Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 6 October

Russian Students:

Keep in mind that you have unit examinations on Tuesday. Since we are ending a unit, any missing work or work that you want to turn in on Tuesday so that we have it for the unit to finish.

Russian I:

Your test will cover the alphabet - its shapes and sounds. Make sure that you also know the rules around formality, your cognate vocabulary, and your greetings, introductions, and farewells.

You'll also have to be able to analyze gender in words. Review your notes and handouts as well as anything in the folders which relates to this first unit.

Advanced Russian:

You've got a lot of verbs to find on your exam on Tuesday. Make sure that you can analyze verbs to find their infinitive as well as their stem. You'll be doing some transcription work related to these verbs in the texts that you will find. As well, there will be free response work related to the main themes we've been discussing lately (becoming something/being somewhere).

English IV:

Over the weekend you need to finish your resume checklist and review and revise your "Me You Don't See" essay to account for the feedback you've been given and raise your grades.

Homework for B Day Students - 5 October 2017

English IV

I was very happy with how class went today. Everyone came ready to focus and discussion was very lively. Let's keep this momentum going as we move through the rest of the semester! We will be finishing our unit on the Canterbury Tales very soon, so if there is any work you have missing, be sure to turn it in as soon as you can. We'll be working a little more with the Canterbury Tales, before finishing up the unit with a test and a final writing assignment. Remember that all missing and redone work needs to be complete by the time we give the final unit exam. Have a great weekend!

AP English III

Remember that on Monday you will be taking a quiz on Acts I and II of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. For the quiz, you will be expected to answer multiple choice questions, perform quotation identification, and write free responses. Use your time wisely this weekend to study Acts I and II. As far as your In Cold Blood essays go, final drafts are now due on Wednesday, October 11. Mr. Miller and I have opened up some more slots for writing conferences, and highly encourage you to come see us for help. Many of you have already done this, and can vouch for their usefulness. Have a great weekend, look forward to seeing all of you on Monday!

Homework for A Day Students - 4 October 2017

Russian I

For Friday, make sure that you and your partners have turned in your Russian city project so that I have all of the presentations. You and your group will present your information to the class on Friday. We will also do a final review on Friday to prepare for our examination which will happen on Tuesday the 10th of October.

Also, remember the list: You have flown in to Moscow for a three-day trip. Who will you speak with during your time in Russia, in order? Make a list of at least six people.

Remember that if you have any missing work for Russian I, that it needs to be in to me by Friday. After the unit exam you cannot make up any work from the previous unit.

Advanced Russian

Next class we'll be spending some time talking about our family members and their pasts and the jobs that they have had. Take the time tonight to respond and get together your ideas related to Exercise 11. Where did the person live? What jobs did they have? Where did they move? We'll do much of what we did today, talking through ideas and asking questions.

Don't forget that our Chapter Four examination will be happening on Tuesday as well. Make sure that your'e studying and prepared for this upcoming examination.

English IV

We will be finishing the unit very soon, so if there is any work that you want to redo or work that you missed and haven't turned in, make sure that it is turned in very quickly. We'll be doing a bit more with The Canterbury Tales before we move on to finishing the unit with an exam and final writing assignment. Remember that all missing and redone work needs to be complete by the time we give the final unit exam.

Homework for B Day Students - 3 October 2017

AP English III

Good work today on getting through Act One and a bit with "A Narrative of the Captivity" - remember that we will keep working through The Crucible and Mary Rowlandson on Thursday. To take us on to Thursday, make sure that you have done the following:

1. Read and annotate Act II - as you do that take a look at the ideas we drew out today in class. Apply these to Act II as you are going through and annotating to see how this act builds upon the ideas we discovered in Act I.
2. Select and begin reading a play for your drama projects. Remember you have a performance aspect as well as two writing assignments with this.
3. Continue to work on essays and remember you have final drafts next week on Monday.

If you didn't submit vocabulary cards, be sure to get those in as soon as you can.

English IV

Make sure that you are continuing to work on your character projects or revise your essays based on the feedback you received today in on your drafts. Keep in mind that if you do a new version of your essay, you'll need to turn in the original along with the new version too.

Homework for A Day Students - 2 October 2017

Russian I

Don't forget that your alphabet exam will be coming next week on Tuesday. For this test we will have all of the skills from the alphabet quiz (letters sounds and shapes as well as cognate vocabulary) paired with the new information about formality, greetings and farewells, and gender. So, make sure that you're studying those most recent exercises that we've reviewed today.

Your main homework is to keep getting ready for this test - study and prepare. And if you haven't yet taken the quiz, you should do that ASAP.

Advanced Russian

Tonight for homework I want you to do the review activity at the end of Chapter Four to review the key grammar and vocabulary we've studied in this unit. Complete exercise number nine in which you will answer questions about yourself or about society, in general. As you answer the questions, use the vocabulary from Chapter Four and review the key parts of grammar including cases and conjugations.

If you did not have a writing conference with me today then we will meet on Wednesday to review your work.

English IV

Make sure that you have put a lot of work into the character projects from The Canterbury Tales. You can also begin to make revisions to your "Me You Don't See" essay assignments based on the feedback from Mr. Bernhard. If you turn in a new version of the essay, please make sure that you have turned in the old one too.

Homework for the Weekend - 29 September 2017

AP English III

We have a few things to take care of or to start taking care of this weekend. I'll go over the short term things first and then move on to the longer term items.

1. Complete your next set of Vocabulary Cards (6-10). You should pick words from "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry G-d", The Crucible, and your tone word sheet. Account for all parts of the card. Use appropriate resources and turn them in electronically via Google Slides or on paper.
2. Read and annotate Mary Rowlandson's "Narrative of the Captivity" - for this piece, pay attention to the depiction and view of non-Puritans, the role of women in Puritan society, as well as any biases or elements of sensationalism in the text.
3. For Thursday we'll be working through Act II of The Crucible. You may want to start the process of reading and annotating this now.
4. Next week is our conference week. Mr. Bernhard and I are available during lunch, before and after school. Please make an appointment with us to review any drafts or outlines so that you can move to the final draft and know that you have a solid piece of writing.

All of the resubmissions turned in today should be entered in the gradebook no later than Sunday.

English IV

Many of you chose to take with you some of the graphic organizers so that you can continue to work on your characters project related to The Canterbury Tales. Here's a link to an online version of The Canterbury Tales. Make sure that if you have to spend time working on this that you complete this work over the weekend. On Tuesday we'll return to the lab in order to finish our research and we'll complete the reading of "The Wife of Bath's Tale".

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 28 September

Russian I

If you have a zero on your progress report this indicates that you are missing an assignment. Please get the assignment in to me ASAP so that I can update your grades. Remember that in about a week we'll be having our alphabet test which will cover the alphabet, our cognates, greetings and farewells, formality, and gender.

To practice with gender, complete the worksheet I gave you today in class. Look carefully at the final letter of the word and determine its gender.

Also, continue to work through your exercises in which you are practicing your greetings and farewells.

Advanced Russian

Over the weekend I want you to take the work we were doing to discuss Battleship Potemkin and spend some time writing. Write a brief paragraph about some aspect of the film. Try to use vocabulary that you can control. Don't worry about speaking in a complex way - focus on communicating your thoughts and ideas.

Also, continue to work with the article in Chapter Four. Complete the chart work we started in class by finding verbs, analyzing them as much as you can, and determining the subject, stem, and infinitive of the verb.

English IV

Very good work today in class everyone. Make sure that if you have a lot of work remaining on our Canterbury Tales character projects that you spend some time on that this weekend so that you can finish everything next week. We'll soon be moving on to a new unit.

Homework for B Day Students - 27 September 2017

AP English III

Lots of good work today on our editing skills as well as our discussion of Edwards and "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry G-d" - I think that you have a pretty solid understanding of who the Puritans were as a people and how they conceptualized the divine. Pay this forward into your reading of The Crucible.

For Friday our main task is to read and annotate Act I of The Crucible so that we can have a productive seminar on Friday and work through acting and viewing some of these scenes. As you read, pay attention for vocabulary. This weekend you'll have another set of cards to make.

Your final drafts of your essays on In Cold Blood and the nature/nurture debate will be collected on October 9. Please come and conference with us later this week or next week to review your draft before the final drafts are collected. Also, make sure that you are using the rubric to guide your revisions as well.

Lastly, if you have any work left to submit, that is due on Friday. We are closing this first unit and moving on, it's important that everything be settled.

English IV

Also a lot of good work today around understanding different types of characterization and in finishing up some of your character project work. Next class we'll start reading one of Chaucer's tales in order to see how he puts these characterization skills to work.

