Homework for B-Day Students: Monday 18 February

AP Seminar

Today we began the work of moving through Performance Task 2 - The IWA and IMPOD. We spent time in class reviewing the components, the instructions, and the general outline of the task. From there, we went on to looking at two of our documents - both in verse. I've attached the slides from today's work in Google Classroom so that you have them as a record.

Tonight, you should go to Digital Portfolio and double check your final submission of your IRR. Additionally, you should find the Stimulus Pack - released to you via Digital Portfolio - and complete the reading and annotating of Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail". As you read, consider the connections that you can build between these three texts as well as the way in which King builds and supports his argument.

Advanced Russian

Today in class we had a split day. Russian II students focused on reviewing their knowledge on verbs of motion and related constructions (including cases). Russian III students learned new information connected to conditional and hypothetical situations. We worked through exercises which need to be completed tonight (Russian II - 6.11 / Russian III - 10.13) in order to practice with the concepts.

Additionally, you should all be finishing your project work (poems or Amazing Race) in advance of our due dates. All project work should be done by Tuesday of next week. The Unit Examination will follow shortly after that. You have all week to come in and make corrections to your quizzes in the spirit of resubmission.

Lastly, as I said in class - you should be at the point where you have most of your verbs memorized. It's time to start taking off the training wheels.

Russian I

Today in class I returned our most recent quiz on cases before we spent time going through our Russian Mad Libs to practice writing with a variety of cases. In our activity today we touched on and used all six cases. Hopefully this was a great practice for you all in making your case declensions and creating some goofy Russian sentences. If you would like to correct your most recent quiz, please see me during lunch or before school.

Tonight, you should all be focused on your project work. Many of you still have to perform your four lines of poetry to me and we all have our About Me projects due on Friday. There is space on Google Classroom to turn in your project slides. You can also come in outside of class to check your work with me.

Over this week we should be finishing our preparation on Unit 1 in advance of the examination on Tuesday. You have your study guide and your textbook and access to me as you need me. Be sure that you're preparing well!

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 15 February

AP English III

I hope that all of you enjoyed our foray into philosophy today. Emerson's text is definitely one that makes a lot more sense the second time that you read it. I would highly suggest working through the text again, especially if you did not have any visible annotations on the article. Not good enough. Not anymore.

This weekend you should begin your Transcendentalist for a Week project. As we discussed in class, it doesn't have to be giving up something - but you should be aiming to simplify your existence in some way in order to discover a higher truth. Keep in mind that you have daily reflections as well as your overall reflection - everything will be collected via Google Drive. The due date for this work is 2/25 (seven days from the 18th).

Your reading for this weekend is Thoreau's "Where I Lived and What I Lived For" - this can be found in 50 Essays, or via this link. As you read, consider the similarities and differences between Thoreau and Emerson. Why is Thoreau so focused on simplicity? How does he continue to build on the trends of Transcendentalism and use paradoxes in his writing?

Both Thoreau and Emerson give you a wonderful opportunity for vocabulary cards - your next set for these two texts will be due on Thursday (on paper or electronic submission - if you're doing electronic, please continue to build on the same set as before).

Lastly, you should be actively researching and continuing to refine your research scope, focus, and question. I'll return the research question forms to you on Tuesday. Your next step is the outline. Be sure that you are working on this daily! Collect sources and consider how you will develop and prove your argument.

English IV

Today in class we focused on correcting our vocabulary unit tests as well as understanding how to use context clues when working on filling in the blank type of activities. From there it was a lot of independent work as we went through our poems and focused on determining the theme of the poem we are studying. This weekend, we don't really have any homework to complete. I would suggest though, that if your Poet Research Project is incomplete or has a low score that you work on that this weekend to make sure it has all of the needed parts.

Homework for the Weekend - Valentine's Day - B Day

AP Seminar

You did it! Achievement unlocked! You presented your TMPOD and we are moving on to our next task. I am very proud of the work that you all did today and the way that you all rose to the occasion. I have released the stimulus pack to you through Digital Portfolio. We will start working through this on Monday as we begin Performance Task 2. I would recommend reviewing the documents this weekend, considering any connections you may see between them, and then being ready for some focused study of these documents over the next few classes.

Don't forget to complete the Week 2 Reflection as well as submit your IRR to Digital Portfolio this weekend.

Advanced Russian

This weekend we should all be focused on project work and reviewing verbs of motion that may have been challenging to us on the quiz today. On Google Classroom you'll see slides for today which include the example slide for your project. Use this as an example of what to do as you are working.

The other project is our poetry memorization - this should be complete on Monday or Wednesday. Come in and present your poem to me aloud. If it's not good enough, I'll invite you to return.

Russian III Students need to complete reading in your textbook - pages 419 to 421 review the conditional and hypothetical in Russian. Review these pages and take notes so that we can review the concept on Monday. This is the last grammar concept before our Unit 10 examination.

Russian I

Today in class we did a lot of great writing and speaking to focus on the different cases, their sounds, and their jobs. We reviewed our film and discussed Nadya's actions through the film. From there, we spent time with our laptops working through our projects about ourselves.

This weekend you should finish the draft of your slides and writing. There should be an answer for each slide and there should be a photo. By the end of the project you should have used all six cases, a variety of verbs, and practiced with a lot of your Russian language skills. I'm available all week to review your work with you.

There are also our poem projects. Have your four lines memorized so that you can get your easy A on this assignment. You can come to me at any point next week to perform your poem.

Homework for 13 February - A Day - PLC Day

Happy Early Release Day! Here are your reminders for Friday.

AP English III

You have now received your information on registration for next year. Remember that you have due dates and expectations. Please see me outside of class for recommendations on what to take next year based on my opinion - and I'll remind you that it's just that, my opinion.

For tonight you should complete the reading of Emerson's "The Over Soul" as well as complete your research topic planning document in full. I'll be collecting your research topics on Friday. We'll be doing a lot of discussion and work with Emerson on Friday as we understand what exactly the "Over Soul" is and what Emerson wants us to know about it. We'll also be getting more into the weeds on the philosophy of Transcendentalism. Your notes from Monday would be key in working through Emerson's writing. Our brief discussion and notes on rhetorical modes are also helpful and important. I posted an electronic version of the text in Google Classroom if you need it.

If there is anything that has not been graded or submitted for the Beloved unit then your time is quickly escaping. Books should be turned in tomorrow before school if they were missed today. Please see PowerSchool for the most updated information including those of you who are still missing an element of your final projects.

English IV

Today in class we started to end our unit on studying and reading poetry by completing our final TP-CASTT study of a poem as a group. Then, we transitioned into working independently on our own poetry study. Remember that this poetry study is going to end in a formal writing assignment. An essay in which you explain what the poem that you have chosen means to you and how the poet has developed that meaning to you.

If you did not finish your individual TP-CASTT sheet in class, it is important that you finish that for homework. I'll return the ones that I have on Friday and then we'll get started with writing and planning our essay responses.

Homework for B-Day Classes: 12 February

AP Seminar

How appropriate that we'll be marking Valentine's Day with our TMPODs! Yay! I'm very excited to see the work that you all have done. We'll begin presentations on Thursday morning before school. You'll present privately to me in the classroom with our colleagues reflecting or preparing in the hallway.

Be ready! Remember that submissions are due to digitalportfolio.collegeboard.org by Sunday. I'll be putting your scores in this weekend as well.

Advanced Russian

For those of you who tested today in the Dell Lab, I hope that you felt confident and prepared. If you are not interested in taking the AP Examination in May, please let me know - but wait until you get your scores.

Today in class we focused on cases. Talking about coming and going to discuss our destinations and origins. The slides would be very helpful as we went over a lot of grammatical and vocabulary information. In the second part of class we used resources in class to develop our projects further so that we have all of our cities/stages written in Russian with appropriate prepositions and cases.

On Thursday we have our second quiz on Verbs of Motion. Be prepared for this. Additionally, many of you still need to present your poems. Be sure that this is done as soon as possible.

Russian I

Today in class we had two clear goals - to finish watching The Irony of Fate and to take our quiz on vocabulary skills and grammar skills focused on genitive, dative, and instrumental case jobs. I'll have the quizzes graded and returned to you by the end of the week.

There are many of you who still need to present poems for me. It would be best if you got this done on Thursday as we'll have another class day focused on writing our projects. Tonight is a good night to put your photos in your slide show. These projects will be graded next week and these are meant to prepare us for the Unit 1 Exam which is happening on Friday the 22nd of February. The Unit 1 test is going to focus on everything in Chapter 1. You'll get a study guide on Monday.

If you need to, please come in next week for extra review before the Unit Exam on Friday.

Homework for Monday - 11 February

AP English III

Today in class we got a lot done. There was an overview of Romanticism and Transcendentalism including the five tenets of the philosophy as well as a bit of historical information related to Emerson and Thoreau. From there we looked at art before delving into proper research questions and the synthesis assignment.

