12 December - The Last Week of School

AP Language

Good day today reading Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" - it's a rigorous yet rich text. I hope that you were able to see some of the larger connections to truth, reality, manipulation, lies, and power. There's also the idea that it's an allegory, which is what our play is, so there's a connection point there. Plato's ideas are at the heart of a lot of what we are doing in class and what a lot of our authors are pursuing in their texts. Use the multiple choice questions to practice before the examination. We'll do a second AP Exam in January.

For tonight, focus on finishing The Crucible. We've got Act III next class and then Act IV after that. This is also a key time to complete your vocabulary or any other tasks missing from the last unit. Show your skill before our mid-point examination. 

AP Research

Solid day today everyone as we had a lesson focused on the construction of the academic paper. Today's lesson I hope makes clear the need to focus on the essentials of the paper. What are you doing that's new? How are you showing what's new? Use your existing papers and the papers in your body of knowledge to help you structure your paper and your POD (remember, it's a buy one get one situation here).

It's important to be writing right now. You don't have time later to waste now. Working through a survey with multiple respondents is work! And that is also time. Your paper should be written to the method (or at least outlined) by the time we come back from break. Submit your drafts!

8 December - End of the Week

AP Language

Excellent day in AP Language today as we understood the rhetorical situation for The Crucible and some of the key motivations pushing Miller in the construction of his allegory. Be on the lookout for vocabulary as we are reading. The articles in this unit can get you all ten of your words. Continue to review previous readings if you need to. I hope that watching the film today brought some new understandings to the play.

For tonight, focus on any assignments you need to submit for Unit 3 including reading reflections and vocabulary. In Current Lessons there's a link to a cartoon. Watch the cartoon as you start reading the article I gave you in class "The Allegory of the Cave". You don't have to finish reading the article on your own, but you can if you want.

AP Research

Great day in AP Research. I love days when we get to talk and conference. The IRB had feedback for you all to push you in a good direction moving forward. Consider the edits and feedback you received today this weekend and into next week. I'll need to see your edits for you to clear the IRB. Remember that if you make changes to your research question, then those changes should be seen in other areas, like your survey questions.

Over the weekend, complete your newest PREP question. Check your email for your feedback written out. This is also a great time to be writing and pulling ideas together on your paper. I think that we're all going to be in a great place to get started with participants after Winter Break.

As always, I'm here to support you.

Homework for B-Day Students: 22 March 2017

AP English III:

Always question your reality, children. Always look for the fire within the cave. For tonight, you have one thing to complete to turn in and reading to complete.

First, please write a one paragraph response to each of the following questions. You may draw on your experience reading Invisible Man, "Allegory of the Cave", and the reading on addiction. The questions are as follows:

1.  According to the article, do people in "the cave" make healthy decisions?
2.  According to the article, do people naturally want to remain in "the cave"? What does this say about human nature?
3.  In what other ways might a person be in "the cave"? Think about other parts of our society (fashion, careers, lifestyle choices, etc.)

Second, you have reading in Invisible Man - Chapters Twenty through Twenty-Two. Remember to complete your motif blog post and annotate heavily. There's a lot of "Allegory of the Cave" going on in this section. It'll be productive for you to think about.

Lastly, continue working on your research papers. The final drafts will be due very soon!

English II:

This is the final call for any missing or make-up work. It should be in our hands by the end of the day tomorrow!

B Day Homework and Reminders - 5 January

With who knows what going to happen over the next few days I'm going to describe things in terms of how many classes from today things will be happening. Adjust and prepare accordingly.

AP English III

I hope that you felt prepared and successful on the test on The Crucible today. You have some online and group collaborating to do over the weekend to prepare for next class's priority - the group allegory presentation. Remember, make a point through the art of allegory. The thing you have to remember is that you have to be specific; a point to point comparison is needed so that the audience can make sense of how they line up and what the point is. You should prepare a script, I'd share a Google Doc, and prepare for about 3-5 minutes of length. One scene or two short scenes.

In two classes we're going to have our monologue presentations and collection of rhetorical analyses on the monologues. You have the rubric, and if you don't come get it tomorrow while we're at school or email. Remember that in the rhetorical analysis you're focusing on explaining how the author is conveying an argument through this monologue. That argument should be one of the main ones of the whole play too. Look at language - get your hands dirty - and remember that these are plays. They've been spoken and presented. YouTube it. Tone is a key element of how authors make arguments. You have a day before we collect, so come in for a conference!

English II

Lots of fun today for the review game - there was only one question that couldn't be answered! Tehran! Remember to use your study guides and prepare for what we have next class. The Persepolis unit exam is going to have everything that we did today - characters, plot, culture, vocabulary, and writing.

Please do keep looking at your personal narratives and working on them (especially if we have some time to do it). We'll build in a bit of class time to do that too, and soon!