Continue to work on any missing work that you may have, including the essay. That is the most important thing right now.

Homework for A Day Students - 26 September

Russian I

Today we spent time reviewing the ideas of formality and informality in speaking and reviewed some of our greetings, introductions, and farewells related to this concept. For homework tonight you should complete exercises in the packet related to these greetings, introductions, and farewells. Complete exercises 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Practice your vocabulary and writing as you do this.

If you have any missing work - it needs to be turned in ASAP.

Advanced Russian

I've included a link to Battleship Potemkin here. Please use it to complete your viewing packets on the film if you have not already done so.

The main homework that you have for tonight is the reading at the end of Chapter Four. You have an article to read from a Russian newspaper. Don't focus on trying to understand everything, focus on getting main ideas and discovering verbs in context.

As you read, identify the verbs and the subjects for these verbs. After you read, answer the questions at the end in English - identify where in the article the answer can be found.

English IV

Many of you have finished a lot of your character work for our Canterbury Tales projects. If you still have parts to finish or if you need to finish your "Me You Don't See" essay - make sure that this work is complete soon.

Homework for B Day Students - 25 September 2017

English IV

If you did not submit your essay to Mr. Bernhard today then that is your first priority tonight. These assignments will be going on your progress reports, so it is important that you get them turned in so that we can grade them and get you feedback. Also, keep in mind that you will be able to continue working on these by resubmitting them after they are graded.

AP English III

Today we spent time rotating between talking about the 1950's and the 1670's in America. Funny how similar these two time periods were. As you are working tonight, here are your priorities.

1. Complete your rough draft for your In Cold Blood essays. You should complete your introduction (appeal to ethos, define terms, state argument) and one complete topic. As you work through your topic, make sure that you are using convincing evidence and explaining it in a way to prove your argument. Bring a copy of your draft to class on Wednesday for our writing workshop.
2. Get a copy of The Crucible and read Act One for Friday's class. As you read, pay attention to characters and motifs. There's an online version of the play available at this link.
3. Read "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry G-d" by J. Edwards. Remember that this is a Puritan preacher giving this sermon to an actual congregation. As you read, annotate with these ideas in mind: What does this text help you to understand about Puritans? How does Edwards convince his audience of his argument? You can also collect a lot of vocabulary from this piece. There's a ton of great words.

Lastly - remember that after this week you will only be able to continue resubmitting your essay outlines. If there is any other assignment that you need to submit, or resubmit, that needs to be settled this week.

Homework for A Day Students - 22 September

English IV

Great class today! I was very happy with all of your progress on your essays, as well as your engagement during our discussion of Muhammad Ali, Beowulf, and professional writing. Over the weekend, continue thinking about your Canterbury Tales character project and make some progress on the RESEARCH part of the assignment. Have a wonderful weekend, and see you on Tuesday!

Advanced Russian

Today, we watched the entirety of Battleship Potemkin. Over the weekend, complete as much work as you can on the accompanying packet. If you cannot finish it, there will be time built into Tuesday's class to complete everything. Have a wonderful weekend!

Russian I

Today, we spent the entirety of class watching the video about Russian geography and modern culture. Over the weekend, prepare to continue practicing your vocabulary and handwriting with Mr. Miller. Thanks for being on-task and engaged for your substitute, and come ready to learn next week! Have a wonderful weekend!

Homework for B Day Students - 21 September

English IV

Remember that on Monday, we will go to the computer lab to finish our "Me You Don't See" essays and turn them in to be graded. If you haven't already checked on your draft in Google Classroom, make sure you do before Monday to see and respond to Mr. Bernhard's comments. Try to respond to these as soon as you can, so on Monday we are able to finish the drafts quickly.

Although we got some good work done, today's class meeting could have been more productive; we can always improve at staying on task and following directions. Before next class, mentally prepare to finish the Creative Writing part of the Canterbury Tales character project and get a good start on the Professional Writing portion. Have a great weekend, and arrive on Monday ready to work!

AP English III

Great job today grinding away at the timed writing prompt. Writing good essays in such a small amount of time is challenging, but you will be very well prepared come AP Exam season in May. Before next class, keep working on summer assignment and essay outline resubmissions, as well as resubmissions of vocabulary cards. We are getting close to time to begin writing our In Cold Blood essays. Have a great weekend, and don't forget that everything we do is getting you ready for success later on this year!

Homework for A Day Students - 20 September

English IV

Remember that on Friday you will be finishing and submitting your drafts to be scored. Take some time before Friday, if you haven't already done so, and log in to your draft on Google Classroom in order to see the comments you've been given by Mr. Bernhard. Try to address these comments before Friday so that you can do some final checking on Friday and then print your draft.

Advanced Russian

You have been given the new vocabulary for Chapter Four - focus on the nouns and adjectives. As you study and review these vocabulary words, try to work with them in different cases. If you need a refresher on your case declensions for nouns and adjectives, check out this really great online resource. You can follow each link for work on each case.

Russian I

Today you were given some new vocabulary words as well related to greetings, introductions, and farewells. Start to study and learn this vocabulary. Also, if you haven't turned in the handwriting packet or the name project, you have these things to complete too.

Russian Students - Keep in mind that if you would like to redo the quiz you took today that you can. You should study and prepare so that you do better next time!

Homework for B-Day Students: 19 September 2017

English IV

Keep in mind that on Google Classroom you now have drafts of your essays as well as feedback from Mr. Bernhard as to how to develop your ideas in to full drafts. Before Monday of next week make sure that you address these comments so that you can quickly revise and print your draft to turn it in to us.

AP English III

On Thursday we will have our first timed writing opportunity and it will be an argumentative prompt. To prepare for this complete the assignment on Google Classroom. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to http://classroom.google.com. Login using your DPSNC credentials which are first-last@dpsnc.net and the password is your computer network password.
2. Enroll in our class. 3B is 0xpab07. 4B is 69gnon6.
3. Once you enroll you'll see the Quick Argumentative Outline Assignment. Create a Google Doc, give your argument on the prompt, at least one topic with evidence and explanation, and a clear refutation with evidence and explanation.
4. Turn in the assignment when you're done.

Additionally, bring your copies of In Cold Blood on Thursday if you would like a new grade for annotations on the text. If you have any resubmissions to turn in, those should come in too.

Remember that you will have a rough draft workshop on Wednesday, not Monday. This is a change.

Homework for A-Day Students - 18 September 2017

English IV

Good work today on your characters everyone. Next class we should have a chance to finish up the first portion of the Character Project and continue reading more of The Canterbury Tales. For tonight, it would be most important for you to revise and check-in on your essays. Mr. Bernhard went through your work on Google Classroom and left comments for you all. Go in and revise your essays to address those comments. We will print and submit drafts on Friday - so it's important that you finish these revisions before that.

Advanced Russian

Next class you will have a quiz on the One Stem Verb System. You will be expected to know:

• how certain stems operate.
• how to tell stems from each other.
• how truncation and addition function in past and non-past forms.
• how mutations are triggered.
• how to transcribe infinitives, non-past, and past tense forms.

Hopefully our workshop in class today was helpful in addressing these areas. You should work with the verb handout I gave you as well as the textbook in order to discover more about stems.

Additionally, continue to review our work on cases as they are paired with verbs. Complete exercise 7A, numbers 1-10. Read and analyze the sentence, then change the verb and case in order to make a synonymous sentence. We'll review this work on Wednesday, after the quiz.

Russian I

You also have a quiz next week that will focus on your knowledge of the Russian alphabet and handwriting. You should know:

• the sounds that each letter makes.
• the shape of the letter in print and in handwriting.
• the cognate vocabulary from English.

On the quiz you will be asked to listen to Russian and write what you hear, to write words given to you in print, and to explain what cognates mean. Study and be ready!

Also, keep in mind that handwriting packets and name projects must be turned in on Wednesday or they will become zeroes.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 15 September 2017

AP English III

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

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

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

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

English IV

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

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 14 September 2017

Russian I

Over the weekend you should be focused on finishing your handwriting packets for the alphabet if you haven't already turned that in and received a grade. If you have a grade then you can work on revising your work for a new grade if you would like.

Advanced Russian 

Over the weekend you should be focused on the reading passage at the beginning of Chapter Four; it's found on page 143. As you read determine the main idea of each paragraph. Find all of the verbs that you can. If the verb is not already in its infinitive form, then derive the infinitive based on your knowledge of stems and conjugations.

Russian Students - Don't forget that you will have your first quiz of the year on the 20th.

