Monday - 3 October 2022

Happy October my lovelies! One full month done with school. On to the next one, right?

English 10

Great day today in English 10 to start our unit on Eastern and Southern Asia. We'll be looking at literature and writing from Japan, China, and India in this unit. Today was our soft start, we did some research to learn more about heroes, art, and religion in these cultures. We learned mostly from each other as we completed a gallery walk to display our thoughts to each other.

If you're missing a project, be sure to get that completed as soon as you can. Missing scores will go in after the revision window closes. If you're not happy with your grade, we can do revisions or corrections. I'll have your rubrics back to you next class. As always, reach out with any questions you may have!

22 September - Grey Day

English 10

Really lovely day today in English 10 as we finished our last reading for the unit - Neil Gaiman's "Credo". This is a great text for you to use for your quotation response, slide five of your project. After we finished reading, we took time to focus on our projects.

Your project is due at the end of next class. Next class is our unit catch-up day, working day, and finalizing day. We'll be transitioning to a new unit next week where we'll study Asian literature and culture. If you're ready, you can turn in your project early, but I would recommend waiting until our writing workshop next class.

If you celebrate - enjoy the holiday weekend! L'shana tova!

31 August - End of the Month!

English 10

Wonderful work today everyone as we engaged as a group of listeners and watchers. We watched a few TikTok videos from a wonderfully hilarious Nigerian woman and then listened to another Nigerian woman tell us about "The Danger of a Single Story". I look forward to reviewing your answers and thoughts on her speech. 

Next class we'll spend more time in Africa, but in another country - South Africa. We'll focus on South Africa for a few classes, I hope you'll enjoy our focused study of that country.

25 August - Thursday

English 10

Another good class in the books. You all are proving yourselves to be quite the wonderful group of scholars. Today we spent some time getting to know each other more with a survey (be sure to submit it if you didn't during class) - it is for a grade. From there we spoke a bit about our concept for the year before we learned a bit about our culture in the classroom through our rules and procedures. 

We ended our day with some work on our goals for the year. I'm excited to see what you all are attempting to achieve for yourselves this year. Your goals are a part of your culture, so knowing them help me to know you.

Enjoy the weekend! I will see you on Monday.

First Grey Day - 23 August 2022

English 10

Wonderful day today, everyone! I very much enjoyed working with you and getting to know you all. We took time for names, arts and crafts, and a bit of an overview of our year - world literature. I loved seeing the way that you worked together, showed up for class, and respected our environment.

For tonight, think about our concept of the year - culture. What would you say is part of your culture? What's important to you? This is a great place for us to start our conversation this year. 

AP Language

I'll make the posts on the Blue Day for this class since that's its first meeting. Be sure to check the post above for your reminders/information.

Beginning Unit 2 - 28 and 29 September

AP Language

And off we go to Unit 2! In this unit, we'll be looking at texts from the Colonial period of America as we are reading and studying Arthur Miller's The Crucible. For tonight, I want you to get enmeshed in the culture of the Puritan world by reading Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry G-d". As you read, annotate for tone, the way he uses fear, and his topics. This is a great text for vocabulary as well - remember that you have another set of ten due later in the unit.

Finish and submit your Unit 1 projects as well as your Unit 1 vocabulary to the spaces to the side. I'll have grades updated as soon as I can. Keep in mind that Act 1 and 2 will be discussed next week. Be sure to begin your reading and annotating now. See the unit plan posted below or in the unit folder for your reading schedule.

English 10

Projects are due today to round out Unit 1. Be sure that you have submitted your work to Schoology for this first unit of the year. If you are missing any work from Unit 1, be sure that you've made a plan with me for how to complete and submit that work before the end of this week. It's important that we get everything settled before we move on.

Today in class we took time to get into our novels and focus on characters. Remember that in some cases, the characters are real people, since the books are pieces of non-fiction. We're looking at conflicts and how they impact the characters as well. We're also actively reading for new vocabulary as we work through these books.