By the end of today's class you should have a basic understanding of Transcendentalism and Romanticism. This week you'll be reading R.W. Emerson's "The Over Soul" and annotating it in order to better understand the key ideas of this philosophy. As I said in class, Emerson is defining a concept. Pay attention to the way that he uses definitions, exemplification (examples of the concept), and compare/contrast in order to help his reader understand exactly what the "over soul" is. We'll work through this text on Friday.

On Wednesday your novels, as well as any remaining work on Beloved is due. While you are going through your registration information I'll be scoring novels. Make sure that you've turned in your 1Q1P either electronically or on paper. We also have a few missing projects/presentations.

The only other thing that we have this week are our revised research topics and arguments. You must do research in order to write a proper research question (the irony, I know). By the end of this week you should have a good understanding of your question, scope, focus, and argument. I'm available for any help you may need with this task.

English IV

Today we took our vocabulary test on Unit 16 of WordSkills and then did a bit of a review on figurative language, focused on similes and metaphors. From there, it was time for creativity as we wrote about different people, paintings, and sites around the world using similes and metaphors.

As we go through the rest of the week, we'll start to wrap up our poetry unit pretty quickly. I've gone through and graded your Poet Research Projects. If you are not happy with your grade please redo the project and include the work that you were missing before. It's important that you have a poem you have found for this project. The final part of this assignment is to write about the meaning of a poem - to present your own interpretation of it as we've been doing in class. We'll be working through that work all this week!

AP English III Announcement - Beloved Projects

Dear AP English III Students -

By the end of the weekend I will have finished scoring the projects that have been submitted with presentations complete. There are a few of you whose work I cannot find in my email or on my Google Drive. Additionally, there are one or two of you whose work I have, but there's no rubric with a presentation complete.

Please see me Monday or Tuesday to resolve this project work so that we can move to the next unit if you see no grade in your PowerSchool account for this project.

For those of you who would like to put rubles on this work, please let me know. There will be no resubmissions for this project.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 8 February

AP Seminar

Major News: Given the fact that ACT Pre-Administration will be happening during 1st Period on Tuesday we will be completing most of our TMPODs on Thursday. Due to this, I will need some groups to present before school. If you are willing/able to present before school, please let me know.

All work for this portion of the course should be submitted to Digital Portfolio by Sunday, February 17th. Remember that each person will have to submit their own IRR and the team will also have to submit their slides. I will submit your scores.

Let's use this weekend to keep preparing and practicing. Also, make sure that you've put your slides up on the projector. See how they look before you say that you're done!

Advanced Russian

Today in class we did one of our final reviews focused on simply verbs of motion. This was good work for us - working in all three tenses - before we went to the library to work on our Amazing Race projects. For this project we should have our six stages (point to point) and then focus city (or cities for Russian III). Remember to follow the guidelines - past, present, and future tense for each stage. For your focus city, be sure to identify two key sites in the city and how they need to get there. We'll have more time in class to work on this on Thursday.

The Practice AP Examination will be held for seniors on Tuesday in the Dell Lab. You'll be testing during second period so as to not miss any other classtime. Those students not testing will do some enrichment with me in class related to cases.

Those of you who need to present your poems, please see me outside of class or during class next week.

The only other thing to discuss is our quiz next week. The quiz will fall on Thursday and will cover verbs of motion (part two). The quiz will draw more on prefix work (Russian III) and with all of the verbs (Russian II). Be aware of all of our skills and exercises for practice.

Russian I

Today in class we watched a bit more of our film - The Irony of Fate - before engaging in some listening practice and then going to the library to work on our projects. Today we should have set up our slides for our project about ourselves and written some captions for about half of our slides. Hopefully this weekend you can focus on getting your photos taken that pair with this.

Remember to use your resources including your vocabulary lists for Chapter One to help you do this work. This is a great way to finish learning your vocabulary before our Unit 1 Examination.

Anyone who did not yet complete the poem recitation will have all week next week to finish this. Additionally, we have a quiz coming up on Tuesday. This quiz will focus on the three new cases - genitive, dative, and instrumental - as well as verb conjugation and vocabulary! Study and be prepared! Use your exercises and notes to help you move through everything!

Homework for A-Day: Weekend Edition - 7 February

Hey everyone! I hope that you all are having or have had a good day with Mr. Johnston as he fills in for me in Room 301. It's been a good day at the State Championship Swim Meet with relays and individuals making it to finals tonight! Here are your weekend reminders -

AP English III

Today in class you should have finished and turned in your viewing guide for What Happened, Miss Simone? If you were absent or unable to finish your viewing guide it is expected that you will watch the film on your own this weekend and turn in the viewing guide to me on Monday.

This weekend, you should focus on completing your research topic proposals as well as your 1Q1P assignment. Remember that your 1Q1P is your final assignment for Beloved. I'll be looking to see how well you were able to explain the meaning of your chosen quotation and how thoroughly you connected the interpretation to the content of the quotation.

For your research topic proposals, please follow the questions on the form and complete it to the best of your ability. Next week we'll be reviewing qualities of a good research topic and question as well as looking at the synthesis prompt (question one), so this will provide you a lot of great context. Remember that you can research any topic you would like with the three major exceptions.

English IV

The main thing that you all should prepare for this weekend is your vocabulary test on Monday. The test will focus on Unit 16 and will cover all of the roots that you have learned. I think that this will be a very good performance for many of you! I would also suggest that you make sure that your poet projects are submitted. I've entered grades for everything that I have seen in Google Drive and Google Classroom. Next week we'll move on to Part II of this assignment, so you need to make sure that this work is done!

Homework for B-Day: Wednesday 6 February

AP Seminar

From our work today in class and from the reflection data that you all sent to me, it's pretty clear where we need to be working as a group. It's time for us to talk. It's time for us to present. It's time for us to collaborate and to draft. Keep helping each other. Keep making each other better. Keep working!

Next week we'll be presenting on Tuesday and Thursday. Be sure that you have put your work in Digital Portfolio upon the conclusion of your presentation.

Advanced Russian

Today we had a wonderful class working through using and applying verbs of motion in preparation for our quiz on Tuesday. This quiz will cover verbs not yet assessed through the same process of filling in the blanks, conjugating, and applying for certain situations. Be prepared for this by completing our practice exercise as well as exercises 6.8 (II) and 10.9 (III).

On Friday we'll be having a workshop for our projects for part of class. During this time you'll be performing your poems for me. Remember that you'll be able to do your performance as many times as you need to in order to get a perfect score. Keep rehearsing and practicing your reading to prepare yourselves.

Russian I

Today in class we returned to Leningrad and began the second part of The Irony of Fate. As we watch, we are continuing to track the characters and their behaviors. Additionally, we're looking at what this film helps us to learn about relationships between men and women in the Soviet Union.

After we finished, we moved on to a writing practice where we worked together to develop sentences about the characters using our different cases. This is a good review for us since our quiz next week will have similar skills.

Next class we'll watch more of the film and work on our projects in class. We will also have our poem recitations next class. I'll call you over as you work for the poems. If it's not good enough, I'll ask you to do it again. Be prepared!

Homework for A Day Classes - 5 February

English IV

Today in class we finished our poetry competition and "Still I Rise" was named our top poem for class. We'll study this poem in depth next week as we begin to finish our poetry unit. Our other major task was to go through our vocabulary review. Next class you'll have your last review activity - a crossword puzzle. You'll have your vocabulary test on Monday. So it's important to study and review with your notes and activities now.

AP English III

Be sure that you go back and read the final chapter of Beloved. Consider how this book is a memory and a story that would have been forgotten. Think about how this allows Morrison to begin healing for the whole nation.

Since I won't be with you on Thursday, consider this as notes for what is due on Monday. In class on Thursday you'll finish the Nina Simone film and the viewing guide. Then, you'll have laptops in class for you to work on your 1Q1P assignment (due on Monday) or to begin on your research paper topics (also due on Monday for completion). There will be a form that you'll complete with the research paper topics.

Remember that Beloved annotations will be collected and checked on Wednesday to round out this unit.

Homework for B-Day Students: Monday, February 4th

AP Seminar

As we thought about during our warm-up activity today, now is the time to be editing and refining. Consider the fact that this is our last week of preparation. We'll be sharing and submitting our TMPODs next week to be scored. Are you ready? Have you done the necessary work to be prepared? Have you videotaped yourself or recorded your speaking? Are you reading or presenting? How are your slides and IRRs?

These are all questions that should be answered in a firm and affirmative way. If you are having issues or concerns, I hope that you addressed those in your reflection this week.

Advanced Russian

Today in class we began the process of wrapping up our work with verbs of motion. We learned our final verb - to run - reviewed many of our prefixes/prepositions, and then we took some time to work through our key exercises. For homework, your first goal should be to finish the remaining exercises.

