13 March - End of the Week

English 11

Solid end of the week today in English 11. We are focused right now on finishing up our independent novel work with our research based presentations and our creative book projects. Today was a day for us to start (and in some cases finish) our reading projects. Remember that the goal of the project is to demonstrate your ability to read and comprehend a text. No matter the choice of project you're focused on demonstrating those key skills. Think about the evidence that you'll use from the book and what you'll say about that evidence. Feel free to use your previous resources and work that you've done to support you with this. Note that projects are due by March 25.

After that we did a review on our most recent poetry quizzes. Next week we'll have more feedback in the form of a lesson and activity. For now, we looked at the idea of the right answer versus the best answer and how to tell the difference. Don't get tricked! After lunch we did some vocabulary and then ended class as we needed with choice working time.

Over the weekend, focus on your book tasks. This is a great time for your projects and presentations. Go ahead and make your appointment pass for your presentation slot (if necessary). I'm so excited to see the outcomes from your learning! Have a great weekend!

18 December - Wacky Wednesday!

English 11

Y'all gave me so many gifts today and that is records of your work and your thinking. Thank you for being so productive during our testing day. If you were absent, you'll want to schedule a Lion Time pass to take your reading test AFTER Winter Break. 

If you have missing major work, try to get that in. Let's make a plan for Lion Time when we return, if necessary. You can complete the vocabulary on your own, but please plan to work with me to do the letter. I'll be updating grades throughout the next few days, and I hope to have them finalized by the time we go out on Friday.

On Friday we'll do some book shopping to prepare for the next unit. If you'll be absent, please complete the Google Form, so I can make some recommendations for you. As always, reach out with any questions or concerns.

16 December - A Manic Monday!

English 11

Pretty good day today to start the week. We were focused on reading and reviewing for our test that we have next class. We focused on elements of reading non-fiction and key skills to demonstrate next class. It's most important that you remember the rhetorical situation: purpose, context, audience, writer, and message. Be sure that you read the text efficiently to identify these elements. Once you have the message, it's easy to see the evidence that is used to support that message. Also keep in mind the way in which these elements work together to support each other. One can help you find the other.

We also played Jeopardy today! You're all winners in my book, so we got some small prizes for participation. I've posted the Jeopardy slides if you want to review them again to help you study. Remember that the best way to study is to read, so it might be a good idea to read a bit more or review one of your research sources as you prepare for next class.

At the very end, we took some time to finish up our main work. The most important items are the letter, research write-up, and vocabulary project. Be sure that you're focused on these. Check your Gradebook in Schoology to keep up with what you have turned in and what's been scored. I'll be updating through the week. You'll have all class next time for the test, so you might have time to finish up tasks in class. Please make an LT pass for Wednesday if you need additional help. I'm also after school on Thursday.

12 December - Writing Day!

English 11

Great day today everyone! I'm so proud of all of you and excited to read what you wrote for me today. The goal of today's class was to complete our Research Write-Up OR the Summative Writing Assignment. I'm so glad to see that I have a good amount of work to grade. I'm planning to score on Sunday. If you have other items to submit like your Vocabulary Project/Test or your formatives (like your outline) try to get those in as soon as possible so that I can update your grades.

Next class we'll be doing a review activity for our reading test and then the test is going to occur on Wednesday. For this test you'll be reading and responding to questions to demonstrate your reading comprehension and interpretation skills.

If you need additional help, please make a LT appointment for Monday or Wednesday. I'm after school on Thursday for additional help. The goal is to complete all of our Unit 2 work before we go out on break so that we can do revisions and resubmissions after. 

6 December - Friday Feels

English 11

Solid end of the week in English 11; the only bad thing was that we were missing so many of you. I hope that all of you are doing well. Today we engaged in our final reading for Unit 2 and looked at Brent Staples and Langston Hughes. We chose our adventure for reading and then dove in. We explored ideas like racism and segregation and the way in which each author used personal experience to convey their argument on the topic. We also looked at some art that engaged in similar ideas. The end of class brought out a fantastic synthesizing conversation. See the recording for all of this.