If you have your projects done, then tonight should be about vocabulary. If those things are both complete, then take this time to enjoy your book. We'll start reading something together as a class next time.

September 10 and 13

AP Language

Another lovely day in AP Language made better with a visit from Mr. James Baldwin. Today we worked through letters as a genre and discussed the ways in which letters can accomplish what other texts do, but a bit differently. We then read through James Baldwin's "My Dungeon Shook" in order to understand some of these structures, our rhetorical vocabulary, and the concept of paradox in the text.

Projects should be turned in by the end of the weekend. Next class we'll conduct a gallery walk to display our work to our peers and share our knowledge. You should be actively completing vocabulary cards each time we read something - remember that the magic number is ten for the unit.

Reading for the weekend is very short - take a look at John and Abigail Adams' letters between each other on pages 250 to 254. Consider the way in which the connection between the audience and speaker is manipulated to wit in the construction of the argument. Keep all your reading notes in your notebooks - I'll check those towards the end of the unit.

English 10

Today in class was a day for us to talk about close reading and annotating. Remember that when we annotate we're putting our thoughts on paper - we're recording what we see about a text so that we can remember it later. This is going to lead to great outcomes when it comes to our work as readers, writers, and thinkers. We practiced annotating and close reading today as we worked through different excerpts from religious texts. We did this to understand elements of their culture from the reading.

Over the weekend, focus on any missing assignments you may have. Your South Africa reflection can be submitted on Schoology. If you'd like to get ahead, begin work on your project by interviewing your family about your background. We'll begin on the final project in earnest next week. The project overview is posted on Schoology for you if you'd like to review it now.

September 8th and 9th

AP Language

Great day today everyone! We worked through Abraham Lincoln's "Gettsburg Address" in order to understand the rhetorical appeals of logos, pathos, and ethos as well as the way in which meaning is created and layered through the text.

For tonight, I want you to interact with another speech. It's on page 272 in your textbook - Mario Cuomo's Speech to the 1984 Democratic National Convention. Read the speech or interact with it via the video linked on Schoology. Apply one of our note taking structures to help you pull apart the meaning in the speech.

Don't forget to submit your dirty outlines. For this remember to use the Singer prompt and spell out your thesis, body paragraph claims, evidence, and explanation, and a refutation. This should appear like a bullet point list, not a full essay.

Next class we're looking at letters.

English 10

Great work today in class as we worked through Archbishop Tutu's "Let South Africa Show the World How to Forgive". We focused on his main claims as well as the evidence he provided to spell out and support those claims. Remember that claims can be spread across paragraphs as can evidence. 

From there, we spent time with another South African text, before we took time to finish our day with a writing assignment. For homework, be sure to complete and submit your South Africa reflection. You can use any text that we've studied for your evidence. Be sure to answer the question clearly and provide a clear piece of evidence to support your claim. Submit to Schoology!

Day 2 - 25 and 26 August

AP English Language

Today we took time in class to brush off our skills of annotating and to work with what is our anchor document for this unit - "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson. We talked about topics and motifs, main ideas and arguments, as well as the diction that Jefferson uses to appeal to his audience (as well as who that audience was). 

Tonight, spend time with the document posted on Schoology, the "rough draft" and see what changes you note. What may have motivated Jefferson to make those changes? Is the document significantly changed from one to the next? Remember to annotate! There are also the forms to the syllabus and the optional summer assignment open for submission.

English 10

Thanks for a great day today, everyone! We started our day reflecting on the concepts of culture clash and conflict before building a bridge to the idea of stereotypes. I loved the discussion we had around how stereotypes can be indicative or a product of a culture clash. 

We then spent time with a TEDTalk from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie called "The Danger of a Single Story" and answered some questions ans we considered her speech. Tonight, keep thinking about your single story versus your full story - we'll finish our reflection next class.

Remember to access the syllabus and signature form on Schoology to complete that task. The syllabus is under Materials - Course Resources. 

