 November 2015

Remember that tomorrow we have a day off for Veterans' Day.  Thank a veteran for his/her service to our country; if you don't know a veteran, then find one and say thank you.  Here are your reminders to take you to Friday.

English II

For Friday's class make sure that you have a completed personal narrative plan where you have sketched out your plot into distinct moments, planned for your characters, thought about graphic elements in your art, and then drawn your first panel.  Many of you didn't have this and said it was at home - that's fine.  Make sure that I see it on Friday.

In addition, if you have missing work, now is a great time to take care of that.  You may be missing your writing on Marji's childhood in comparison to yours, the dramatic reading, or the test.  See us to check on this.

Russian I

For Friday you have your exam on vocabulary, prepositional case, and grammatical gender rules.  Make sure that you have studied and that you are ready.  Many of you still need to work more on verb conjugation and complete another retest - please see me to complete this sooner rather than later.

Russian II

For Friday you also have an exam that you'll be completing.  Make sure that you can discuss various time expressions and that you can explain at what time a particular event happens.  In addition, you should know your numbers from zero to sixty as well as the rules for counting items like seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, etc.

Russian III

For Friday you have your exam too - I try to give all the Russian tests on the same day.  Your exam will focus on the food vocabulary in chapter nine, the use of modals, and then aspect rules when working with можно/нельзя.  From what I saw in our review today many of you are confusing some of the modals with each other - try to understand what idea each of the modals controls and the particular case ideas that work with each modal.  That will help.

Homework for AP English III

1. Submit your paper topic via Google form by Wednesday at 11:59 pm. You should not need to log in or have a Google account to use the form. If you have trouble with the form, please email me. (Don't wait until class on Thursday to tell me it wasn't working.) The link is here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1lJUFYkYn6mBzOxgNxrx5R87cnj4h3JLNvEG4LqFv_i4/viewform?usp=send_form
2. Find 1 example of irony in Chapters 20-29 of Huck Finn. Mark it somehow that you can be ready to share it in class.
3. For the few of you who did not read for today, finish your reading!
4. Finish the Langston Hughes essay if you did not in class. We will do the AP multiple choice questions for it on Thursday.
5. For Monday, read chapters 30-38 of Huck Finn. When I wrote your reading schedules, I did not know that Wednesday is a holiday, so my A/B days got thrown off. You will finish the novel for the first class after Thanksgiving Break (Tuesday, December 1).

Please do not hesitate to contact me (Ms. Ginocchio) at jg239 [at] duke [dot] edu with any questions you have. 

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 6 November

English II

We had our exam on the first half of Persepolis today and began our in-depth study of the film.  I enjoyed the fact that so many of you noticed so many things about the adaptation of the book to the film.  Make sure that you've selected one element from question one and that you've written down one clear detail from our study of the film today as well as your opinion of the detail.

We'll work more on this as we continue to watch the film.  Make sure that you put in some work on the personal narrative project this weekend.  Many of you are off to a good start - it may be a good idea to see us with a draft of your project for some comments.

Russian III/II

You have your journals to complete this weekend as well as a second quiz on Thursday.  I would like for those of you who need to be reassessed from the first quiz to settle that before quiz number two - that makes everything easier for all of us.

With your journals - don't forget our phrase of the week:  не откладывай на завтра то, что можно сделать сегодня.  A good reminder for all of us, all the time.  II's - I want to see you using your time expressions as they work well with this idea.  Make sure to write out all of your numbers.  III's - use modal expressions and talk about what you need and/or need to do.  I'll be collecting all journals on Tuesday.  (G/SC/V/CU/C)

Russian I

There was a lot of good writing going on today in class and we didn't get to our game - things to get to on Tuesday.  For the weekend, focus on your writing and your notes from the writing workshop.  From what I saw there were two big areas:  verb conjugation and preposition usage (in Durham/in school/in Alaska/in Russia) that were throwing off a lot of you.  Remember to use the model expressions and my notes as you revise and rewrite.

Additionally you have your practice exercises.  These aren't for a grade, but they're good reinforcement and will help you learn your skills.  We'll likely look at a few of these on Tuesday as part of our review.