We didn't quite have the time I wanted for the end of class, so I extended your Research Write-Up to Tuesday. Tuesday will be the last day to collect evidence for your letter. We're writing on Thursday. Complete and submit the Write-Up so that you're as prepared as possible. I'll be grading and providing feedback throughout the next few days. Enjoy your weekend and your time with the substitute on Tuesday. Make it a productive day! 

9 October

English 11

Today we had a super short class because of the extension of testing on the PSAT/SAT. We had about thirty minutes together today, so we spent that time on our projects for Unit 1. Remember that your project grade will replace your test grade, so it's a great built in revision for you all. 

Remember the big elements of the project: three excerpts, annotated for all of our devices, note the topic and theme for each excerpt. It's best if you do this work in a Google Doc or Slide show. Next class we'll do some writing to finish the project. If the project is ready, you'll be able to turn it in on Friday. The final due date for the project is October 21.

Next class we'll start Unit 2 - The Harlem Renaissance and Research. It'll be a great unit focused on studying poetry, music, non-fiction, and doing some research on American problems. I'm excited to take you all to an exciting moment of history for our nation. Have a great rest of your day!

1 October - New Month, End of the Week

English 11

Great day today in English 11 everyone! I hope that you enjoyed your first day with station rotations. For today's class we spent our time working through review tasks to get ready for Monday's test. We did some reading, some work on our projects, some arts and crafts, and everything was about reviewing and preparing for Monday.

Remember that for your test on Monday you'll have a story to read and then about twenty questions. There will be a question about each of the literary devices in this unit. Be sure that you can identify them and comment on how they help an author to create a theme or message. You'll have the whole class period to work on your test. Projects will be due at the end of next week. Remember that working on your project will help you to be ready for your test.

27 September - End of the Week

English 11

Great day to end the week today as we worked on our reading projects, set up our websites for our English 11 portfolios, and got started with our first few words from list two. We ended our day with Scattegories! It's always fun to build a bit of community through some games.

Remember that in this class, projects are how you can study best for tests. In your project, you're finding and explaining our unit devices. Your goal is to find all of the devices in your project. Follow the same guidelines that we did in our practice assignments. Annotate via comments. Next week we'll have more time to work on our projects and we'll finish preparing for our exams.

Have the best weekend! Keep working on your projects if you have the time. I'm excited to see you on Tuesday, which is your only day with me next week.

23 September - Kicking Off the Week

English 11

Today we had time for our first round of feedback and grades. I know that there was a lot of information provided to you today, so here's the basic recap. You get two types of grades - summative (70%) and formative (30%). We generally get grades in three types of skills - reading, writing, and oral communication. Today you got back grades and feedback on reading, writing, and oral communication. We looked at the feedback, understood what it meant about where we are right now, and understood how grades and feedback can help us get to where we want to be. Now what we'll do is start the journey for improvement.. 

The bulk of class after that was focused on our first poem - "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus. What we did in this part of class was do a close reading of the poem to identify key literary devices from this unit. We explored how they created tones and added to the character of the Statue of Liberty in the poem. Then, we put it all together to understand the theme for the audience. Keep in mind that this type of thinking and reading is what we'll need to do in our project as well as how to be successful in class. Continue to practice with this as you work with your project.

Next class we'll take time to do our last reading of this unit and also have time to work on our projects. It's time for us to start preparing for our unit assessment, as well. Be ready to move on to Unit 2 in the next few classes.

19 September - End of the Week

English 11

Great end to the week in English 11 as we took our first vocabulary quiz, participated in some review, and got started with our first project to demonstrate our skills and identities as readers. Next class, I'll be giving a lot of feedback based on the work we've done so far. If you have any missing assignments, be sure that they are complete BEFORE Monday's class so that I can get you scores and feedback. If you need to come to Lion Time, use Securly and make an Appointment Pass for Monday. I can also work with you on Wednesday or Friday.

Take time to review the project requirements. The main idea is that you're annotating three excerpts of your choosing for our narrative elements. We'll keep working on this throughout next week. It'll help us to prepare for our unit test. Soon Unit 1 will be over. Our next unit looks at The Harlem Renaissance. Over the weekend, focus on completing any missing work, making a plan for this week's Lion Times, or working on your project. As always, whatever you need, feel free to ask! Enjoy your weekends!

Happy End of the Week - 16 November!