English IV

If you have not completed your first draft of your "The Me You Don't See" essays then spend time this weekend to have those completed. You'll be getting feedback this weekend as we begin to turn these into final drafts across the next week. Remember to access these drafts you need to go into Google Classroom using your DPSNC accounts.

Homework for B-Day Students: 13 September 2017

English IV

If you did not complete the draft of your introduction and body paragraph in class today then you should put in time this evening or tomorrow to complete this work. You can access Google Classroom from any computer, just remember to use your DPSNC account in order to login. Keep in mind that your introduction and body answer specific questions.

Introduction: What part of you do you keep hidden? Why?

Body: How did you discover this hidden part of yourself? Why is it important to you?

Next class we'll discuss conclusions, have a bit of time to finish our drafts, and then deal with some business related to being a senior.

AP English III

Very good discussion and conversation today everyone! There were a lot of great ideas shared, and the level of discourse in our class is definitely going up. For tonight remember a few things:

1. Next class we'll be focused on our outlines - learning how to develop a debatable thesis, how to structure an argument, and how to develop topics and examples and explanation. To this end, make sure to upload a copy of your outline to Google Drive. We'll have laptops in class on Friday to use as we go through our Writing Bootcamp. Feel free to bring your own device if you prefer.
2. Complete your resubmissions of your questions to In Cold Blood. You have everything that you need in terms of your Rules for Good Writing to make many of these changes. If you are unsure of what to do, come see me or Mr. Bernhard for help and guidance.

I would recommend submitting your questions sooner rather than later so that you can focus on resubmitting the outline next.

Homework for A Day Students - 12 September

Russian I

Now that we know all of the alphabet and a bit about stress it's time to practice with words. Take the cognates that I have given you and practice with your reading and pronunciation of these words. Play with the handwriting too. If you haven't turned in your handwriting packet, make sure it comes in on Thursday so that I can get it back to you before our first quiz.

We will have our first quiz on the alphabet and sounds on Wednesday, September 20. Be prepared. For this quiz you should be able to:

• tell the different sounds of each letter in the Russian alphabet
• recognize the print version of the letter
• write the proper handwriting version of the letter

Continue to practice and review your letters and alphabet.

Advanced Russian

For our next class I would like for you all to continue working with stems by applying knowledge to past tense. Look at exercise 2B on page 166-167. Complete the exercise by changing the sentence to past tense. Translate your sentences. Look for cases at work in the sentences, especially those triggered by the verbs.

We will review this work on Thursday as we continue to build on our work with stems. Keep in mind that you will also have a quiz on stems soon. Likely on Wednesday of next week.

English IV

If you have not yet completed your introduction and body paragraph for "The Me You Don't See" please make sure that you find time to go back to Google Classroom and complete that work. Next class we will hopefully finish our first drafts with a conclusion. Also, we will begin working in earnest on our Canterbury Tales project.

Homework for B-Day Students - 11 September

English IV

We have now begun the drafting of our essays in Google Classroom. Remember that you can always access these assignments via Google Classroom, you just have to remember to login with your DPSNC.NET account. If you need to continue working on your draft, please continue. Remember that you should be able to complete the introduction and the body paragraph for your essay. We'll return to the computer lab on Wednesday to continue working on this.

AP English III

You should continue to work on the revisions to your In Cold Blood question responses. Hopefully as we are going over writing and technique in class, you are seeing the ways that you can improve your work and the errors that you have made.

Additionally, next class we will have time to talk about Sections III and IV of In Cold Blood. As you continue to review the book, add to your annotations and rediscover things. We'll continue to discuss as we move forward.

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 8 September 2017

Russian I

Over the weekend you should be able to complete all of your handwriting practice packet. You do not need to do any of the word searches or any of the exercises where it asks you to translate from English to Russian. Do write all of the words that you are given in Russian in your best handwriting.

I will collect these packets on Tuesday. Tuesday will be a day that we will continue to work on phonetics and our sounds in the Russian language.

Advanced Russian

We're starting the process of getting more familiar with stems, endings, and how to combine different stems with endings. Over the weekend I want you to continue to apply what we have been learning related to non-past conjugations, past tense conjugations, and the different actions related to stems.

From the Chapter One through Four vocabulary focus on one verb from each chapter. Try to pick different stems. Work with the verb to show how it combines with other endings at the stem. Show the different processes. Work with this information. It becomes easier the more you spend time with it.

Further - if during our writing conference I asked you to revise your assignment, take care of that this weekend and have it ready on Tuesday. If your writing was not ready, be ready to hand it in on Tuesday.

English IV

You all got some great work done today in class related to your essays. Remember that you can go back to your DPSNC Google Drive account and continue working on this over the weekend. The goal is to have a complete introduction and body paragraph. We'll spend more time next week continuing to revise and work on these assignments.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 7 September

English IV

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

AP English III

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

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

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

Homework for A-Day Students: 6 September 2017

Russian I

Now we know all of the letters except for the two silent ones! Hooray! I'll start to speak a lot more Russian with you now since we have a good base underneath us. For tonight as well as for the weekend you should be focused on continuing to learn the letters of the Russian alphabet. Eventually you will want to be able to read and write the letter without looking at your notes.

Be sure to practice with all of the letters and words in the packet. Give your best attempt at all of the writing in the packet!

Advanced Russian

We did not have a chance to get to our writing conferences today, and that's okay. Be sure to bring your writing with you on Friday so that I can review it then. For tonight you will want to work with the Russian II verbs on the sheet I gave you in class. You will find it helpful to use an online resource to help you with conjugations with these verbs. I stumbled across this site - http://cooljugator.com/ru - which does a lot of work for you. Remember with each verb to work through the tasks at the bottom. Russian II should do row one. Russian III should do all of the Russian II verbs.

English IV

Today in class we got a lot of good writing and planning done to set us up for Friday. On Friday, we'll be going into the computer lab in order to start writing our personal essays. Make sure that you have thoroughly thought about your brainstorming and that you have considered some moments from your life that you'll include in this essay as evidence.

Birthday Presents aka Homework for 5 September 2017 - B Day

AP English III

Your main task for homework tonight is to read and annotate Stephanie Ericsson's "The Ways We Lie" - this article is available in 50 Essays (first edition) and at this link. As you read, annotate. Keep track of vocabulary and major ideas and motifs in the text.

As you read "The Ways We Lie" take note of the different lies that Ericsson writes about. Do you see how Didion, Capote, Dick and Perry employ these different lies? To what larger effect?

Also, keep in mind that you will receive your responses to the In Cold Blood questions on Thursday and will be able to resubmit them for a new grade.

English IV

If you haven't yet considered the brainstorming questions for our personal essay, do that tonight so that you are ready to write and plan your essays next class. We'll be focused on drafting our personal essays before going to the computer lab to type them up.

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 1 September

Happy Day of Knowledge! Happy First of September!

Russian I:

Homework for the weekend is to continue to focus on learning your letters in Russian. Remember that you should be learning the sounds and the shapes of the letters in Russian. Know the print version of the letter as well as the handwriting and start to get comfortable with reading and writing these sounds.

Also - we have some extra credit for this weekend! Do some research on Russian music and bring me a Russian musical artist that you would like to add to our class playlist. Bringing me a artist's name will earn you a bit of extra credit.

Advanced Russian:

This weekend I want you to focus on your use of verbs as you write a few sentences about your weekend. Use mostly past tense as you write and the verbs from Chapters One through Four. As you write, look at your vocabulary to remind you which cases are paired with which verbs. Use any charts or notes to help you with case declensions. Use language that you have ownership of - don't run to Yandex for all of your words.

Write 3-5 sentences (Russian II) / 5-7 sentences (Russian III). Next class I'll collect this as a bit of a diagnostic to see how our writing is going.

English IV:

There's no real homework for you all to complete this weekend. If you have missed a few classes because you've been added or had schedule issues, be sure to think about parts of yourself that are important to you, but kept hidden. Next class we'll be spending a lot of time toward writing our personal essays.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 31 August

English IV

For the weekend make sure that you've considered your brainstorming and the questions related to your introduction for your personal essay. We'll be spending a lot of time in class on Friday to draft these personal essays.

If you haven't turned in your student/parent contact form, please do that on Tuesday.

AP English III

Over the weekend you should be focused on Sections One and Two of In Cold Blood. Review both sections with an eye toward vocabulary and record on your bookmarks anywhere from five to ten good words that you would like to further study.

Take the questions I gave you today in class and prepare your question for Section One. We'll use these questions to take us through Section One - make sure that you've identified at least two significant passages that you could use to answer the question.