Beginning the Week - 9 March 2021

English 10

Today's class was a bit of our transition from Unit 3 to Unit 4. We took time to brush off our grammar skills and get familiar with authors and the places that they called home before taking time for conferences and time to focus on our final interpretation from Unit 3.

You should be focused on turning in your final interpretation from Unit 3 this week as we start Unit 4. Remember that for your final interpretation you can use a Google Doc or use Google Slides. Take your information from your outline as a starting point, then clean up your grammar, focus on making your transitions clear, and show that your claims have evidence. Aim to submit the assignment this week. 

If you didn't finish our Kick Off document in class, be sure that you submit that soon. It's an easy twenty points to get you some background knowledge, which we'll keep doing on Thursday.

AP Language

Today in class we focused on some of the big ideas of Chapters 2, 3, and 4 in Invisible Man. We also touched in on our annotations of our covers - especially symbols, characters, and settings. Next class we'll dig a bit deeper on these chapters and look at some rhetorical analysis to really find a lot more meaning than we already have. Continue to pay attention to cycles as they appear in the text as well as how meaning is created through the use of key details in the text.

You'll find your recording and PearDeck takeaways posted. Remember to keep reading, thinking, and annotating. I look forward to seeing you Thursday.

Kicking Off Week 5 - Blue Day - 6 October

Welcome to a new week students, as we are drawing near to the close of our first quarter of school as well as the end of our first units. Be aware that we will start working on our final projects for this unit this week! Here are your reminders based on our work today in class.

Remember - if you stated that you want to check out a book from school for this year, you can come to Fairfax HS on Monday the 12th from 12-2 or 4-6. Make sure that you have a piece of paper with the student's name, teacher's name, class period, and class. I'll go over the procedures on Thursday for you all.

AP Language

Today was a day for our gallery walk. We interacted with each other by looking at our texts (via our shared slide deck) and by hearing each others thoughts (via our classroom FlipGrid). I hope that you enjoyed the chance to learn from each other and interact with each other in the ways that we can, right now. Remember to submit your reflection on this activity for your final points of the project. If you choose to resubmit your slides, please do so by the end of the week.

From there we moved into feminist theory and literary criticism. Be sure to complete your story and post to the discussion board when you finish. Later this week - be sure to reply to a post from the opposite story. Another chance for us to interact and learn from each other. 

English 10

Today we took some time to get caught up or ahead, based on where we find ourselves in class. Then we jumped to close reading and annotating. We reviewed our process of close reading and determined it's best to always start by stating a purpose for our reading. Remember - If you say you're looking for something, then you're likely to find it. We then applied our skill to different religious texts before submitting ideas to a class discussion.

For tonight, there's no homework assigned. If you're behind on other assignments, use this time to get caught up. We'll start talking about writing and revising on Thursday, so remember that you'll be able to rewrite your essays soon for a new score.

15 September - Blue Day

Good Afternoon Students and Grown-Ups,

Be sure to continue to check Google Classroom for daily updates and reminders. Please ensure that any work from Week 1 is turned in today, including the Homework Assignment 1. Also, remember that in this class I will grade on standards, not assignments, and you have the opportunity to resubmit work after it is scored to improve your grade. Here are your class specific reminders.

English 10

If you didn't submit your Homework Assignment 1 - "My Single Story" please do so. I'd love to take this opportunity to better know you and your story more. Be sure to follow the instructions on Google Classroom.

AP Language

Today we focused on visual rhetoric and the rhetorical situation. We practiced with a painting, and tonight you'll continue that practice with a prescient image. Use your online textbook to find Ana Juan's New Yorker Cover. Apply your strategy from class. Answer the three "READ" questions with this text. You can answer them quickly (no more than a paragraph for each question). Submit your work as a quick practice with our skill.

Also, be sure that you've submitted HW Assignment 1 and your Summer Assignment. If there are questions or concerns, please let me know.