AP Language

We had the absolute best time in AP Language today discussing and working through Chapter 8. I'm really excited to read your paragraphs and get you feedback on the writing that you did. I hope that you are seeing the way in which all of our work is coming together to support your tasks here at the end of the book. I hope that you can also see the improvement you're showing in your skills as close readers and thinkers. 

For tonight, read Chapter 9 and finish your motif tracker. Hopefully you're starting to have an idea as to what your visual will look like and perhaps what your thesis is for your writing assignment. Next class, I'll be away from you physically, but I'll be with you in spirit as I check in virtually on Schoology. If you need help with your motif tracker or preparing for your project, please make plans for Lion Time after Thanksgiving Break.

4 October - Timed Writing on Deck!

AP Language

Today was a filled day in AP Language land as we wrapped up Unit 2 and prepared for Friday's timed writing. You'll be writing an FRQ 2 which requires you to read and then write an analysis of a text. How does the author convey their argument to an audience? The process we've worked through in class - from SPACECAT to PRECIS to ESSAY - is the one we'll employ on Friday.

Remember how you'll be scored and what the requirements are. I'm looking forward to seeing your first attempt at this type of essay. Review previous recordings and the resources we've reviewed. Prepare by doing and engage in meaningful review. Remember if you're missing anything from the unit, to complete it by the end of the weekend. I should have projects ready for you next week!

2 October - Happy Fall!

AP Language

Great work today in class everyone, we are engaging in some great skill building and review to prepare for our timed writing on Friday. Today's class looked at a few important concepts. First, we discussed grading on timed writings - we looked at the scoring guidelines, sample essays, and a prompt to understand not only the task but how we'll be assessed on it. After understanding the task and the requirements, we went back to the precis. The precis is the key to writing that introduction/thesis to FRQ 2 and starting off well. Keep practicing with the precis to prepare for Friday's timed writing. 

I would recommend that you continue to write precis and review our readings through this unit as a means to practice, study, and prepare for Friday. All of the readings are posted in Schoology as well as all of our slides. Don't forget the recordings too. Looking forward to Wednesday and the last class of Unit 2.

5 September - I'm 39!

AP Language

Today was the end of our Benchmark Examination. We completed another simulated exam activity - the multiple choice. In this part of the examination you'll have five passages with questions. Some questions assess your reading skills and others assess your writing skills. Once you submit, you'll get your raw score - you want to be tracking at around 50% or better. Next week when we do feedback, you'll see your grade broken out by the different skills - this is the more important information.

If you've missed part of your Benchmark Exam, please schedule a time to sit for your assessment. I'm here after school on Wednesday and Thursday; we also have Lion Time transitions this week.

One of the best things to do right now is to review the idea of PEWCAM and the rhetorical situation in preparation for your first project. You'll need to select a text that is rich enough to undergo analysis, consider speeches and significant photographs as a place to start. We'll start into our first real unit of the year next class looking at some important American writers and their ideas about what America is to them. Enjoy the evening!

1 June

English 10

Pretty simple day today to end our unit on Persepolis. We took our time to finish writing our stories and to complete any final tasks left from our study of Persepolis. Keep in mind that no work for this unit will be scored if it's turned in after Friday.

If everything is complete, then it's time to move on to the portfolios. The Global Portfolio is pretty simple. I'd do that first. The Skills Portfolio is a bit of a beast. Review the instructions and start to look for artifacts. I'll be in the room with you more next week to help you put that together.

Have a great weekend! I'm looking forward to finishing my training and getting into my new job. I'm also looking forward to reading your comics when I get my breaks.

11 April - Grey Day Returns

English 10

Welcome back y'all. It's time for the back half of the year. It's a quick push to the end, but I'm sure we'll finish strongly and with style. Today's class was a class for us as we needed it to be. We were able to revise or complete assignments and complete grades to see where we stand at the end of the year. If you have anything left to resubmit or complete, be sure that it is in by Thursday so that I can finalize grades on Friday.

On Thursday we'll be starting our last content based unit of the year. We're studying literature and culture from the Middle East. I'm excited for this unit and the chances that we'll have to tell our own stories to end our year together.

31 March - Happy Spring Break!

English 10

Timed Writing Day! Timed Writing Day! 