Look over and review Section Two. Hopefully we'll have time to work through that as well.

Homework for A-Day Students: 30 August

Russian I

Tonight, continue to work on the handwriting exercises that you've been given. You should be able to complete most everything up to Exercise 6. There are a few letters we haven't met yet, and you can skip those. Continue to focus on the letters we have learned in class which are:

A / К / М / О / Т / В / Е / Ё / Н / Р / С/ У / Х

By this point you should be able to say the letter and write it in upper and lower case.

Advanced Russian

Tonight you have a bit of practice with the ideas of truncation, addition, stems, and endings. In the exercise I gave you today in class I want you to do a few things:

1. Identify the process which will happen - addition or truncation.
2. Combine the stem and ending in standard transcription.
3. Transform into Russian, if you can.

We'll continue to work through this next class. You also have your vocabulary from Chapters 1-4; focus on relearning the verbs!

English IV

In class today we began our study of The Canterbury Tales by looking at some historical information as well as a bit of the Prologue in Modern and Middle English. We'll read more of the text next class and work on our writing assignments a lot. Make sure that you have considered your brainstorming questions and that you have decided which aspect of yourself you are focusing on in your personal essay. Next class we will be very focused on the writing of this assignment.

Homework for B-Day - 29 August

English IV

For tonight, just like the A-day class, please finish your brainstorming for "The Me You Don't See" as well as your paperwork (student/parent contact sheet). We'll be using the answers for the brainstorming to guide us into the drafting of the personal essay.

Today was a wonderful first class - I was very happy to see the excitement and energy in the room. Let's keep that going and make sure we have a wonderful year together.

AP English III

Mr. Bernhard and I are working on your summer assignments and will get them back to you as soon as we can. For now, you have reading and paperwork to complete.

Complete the reading of Didion's "On Keeping a Notebook" - it's available in the first edition of 50 Essays and at this link. Read the text and take notes. As you read, find four new words and write them on your vocabulary bookmarks.

Also, don't forget the parent/student contact form. You can fill out the paper copy or the online version in the post below.

Next class we'll be working with Didion and Capote - so have your books and your notes!

Homework for the First Day

Yay! We made it through the first day. After today it just gets easier. I was very happy to see and meet all of you today. I was also very pleased with the tone you all set with me today. If we keep doing the year like we did today, then we're golden. Here are your reminders for Wednesday's classes.

You can also go to the post below to access the student/parent contact sheet online.

English IV

Please complete the brainstorming sheet - remember five questions total with three from one section. You'll also want to fill out your student/parent contact sheet, the honor code form, and your student handbook form.

Advanced Russian

Think of ten verbs that you would need to use to discuss your everyday habits and activities. Look them up in Russian if you don't already know them and write them out in Russian as well as in Structural Transcription. We'll review the work on Wednesday as we jump into the system of classifying verbs by their stems.

Don't forget to also complete your student/parent contact sheet.

Russian I

We know five letters in the Russian alphabet - just 28 more to go! Tonight, work on your handwriting practice. Remember that if the word has a letter we haven't seen yet then you can skip it. Only work with the letters A, K, M, O, T. Review your notes and practice!

Don't forget to also complete your student/parent contact sheet.

Beginning the Year! Online Resources and Tools!

Welcome to the 2017-2018 Year! Below there are several online resources that you can use to get started with our classes for the year.

Parent/Student Contact Form
If you choose, please complete the contact form either on paper (delivered home by your student and handed out in class on day one) or online. Use the link below to complete the form. Remember to review the policies and procedures sheet before completing the form.

Mr. Miller's Contact Form

Google Classroom
In my classroom we will use Google Classroom to complete a lot of assignments. You'll need to use your DPS Google Account in order to access the online classroom space. You'll want to go to classroom.google.com and then use the code below to join your class.

2A - English IV - iawzp3
3A - Advanced Russian - dhvb35
4A - Russian I - 7xt5c2

2B - English IV - y0ekren
3B - AP English III - 0xpab07
4B - AP English III - 69gnon6

Remind
I also use Remind as an application to facilitate communication between parents, students, and me. Use the codes below in order to access our Remind groups. The groups are set by the classes, not the specific periods. You will want to send the code below to 81010 via text message to sign up.

English IV - @h78c2
AP English III - @7ee3eg
Russian I - @386b3a
Advanced Russian - @russii

Grading Update

Hey Kids,

So far everything is in and graded with the exception of English II - I'll be waiting for scores for a few days from the state. Check PowerSchool and let me know if you have any questions.

Let's Finish Strong! Exams 2017

Today was the last day of First Period (A or B Day), so I'm done with planning and preparation. Here is the schedule about where and when to be for your exam.

A final note pertaining to exemptions - If you are exempt from the exam it can only help and not harm you. If you have any questions related to exam exemption, you should contact me directly. No student may be exempt from the English II EOC - it is a state test. Russian and AP English III exams are teacher made, so you can be exempt from those.

Wednesday, May 31

Exam Period (9:00 - 12:16) - Advanced Russian, 2A - Room 301

Class Period (1:06 - 4:00) - AP English III, 2B - Room 301

Thursday, June 1

Exam Period (9:00 - 12:16) - AP English III, 2B - Room 301

Class Period (1:06 - 4:00) - Russian I, 3A - Room 301

Friday, June 2

Exam Period (9:00 - 12:16) - Russian I, 3A - Room 301

Class Period (1:06 - 4:00) - AP English III, 3B - Room 301

Monday, June 5

Exam Period (9:00 - 12:16) - AP English III, 3B - Room 301

Class Period (1:06 - 4:00) - English II, 4A - Room 301

Tuesday, June 6

Exam Period (9:00 - 12:16) - English II EOC, 4A - Media Center

Class Period (1:06 - 4:00) - English II, 4B - Room 301

Wednesday, June 7

Exam Period (9:00 - 12:16) - English II EOC, 4B - Media Center

Class Period (1:06 - 4:00) - A1 Class/Make-up Exams (Teacher Made)

Thursday and Friday, June 8 and 9

These days are for make-up examinations. Make-up examinations will be run at the discretion of the English/Word Languages Department.

Official Last Day of Classes - A Day - 25 May

Advanced Russian

Today was our final day of speaking and using Russian in a regular class setting! I hope you enjoyed the time to use the Russian you have and to be a bit spontaneous. Yay for that! Keep in mind that any textbooks should be returned ASAP if they have not been written in.

Your review session is scheduled for the afternoon of May 30th and the exam will follow on the morning of the 31st. If you are taking the exam, I would recommend coming to the final review to review the specific tasks and themes on the exam.

Russian I

I hope that you all enjoyed our final look at Russian culture. One of the most intriguing thing to me about Russia is the way that it is coming into the modern world while it still maintains so many of its connections to the past. They're an interesting people, Russians are, full of contradictions that serve to make them more interesting.

Your review session is scheduled for the afternoon of June 1st - the exam will follow on the 2nd in the morning. Be on time! Don't forget to return any textbooks or other supplies you've been given this year.

English II

I am glad that many of you were able to be productive and finish your final essay assignments. I will have these graded tomorrow and your grades will be finalized for the quarter as well as the semester. Your final grade for the year is the EOC which can still greatly improve or bring down your grade for the year (it counts as twenty percent of your grade).

Your review session will be held on the afternoon of the 5th of June and the exam will follow on the 6th in the morning. Our exam will be in the Media Center.

Last B-Day of the Year! 24 May 2017

AP English III

I hope you all had fun today. I know that I did. Be aware that the final exams are coming as well as the final review sessions. If you are taking the exam then you should come to the review session. It will be very helpful for you. Quarter grades and semester grades close tomorrow - if there are any last assignments to turn in, please get them in ASAP.

English II

Today we did our final review for the EOC - I hope you liked playing Matchbox. I won't see you again until June 6th in the afternoon for our official review session. Our exam is on June 7, starting at 9:00 am, in the Media Center. Be ready!

Homework for 23 May 2017 - A Day

Advanced Russian

Next class we will have our Russian talk show featuring the characters from Night Swallows getting together for a bit of a reunion. Remember to have costumes for the show. Have cue cards or notes written to prepare to speak. You'll be doing a lot of Russian speaking on Thursday as a means to show off all the things you've been learning. To prepare, here are the questions that the psychologist and host will be asking.

Questions from Psychologist Marhoul:

1. Do you miss any friends?
2. What were the types of the most stressful moments?
3. What were the good moments in the war?
4. Do you have any deceased family members?
5. Do you regret anything?
6. How do you feel?