Remember to find new vocabulary, to consider the destinations and contexts for the actions, and to use your verb cards or other resources. Next week on Tuesday we'll have a quiz on verbs of motion. This should help to prepare you for that quiz.

Also, you should be focused on your poems. Friday will be a class devoted to your projects - for researching and writing in the library. On Friday I'll be calling you over to complete your poem recitation for me.

Russian I

Today in class we had a massive review of our six cases in Russian. We went over the specific jobs of each of the cases as well as the ways that the different cases change the ending of words. The slides in Google Classroom are really helpful for this. Then, we worked through our dialogue in Chapter One as well as our exercise where we changed words for the different cases. Completing the exercise was a great review for us of the process of declensions in Russian.

Tonight for homework you should be focused on memorization. You have your poems on Friday, and you are expected to know four lines. As I said in class, you will continue to do this project until it is perfect. So keep working at it. I'm available to help as much as you may need. On Tuesday of next week we'll have our quiz on the last three cases in Russian (Genitive, Dative, Instrumental). It'll be very similar to your last quiz, so know your case jobs and how to change your words!

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 1 February

AP English III

I hope that you all enjoyed the documentary about Nina Simone today in class. I think that the film raises some very important questions about our society, race, and gender. Nina Simone is also a very intriguing figure who has had some important impacts.

Make sure that you've considered your viewing guides. This weekend also provides you a wonderful chance to go through your work on Beloved and check in on annotations and areas for your 1Q1P assignment. We'll be quickly moving on to the next unit and our research papers - consider your interests or areas to research.

English IV

I hope that you all were able to complete your projects and do some work to prepare for Part Two of the project. This weekend, focus on vocabulary. We'll be having a vocabulary test very soon - next week. Begin to prepare now so that this is a help for your grade.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day Students - 31 January

AP Seminar

This weekend is a weekend to be finishing the process. At this point many of you have revised your original questions and reapportioned your research focus. This is great! Consider all of the other tasks that come along with this changing and modifying.

Remember to practice, to time, and to support. This is a heavy lift if we do it alone; when we help each other, it's a lot more manageable.

Advanced Russian

Today in class we completed our practice with one of our common Russian television shows. As we do this work, it's great for us to practice using a variety of language, constructions, and situations. Hopefully this has been a good practice for you on verbs of motion.

Remember to complete the assigned exercise over the weekend. On Monday we will be focused on working through this exercise to finish our understanding of verbs of motion. Russian III students will find it helpful to focus on how prefixes are paired with prepositions, as well as the use of aspect. Russian II students should be focused on understanding when the verbs call for an A, B, or C type action.

For those of us competing tomorrow in the research symposium, thank you for being flexible. I'll have our transportation plan finalized in the morning. We will meet in the cafeteria at 9:30. I'll be emailing your teachers today during 4th period.

Don't forget that we have a second quiz as well as poetry recitations coming up soon.

Russian I

Today in class we finished our viewing of The Irony of Fate and reviewed information around forming and using the instrumental case in Russian. From there we did a quick review of possession and lack of possession using the nominative and genitive cases.

We have now finished learning about all six cases in Russian. Your Chapter 1 test will focus a lot on cases. Be sure that you are actively studying and reviewing not just how and where they're used but also how to change the endings of the words to show that they are in a particular case.

By the end of this weekend you should finish all of Exercise 8 at the end of Chapter 1. This goes over all six of our cases. As you go through this activity, use your notes, change endings of words, and translate the sentences to show that you know what the cases are doing. Practicing with our cases will be our key task to finish this first major unit of the year.

Homework for A-Day Students - 30 January 2019

AP English III

This post will review all of the information you need for the end of our unit on Beloved. Pay close attention to important dates and details.

I'll be out next class, so you'll be having a movie day on Friday. You'll be watching an excellent documentary about Nina Simone that really helps to bring a lot of the ideas we've been following in this unit full circle. As you watch, there will be a viewing guide to direct your thoughts and observations. This guide will be collected for a grade when we finish the film. Your projects are due via an electronic submission by the end of the day on Friday. I'll be grading on Sunday. Be sure that I have access to your project.

On Tuesday we'll finish the final two chapters in class. I love the ending of this book and want to read through it as a group experience. If you would like to finish the book in advance, you are welcome to do so. Your final assignment for Beloved is a 1Q1P assignment. You'll have time in class to work on this on Thursday (I'll be out for the State Championship Swim Meet). The 1Q1P and Final Annotation Check will be collected/scored on Monday, February 11. This will be the day that we fully move into our new unit.

English IV

Today in class we finished the first part of our competition for the poem of the classroom. On Tuesday we'll go to the next part of our competition - the class battle. Remember that in your groups one person will read the poem aloud and then the other people will say why the poem is a strong poem using the rubric.

We also did some good work with our vocabulary today! This is a good practice for our vocabulary test next week. Remember that you should be studying all sixteen wordparts in Lesson 16. If you are missing anything, please let me know.

Homework for B-Day Students: 29 January 2019

Welcome to Quarter 3! Be aware that no changes will be made to Quarter 2 or Semester 1 grades at this point. It's all about what we have to come as opposed to what we have behind us. It's not too late to make some serious changes, just stay focused and make your moves!

AP Seminar

We're on to our TMPODs - today we looked at an example of a middle-scoring TMPOD in order to discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and the importance of time and organization. As you continue to collaborate, keep working together to revise, refine, and rehearse your work. Check your time. Help each other out. And don't forget to use me as a resource for whatever you may need.

Advanced Russian

Today in class we spent some time on our poetry memorization projects (see the deadline below) as well as some general tips when it comes to speaking and presenting spoken Russian. These tips are really helpful for those of us in Russian III going to UNC on Friday for the L2L Symposium.

Then, we went on to watching an episode of Орел Решка - Америка where they have traveled to Hawaii and experienced many different verbs of motion. Next class we'll finish this episode to keep us focused on using and reviewing our various verbs.

Tonight for homework you have a fill-in-the-blanks and verb choice activity. Russian II is Exercise 4 in Chapter 6, Russian III is Exercise 8 in Chapter 10. Make the proper choice based on the context and perspective of the speaker. Consider the clues in the sentence that help you to make the choice.

Russian I

Today in class we nearly finished Part One of The Irony of Fate - we'll finish it next class and complete the viewing guides that we have. We'll also do more work in order to check in on our writing skills as we discuss what has happened in this ridiculous film.

Tonight you should all be focused on your poem memorizations and your homework. For the memorization remember that you must have four lines of a poem memorized for me. These presentations will be at the end of next week. Be ready by listening, speaking, practicing, and maybe writing. Sometimes writing gives us the extra muscle memory that we need to help us out.

For our grammar homework we have Exercise 9 in Chapter One. There is an A part focusing on accusative case and a B part focusing on dative case. As you work through the exercise, put the necessary words in the proper case and then translate your sentences to the best of your ability. This will really help you to clarify what the difference is between a direct and indirect object.

Homework for A-Day Students: 28 January

Welcome to Quarter 3 and Semester 2! Our next major stops include Spring Break, AP Exams, Finals, and then Summer! Wahoo!!!!

AP English III

Tonight your main task is to complete the final independent reading of Beloved - Chapter 26, in Part Three. As you are reading, keep in mind the two key questions for this chapter:

1. What is happening both literally and figuratively between Beloved and Sethe in this chapter?
2. Why is this chapter mostly about Denver?

Continue reading and annotating. Remember that your final annotations will be due when we finish the book next week.

In terms of our projects, we did not have the chance to present in 1A due to the Lockdown Drill. So, please see me at lunch, before or after school for your presentations. Your projects are due at the end of the week via an electronic submission. Remember our key takeaways in class - this is not meant to be an essay presented in another format. Consider what text is essential and what is not. Consider where the text can be altered to display its meaning or where imagery can be used to emphasize key takeaways.

Lastly, our next novel will be The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. We'll begin this book in about three weeks, so you may want to get your copies now.

English IV

Tonight we should all be focused on studying our word parts for our Lesson 16 Quiz. The quiz will be next week. You should be focused on knowing the meaning of the sixteen main word parts that we have learned as well as the key words. Try to think of other words that share these roots and meanings. Next class we'll have an activity to help us with remembering our word parts better!

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 25 January

Today is the last B-Day of the quarter. Any work that is missing at 4:00 today is missing. No changes will be made to grades past today.

AP Seminar

Today in AP Seminar we worked through a high-scoring sample IRR in order to identify key areas and strategies in order to connect with our reading and display all the things that we are doing in order to earn our points on the rubric.

Over the weekend, we should begin fully transitioning to our TMPOD tasks. It's time for us to look at what we have done, finalize that work, and then keep moving forward to our final goals. As I said today in class, a lot of this is constantly revising and reflecting to find the ways to draw our circle smaller. Keep supporting each other!