Day 1 - 2020 - Virtual Schooling

Good Evening Fairfax Families,

Today was a great day to kick off the 2020 school year. The virtual start provided some amusing missteps (like my forgetting to allow chat and audio/video permissions), but overall we had a great start. I've enjoyed watching your FlipGrid videos and seeing your interactive notebook covers. Here are a few notes from our first day of school.

All Classes (Especially Parents/Guardians)

The Blackboard space for class is pretty barren, because the course content is housed in Google Classroom. The main thing for you to draw your attention to is the syllabus and course policies document. This is available in FCPS 24-7 as well as in Google Classroom. I would highly recommend reviewing the document with your student and filling out the Google Form at the end of the document together.

If you did not share your Interactive Notebook or complete your FlipGrid video, be sure to do so. I've noticed that some people have submitted one or the other, in which case I've awarded partial credit. I'll check again tomorrow and correct any scores. Remember that homework should be complete by the end of Monday (in a perfect world), since Monday is your asynchronous/homework day.

AP Language (3rd and 5th)

Tonight you should get familiar with your online textbook for our class since we'll be using this in our next session. If you need the links for the FlipGrid or a reminder of the Interactive Notebook, check out our class slides which are in Google Classroom. As always, you can email me with questions/comments as well.

Further reflection on our key question of "What is America/an American?" is also warranted. We'll delve deeper next class and throughout the unit.

English 10 (7th)

I enjoyed our opening conversation on culture and our work with the poem "About School". We were hitting on some important themes related to culture clash and conformity today, and we'll carry those forward next time we meet. For tonight, I would reflect further on these ideas and how you've seen or experienced them in your life. Additionally, if you need to submit a video or share your Interactive Notebook, please do so. I'm looking forward to seeing your recordings and getting to know you better.

I hope that you had as good of a first day as I did. See you on Thursday!

Homework for A-Day Students - 28 February 2020

February is over! It's on to March. Also, we're at the middle of the quarter, expect progress reports next week! The quarter will end on March 26 for all classes.

AP Research

Today was our day to start to talk about DATA! And I don't mean the android from Star Trek. Today we started to build our data tables - think about our organization - and consider how to make our data digestible to our readers (bite-sized). Take all of this forward as you're working this weekend. Remember that as we work we are building the next section of our paper - RESULTS.


I've posted Reflection 21 for you to complete. Remember that you should also check in on your previous POD Questions. Next week I'll be checking your PREP Folders for your first check - have everything ready and organized for me.

Russian I

Remember to turn in your poet projects this weekend if you haven't yet done so! They should be turned in by Sunday to be scored as on-time!

Today in class we learned our case endings for the rest of the cases for adjectives - Dative Case and Instrumental Case. Remember that these cases are used for indirect objects (Dative) and with tools (Instrumental). From there, we went on to working with our film.


Over the weekend you should finish all of Exercise 2.9 focusing on your case endings. We also have a bit of a scavenger hunt this weekend with a song. Look at the song lyrics, listen to the song, and find all of the adjectives you can! Try to identify which case they are in. I posted the song here so that you can listen as you read.

Advanced Russian

Today in class we had our second assessment on Verbs of Motion in Russian. I will have these scored and back to you soon. Hopefully you all felt more prepared this time around than our first quiz as we are continuing to learn and focus on our process of creating sentences in Russian about our motions and travels. Over the weekend there are two things for you to accomplish: First, submit your poet projects. They should be turned in to Google Classroom. I've attached the slides here for your overview of the project. Second, complete your translations. Russian II should just do the ones on the front. Russian III/IV should do the ones on the front and the back. We'll take some time to review these on Tuesday - if you're unsure, give it a try and then ask me for help.

Homework for A-Day: 25 September 2019

AP Research

Today in class we had our first of two workdays as part of this week. Remember that by the end of the unit you should log a conference with Ms. Stacy or Ms. Montgomery. They'll be back on Friday. As we are working tonight, we should continue to move toward our goals:

1. Complete the development of your source list for the second check. Be sure to apply new lessons as you revise and use the OWL as you need to!
2. Work with useful sources and write Annotated Bibliography entries. 