1. Сучились каким друзям?
2. Какие у вас были стрессовы моменты?
3. Какие у вас были хороши моменты с войны?
4. Мертвая семья?
5. Что нибудь вы сожалите?
6. Как вы чувствете себя?

Questions from the Host

1. Did you like your Army group?
2. Did you miss your family?
3. Did you like your plane? (For pilots)
4. Did you like the political officer?
5. What was life like in the Soviet Army?

1. Вам нравится амейская группа?
2. Вам скучно без семьи?
3. Вам нравится самолет?
4. Вам нравится политический офицер?
5. Как жизнь была в советской армии?

Prepare answers to these questions. Be ready for Thursday. It'll be a fun class!

Russian I

Many of you have textbooks checked out. Please return these books to me ASAP. Next class we will finish our film on modern Russian culture and then continue to prepare for the final exam.

English II

Continue to study your EOC review sheet. Focus on learning your literary terms so that you are prepared to answer questions on them if these terms show up on the EOC. Next class we'll be doing our final EOC preparation. It'll be a good chance to earn any last extra credit for the year.

Homework for Monday - 22 May 2017 - B Day

AP English III

Remember that next class we will have our end of year party! Please be prepared with your item to share for the group, your costume, and your character sheet. Your sheet is due at the beginning of class, to start the party.

English II

If you did not finish your essay today on Google Classroom and hit "Turn In" then you will want to work hard to finish that tonight. Your essays are due by Thursday and are the final grade for the year in this class. Make sure that you are showing me everything you've learned about good writing this year.

Homework for the Weekend - 19 May 2017 - A Day

Advanced Russian

Over the weekend you should all be preparing for our final speaking assignment - our talk show called 20 Years Later. There are specific tasks based on your role in the show.

• Host - You need to write a brief introduction to the show (introduce the topic, situation, guests). You will also need to write questions for each person during the individual interviews and a few questions for the group discussion.
• Psychologist - You will need to write questions for each person during the individual interviews and a few questions for the group discussion.
• Characters - You will want a brief introduction about yourself. You will also want to consider possible questions and how you will answer these - coming up with sentence starters in Russian would be helpful for this.
• Viewers - Will you be asking questions or giving insights? If so, generate and write those. Will you be trying to create drama? How? Write what you will say to begin the conversations and anticipate possible responses.

On Tuesday we'll work together to prepare for Thursday's final speaking assignment. We'll be writing cue cards - it's important that everyone have work to be checked and developed on Tuesday.

Russian I

Over the weekend you should continue to study and review for your final examination in Russian I. You've been given the study guide which outlines the topics you will be asked to cover. Additionally, you may want to look over your grades on PowerSchool to consider any places you want to reassess or put rubles for extra credit. On Tuesday we will continue speaking and answering questions (which we started today) as well as continue our film.

English II

You should all be working on your essay assignment on Google Classroom over the weekend. You can also work on it on paper at home and type your work when we return. This essay is your final major grade of the year. You also have your study guide for the EOC - focus on learning terms and being able to recognize them so that if you see them on the exam then you are prepared!

Homework for the Weekend - 18 May 2017

AP English III

I hope that you enjoyed the reading of Flannery O'Connor's short story today in class. Like I said, I think she's one of the best American authors there is. Other great stories by her include "Everything That Rises Must Converge" and "Good Country People". I'd recommend her for the summer - a good author to take a look at, for sure.

Over the weekend, take it easy and relax. On Monday we have guidance coming in to talk about senior year preparations and then on Wednesday we have our final party. Don't forget to prepare by completing your sheet on your character/author and being ready!

English II

I was very impressed by the work that you all did today in class both in terms of analyzing the elements of "Saboteur" by Ha Jin. Over the weekend you can continue to work on your essays in Google Classroom. Remember that we will only have one more class period devoted to working on the essays in the computer lab.

Furthermore, you have your EOC review sheet. You should be studying the literary devices which you don't know and focusing on shoring up those weaknesses before the exam. We'll do more with the review sheet next week as we prepare for the final exam!

AP English III - 18 May 2017 Reading

AP English III

Students - Please use this link to access the digital copy of Flannery O'Connor's short story.

Homework for A-Day Students: 17 May 2017

Advanced Russian

At this point you should be actively preparing for your final speaking assignment - our talk show featuring the people from Night Swallows twenty years after the end of World War II. For this your preparation depends on your roles.

Audience, Host, Psychologist - You will want to think of questions to ask as well as generate possible answers so that you can predict follow up questions. You may also want to have a few sentence starters handy to help you speak and organize your thoughts.

Characters from the Show - You will want to think of sentence starters to get you started as well as how to talk about yourselves and your situations in Russian. Continue to develop your vocabulary as well as start to write.

All of you should start to write cue cards for yourself with sentence starters or questions. Next class we will start to prepare more for speaking and listening in this type of way.

Russian I

Today I gave you the final exam study guide which goes over all of the topics that will be covered on the exam. Tonight would be a good night to sit down with your work and to see where your problems lay. I would say that many of you should probably focus on vocabulary and case declensions. Take this time to organize your notes and prioritize your areas to study. I'll continue to give you chances to review and study in class as we prepare for the final.

If you did not have your family project ready for me today, make sure that it is ready and submitted ASAP. Remember that the gradebook will close for the quarter on the 25th of May.

English II

I'm pleased with the fact that so many of you were able to get a lot of good work done on your essays today. Next class we will continue to work on those and develop the body paragraphs before going on to the conclusion.

Homework for B-Day Students: 16 May 2017

AP English III

I think that many of you will be happy when you see your grades from today's work on the Amendments to the US Constitution. I was impressed by your clarity and the way in which you were able to discuss the relevance of the amendments in the past and also in current society. Hopefully through your study of this important document you are able to have more ownership of your role as a member of our nation.

For next class, I would like for you to do some preliminary research on Flannery O'Connor. She's an American author from our neck of the woods - she's actually for Mississippi, but the south is the south. Do some light research on her so that you are aware of what type of author she is. This will be helpful as we read and discuss one of her stories next class.

English II

We began the drafting of our essays today in class. Remember that by the last class you should have your essay complete with all of the paragraphs. The assignment will remain in Google Classroom until the last day of class - each day we'll continue working on another paragraph.

We also continued the reading of "Saboteur" today to get through part two. Continue to track the characters and their development as well as the conflict. These are the key details that Ha Jin is using in order to show the theme he is presenting.

Homework/Reminders - A Day Students - 5/15/2017

Advanced Russian

Make sure if you need to that you watch a few other episodes of Ночные Ласточки on YouTube.com in order to continue building your characters. You can access the whole season on YouTube - we've watched episodes one through four.

Additionally, tonight you should study the vocabulary on the first page of the packet and read through the dialogues a few times so that you can understand what they are about, generally. You should be able to locate vocabulary being used within the dialogues.

Russian I

Today in class we finished the film I Walk Around Moscow. The link to the video is here. If you were not in class then you should finish watching the movie in order to complete your viewing guide. Additionally, remember that next class you will be presenting one of your family members to me. Practice your reading. Make sure that your writing is solid and has been checked for grammar and vocabulary errors.

English II

Today in class we began the study of our last short story "Saboteur" as well as the work on our essays. Next class we will be in the computer lab to begin typing our essays and to do our EOC Online Tutorial. If there is any work that you would like to resubmit or redo to raise your grade at the end of the quarter then make sure that is all in to me ASAP. My gradebook will be closed on Thursday the 25th of May.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 12 May

AP English III

If you did not finish your teaching aide for Tuesday's class please make sure that it is complete and turned in on Tuesday for the presentations on the amendments. Remember that you should go over the:

• context for the amendment
• purpose of the amendment
• significant language from the amendment which informs the purpose
• changes the amendment brought to the Constitution (if any)

If you complete this work online then make sure that it is shared to me. Remember that your aide may not be bigger than a single piece of paper.

Tuesday we will go through the amendments and finish our unit on the Constitution. Thursday we will have our literature circle on one of my favorite short story authors. Monday the 22nd we will have Student Services come to speak about senior year preparations; I will give you some pointers for the college essay. On Wednesday the 24th we will have our end of year party. Don't forget to complete your Character Sheets for the party.

English II

At this point of the year you should continue to study and prepare for the EOC. Additionally, if there are any assignments that you are missing or would like to resubmit to me, then you can do that at your leisure. I'm available in the morning, at lunch, or quickly after-school.

Homework for A and B Day Classes - 5/10 and 5/11

Sorry for not getting this posted yesterday. With the AP Exam in English III and the field trip today for Advanced Russian, I got a bit behind.