Advanced Russian

Today in class we worked through our map of Russia and Moscow in order to use various verbs of motion in order to talk about going from Point A to Point B. Remember that as we do this there are clear rules for our cases and prepositions so that we can understand what was the beginning point and what was the destination.

As you are working this weekend, be sure that you work through our sample exercises. At this point you should have the majority of them done and you should feel as though you have a clear understanding of when to use and A, B, or C action as well as when to distinguish between perfective or imperfective action.

Additionally, we have our poetry recitation coming due on the 8th of February. Russian III students will also have the L2L Symposium on the 1st of February. Practice and speak in order to accomplish your tasks well!

Russian I

As I said today at the beginning of class we are moving into a time where the classroom and the work is becoming very individualized. It is important that you study, practice, review, and ask questions regularly so that you can understand the content. It's also important that if you are dissatisfied with your performance that you quickly redo the assignments to show your improvement. This is how you grow and succeed. As we wrap up this quarter, and semester, consider what you need to do to be successful in this class - it's different for each of you.

For the weekend, you should be focused on your cases. By this point we know five of the six cases - Nominative, Accusative, Prepositional, Genitive, and Dative. Learn your declensions. Know your usages. Be able to alter words in order to show the cases. The exercise - 1.8 - is very helpful in learning these changes. Additionally, you should know the vocabulary in Chapter 1. We've been continuing to focus on this language through our course so far.

Lastly, you have the poem recitations due on the 8th of February. Know your four lines!

Homework for A-Day Students: 24 January

Today is the final A-Day of Quarter 2 and Semester 1. Be sure that you have finalized your grade and done what you need to do in order to put your best face forward at the end. No grade changes will be done past Friday.

AP English III

Today in class we completed our mid-term examination. This will be put in the gradebook as a combined score. Next week, on Monday, we'll review the multiple choice and some of the commonly missed answers as well as some other approaches to rhetorical analysis.

Over the weekend, your main work should be your Beloved final project. As I stated today in class, all final products will be submitted electronically. This can be via a photograph, a series of photographs (especially if there is detail involved), a video or audio recording, or a shared document. Remember that no hard copies of your work will be accepted with the exception of a Works Cited page.

The rubric for the presentation and the project has been posted in Google Classroom. Remember that presentations will run on Monday and Wednesday. Everyone should be prepared on Monday to present their work.

Outside of that, remember that we will be finishing our work on Beloved. You have the next chapter of reading due on Wednesday. We will finish the book together in class for the final two chapters.

English IV

Today we spent time working on our ability to interpret poetry and answer questions on a multiple choice test. These questions and this assessment are very similar to the types of questions you will see on your NCFE. For this reason, this is a great practice for us.

After our quiz, we had guests from Student Services come and discuss planning for after high school graduation. As we go into the second semester, we will continue to do more of this work as your graduation is quickly approaching.

Over the weekend, consider where you will focus on making clear improvements as we go forward in the year. We'll be working through the rest of our poetry unit before returning to a longer type of text which will challenge us in some new ways.

Homework for B-Day Students - 23 January 2019

AP Seminar

I hope that today's viewing of a high scoring TMPOD presentation gave you all some interesting moments of reflection for your groups. As we continue to work through the process, it's important that we take time to pause and consider how the work that we are doing now will be pivotal for our work in the future and our final task.

Tonight you should be focused on revising and completing your IRR assignments based on the feedback of your group. Have you found gaps in your research that need to be filled? Are there additional considerations or solutions to explore? Continue to keep the rubric and other supporting documents in mind as we are working.

Advanced Russian

As a reminder your poet projects are due to Google Classroom. If you did not submit it today, make sure that it is ready before the end of the quarter on Friday. Remember that no changes to grades or assignments will be accepted past Friday.

Today in class we worked through more practice with our verbs of motion. Continue this work tonight at home by working through more of our exercise packet. Remember the process - identify words you don't know (look them up), understand the context (A, B, or C), and then make your choice.

Additionally, Russian III Students, be sure that you are preparing daily for the L2L Symposium at UNC next week. You should be speaking and practicing. Remember what I said in class - the goal is to be understood. No need to be fancy.

Russian I

I hope that you all enjoyed the beginning of The Irony of Fate. After our viewing we spent time working with our cases to write about the main character and his adventures in the film so far. Remember that as we are writing, we are activating cases and applying our knowledge.

From there, we looked at some exercises and examples before having time to finish and submit our poetry projects to Google Classroom.

For homework, be sure to complete the exercises using genitive case so that you can practice with your declensions and usage. Remember that Friday is the last day of the quarter - you'll need to see me now with rubles or Falcon Feathers for extra credit.

Homework for A-Day Students: 22 January

AP English III

Today was a day devoted to close reading - remember that we were working out this particular muscle as we're going to be using it a TON for the midterm examination on Thursday. As you complete the multiple choice aspect of the midterm you are doing a close reading of the questions, answer choices, and the passages themselves. On the rhetorical analysis your task is to present a close reading in words as you accomplish the goal of the prompt.

Next week we will have our ending of Beloved with our project presentations on Monday and Wednesday and the final projects coming due on Friday. Remember that you will likely share a link to your project in order to submit it to me. I will have a rubric for you to outline the way in which you'll be graded.

Please use the slides to give yourself checkpoints as you are finishing your project and preparing for your presentation. Remember that I am available to give extra feedback as it is needed.

English IV

Today in class we did a bit of creative writing, a bit of study and analysis of our poem "About School" and then we did some writing before finishing our poet projects. All a lot of great work focused on poetry skills.

Next class we're going to have a quiz to check in on our reading and understanding skills. As a way to prepare, look over all of your notes on literary devices and poetry reading skills. It would be a great idea to bring a dictionary with you next class too - remember that knowing the words is one of the best ways to understand what a poem is saying!

Helpful Suggestion - AP English

This weekend gives you a great opportunity to get a lot of work done on your projects. I would highly suggest that at this point you have a clear plan as to what your work will look like. It would be great to have a written draft which incorporates, clearly, all of your information and sources. If you're planning something like a presentation/speech/podcast then you may want to run through it and record yourself to see where hiccoughs may be.

I would also be sure that I had a complete bibliography/works cited page at this point. I'm available next week for conferences about your work.

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 18 January

Since we were having Internet connectivity issues today in class we did not have sufficient time to complete our Russian Poet Projects - these projects will be assessed at the end of the weekend, be sure that it is turned in to Google Classroom or shared to me.

Russian I

This weekend we should be focused on knowing how to use the four cases that we have been learning thoroughly. As a reminder those cases are NOM, ACC, GEN, PREP. Remember that each of these cases has a specific job and they show themselves based on what they do to the end of a word. Be sure that you finish working through Exercise 1.8 in your textbook. Make the changes for the words for the case needed. Translate. Understand why this case is being activated.

You should also finish learning your verbs. The verbs are the key. Only by understanding what the verb means will we be able to determine the needed case.

Remember that you have the opportunity to correct your quizzes. See me next week outside of class (aka - lunch).

Advanced Russian

We are continuing our work with verbs of motion. Today we spent time in class writing sentences and talking about the very clear distinctions between different types of verbs of motion. Apply these distinctions to the quiz you just took as well as to the exercises that you have.

This weekend you should spend time with your exercises. As you go through, make your choice between A or B for directionality (II) or aspect (III). Identify key words that lead you to your choice. Conjugate for the situation and then translate. This is good work to do as you are preparing to retake your quiz.

Lastly, as always, be aware of vocabulary. Take time to study and learn - especially your prepositions.

Russian III Students - Be aware that you have your trip to UNC on 1 February. Be sure that you are building in time to practice your speaking about your topics.

AP Seminar

Our first submissions are due! Be sure that you have shared work with your team so that they can read, reflect, and give feedback. As you work this weekend, be sure to complete the self-edit as well as the form in Google Classroom. We had some great conferences today in class about what our next steps are going to look like. Keep in mind that QUEST is a recursive practice. We may need to go back to the beginning, but it won't be the exact same beginning as it once was.

Be ready to gather together with your group on Wednesday in order to start making moves toward your TMPOD!

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 17 January

AP English III

Today in class we spent time working through an AP Multiple Choice sample and then three chapters of Beloved focused on better understanding of the three key female characters through close analysis of their language and syntax. Remember as I said today in class, the book is starting to come to a conclusion. Start to pay attention to the ways in which Morrison is coming to a conclusion about her key motifs and topics to create themes and arguments.

For the weekend, your first priority is to finish reading Part Two of Beloved. This is just two chapters (don't forget to finish what we started in class). As you read, focus on Paul D and Stamp Paid. Why is Morrison choosing to focus on these two men immediately after three chapters filled with the voices of women? 