Today was an easy way to end the quarter and our unit on Latin America as we completed our Latin American Letter. We completed our mini-research project and wrote a letter to a leader in Latin America about a problem facing their country. I hope that you appreciated this chance to learn a bit more and explore issues in our world. I'll be reading and reviewing your work after I return from my trip, so you'll come back to updated scores, and we'll finalize grades for the quarter.

There is, of course, no work over the break. If you are missing work and want to get caught up, please do so. Membean and NoRedInk are open for practice. I'd suggest doing what I like to do, read a good book :) I have plenty of suggestions.

I'll look forward to seeing you when I'm back from South Korea and sharing stories. Our last unit of the year will be on The Middle East. Get ready to finish in style and with strength!

30 March - End of the Unit

AP Language

Great final working day for Quarter 3. Remember that we will be returning to class after Spring Break to our double timed writing - you'll be writing on Question 2 and 3 followed by the MCQ. This is a total reset on your grades for the beginning of the Fourth Quarter - so be prepared in the best way that you can.

If you would like to/need to submit a revision of your Annotated Bibliography, please do so. I'll accept these until April 13 to be reviewed. Submit your assignment that's due before you begin your break, you won't have time after we return.

I'm very excited to take you all into the end of the course, let's finish with style!

AP Research

Today was a fantastic day to end the unit in AP Research since we're doing another round of peer review. We've got access to revision guides, sample papers, each other, the rubric, and earlier lessons so that we can put together an accurate and high scoring representation of our work this year. 

The final reflection questions have been posted. These are due on April 13 to Schoology to end the quarter. You will have nothing but time to work, revise, and prepare for presentations when we return. Note, there are just two classes before we begin PODs on April 17. Work hard, be ready. Remember, we're basically done by May 1.

29 March - It's Wednesday!

English 10

Easy day for the middle of the week in English 10 today. We took time to review our previous work on writing, set a goal for this last writing assignment of the quarter, read a letter by a great American woman, and then took our vocabulary test for the end of the quarter. 

Next class we'll be writing our final letter for the third quarter. Remember that you'll get the better of the two grades, so improvement or maintaining mastery is the goal. You'll be able to use your research, your planning, and other resources that you've acquired from class. That will take us to Spring Break! When we return, we'll start in on our last unit of the year - the Middle East!

Monday and Tuesday - 28 and 29 March

Sorry for the oversight with the post yesterday, the meeting we had after school took the wind out of my sails.

English 10

Today was the beginning of our final assessment week for Latin America. This week we're focused on writing a letter to a Latin American leader that presents our argument about a problem or issue in their country. I loved the seriousness that I saw today. We were engaged in the task and working hard. Keep that up and we'll have a great last week before break.

Next class we'll look at an example letter to prepare for our writing workshop. We'll also have a Membean vocabulary test next class - so be sure to prepare a bit for that. Friday is the day we'll write our letter. I'll grade them after I get back from my trip and we'll have the time when we return to complete any revisions that we need to raise our grades.

AP Language

Timed Writing Day! Timed Writing Day!

Today we went through the process of writing our synthesis essays. I am looking forward to reading and scoring your responses. If you were absent, be sure to schedule a make-up session. I can see you Wednesday or Thursday after school or we can do it after Spring Break at the very latest.

All scores have been entered for the Annotated Bibliography. If you would like to resubmit the assignment, please do so. Resubmissions will be accepted until the 13th of April. There are comments to guide you in the process of revising. If you are missing this assignment, it will still be accepted.

Next class we're focused on Jargon/Vocabulary. The goal will be to submit that assignment to cap off this unit. I'll have your work scored to guide any resubmissions when we return from break. See you for the last class!

AP Research

Great work today as we watched our final POD to prepare for our examination season to begin. This final POD is a great example of a rule of thumb I like to follow, "The more complext the topic, the simpler the slides." Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Most all of you can build the slides you saw today, so you should.

Next class we will have our next round of Peer Review. You should have four sections of your paper read to be shared with a classmate. Be sure that you've done your revisions to update your existing sections. Check for alignment!

Be sure that Spring Break pushes you forward. I hope you'll find time to relax, but if you're finding a need to use that time, please do so. PODs BEGIN ON APRIL 17.