AP English III

Boom! You did it! You took the test! Yay! Now we can move on to finishing up our unit on the Constitution of the United States. On Friday we'll begin to end our unit by looking at our amendments and preparing for our teaching and study of them as a group. Be ready to work in class on Friday to prepare your teaching element. It'll be a poster/visual that we'll use next week as we study the amendments as a class.

English II

We have read some early Chinese literature with the maxims and teachings of Confucius and next class we will go on to some more modern Chinese literature with one of my favorite authors, Ha Jin. This will be our last reading of the year. We will also continue to work on our essays by finalizing our introduction paragraphs and going to our first body paragraphs. Remember that every day of class we will be completing one of our essay paragraphs.

Russian I

I hope that you all enjoyed the beginning of the film today and were able to get a lot of work done with your family projects. You should have all five paragraphs in a slide show format so that I can check on your work and give you any needed feedback. My goal is that we will have maybe one more session in class to work on these before they are due next week. Remember that with one of your family members I will want you to speak aloud to me. Practice this now.

Advanced Russian

You should take the time this weekend to complete your profile on your character for the final speaking assignment. Given what you have seen about the person from the episode, what is the backstory that they'll be coming into on the talk show? If you're viewing or hosting or acting as the psychologist - then what is your motivation? What are you trying to find out? Use the questions on the viewing guide to structure this.

Also, remember that you should include ten words that your character would use on the show. Give me the words in nominative case forms or in their infinitive (if a verb) - I'll give you any notes on usage or tips with using them.

I think that's all for that. Enjoy the weekend (A Day) and see you tomorrow (B Day)!

Homework for A-day Classes: 9 May 2017

С Днем Победы!
Happy Victory Day!

I hope that all of you in Russian class enjoyed celebrating the holiday today. Below are your reminders for our next class day.

Advanced Russian:

Either using you notes from today's episode of Night Swallows you should be building your character for the final speaking assignment. You should write a paragraph in English that discusses your person: Why are they on the show? What tension do they have with others? How will they act or dress? Make sure that you are drawing your character off of the episodes. Keep in mind, all of the episodes are available online.

You should also find ten words in Russian that would be used by your character. Write these with their translation at the bottom of your paragraph. I'll be able to give commentary on if the words are accurate or not.

Russian I:

Next class we will begin watching our final Russian film of the year and complete our PowerPoints related to our families, in Russian. Next class you'll have half of class to finish uploading your writing to your PowerPoint presentations. I'll check the PowerPoints this weekend and give any feedback to you on grammar.

Remember that one of your slides/paragraphs will be presented to me, aloud. We will do this next week on Wednesday. Be ready for that with all of your writing done!

English II:

You've gotten back a lot of your work and I've given you progress reports. If there is anything that you would like to resubmit or continue to revise in order to get a stronger grade, please do that before the end of the quarter. Next class we will begin writing our essay, starting with the introduction paragraph. Be prepared for that.

Homework for B-Day Students: 8 May 2017

AP English III:

It's time to do the big dance, for real. Be on time (7:30 at the Church). Be well rested (remember you can't really study too much). Be well fed (have a nice breakfast). And do all the things!

I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes. 2nd period - I won't see you. 3rd period - I will see you. Take A-lunch, report to class by 12:48. We'll watch some episodes of The Simpsons and talk about satire.

English II:

You all have your final essay assignment which we will be working on every day in class from now to the end of the year. The idea is to finish and submit the final essay on the last class of the year. By doing this intensive writing work, we will be ready for the writing goals on the EOC. You should continue to study your vocabulary words from "Rama and Ravana" in battle as well as take care of any missing assignments from your progress report.

Next class we'll start our final few readings of the year which will come from China. First we'll get to know Ancient China through the writing of Confucius - then we'll see modern China through the writing of one of my favorite authors, Ha Jin.

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Students - 5 May 2017

Advanced Russian:

If today's assessment came as a surprise to you today, then please take the time over the weekend to study and prepare for a reassessment on the topics which troubled you. We have pretty much finished with the new grammar and topics for the year - for the rest of our time together we will be reviewing and preparing for our final speaking assignments.

Also, please make sure to fill out your permission slips and return them to me ASAP. I have already contacted your teachers to let them know about the trip - you need to follow up with them.

Russian I:

Same note as above to you on the exam today. Think about the particular topics or areas of the test that gave you trouble and spend your time preparing and studying for a reassessment if you need to. You also need to make sure that all of your paragraphs are uploaded into Google Classroom by Tuesday's class so that we can begin to end our final project of the year and move into our final film study for the year!

English II:

Make sure that over the weekend you are studying your vocabulary crossword from "Rama and Ravana in Battle". Your final vocabulary quiz of the year will cover these words. Next week we will start to read our final story of the year and begin to work on our final major writing assignment.

Make sure that if there are assignments on your progress report that you would like to redo or reassess on that you prepare for that this weekend!

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 4 May 2017

AP English III

I will have your AP Multiple Choice forms ready for you tomorrow morning if you would like to pick them up in advance of the weekend to prepare for your exam on Wednesday.

Over the weekend you should continue working on your assignments in Google Classroom related to annotating the amendment(s) that you are studying as well as the historical context and development of the amendment(s). I would seriously consider the outline assignment as you are working on your close reading and research. Remember that for your timed writing you will be presenting your interpretation of the meaning of the amendment(s) through analysis of the actual language as well as inclusion of facts from research. As I said, it's a bit of an analysis and a bit of a synthesis. You'll have access to these documents for your timed writing.

Continue as well studying and preparing for Wednesday!

English II

You should spend time this weekend reviewing your vocabulary crossword puzzles in advance of the final vocabulary quiz of the year.

Homework for A Day Students - PLC DAY - 3 May 2017

Advanced Russian:

Many of you have been absent this week due to AP Testing. I hope that you've felt successful there. Remember that on Friday we'll have our second quizzes for this most recent unit. Your study tips are below:

Russian II - Plurals in all cases for all parts of speech, double negatives, adverbs of quantity and some vocabulary. Make sure that you are prepared by reviewing your exercises, notes, and especially your work with cases.

Russian III - Participles and verbal adverbs will be the focus of this quiz as well as work with который phrases related to this.

Russian IV - Review of "White Nights" in full including writing and vocabulary skills.

Russian I:

Next class we will have the Unit Three exam. It'll cover a lot of your foundational skills (alphabet, cases, gender) as well as the new skills from unit three (singulars/plurals, adjectives/adverbs, conjunctions). Make sure that you study your previous quizzes and keep working on your writing to study and review for this assessment.

If you are working on your writing, I will check them again before Tuesday's class. Make sure that you've corrected your previous work and that you have finished all five of your paragraphs!

English II:

Today we finished Spirited Away and I collected viewing guides. This film is going to be one of the things that you can analyze for your final writing project on character analysis. I'll have the guides returned to you soon. Remember that there are now seven classes until your exam. I hope that you're preparing yourself well.

Homework for B-Day Students: Tuesday, 2nd of May

AP English III

Next class we will have our last AP Multiple Choice practice to prepare for the examination. It'll be another full-length test from a previous year. To prepare for this make sure that you have reviewed your previous multiple choice practices and begun to fully learn some of the vocabulary that may have caused you to stumble before.

Additionally, you may want to continue working on your research/close reading of your amendments to the US Constitution. We will be closing that assignment on Thursday and I'll be checking your work to prepare for your timed writing.

English II

Good work today finishing up Spirited Away.  Next class we will continue to read "Rama and Ravana in Battle" as well as get started on our final writing assignment - a character analysis!

Homework for A Day Students - 1 May 2017

Happy May Day! С Первым Мая!
For those of you absent due to AP Testing - please pay close attention. You are still responsible for what we do in class, even when you are absent.

Advanced Russian:

You will have your final quiz on Friday which will cover the more recent topics in this unit. Make sure that you are studying and preparing. Russian II's quiz will cover plurals, adverbs of quantity, and double negative expressions. Russian III's quiz will cover participial phrases, deverbal adverbs, and который phrases, Russian IV's quiz will cover "White Nights" and vocabulary analysis.

Russian III - Please complete the translation of the two mystery texts from our reading practice.
Russian IV - Please submit your essay via Google Docs on "White Nights"
Russian II - Please continue working on your writing assignment - the short story about your items using adverbs of quantity. The prompt is copied here:  Think about your items in your bookbag, or in your car, or perhaps in your bedroom at home? What do you have a lot of? What do you have little of? What did you have much of? What will you have little of? What do you never have a lot of?