At this point, you should be actively constructing your final project. This is due on February 1. You'll complete your presentations earlier that week. This will be a Q3 grade. 

The final grade for Q2 will be your AP Midterm on Thursday. This will be approximately twenty-two multiple choice questions and a rhetorical analysis timed writing. 

English IV

Today in class we worked through a great poem by Claude McKay called "The Tropics of New York" in which we learned a new method of working through poetry called TP-CASTT. In this method, we look at important parts of a poem to see how they work together to create meaning. So, tonight I want you to practice this with the poem I gave you at the end of class.

Tonight, or over the weekend, read "About School" - Use TP-CASTT to understand it and take notes as you read. Then, answer the attached questions. Be sure to try your best on all of the questions that you can answer.

Homework for B-Day Students: 16 January 2019

AP Seminar

Today we had our first of two writing workshops. You should be developing your IRR and working with your teammates to review and revise your work as you are developing it. I think that this is a great opportunity to begin the process of collaboration and communication which is really at the heart of the TMPOD.

At the end of class on Friday you'll be asked to submit your IRR First Submission to your group mates. Your group will read, score, and comment upon your work. On Tuesday we'll gather and begin to move forward toward the team portion of this assignment and task.

Advanced Russian

Today in class we completed an assessment which is already in the gradebook. If you are not satisfied with your performance, continue to study and review your cards and return for a resubmission. You may resubmit this quiz any time until next Friday (which is the close of the grading period).

Tonight you should submit your poet research project (I can't promise more time in class to work on it). If you don't finish it tonight, then definitely have it done for Friday as I'll be grading them this weekend. You should also work through the exercises I gave you today in class as a review of key skills and related language.

Russian I

Today we took a quiz which I should have in the gradebook shortly for you. You may come back and resubmit this assignment anytime this week or next (before the end of the grading period on Friday). Make sure that you are reviewing the content on Google Classroom in order to practice. You should also be sure that you're reviewing older skills if you are weak in those (like verb conjugation).

For homework tonight you're focused on the genitive case. Write your sentences about possession - three sentences for what you have and three for what you're lacking. Then, complete Exercise 1.8B - work through your declensions. Lastly, don't forget about your poet project (I can't promise more time in class to work on it). If you don't finish it tonight, then definitely have it done for Friday as I'll be grading them this weekend.

Homework for A Day - 15 January 2019

AP English III

Today in class we focused on our projects and the AP Examination before doing a quick check-in on some major ideas and trends in Chapter Nineteen. Here are your reminders as we move forward to next class.

Make sure that you've read and annotated Chapters 20-22 for next class. These chapters present basically the same content in three different ways, through three voices. Look at what makes these voices different. What does each talk about? Why is this important? As you read, don't forget to go back and consider Chapter Nineteen with the notes from today's class.

Additionally, remember that we'll be doing another multiple choice section next class. Practice with the skills and strategies today, and don't forget to start learning any terms from that sheet which may be new or unfamiliar to you.

Lastly, the dates for presenting your final project will be the 28th and 30th of January. Remember that you'll only have about two minutes to present. The final product is due that Friday, February 1.

English IV

Today in class we focused on learning some new literary devices often seen in poetry before going on to trying our hand at making or interpreting the devices. Many of these literary devices are used in poetry as well as in other types of text, and I would bet that you'll see these devices referenced on your NCFE at the end of the year. After that, we went back to our documentary on slam and performance poetry.

Next class we'll be looking at studying poems and identifying these various literary devices in them. It is also important to think to yourself about the way that these devices are used by authors to put together their themes or main ideas. Take a look at your poet's poem and see if these devices are being used to support the theme.

Homework for B-Day - 14 January 2019

Russian Students - You all have quizzes on Wednesday. Be aware of what you should do in order to prepare as well as the topics for your quizzes.

Russian I - Your quiz will focus on the use of nominative, accusative, and prepositional cases. You should be able to explain why a case is being used and how to change the ending of a word in order to show that it is in a particular case. Practicing with our exercises (1.8A and 1.8D) as well as reviewing our classwork today would be very helpful with this.

Additionally, if you are missing any work or need to redo any tests you only have this week remaining for that. I will not accept any reassessments past Friday of this week.

Advanced Russian - Your quiz will focus on our first four verbs of motion (which really means eight verbs of motion). You'll be asked to define, use, translate, and identify. Know their meaning as well as their usage. You should also be aware of how to use various cases and prepositions in order to clarify the destination or origination of an action.

Keep in mind the same note about missing projects, tests, or the desire to complete a reassessment this week.

AP Seminar

Today we turned in Annotated Bibliographies. I'll assess these this week and enter your scores in PowerSchool. Through this week, you should all be focused on developing your IRR. With your IRR, be sure that you are using your sample documents (found in Google Classroom), the rubric for the IRR (found in Google Classroom), and your groupmates. Keep in mind that there are three submissions for the IRR - we should continue to refine and develop these works as we keep going through the process. Your first submission is due on Friday.

A-Day Homework for the Weekend - 11 January 2019

Sorry for posting this late everyone! From my training all day Friday, then to the swim meet, and finally home. Here are your reminders.

English IV

We'll be getting back to our poet/poetry projects on Tuesday. The goal will be to finish our research and to begin studying our poem. I'll take you through a model of poetry study that is really helpful at finding and discussing themes. Make sure that you've found your chosen poem and read it several times. Consider what you think the meaning of the poem is.

Also, if you didn't finish the film, we'll get back to that on Tuesday too.

AP English III

If you did not yet share or submit your vocabulary cards, please do so. The envelopes feel a bit light...

For the weekend you have two assignments to complete - reading and writing based. On the reading side, move in to Part Two of Beloved and complete Chapter 19. This is a longer chapter and will take you some time to read; there are several breaks in the chapter - use them to your advantage. As you read, look at how things are new and different for Sethe and her daughters. You may find it useful to compare to the opening of Part One. What's the same in terms of the structure of the chapters? What's different?

In terms of your writing, be sure that you have your outline for peer review on Tuesday. The outline should consist of the four elements in the slides from class on Wednesday (Google Classroom). I will collect your Works Cited page and mark errors in citation. Be sure that you have a hard copy of this or can share one to me and that it has at least five clear sources.

I think that's everything! As always, be in touch with any questions or concerns you may have.

Homework for the Weekend - 10 January - B Day

Russian I

Today in class we put pen to paper to try and write about ourselves using our cases. Some of us were really successful and I can see that others of us need to spend some time reviewing. Remember that the main job of all of the cases is to say what the word is doing in the sentence. Not really what it means. Keep in mind that you should be sure that the word is in the right case for it to have the job you want it to have.

Over the weekend, be sure that you have completed your practice exercises from the textbook. Also, know your different words of the day - practice and use these as well as the other vocabulary from Chapter One. In your textbooks, a great practice is the reading passage at the start of Chapter One. Go through this and try to find the use of prepositional and accusative cases.

Advanced Russian

Today in class we learned our first transitive verb of motion - to carry with your own power. Remember that with this verb and others like it you'll have a double accusative situation for your item and then the destination. Be sure that you're looking over your cards regularly so that you learn these new verbs thoroughly.

This weekend you have exercises focused on prefixes - Russian II should complete 62-64 focused on the по- prefix. Russian III should take a look at the exercises 86-88 and 93-95 which focus on в-, вы-, при-, у-, под-, и от-. As you get familiar with putting these prepositions on your verbs, be sure that you are also putting these verbs with logical prepositions to discuss movement and destinations.

All Russian classes will have quizzes next week on Wednesday related to our new content!

AP Seminar

Our first deadline is coming up on Monday, the AB. Be sure that you are using your group-mates as well as the various documents and supports that I have given you so far this year to complete this task. You'll submit a hard copy of your AB on Monday and then we'll start to talk about how we transform these AB's into IRR's. As always, take a look at the sample papers in Google Classroom. Can you see elements of the AB in their writing? How is the IRR different from the AB? What types of writing and structure will you need to add to the IRR so that it does what it needs to do? How is the rubric for the IRR helpful when completing the AB?

Homework for A Day Classes - 9 January

AP English III

Good work today getting through Chapter 18 with me. I hope that the guided read aloud helped you in understanding the various ways that Morrison is building meaning in her text. As always, be sure that you're going back and reflecting on previous moments to see if you have missed some of these important bits from before.

For tonight, make sure that you're preparing for your assessment. You'll have an argumentative timed writing on the idea of freedom - remember that you'll be using Beloved as your primary evidence, but you can use other sources too. After the timed writing, you'll have thirty identifications which center on characters - be sure to know them very well!

Your outlines will be reviewed on Tuesday by your peers. Be sure that you have really considered your project medium (podcast, video, interviews, art, photographs, collage) and how you'll be communicating your argument through your chosen format. This is where you want to think about how you'll be organizing the pieces of evidence and how you'll comment on these pieces of evidence.

