15 May - Kicking off the Week

English 10

We had a strange day today with the Biology SOL and the long second period, so we watched a movie. I hope that you enjoyed watching Persepolis. I really love watching this film and seeing the way in which the comic book is turned into an animated film. You'll be writing a review of the film soon, so I hope that you were able to develop a strong opinion and find evidence to support that opinion.

Next class we'll return to the book. We've got a few chapters left to read and study, and then we'll finish up with our major project - our own comic book. Looking forward to next time!

AP Language

Today was the day for the Style Writing reassessment of skill. To complete this, we wrote two letters - one to me and one to Trevor Packer (mister bigshot at College Board). You reflected on your experience with the exam, with class, and gave me some words of wisdom. This is always one of my most favorite assignments to read. You should see the scores change in SIS throughout the week as I review your letters.

Remember that this week is the end of the Choice Board and Quarter 4. We'll be starting our Bridge Assignment on Friday, and that's technically a final examination task. Be sure that you have completed all items and have had your conferences. If you need additional time, please reach out. I'll be sending progress reports next week as a summation of the course.

The End of Quarter Two/Semester One

We've made it to the close of the quarter and semester. It's been a challenge, and if you're like me, it continues to be a challenge based on the day. As we move to the end of the quarter, please let me know what I can do to support you.

English 10

Next class will be the final class of the quarter, and we'll take that time to complete our in-class SOL essays. The prompt and planning packet is posted for you in Google Classroom. I also updated this with two links for possible evidence. This type of prompt is difficult to think of evidence - it's a bit more abstract. I highly recommend trying to use personal examples but also something from a celebrity or psychology to help you.

The main focus for today is completing the Media Review. Use the outline document to put together your four paragraphs. Remember to focus on either the book or the movie. If you're writing on the movie, then be sure to reference your viewing guide for your notes and brainstorming.

Any and all assignments submitted this week will be scored for this quarter. It's our final push to the end, and then we begin next quarter with a bit more of a relaxed pace.

AP Language 

Today was our Bonus Day for researching and working from step one to step two in our research paper process. Our job right now is to use databases and other scholarly search tools to locate sources which will help us to flesh out our topics, build the body of our essay, and support our argument. Keep in mind that as you research, you'll likely find information which causes you to adjust your topics or argument - good! That's the point of research.

As a secondary source, I'd recommend using Google Scholar. It's a bit more open source, so be careful with what you find. When working with scholarly papers, review the abstract to see if the content of the study will be useful for you.

On Thursday/Friday we'll begin in earnest to create our outlines. If you'd like to have some index cards, I'll be going over a model of researching that may be helpful for you.

13 January - Wednesday - Grey Day

English Students - Be sure that you are actively moving through your goals and assignments here at the end of the quarter. 

AP Language - Note that all of your assignments have been assigned/posted. No more grades will be done for the second quarter, but we will open quarter three with several major tasks related to developing research papers. 

English 10 - Be aware that we have two writing assignments in the next few classes. This will provide a fair amount of points and affect standing at the end of the quarter. Be sure that you are working to complete these important tasks in the class time given.

AP Research

We are quickly approaching the time of the year where most of the work is up to you to work through and complete. It's now time to move forward into recruiting and working with participants or just simply finding data for your further analysis in reaching your research goal. Be sure that you have a list of tasks and to do's as well as a calendar to help you move through these next weeks. Also remember that you have a lot of support in this classroom and building for your work. Reach out to resources as you need to so that you are able to problem solve as you keep moving forward.

Use your PREP regularly to document your process, collect your work, and continue to reflect. Remember that you will have a new reflection question posted every Friday on Google Classroom.

Homework for B-Day Students - 15 December 2015

AP English III

For homework tonight you have three stories by Ernest Hemingway to read and annotate.  Make sure that you've read and considered "Hills Like White Elephants", "The Killers", and "Old Man at the Bridge".  Hemingway is known for his plain style, but don't be fooled - there's a lot going on beneath the surface.  Spend your time looking at his choices as a writer and considering their meaning.

You should also get yourself a copy of The Great Gatsby - you'll be reading this over break.

Lastly, make sure that you have completed the peer editing requirement for your literary analysis paper.  If you are unsure about this requirement see Ms. Ginocchio or contact her directly.

English II

For all of you on Thursday we will collect the final drafts of your movie reviews.  For these you will need to use your writing envelope to submit your documents.  You will need to turn in:

• the viewing guide for Persepolis
• the rough draft
• the feedback chart from editing 
• the final draft

If you were absent on draft workshop day you should see me, Ms. Ginocchio, or a peer for essay feedback.  You will then be exempt from the feedback chart.  Many thanks to those students who have already given me a draft to read.  

Lastly, some of you are still missing other major work or projects.  Get these things settled.

Homework for A Day Students - 14 December 2015

English II

For tonight you need to get your draft packets together for your movie reviews.  Remember that in your packet you need to have the following items:

• your viewing guide to Persepolis
• your rough draft
• your notes from peer editing
• your final draft

Make sure that your packet is complete so that you can get all of your possible points.  Your movie reviews will be test grades, so make sure that they're reflective of the work you've done this quarter.

Russian II/III

You have second drafts of your writing due for me on Wednesday.  Make sure that you've corrected your mistakes and that you've really focused on your spelling.  You need to make sure that you will have your verb analysis due for me on Friday.  Remember for the verb analysis you will need to tell me about the aspect, the tense, and the choice of aspect for the particular situation.  

We'll meet in small groups/partners to go over these pieces on Wednesday.