Russian I:

Your rough draft space is available on Google Classroom. Please ensure that by Wednesday you have completed your first three paragraphs as a rough draft. I will read them, mark comments, and then we will continue to revise and move toward a final draft in Google Slides (with images).

Also, we have our unit examination on Friday. I hope that you are preparing by using the study guide I prepared for you.

English II:  If you are missing any assignments or would like to resubmit any assignments, please turn those in or work with me during lunch, before or after school to complete the reassessment.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 28 April 2017

It's the end of the month! Huzzah! We've only got a few classes left until we begin our final examinations and review sessions.

AP English III:

Over the weekend you have a few things to do and work on to prepare for next week. First, make sure that you read and annotate the article I gave you today in class called "Two Ways to Belong in America." If you lose this piece, then you can access a .pdf of it at this link.

Second, continue to work on your projects in Google Classroom. Remember that we will only have about thirty more minutes in class to complete research, so putting in time over the weekend is important to do. I would recommend trying to finish one of the slideshows/documents.

Third, remember that we will have our final AP Multiple Choice practice on Thursday. On Tuesday I plan to review some of the more commonly missed questions on this test. You may find it helpful to review these yourself and perhaps doa second attempt to prepare.

Fourth, take a quick read/annotation of Articles Four through Seven in the Constitution. Keep these questions in mind as you read:

1. What do these articles deal with or accomplish?
2. Why are they needed?
3. How do the outlying articles relate to the three main articles of the Constitution?

English II:

There is no required homework this weekend. If you would like to resubmit any assignments as we begin to prepare for the end of the year, please study and review and then schedule a reassessment time. I would recommend before school or during lunch. Keep an eye on your progress reports that I gave out last class to prioritize what you should do. We will soon begin our final major assignment which is an essay.

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 27 April

Advanced Russian

For those of you who left for the senior meeting - please pay close attention to the paper I gave you before you left. That states your homework for the weekend. For Russian IV we are working on vocabulary and our synopsis of the story. Russian III is finishing the work on participles and verbal adverbs from the mystery texts. Russian II students are completing the translation exercise (number nine) focused on adverbs of quantity.

Remember that you will have your final quizzes next Friday and then our final unit examinations.

Russian I

Over the weekend you should use the example paragraphs that we reviewed today in class to complete at least three family member paragraphs as rough drafts. Hopefully most of them will be very grammatically correct since we were able to develop them today in class. On Monday we will be in the computer lab to type and upload our work into Google Classroom.

Please do not use translators to do this work for whole sentences. I understand looking up a word or two, but do not use a translator. The translator will show itself because you will be using words or language that I have not yet taught you. Do your own work. Part of the struggle is the process of learning.

You also have your study guides for your Unit Three exam which will happen on Friday the 5th.

English II

I have now handed back all of your work this quarter as well as progress reports. If there is anything that you need to redo or resubmit then you should prepare for that this weekend and be ready to do your reassessment next week.

Homework for B-Day Students: 26 April 2017

AP English III:

Remember that reassessments of your research paper are due to me on Friday. You will need to turn in the original paper as well as the new paper for me to be able to track changes and see your improvements. I will update grades as I see fit. Make sure that you meet this deadline so that you are able to improve your grade and finish getting feedback before the AP Examination.

Next class we will continue our work through the Articles (up to Article V) - make sure that you are reading and annotating by keeping the key questions in mind as you continue to work through the Constitution.

Also next class we will begin to work on our Amendment as Argument project by completing research. Please read over your instructions form and read your selected Amendment carefully to prepare for our research.

English II:

Today you received progress reports which outline any missing assignments. If you have anything that needs to be turned in or made-up (like a quiz or a test) please make sure that you are working to complete that ASAP. Remember that we only have TEN classes remaining.

Homework for Tuesday - A Day - 25 April 2017

Advanced Russian:

Tomorrow morning at 9:00 you'll be taking your AP Examination. Good luck! Watch your spelling as you type and think carefully! Use the questions as a guide!

Russian II - Make sure that you have submitted and practiced for your presentations on Thursday on the weather in Durham and in your Russian city. You'll be presenting on one day in Durham and in your Russian city. Your work should be turned in on Google Classroom.

Russian III - Continue practicing with participles and verbal adverbs by completing the reading tasks I gave you today. Read the texts and work through the tasks. Feel free to annotate, underline, or mark up the texts to find your needed vocabulary.

Russian IV - Finish and submit the final draft of your essay on character arcs and Dostoevsky.

Russian I:

We've started on one of our last projects of our year - the family writing project. For tonight's homework you should write two paragraphs as a rough draft. Use the vocabulary we've reviewed and found in class as well as the writing outline. Do not use online translators for this work. Only write using your own skills. If you need help, ask me. Remember that this is one of the main ways that we will be preparing for our final exam.

English II:

No homework today since we had our major vocabulary assessment today in class. Next class we will keep watching Spirited Away and we will begin to transition to literature and culture from India.

Rainy Monday Homework - 24 April - B Day Classes

English II

There's no official homework for tonight since we had our major vocabulary assessment today in class. Next class we will continue watching Spirited Away and transition to India.

AP English III

Today because of the multiple choice we did not really have the chance to begin the work on the analysis of the US Constitution the way that I wanted. That's okay though - there's always tomorrow.

For our next class, make sure that you have thoroughly read and annotated Article One and Article Two with the main questions in mind. These questions again are:

1. What are the powers outlined within each section?
2. Who gets to exercise those powers?
3. How does the organization of the section as well as of the article as a whole allow us to understand the priorities of the Founders?
4. How does the article as a whole present an argument and evidence? How does this relate to the argument presented by the Preamble?
5. What relationships are emphasized in this section?

You'll also want to take a look at the Amendment as an Argument project and the Amendments themselves. You'll either have one or a small group that go together. It may be worth your while to go through and familiarize yourself with these pieces so that you can make an informed choice next class.

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 21 April 2017

English II

The homework for the weekend is to study and prepare for your vocabulary quiz on Tuesday. You should know not only the meaning of the words and their part of speech but also the important information about how the words are put together (word parts, prefixes, suffixes). I'll be giving you some words on this test which are not from this unit, but you should be able to navigate them with your skills.

I'll also have a new DVD player next week so that we can watch our film after the quiz.

Russian I

You also have a quiz on Tuesday that you need to prepare for. The quiz will cover singular/plural declensions for all genders with nouns, adjectives, and possessive pronouns. Make sure that you have studied in order to review. There will also be a reassessment section on identifying and translating adverbs in Russian (you have your previous quiz back, so you know what to study there).

Advanced Russian

Students in Russian II will want to work this weekend to complete weather reports on Google Classroom. Given the struggles we had today with technology we will go back one more time (Tuesday) to work on these. You should have a fair amount of the work done so that I can give you feedback on Tuesday before our presentations on Thursday.

Students in Russian III will want to complete exercises 11.13 and 11.14 which focus on using and translating phrases with gerunds. We'll review this as the way that we will cover this information.

Russian IV will want to continue working through the essay on White Nights with the expectation of having one additional session to complete it.

Keep in mind that we will have a quiz on new grammar on Monday, May 1st.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 20 April 2017

English II:

Remember that on Monday you're going to have a quiz on your vocabulary words from the Zen Parables - it's going to test your knowledge of the definitions, parts of speech, and your word analysis skills. Make sure that you've not just studied the meaning of the words, but also the prefixes and the roots that we've been learning.

AP English III:

If you were absent from class today because of the matinee production of Legally Blonde then know that you missed a full lesson today on historical context of the US Constitution, a review of rhetorical analysis skills, and a practice analysis of the Declaration of Independence. I would speak to a classmate or to me about the notes you've missed.

Over the weekend you need to read and annotate Article One - the roles and responsibilities of the legislative branch. Also, you'll have your full-length multiple choice practice on Monday. It'll be timed. Review your skills and AP vocabulary in order to prepare for this.

Also, for any of you who missed the Invisible Man timed writing, there will be a chance to make-up the assessment on Monday morning, before school. Remember to bring your book to this make-up assessment since I'll also be checking annotations.

Homework for A-Day Students: 19 April 2017

Advanced Russian:

Tonight you should all continue to work on the assignments which have been created for you in Google Classroom. On Friday we will return to the library in order to finish these.

Keep in mind that you also have quizzes coming up soon. For Russian IV the quiz will focus on White Nights, for Russian III the quiz will focus on который phrases and participles, for Russian II the quiz will focus on weather vocabulary and the use of the double negative.