Lastly, remember that you have vocabulary cards due next class - words 25-30. If you would like to submit your cards via Google Drive, that's fine. Be sure that you have all of the required parts.

English IV

Today we finished our reading and discussion of Pablo Neruda's "Ode to My Socks" and worked through understanding how the theme of the poem is created and supported. This is a really important skill, because it's what I'll be asking you to do as you study your poems in depth. After that, we moved on to vocabulary work and project work.

For tonight, you should all be focused on reading your poems closely. Try to determine the theme of the poem. What are the parts of the poem that really support and develop the theme? Is there imagery? Powerful words? This will be the goal of our second project, so it's a good idea to start with that now.

Homework for B Day - 8 January

AP Seminar

We just keep on moving forward, don't we. I hope that today's writing workshop on using transitions, key language, and citations in an effort to help your reader follow your ideas was helpful. By this point, you should be actively building your Annotated Bibliography. Be sure that you use the documents that you already have in order to produce a good quality piece of work.

Next class we'll stay engaged with building our work. Remember that your AB is due on the 14th, just about a week from now!

Advanced Russian

We are building our cards and building our knowledge. Today we reviewed our prepositions, our verb that means to go by transit, and the ideas of the A, B, and C contexts. As we continue to learn new information, continue to practice and review.

We also discussed in earnest the elements of the poet project. Remember that there are two parts - the biography and slide show (in English) and the memorization (in Russian). By the end of today you should begin your research and start outlining your slides. Check out the study guide for the Olympiada if you are going to compete - it's in Google Classroom - so that you can begin to prepare for the competitions.

Related to grammar - we have exercise 37, 44, and 46 on the paper we worked on today. You should also consider any work related to reassessments on old tests or projects. Know your conjugations and your cases!

Russian I

Tonight for homework you should continue to study and review the two cases that we are focused on this week - accusative and prepositional. Remember that these two cases have two very different jobs - and that will help us to use each of them appropriately. As you are working through Exercise 1.8 A and D in your textbook - fill in the blank by putting the word in the appropriate case. 

You should also continue to work on your poetry memorization. Remember that the memorization isn't due until the end of the month, but the English based biography will be due much sooner. Lastly, stay aware of your grade in PowerSchool - if you are missing a unit test, or a project, or you would like to re-do the project/unit test, you have very little time remaining to complete this!

Homework for A Day Students - 7 January

AP English III

Today in class we spent our time working through Brent Staples's "Just Walk On By" and learning about the concept of necropolitics. This concept is at the heart of what many of you are working on in your independent research projects. I would suggest that you go back and consider where this concept is at work in the research that you have already done. Reading Peggy McIntosh's piece about "Unpacking the Invisible Napsack" may be helpful in understanding where else necropolitics may be seen in the world around us.

For next class, be sure to take a look at all of Part One of Beloved. Our assessment on Friday will focus on that. On Wednesday, we'll spend time pulling together our ideas on the first part of this book and reviewing key areas of the text in advance of our assessment. The assessment will consist of an essay (timed writing - argument) and several identifications.

Remember that you will also have vocabulary cards due on Friday. You may submit these electronically via Google Slides if you would like. You'll need to do two slides per word, each slide will be the side of the card.

Next week I will be reviewing the outline for your project as well as your works cited page. This will be due at the end of class on Tuesday. Be sure that you have begun to think about what your argument is and how you will guide me through your evidence to convince me and others of your argument.

English IV

Today in class we didn't finish reading Pablo Neruda's "Ode to My Socks" so we'll finish that next class and take a look at another type of poem as well as our vocabulary for the week. Tonight, be sure that you've identified a poet and a poem for your project. If you find a poet, but can't find the information about them, then you may find it best to change to a different poet. Let me know if you need any help or suggestions.

Back At It - 4 January - B Day Homework

Welcome back everyone! Now we begin the long march toward longer and warmer days! Remember that we still have a bit more than half of the year to go - plenty of time to make significant changes, if needed, and to see them come to fruition.

AP Seminar

Today in class we spent some time checking in with each other, doing any editing that was necessary based on our discoveries through winter break, and then we kept moving forward. Remember that your next big check-in date is on the 14th of January. On this date I'll be collecting an annotated bibliography from you about your lens/perspective. Remember to use the documents which you have already received in order to be successful. I am more than happy to offer editing or assistance as you are working.

Advanced Russian

We began new units today focused on verbs of motion in Russian. We focused on the first major verb, to go by foot, and our two related questions - Where to? Where from?

As always, begin to review and study your vocabulary now. Though we're focused in just the first verb, be able to use other vocabulary with this verb including but not limited to the prepositions and the different destinations or modes of transit you may have. For homework, we have some exercises to complete related to the new verbs. Be sure to fill in the blanks in the dialogue. Remember to think about your A, B, C actions as you look at what is happening. Be sure to also answer the questions fully as you use your verbs.

For your unit exams, you have until 1/18 to complete your reassessments. I would recommend coming over several sessions and going section by section to improve your standing. If you have edits or projects to submit, those need to be in by the 11th.

Russian I

Today we spent time with our word of the day - TO SEE - and then used that word to work with the accusative case. From there, we wandered through a few different Russian cities in order to create sentences about what we see in those various Russian cities.

For homework tonight, complete the exercise with the sentence starters. Go through the sentence and put the items that you see, write, read, receive, or whatever in the proper case (make the changes to the ends of the words as needed). Once you've finished this, go through the exercise on identifying cases in English. Mark the underlined portion with a letter N (nominative), A (accusative), or P (prepositional).

Also, you have until the 11th to turn in or resubmit any project work. You have until the 18th to see me about test corrections.

Winter Break Begins - A Day Homework - 21 December

AP English III

Classes had a fair amount of absences today. So be aware of the information that we covered today related to the main characters in Beloved as well as some of our major takeaways related to these characters. We will be having a Part One Assessment soon after we return, so consider how you can prepare over break. As I suggested, it would be a good idea to go back and re-read certain chapters, especially if your first reading was rushed.

Over break you should finish reading Section One of Beloved. As you finish, tie together some of Morrison's larger ideas and trends in the text. What is she saying about racism and discrimination? What messages is she building related to slavery? Why do these messages matter?

There's an additional reading by Brent Staples called "Just Walk On By" - it's available in 50 Essays and at this link. This is a contemporary piece but also a unit piece. I think that many of you will find it helpful to consider this piece as part of your proposals and final projects.

Outside of this make sure to complete the AP Multiple Choice practice (given in class) - answer the questions, time yourself, and mine this for vocabulary - especially that related to questions and answers.

Don't forget that Vocabulary Cards will be collected on 1/11 for a grade.

English IV


Over break I would like for all of you to find what you consider to be a poet of interest to you. When we come back we'll be doing work with these poets to understand different parts of their career and work. You might find it helpful to be looking at different poems by this author to find a favorite.

Homework for Winter Break - B Day - 20 December 2018

AP Seminar

Over our holiday break I think that it is so important that you all keep moving forward with your team work, but also begin to transition into your IRR work as well. Use the Unit Plan to know what will be assessed, when it will be assessed, and what the general process is.

On Google Classroom I've given you two packs of IRR and Scoring Commentaries. The rubric is also located with the scoring commentary. As you begin to craft and work through the IRR process be sure to use your previous work as well as all of the materials provided to us by College Board to be successful on our first performance task.

Advanced Russian

Come inside. Please. Come inside. Ask questions. Do what you need to do in order to close the gaps. Do something to make yourselves better than you were the previous days. Take advantage of what I'm giving you.

In this spirit, do what you need to do over break in order to close those gaps. I think that vocabulary is a big place to spend your time. We also have some of you missing projects. Those should be submitted as soon as possible.

Outside of this there is the Olympiada preparation (see the folder posted on Google Classroom). There is also our Chapter Preview. Chapter 6 is for Russian II and Chapter 10 is for Russian III. We are all going to be moving in to Verbs of Motion (time to talk about taking things and people and ourselves to different places)!

Russian I

Today we began our next long process which is the learning and understanding of cases in the Russian language. Cases are a way of organizing a language and explaining what job a word has in a sentence. This requires us to understand a lot of grammatical vocabulary and terms, so I'll be teaching you a lot about grammar, in general, through this unit. We are starting with the Accusative Case since it is very easy to manage and learn.

Take the paper that I gave you and complete the required exercises. Put the words in the accusative case. Make the change to the endings. Be able to translate, if you can.

Additionally, be ready for your reassessment. Go back to our slides in Google Classroom and be able to conjugate verbs and use possessives. Spend time with your vocabulary to be able to learn it. It takes time, so put it in.

Homework for A Day Students - 19 December

We are oh so close to Winter Break! I can feel it in the air! Here are your reminders to go forward into Friday!