As I said in class, it's time to grind out some product right now. Sit, write, and then review what you have. By writing these entries, you may be able to determine what you still may need.

Russian I

Good times today in class as we reviewed how to say hello at various times of the day as well as the rules around gender in Russian. For tonight you should be preparing for your quiz on Friday. The quiz will cover greetings and introductions, formality, and cognates. Be sure that you have reviewed your work and completed your exercises. All of these things will help a lot.

Advanced Russian

Also a fun time in Advanced Russian as we sang and watched to prepare to write. For tonight we should be focused on writing. Remember that as we are writing we are practicing with all of our Russian skills. What happened? Where? To whom? Be sure that as you write, you revise, and draw on your resources for help. Many of the cases are available to you online via YouTube with instructional videos.

Tonight be sure to finish your last short story and have it ready to be turned in. Following that, let me know if you're ready for the verb resubmission. Don't forget your skyscraper projects are due on Friday to Google Classroom.

Homework for A Day - Monday, September 23

AP Research

Today's class focused on moving from our development of our QUEST and question into writing and working on our annotated bibliography - the first key assignment in which we will start to build our research papers. Be sure to reference the slides as you begin to work. Use the templates and language that we are seeing to write with academic purpose and gravitas.

In this unit we will have several major assignments - the first is the Annotated Bibliography. There will also be a poster presentation and pitch for your research question, and some writing goals for our paper. Keep working hard and it will be done!

Russian I

Today in class we did some great work. Remember that if you didn't submit the project that you have until the end of the week to turn it in. On Friday we'll be having a quiz on the new vocabulary and cultural knowledge. Be sure that you are reviewing your vocabulary daily. Hopefully today's speaking activity helped with your understanding and remembering of the vocabulary. We'll keep having more speaking activities as we keep going through the week!

Also be working through your exercise packet - it'll be very helpful for the quiz on Friday!

Advanced Russian

Today in class we wrote, we listened, and we spoke. All great practice for ourselves as students of Russian. By the end of this week you have a small story due. It can be about you, your building, the characters in Ну, Погоди! As long as you use all three tenses in Russian, we're good.

Next class we'll interact with more stimulus and write more - then it's on to work on cases to review those things too. Remember that by the end of the week you need to complete your resubmission for the verb quiz if you choose to do so.

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 19 September

AP Research

Good work today with giving, receiving, and processing feedback. I'm really happy to see the direction in which you all are moving as well as the support you are lending to your colleagues. Keep this spirit moving.

Over the weekend you should continue to build your BoK and revise your question. Continue to reflect and use the feedback of your peers. Additionally, you have an assignment due on Sunday - Your Source List. This is the first check, so you should have about 25-30 sources. Remember that these are categorized. You should submit a document with your sources (APA format) and their category.

Outside of that there's the Reflection 3/4. Remember to practice writing with sources by using them in your reflections. Get into good habits; it'll pay off later.

Russian I

Today in class we did a lot! We spoke and used our greetings and we also reviewed our work on formality rules in Russian. Then we spent some time exploring different areas of Moscow for our culture projects. Remember that you'll have one more day to work on these in class before they're due.

Over the weekend you should work with your new vocabulary and finish your most recent exercise packet. You should also check on anything that is missing in the gradebook. We'll finish this first unit pretty soon and move into some real grammar!

Advanced Russian

Today we did a bit of everything - we wrote, we listened, we researched Moscow sky scrapers, and then did some work on cases and grammar. All of this is good for us as we keep moving forward. As a reminder you'll have one more class session to work on the projects. They'll be due after that. We'll also be writing this weekend as we revise our stories about our buildings. Remember to write and think about where you're activating cases. Conjugate verbs. Use your notes. Ask if you need help!

I also want you to focus on the new exercise which mixes verbs and cases. Focus on a particular case and use this weekend as a chance to get ahead. We'll keep moving forward next week. Finish your story and have it ready to turn in!