If you have exercises related to these topics (III and II) I would recommend trying to complete those as a way to review before our class.

Russian I:

Very good presentations today everyone. For those of you who didn't present today, you will need to be ready for presenting on Friday. You have your quizzes back to you as well as your writing assignments. Remember that you can correct and resubmit your writing assignment. It is a good idea to study and review your quiz so that you are ready for the reassessment/quiz next week.

English II:

Now that you have your vocabulary study aides it's important to practice and study with your dominoes daily. We'll have a vocabulary test next week!

Homework for B-Day - 18 April 2017

AP English III

Good day in class today everyone. I'm going to cover a few things in this post regarding our wrap-up of Invisible Man and our beginning of our US Constitution unit.

1. If you were absent today you must schedule a retake of your exam. I would like for you to come ASAP before school or on Thursday after school. Bring your book for your annotation check. You will have a different prompt.
2. If you forgot your book today then it is due to me Thursday, the 19th, before school begins in order for you to get credit.
3. For tonight you are reading and annotating the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson. It's important to understand this document as a means to understand the framework and goals the Framers had when considering the Constitution.
4. You also need to read and annotate the Preamble to the US Constitution with these questions in mind:
1. Is this the argument of the Constitution? If so, what is its meaning?
2. What does the Preamble represent about our values as a people?

Don't forget that we will have a guest lecturer in class to start our day on Thursday.

English II:

Using your vocabulary resources you should begin to study and prepare for a quiz on vocabulary and word structure. The quiz will be on Monday of next week!

Homework for A-Day Students: 17 April 2017

And after a wonderful break, we're back to it! Keep pushing hard to the end of the year. We've only got 14 A days left.

Advanced Russian: Don't miss your scheduled Oral Proficiency Interview with Mrs. Sudderth, Dr. Oyediran, or Ms. Verdone. Be early! Speak clearly and understand.

Russian IV - Complete the reading of White Nights and continue tracking the relationship between the characters through quotations. Make sure to record one quotation from/about each for each section (this takes you to seven for each of them). Try to interpret and analyze as you work through them. We'll finish the story on Wednesday.

Russian III - In your textbooks, read the information on GERUNDS (pages 475-477) and take notes as you read. Understand how they are translated and how they are formed. Don't forget to complete the earlier exercises on participles (long and short form).

Russian II - After today's workshop you should be able to finish your drafts on the weather in Durham and in your Russian city. Type or finish writing these sentences so that on Wednesday we can pull together our final drafts. Also, work through more of your plural declensions.

Russian I:

You have a quiz on Friday which will focus on forming plurals as well as vocabulary (reassessment). Make sure that you are studying and reviewing nightly in order to learn this content. On Wednesday we will be learning about Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan. On Friday we will learn about Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Be prepared to present. Make sure that your PowerPoint has been submitted through Google Classroom.

English II:

Very good class today - I'm about to sit down and read your paragraphs. Make sure that you're reviewing the new vocabulary; you'll see it on Wednesday when we read some Zen parables.

Spring Break Begins Today

AP English III:

Good work on the mural project today everyone. For those of you on the band trip or who opted to complete the individual project, then know that your work is due on the Tuesday that we return. It is also worth noting that on Tuesday we will have the final assessment on Invisible Man. I will collect and check your text annotations as well as give you the in-class essay. Remember that you have the five options for the essay - it will be one of these five. Prepare for all of them and try to find the commonalities between the prompts.

We will begin our unit on the US Constitution as well after Spring Break. Enjoy your holiday.

For any of you who have not yet submitted research papers I will remind you that time is ticking away. I'll be handing back papers on Tuesday and you'll only have one resubmission available. It's imperative that you turn in your work ASAP.

English II:

No work for you to complete over the break. Try meditation and mindfulness out for a test drive while you're on break. It's a great way to deal with any stress.

Homework for Russian Classes - A Day - 6 April

What an exciting A Day to take us in to Spring Break. Keep in mind that I won't see you again until after break. English II Students - I didn't have you today, so we'll have our class planned for today when we return from Spring Break.

Russian Students:

You have a great vocabulary resource in your hands - the most common 205 words in the Russian language. Focus on studying and learning these words. Don't worry about ones that look too difficult, but the more common ones should be something that you recognize.

Russian I:

Additionally, please read the text I gave you today in class and answer the questions on the back. This is a great text for you to recognize plurals.

Russian II:

Over break, please write the rough draft for your Russian city weather report - you can put this in Google Classroom with your other work. Additionally, make sure that you are practicing your plural declensions in all cases (maybe with the exception of genitive).

Russian III/IV:

We've got participles. Complete the worksheet where you turn the participial phrase into a который clause and also the translation of the short form participles.

Russian IV:

Finish reading White Nights over break. This will allow us to quickly finish our work on it when we return.

Homework for B-Day Students: 5 April 2017

Friday is our last class before Spring Break! Huzzah!!!!

AP English III:

On Friday you'll have your mural construction and presentation day. On this day you'll have forty-five minutes to work as a group to construct your mural and then we will go around and you will explain your mural to the class in a gallery walk. Each member of the group should be able to own the explanation of one aspect of the mural.

I would recommend bringing your quotes and images with you so that these are ready to go. Your group should use your blog as well as your motif chart to bring this together.

For those of you who won't be here on Friday due to trips - I have an individual version of this assignment for you to complete.

Remember that when we return from break we will have our final exam on Invisible Man - this will consist of your timed-writing on Invisible Man (the prompts were given to you today) as well as a final annotation check. Be sure that you use the break to reread, reannotate, and prepare for this test.

English II:

Now that we have begun our study of Asian culture it's important that you stay focused on learning and studying your vocabulary words. Be sure that you are reviewing them daily. Next class we will start in on our study of Japanese culture through the Zen Parables.

Homework for A Day Students - 4 April

Advanced Russian:

Russian IV - Tonight focus on your survey for Russian language skills and competencies. Make sure to evaluate yourself honestly and thoroughly so that we can decide on a plan of action for the last classes before your AP Exam. Also, try to start getting into "Night Four" of White Nights - I'd recommend reading the first two or three sections and tracking your vocabulary.

Russian III - Tonight, now that you better understand how to use который, you will be able to understand the idea of participles. Read through your textbooks in Chapter Eleven and focus on the information around participles. Just read and take notes on your own - we will go over them a bit on Thursday.

Russian II - Tonight you also have reading in your textbooks. Go through the rules on forming plurals in all cases (they're pretty easy with the exception of genitive case). You may want to develop a declension chart or just take notes. We'll start practicing and using the plurals next class. Also, make sure that you've finished the first exercise all the way on your plural review sheet. Lastly, if you have a quiz to make-up or project work to upload, be sure that this is done ASAP.

Russian I:

Tonight to continue your reinforcement of regular plural formation in the nominative case, complete exercise 2A. Rewrite the sentences changing the boldfaced words from singular into plural.

English II:

Your homework is the same as 4B below - bring in an item that represents your personal culture (or a photo of it) for your homework. We'll have show and tell next class. You'll also be doing a bit of writing too.

Ms. Barber's Evaluation

English II and AP English III Students:

Ms. Barber is asking for your anonymous feedback on her teaching and lessons with you this past quarter. If you would like to give her feedback for her teaching portfolio, she asks that you use the link below on Google Forms.

Ms. Barber's Survey

Homework for Monday - 3 April 2017 - B Day

English II:

Today in class you all had a test - so the homework tonight is pretty light. Next class we'll be having cultural show and tell. Your instructions are as follows:

1. Bring in an item (or a photo of the item) that represents your personal culture.
2. Explain how the item represents your culture.

We'll start with our show and tell before we go forward into our study of Asian cultures to end our year.

AP English III:

Tonight you have some Invisible Man work to do as well as a quick writing assignment to finish our work on George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant."

• Read/Analyze/Annotate Chapter Twenty Five in Invisible Man. It really is the end of the book - we will deal with the Epilogue together as a group.
• Make sure that your BLOG is in good shape. You have to post on Chapter Twenty-Five. This is the last required post. All of this work is key to your murals which we will construct on Friday. You should - as a group - decide on the purpose of your motif within the text by this point. You should also find your quotations and images now; it'll make your work on Friday that much more efficient.
• Complete a quick analysis outline of "Shooting an Elephant" as if you were going to write a rhetorical analysis of it. For the outline identify the authors argument, and then three distinct rhetorical/literary devices he uses to advance that argument. Be able to have at least two examples of each device with commentary. This should only take you about five to eight minutes - it's an important skill for you to get for the timed writings on the AP Exam.