English IV

Today we took our tests on A Doll's House and we had some time for finishing all of our project work. I'm happy that I have some great looking movie posters on my wall! We ended our class by discussing what makes a "perfect poem".

For next class I want you to bring a poem that you think fits the idea of a "perfect poem". Be ready to share a bit of your poem and explain to your classmates what makes it so good to you!

AP English III

We did a lot of great analysis today of Equiano's text as well as some big discussions about how the way in which our textbooks present stories can actually be racist too. Always be on the lookout for the veil! From there, it was on to our synthesis assignments and our upcoming proposals. Remember that your proposals are due on Friday. You should address all five questions either as a paragraph or just by answering the questions.

Additionally, we have reading for next class. In Beloved please read and annotate Chapters 14, 15, and 16. As you are reading, pay attention to all of the gaps we can fill in about our characters and their pasts. Next class we'll be building timelines for our characters in order to investigate what all they are carrying with them. We'll also talk about a new concept next class, which will begin to pull together a lot of the bigger ideas we've been discussing so far.

Homework for B-Day Students - 18 December

Russian I

Today we took our first unit examination focused on verb conjugation, vocabulary knowledge, gender, and possessive pronouns. I'll have the scores entered by the end of the week. You'll have a chance after we return to resubmit the test and redo certain sections. Be focused on learning and memorizing your vocabulary! The more you use it, the more it sticks.

For tonight you have some reading in your textbook about CASES. Read over pages 31 to 37 and be able to answer the following questions:

1. What are cases? Generally?
2. What do cases do in a language?
3. Which cases does Russian have?
4. What job do these cases have in Russian?

As we move forward, we'll be focusing on one case at a time as a means of understanding how the cases work. This is all about what's going on after the verbs!

We also have our poet work. Over break you should focus on your memorization! Remember that you need to find four lines (at least) and memorize these. You'll also need to make a brief presentation about your poet.

Advanced Russian

We have a test next class on Chapter Eight (Russian III) and Chapter Five (Russian II). I've imported the scores from today's vocabulary reassessment and changed earlier grades. Remember that your Calendar and Writing Project is due next class as well. I'll expect your calendar as well as your writing assignment - at least one full paragraph. 

There is also the work on your poets to begin with. Remember that the length requirement is longer for Russian II and Russian III - see the information in Google Classroom for that.

AP Seminar

After today's class everyone has submitted a "rough version of the question" as well as their group contracts. It's now time to continue to move forward. On Thursday we'll have more time in our groups to continue researching and moving forward. As was stated in class today, the IRR (ARRRRRRRGH) is part of this process. It's important to start building that as we are moving through this process as well.

Last Week Before Break - 17 December - A Day

Happy Evening Everyone! Sorry to be posting so late, but we just finished up our meet tonight. Another win for the AquaFalcons! Here are your reminders for our class on Wednesday.

English IV

Today we played our review games to remind ourselves about our vocabulary knowledge as well as the main content for Act III of A Doll's House. Next class you'll have your unit examination. There will be questions about characters, questions about the plot, short answer questions, and vocabulary questions. Be sure to use your folders and the notes you've taken to prepare.

AP English III

We worked through some strange elements of Beloved with Chapters 10-13. There's so much going on in this text that I think it may be most important to focus on one character but then keep the other two major ones in mind. Beloved is always a part of the discussion now, so we should keep her/it as part of our understanding of the characters too. Be sure to use the slides and notes to go back and look at how you are annotating the text and what you are looking for. A lot of the annotations look a bit...sparse...as I look at your books in class.

Next class we'll be looking at Equiano's narrative about his captivity and experience on a slave ship. I think that this piece gives a lot of important context for understanding the whole slave experience from beginning to end. Keep in mind Equiano's audience and how he appeals to them.

Your proposals are due at the end of class on Friday; you should have been able to take a look at more research in order to understand what you're going to be saying about your topic. You've got to be giving me a specific insight; we'll talk more about what this means on Wednesday as we go over our most recent writing assignment.

B-Day Homework for the Weekend - 14 December

And finally, a regular day!

AP Seminar

Off to Performance Task 1. Today we met our teammates, started to group brainstorm, and then we created College Board accounts and joined my AP Seminar classroom. If you had trouble be sure that you have the school correct Charles E Jordan Senior High School. If that doesn't work, call them and set up your access over the phone.

On Tuesday we'll have a full day related to research and refining questions. Be prepared for that and use your folders to collaborate!

Advanced Russian

Next class we will have our final general review for the exam on Thursday. I am also available outside of class to check over your writing before you submit your projects on Thursday as well.

I've put in scores for today's speaking and presentation. If you are unsatisfied with your score, please come see me outside of class for improvement.

Over the weekend check in on the final exercises in Chapter Five or Eight to review key concepts. Next class we will have a vocabulary reassessment - it would be a great idea to use your previous quizzes to prepare for this.

Russian I

Next class we will have our unit exam. We have now reviewed all of our necessary skills and information. The test will also count as a reassessment, so I will go back and change quiz scores based on your work.

A few of you did not submit your project on time. If the project is not yet graded, be sure to share or submit via Google Classroom. I'll take another look this weekend. If you have submitted it, then the project was scored. I made marks in your work to direct you at mistakes - please correct the project (spelling/grammar) and resubmit it for me to rescore it.

Continue to study and prepare for your examination on Tuesday. If you are missing any assignments, those need to be turned in at the beginning of class on Tuesday to be scored.

We're Back! Homework for the Weekend - 13 December

Glad to see you all again today, if only briefly. Here are your reminders and announcements for the weekend!

AP English III

Our next step on the work related to our final project is our proposal. In the proposal you'll be telling me what you'll be exploring (the topic/idea) and how you'll be exploring it (what examples will you discuss and what form will your final product take). This is due on Friday next week. We'll have additional time on Wednesday next week in the Media Center for research. Over the weekend you should continue looking for articles or examples - remember that these concepts are seen in a variety of ways. You may want to open up how you are finding examples in order to widen the scope for your examples.

The other major task that you have for the weekend is the reading of Chapters 10-13. In this section you should use your unit plans in order to annotate. I've got several topics for you to look at as you're looking and reading - the main thing to look at is the rules around life. Who determines what the rules are? What are the punishments? Why does it matter who makes the rules?

English IV

We spent the majority of our day today completing our reflection on class so far, and then working on our projects. The major thing to focus on was being clear in the explanation of your evidence. You want to make sure that you are connecting your actor/actress or song clearly to the play. How does this connect to A Doll's House.

I would also say that you will want to put your movie poster together on paper so that you can get all of the key elements taken care of. I'll update scores soon!

Snow Day #3

Another one of these posts for us today. The swim meet for later today was cancelled for us, so my evening just freed up too. Please see the previous posts about ideas for what you can do while we are not in school.

I'll be going through the writings shared with me this afternoon - apologies for the delay, I've been caught up wandering through Manhattan which has been turned into a nuclear wasteland because of the Nazis. Don't worry though - I'm going to find the resistance and we'll beat them back to liberate America. (I get really into my video games!)

Hope to see you all soon! Stay warm!

Snow Day #2 and the Russian III Field Trip

Hey All -

I've heard that there have been a lot of power outages in the area. I hope that everyone is able to stay safe and warm; as always, your health and safety are first priority. If you aren't able to accomplish some of your work because of issues with electricity/Internet, please let me know.

Hopefully we'll be back to school on Wednesday. I've seen that some AP English III students have submitted their synthesis writing; please do that if it is ready for me to read. I'll have scores uploaded tomorrow and comments too.

Russian III - Be aware that the trip has been postponed until the Spring. I'll be listening to your spoken presentations in two classes to be assessed. In the next class we'll be doing our dry run. Russian II - I'll also be looking at your visuals. You'll be explaining it in English.

AP Seminar's IWA scores are nearly complete. Remember that there will be a reassessment opportunity. I would suggest that if you want to ask specific questions related to your grade, please do. We can start that resubmission process a bit earlier. I would say that with those of you who have earned lower scores (below middle) did not produce an actual IWA in that it was not presenting an argument with clear limitations, implications, or objections. These papers tended to rely on summary of source material as opposed to synthesizing and applying source material toward the explanation of an argument. As of now, the scores are raw scores - they'll be converted to a scaled score once the scale is determined.

Russian I - I did not see completed projects from everyone. Those that I saw have been scored. Again, feel free to begin reassessing based on scores and feedback. You'll want to unsubmit and then resubmit. Please email me when you've finished this work. Do not use translators at all. Simply perform the task/sentences that you have been asked for. Everything else is coming very soon!

I've also graded the English IV work on A Doll's House - Make sure that you have a clear ACES response and that your work reflects the grammar rules that we have focused on especially related to punctuation and capitalization. If you can, finish and submit the rest of your projects.