Homework for A-Day: 17 September

AP Research

Today in class we had a quiz and then it was on to independent work after a review of the plagiarism and falsification statement and policy for this class. Tonight you should be moving forward with your work on revising your research question and refining it further. Using our handouts from last class, build it stronger and better. Look at those elements of effective research question and the bullseye. Build up. Have your new question written out so that you can get feedback next class.

Russian I

Today was a great day! We spoke some Russian and got to know our region of Moscow a bit further. Then we did a lot of great work learning about the rules of formality in Russian. All of this is great to use as we move forward.

Tonight you need to be sure that you have finished your handwriting packets and turned those in. You should be learning your new vocabulary. Use it and the work we did today in class to complete the exercises in the packet. You do not have to complete exercise ten at the end of the set.

We'll review our alphabet quizzes next class. If you want to retake it or put rubles on it, let me know!

Advanced Russian

Tonight for homework we have a case review. Russian II - Tell me what cases we need and where we need them in the sentences. Russian III and IV - Tell me the cases we need and the endings we need!

Outside of this we need to keep focusing on verbs and stems - the review work today was key for that. Learn what the stem does! Learn when it does that. It's important that you know these groups so that you know how to work with verbs when you meet them. The retake will be available after Wednesday - let me know when you're ready for it.

Don't forget to write a bit about your building. The past, the present, and the future.

Homework for the Weekend - A Day - 13 September

AP Research

Good work today in class - I hope that you enjoyed learning more about the work that we are doing and how to make the pivotal transition from little r to BIG R research. Now we have the staircase and we've got to go up!

As you work this weekend remember that our main goal is the building of the Source List. This will help with completing Reflection 2 and making the needed revisions to your question and problem statement and gap as they currently stand.

Next week we have two assessments - your CRAAP quiz and then the Speed Dating of Research Questions. Your Source List will be due by the end of next weekend (9/22).

Russian I

Today we took our first quiz! Hooray! Ура! I'll have the scores to you as soon as I can. Remember that we'll review it and then you get to take it again if you need to. Over the weekend you should learn your new vocabulary! Focus on reading the new words, sounding them out, and practice with the dialogues on the reverse side!

Advanced Russian

We also took a quiz today! If you were unprepared, spend time with Google Classroom reviewing our notes. You may also want to refer to the textbook appendix (A-25) to review the different verb stems and what they do as they conjugate. I'll have the scores in PowerSchool soon.

Over the weekend you should be writing! Focus on your building. Write a short story using PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE tenses. Russian II should have three sentences, at least four for Russian III, and six for Russian IV. We'll be getting into cases next week - so consider where those are needed in the writing!

Homework for A Day Students - 11 September

AP Research

Today in class we reviewed our test for sources - the CRAAP method. On Google Classroom I've posted the worksheet, slides, and video from our work today in class. Remember that as you are finding a variety of sources and perspectives, to use your topic/question in order to evaluate them. Remember Jenny McCarthy. The work may be good for another topic, just not yours.

Don't forget to answer your second reflection question by the end of the weekend. I'll look for them soon. You should be building your source list and developing your question at this point!

Russian I

We did so much today in class. We sang! We said funny things! We even read a map in Russian! All of this goes to show that language is one of those natural things - it's easy to pick up. Next class you will have your quiz on the alphabet. The quiz will ask you to identify letters, write in Russian, and identify basic words in Russian. After the quiz we will work on our first culture project - the regions of Moscow.

Remember that your handwriting packet is due next class. You only have to complete the exercises where you are asked to write what is given for you. Nothing else.

Advanced Russian

I think that today's independent/group studying was very effective because I saw many of you working very diligently on your verb work. This is great preparation for our quiz next class. On the quiz you'll have several verbs to work with - I'll ask that you identify the verb and work with several verbs in all tenses in Russian. After our quiz there will be time to begin on the culture projects related to Stalin's Skyscrapers.

If you're at all confused related to the one stem verb system, please see me outside of class for assistance. I've posted our study guide and slides on Google Classroom.