Lastly, don't forget your exercises (III) or your reading analysis (II).

Russian I

Tonight you need to add two sentences to your family writing.  Tell me what a member of your family has and what they do not have.  Remember the following information should be in your paragraphs:

• the name of the person, their relationship to you
• where the person lives
• what the person does as a hobby/activity
• possessions and lack of possessions

Here is an example of what you can make - 

Это моя мама.  Ее зовут Патриция.  Она живет на Аляске.  Она смотрит телевизор.  У мамы есть кошка.  У Патриции нет друга.

Homework for B-Day Students - 9 December 2015

English II

For homework tonight you should be able to complete the rough draft of your movie review assignments.  Keep in mind the four paragraph layout and the use of your viewing guides to help you write your reviews.  Remember that your thesis will be found in question six and your analysis of the device in the film will be seen in questions three and four.  Bring your review to class with you on Friday so that we can have our editing workshop for these.

AP English III

Excellent work today with your literary criticism work; I hope that you enjoyed reading and evaluating these different pieces.  For tonight, you should be focused on finishing your rough drafts.  If you're still having issues in the development of your topics then please try to see Ms. Ginocchio tomorrow to work through these questions.  Remember that you must have a hard copy of your writing for Friday.

Homework for A Day Students - 8 December 2015

English II

Your main goal for tonight is to finish your rough draft for your movie reviews of Persepolis.  Remember that you need to have all four paragraphs (introduction, plot summary, analysis, and conclusion).  Use your viewing guides to help you especially with the analysis work - you'll need your viewing guides for those ideas and to fill in the paragraphs.

Make sure that you have your rough draft in class on Thursday - we'll work through the drafts and work to make them stronger.  Your final drafts and viewing guides are due on Wednesday of next week!  Don't forget, you have a grammar quiz on Monday!

Russian I

You have a quiz on cases next class.  Make sure that you are studying your chapter one vocabulary - the nouns - and that you know your declension patterns as well as your declensions for Nominative case, Accusative case, and Prepositional case.

Outside of this, you will want to know your vocabulary around greetings, introductions, and farewells.  Lastly, make sure you know your pronouns.

Russian II/III

All of you have your final first drafts of your writing assignments due at the beginning of class on Thursday.  Make sure that you can meet this deadline.  There will also be our quizzes on Thursday - here are your studying goals:

• Russian II - know your aspectual pairs and the meaning of each of the aspects; know your types of verbal action (there are five), know your conjugation patterns and be able to identify tenses.
• Russian III - know the types of imperatives and how to form each type - hopefully the practice today helped; know the difference in tone with imperatives between aspects; know your conjugations.

See you all on Thursday, then we're just one week away from break!

Homework for the Weekend - A Day Students - 4 December

Russian II/III

You have writing assignments to complete this weekend.  For the level threes it's your dialogues - remember to have all five modal expressions as well as different forms of imperatives.  I'll collect these from you on Tuesday for a completion grade and to give you feedback on your writing.  For the level twos it's your aspect situations.  Remember that all I need is the writing; don't worry about the images as we'll do those later on.  The writing is the more important part.

Also, don't forget to translate the chorus of our song!  Focus on aspect and the tone created through the use of aspect.

Russian I

You should be able to finish page one and two of our review packet now - make sure that these are done for Tuesday's class so that we can finish with page three.  Also, we went through the family writing - make sure that this is complete for all of your family members.  You're writing about four people and yourself.  We're building these paragraphs each time we learn a case, so it's important to hang on to all your drafts.

Make sure that you're ready for the quiz on Thursday - it'll cover chapter one vocabulary and our three cases - nominative, accusative, prepositional.

English II

On Tuesday you'll have your quiz on Persepolis and vocabulary.  Study your reading guides and the vocabulary words that we've reviewed in class.  Today we finished watching the film and began writing our movie reviews - these drafts are due on Thursday.  Remember that it's a four paragraph assignment.  Follow the outline I gave you in class and use your viewing guide to help you with the writing of the assignment.  If you need help, please come and see me.

Homework for March 28th and 29th

We're drawing ever closer to Spring Break!  I don't know about all of you, but I'm certainly excited about sleeping in and enjoying a week off.  As we move that direction, remember to stay focused on your tasks.

AP English III:

You all got a big thing off of your plates today - your research papers.  As a reminder, those of you who did not submit papers today are losing points for the assignment being late.  Do your best to get the assignment turned in to me ASAP.  Don't let this get you off to a bad start for our last quarter.

In terms of homework for tonight, I'd like for you to read chapter twenty five - the last "chapter" of Invisible Man.  There is an Epilogue at the very end, but we'll read that together in class.  Next class we'll be preparing for our final exam on Invisible Man - a timed writing of a different sort.  The final exam will be on April 3rd and 4th. 

Lastly, I would like for all of you to review the instructions that I gave you on the final motif project.  We'll review this assignment much more thoroughly on Friday/Monday as well as select the motifs that you will all study.  May the odds be ever in your favor...

English I:

Tonight's homework requires that you complete the rough draft of your review of Romeo + Juliet.  The instructions sheet clearly outlines what you need to have in each area of your movie review and how to construct those elements.  This should be a three paragraph assignment.  Please follow the structure rules specifically, especially the word count.  Bring your rough draft with you to class on Friday/Monday for a completion grade.  Walk in with a complete draft and you will begin the quarter with a 100 homework grade.  Again, get off to a good start.  The final drafts of this assignment will not be due until after Spring Break.