Snow Day #1

This is definitely the earliest I think that we've had a snow day while I've been working for DPS. With the days off earlier this year for the hurricanes and flooding I think we're on track to have as many days off for weather as we ever have.

You should be prepared to return next class with your assignments complete. I'll be going through Google Classroom and Drive tomorrow (Monday) for Russian I and English IV work. I'll be also finishing up all of the work from AP Seminar today and tomorrow.

Russian III students - Be aware that we won't be able to have our dry run in class now since our trip is on Wednesday. I'll keep you posted if the symposium changes due to the snow. You should be actively preparing to present on Wednesday!

If you have any questions, feel free to email me!

Homework for the Weekend - B Day - 7 December

Keep an eye on the weather and any possible cancellations. Remember that we'll come back to an A day since today is a B day.

AP Seminar

Today in class after we finished the Oral Defense questions we went back to reviewing the instructions for Performance Task 1. Then, there was a discussion around scope and focus as it relates to research questions. After this, we discussed limitations and implications and how these can be used to further refine a solution.

Over the weekend your main task is to finish your brainstorming and pre-research. You'll be coming in to class on Tuesday (hopefully) to meet your team and begin to determine your topic/question/means of inquiry. Be ready to collaborate and work fast to accomplish your tasks for Performance Task 1.

Advanced Russian


Today in class we participated in a self-reflection and peer editing for our projects on the month of December. Remember the requirements are on our checklist. The idea is to present a variety of sentences to accomplish your goals related to talking about time. Russian II and III students should complete their calendar and paragraph about the month of December. Russian III students then also have the paragraph about A and B days and a vacation day.

After that it was on to our research projects! We'll be doing a dry run of the presentations next class as a practice.

For the weekend, it's important that you finish your projects on December as a means to prepare for your reassessment. You also have your study guides for the final test on this unit. Look through the chapters, the exercises, and the vocabulary. If you need additional help, I am here to help.

Your unit exam will be on Monday the 17th. Prepare!

Russian I

Today in class we played the first few rounds of our review game to review our possession words as well as our verb conjugations. We were able to get through the first verb before going to the media center to submit our projects. Remember that if your project is not complete today, then you'll be losing some points for work ethic when it is turned in.

Over the weekend you should focus on studying and reviewing for our final test on this information. The test will be on Thursday and the reassessment will be on Tuesday. Be ready to show that you know how to conjugate verbs!

Homework for 6 December - Weekend Edition - A Day

AP English III

Over the weekend for homework we have two assignments to work through. The first is your reading in Beloved of Chapter Nine. This is an important chapter which will bring up many ghosts for Sethe from the past. Pay attention to these elements. Understand why they're appearing and what importance they may have. Continue to develop your annotations and reading to keep track of this complex novel.

Additionally, we have a writing assignment in which you'll be synthesizing the ideas of no more than four authors from our unit so far. In this assignment you're focused on explaining a common idea between the authors. Does the idea tend to keep the same meaning/importance or does it change? Why does it stay the same or change? Remember that you'll present a thesis, body paragraph which explains the connections between the various authors, and then a conclusion which restates your thesis and reviews your main points. This assignment is due on Monday.

I'll be focused on the ways in which you are explaining and relating your examples. Your thesis will likely be clunky, that's okay. Synthesis writing is complex and will really be our goal for the next quarter. This writing will also help you as you are thinking about your final project for Beloved. If these issues have been around for these earlier authors, I'm sure that they're probably still lingering today.

English IV

Today in class the main goal was to finish our projects. Some of you were able to get this done today and I think some of us will need a bit more time. I'll be checking in with your projects shared to me on Sunday, so please try to finish them by then if you can.

Remember that you'll have a test next week on Friday on A Doll's House. The test will focus on Act III, but there will some overall questions too - especially related to the characters. That is why you should have your folders with you to study and review all that we've done in this unit so far.

Homework for B-Day Students: 5 December

AP Seminar

Today in class we worked through our Oral Defenses for our IWA - many of you were able to finish your defense with me. We'll talk about feedback on Tuesday when I return your rubrics and papers to you. From there, we went on to brainstorming since our next major task is going to be completing our TMPOD as our actual assessment task.

As we brainstormed, we thought of topics, connections between topics, lenses through with to investigate topics, and the evidence that exists related to these topics.

The major work to accomplish before Tuesday's class is to finish this brainstorming so that as you and your teammates gather together, you can begin to consider what your primary question will be. I also ask that you complete your reflection which is in Google Classroom. The reflection is a completion grade, but be thorough in your answers. I'll be using your reflections as well as your grades and performance on the tasks in order to create balanced groups that will support each other.

Advanced Russian

Friday's class is going to be our final workshop for both our UNC projects and our December projects. Let's review each of these.

For the December project I am expecting a full draft on Friday. You should use your checklist to make sure that you have a variety of the grammar expressions in your writing. Remember that you need to accomplish all of the goals across your writing for your month and for your days (Russian III). The templates that I gave you were more than what you need to write - I wanted to make sure that you had a variety of sentences. On Friday, failure to have a draft will result in a zero.

We'll also finish constructing our visuals on Friday as well as planning for our spoken presentations. I'll be assessing these elements of the project on Tuesday as we will be doing a dry run of our presentations. Remember that you have your rubrics already as to how you'll be assessed. The dry run will be a great way to practice before our symposium on Wednesday.

Lastly, remember that your reassessment for vocabulary will fall on Tuesday as well. This should be a quick check in so that you have the points that you need and the knowledge that you need as well.

Russian I

Today in class we did some listening, spent most of our class working on or completing our projects, and then moved on to working with word parts in Russian. I think that for those of you having trouble memorizing the meaning of full words, maybe you want to focus on the meaning of the roots - these can be helpful in determining the general meaning of the words.

For tonight, you need to look at Exercise 19 in Chapter One. This exercise is a translation exercise. You'll need to translate just the subject and the verb. The rest of the sentence is a bit beyond you right now. This is a good way to practice before we have our reassessment on verb conjugation!

Don't forget that you will have your unit examination on Monday!

Homework for A-Day Students: 4 December

AP English III

We had a very productive day today in class which focused on new symbols which are uncovered in Chapters Six through Eight. These symbols were productive because they related to previous symbols as well as motifs and topics which are being woven through the text by Morrison. We were then able to distill the information about the symbols in to clear outcomes related to conflicts and information about the characters.

For tonight, finish reading James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" this text is in 50 Essays, and I posted the pdf of the reading in Google Classroom. Remember that all we have left is Section III.

As you finish your reading of Baldwin, start to think about topics or ideas we have encountered in various texts. We'll be doing some in-class writing on Thursday related to finding and drawing connections between various authors and time periods. This will be one of the preliminary assignments as we consider the final project for this unit.

English IV

Today in class we finished watching A Doll's House. Quite the ending, right? We then finished some questions to go over what happened at the end and what this really means for the characters.

Next class we'll be focused on our projects. You should be able to finish the remaining projects on Thursday's class. If you need additional time, you'll have the weekend to pull together any last work.

Remember that next week you'll have your final quiz on A Doll's House. It'll focus mostly on Act III, but there will be some questions that cover the whole play as well. It would be a good idea this weekend to take your notes with you to study and review.

Homework for B-Day Students: 3 December 2018

AP Seminar

Next class is the class! We have our IWA due at the beginning of class. remember that you'll need to submit your IWA in hard-copy form as well as your rubric. After you submit them we will go on to the Oral Defense. You'll be asked to answer one question from each section. Be prepared! You know how you'll be scored, so it's all about working as hard as you can to accomplish those goals.

Advanced Russian

Lots of things going on right now as we are working on our in-class project as well as our out-of-class project. Tonight we have work for both of these assessment tasks. For our month of December project you should be focused on finishing your planning/visuals and writing your rough drafts. Use the template documents that I gave you today. Remember that you need to use a variety of time expressions in your writing that cover the month and the day (Russian III). Next class you should have a draft of your month paragraph (and a draft of one day - Russian III). We'll work in editing teams next class to review these.

For your out-of-class project we should focus on writing our script (Russian III) or writing our captions or other key vocabulary (Russian II). We will have some more time to work on these in class through the week.

Russian I

Today in class we finished watching Doctor Zhivago and we put some sentences together related to our final project on writing about friends, ourselves, or family members. For tonight, there are a few things that you should be working on in order to prepare for the Chapter 1 Unit 1 Test.

1. Take a look over your most recent quiz. Review your vocabulary knowledge as well as your verb conjugation patterns and rules. I'll be asking you to do this work again on Friday as a chance to reassess and resubmit. Remember, you need to know how to do this for the test.
2. Study your vocabulary. Focus on three to five words a day and commit yourself to memorizing them or knowing them thoroughly.
3. Work on your projects. If you weren't able to finish the two paragraphs today, get those done tonight. You should be able to finish your projects on Wednesday in class. They're due on Friday.