10 April - Off to Spring Break!

English 11

Simple day today in English 11 as we did some business for FCPS and a bit of preparation for our Reading SOL. Today we took the final round of our MAP Literacy Test. This is mostly a reading comprehension and vocabulary assessment. The information from this test helps me to prepare you for the upcoming Reading SOL by letting me know what I need to teach and review in these final classes. If you didn't finish the test today, or if you were absent, please plan to come to Lion Time on April 21. This is a very important test to finish!

After finishing the test there were chances to complete vocabulary work, enjoy your plays, or work on your SOL Reading Bank. I tried to have a quick check in with each of you as you finished your test today as well. If we didn't get a chance to meet and talk, we'll do that after break. You can always come to Lion Time for a conference too!

I hope that you all have a great break! I'm going to be in North Carolina for Passover with my family on Saturday and then we go to Florida on Monday for a few days. I'm excited to be at the beach with a book - that's for sure! I can't wait to see you when we get back for the final push to summer!

4 April - End of the Week

English 11

Great end to the week today in English 11 - the only bad thing was that we were missing so many of you! If you're away, I hope that today's post, the recording, and the resources posted help keep you caught up. We started the day by working through our SOL Reading Review Bank. I went through Joy Harjo's poem "Anchorage" and was able to find several devices. You can feel free to use what I did. Remember that as you're reading and studying throughout the rest of this unit, the goal is to collect your devices. This is how you study for our SOL since most of the questions will focus on devices, topics, and themes.

After that, we got into our choice plays. It is my hope that you finish your play by the time we go out on Spring Break. We did a creative activity for a grade where we created the cover of the Playbill for this play. I was happy to see your Reading Interpretation skills take a new form. From there, we went into a rich conversation about our various plays. It was great hearing the connections that you were building about struggle, overcoming adversity, and the American Dream. We'll continue these conversations as we keep reading.

For the weekend, focus on reading your plays! Keep processing them using your SOL Reading Review Bank. Don't forget that we'll have a vocabulary assessment on Tuesday - so study up! Next week is the last week before Spring Break!

1 April - Welcome Back, No Foolin!

AP Language

Welcome back, everyone! I hope that you found some time over the break to rest, recuperate, and relax. The trip to Mexico was a blast. I think my top highlight was seeing whales in the ocean each morning while I was having breakfast. The breakfast was pretty tasty too with all sorts of tropical fruits, juices, and Mexican flavors and products - like cactus (yum, nopales!)

If you have finished with your copy of Invisible Man, please have it ready to return. I'd like to get all the books processed. If you see a stray Gatsby around, be sure to bring him back to me too. If you have any work left to submit, now is the final time to do so. I am still missing a few annotated bibliographies in both classes. Be aware that failure to submit this major reading assignment will negatively affect your grade for the third quarter and could drop you as low as a D. My grades will be finalized and submitted at 3:00 on Tuesday, April 2. If you would like your work scored and reported on this report card, your deadline is clear.

Next class we'll be taking time to understand this final major unit of the year and take time to understand and complete our presentations of research. I'm excited to see you all very soon!

18 March - Sorry for the Delay

AP Language

I guess that FCPS updated the filtering software, so Blogger is blocked again at school. Here's yesterday's update. 

Good day in AP Language as we worked on reading skills and demonstrated those reading skills through a quick MCQ Progress Check. If you did not have time to finish, be sure to submit before the end of the day today when the assessment will lock at 9:00 PM. Everything not submitted will automatically submit at that time.

We had a great discussion today in class around TIM and his quest for identity. It was great to see the way that TIM is finally figuring out the way in which identity can, and should, be fluid. In fluidity there is power. There have been so many characters up to this point who have done this, TIM just didn't see it very clearly. Take this forward with you into Chapter 24. Read and annotate this important chapter to see the way in which TIM starts to act on his newfound knowledge and attempt to destroy the Brotherhood. It's a great conclusion, I hope you enjoy. 

Other significant tasks include submitting any missing essays, writing your Annotated Bibliographies for your sources, and beginning to plan your paper/presentation. Consider what your argument is and then begin to outline that - How will you put sources in conversation to convey your argument? Remember that you have to use three sources in your final "paper" (whatever form that paper takes).

Enjoy the afternoon and the last week of the quarter. I know it's a tough week - but Spring Break is on the horizon! 

14 March - Pi Day and Writing Day!

AP Language and Composition

Really solid day in AP Language today to end our week together. We listened to a great piece of late 1980's hip hop, explored some key passages in Invisible Man, and ended our day with writing. A full and productive day. I'm looking forward to reading and scoring your essays. Be sure that they are all submitted today. Take the extra time (about 10 minutes or so) to read, revise, and finish your arguments. I'll hopefully have feedback for you the next time that I see you, definitely before Spring Break.

Next class we'll be looking at Chapter 23. This is where we get to see the new TIM in action. Watch how he's changed and continuing to change as he moves into the world. He's finally understanding and seeing the world in a more authentic way - it's what we've been waiting for. I completely understand that you may be behind in your reading tasks. Complete your discussion boards as you can. Remember that you should be actively working on your research right now to prepare for presentations after Spring Break.

 

As always, let me know what I can do to help and assist. We have three Lion Times next week available for help with reading, researching, or writing. Have a great weekend!

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!

21 March - Tuesday Takes On

English 10

A solid start to the week in English 10. We did a lot of review of conflicts and their power to create meaning in stories. Remember that the way that conflicts are resolved - asking who wins and who loses and why - is important to determine theme. We also did a lot of thinking around reviewing all possible answers to find the strongest possible interpretation. 

At the end of class we took some choice time for ourselves and then looked at our final project - the Latin American Letter. For this assignment you're doing another run of your letter assignment. Remember, you keep the higher grade in each category. We'll start working on this project in earnest next week. You should be able to finish it next week during our workshops.

Remember that the quarter ends the week after Spring Break. I will accept any missing work to be scored, please submit any missing assignments.

30 and 31 March

We made it to the end of the quarter! Yay! Enjoy your break! I'll be finding myself with some good books and my feet in the sand and hopefully some WARMTH!!!

AP Language

Good end to the quarter today, everyone! We did a lot of work to reflect on MCQs and strategies as we broke down and worked through our first full-length MCQ work. The session is recorded below. We applied our strategies and skills for our first Matchbox MCQ - and I was happy to see the results!

From there, we took time with our novel groups. Remember that each time you meet with a group you should use the document to record your conversation. These will be key as you read and work through the novel. They'll also serve as a record of your participation, so be sure to keep up with the document. 

All work is due to me by Friday morning to be scored. Be sure to turn in your rubric if you're resubmitting your paper - and no, I won't take a photo of it. If you would like to complete the linked reflection below to improve an MCQ score from this quarter, feel free to do so. The form will lock on Friday morning.

English 10

Good times today working through Luisa Valenzuela and "The Censors". Itr's a pretty short and fantastic story about how quickly a person can be changed by their devotion to a task. A good example of irony, foreshadowing, and suspense at play. I hope you enjoyed it. We only have one story left in the unit, and we'll read that after Spring Break. 

Today I handed out your final project instructions. We'll work on that in earnest after we return. Remember that you'll have a final test AND a final project in this unit. Review the options and select one of the options there. If you have any missing assignments from the quarter, be sure that it's in by Friday morning. I will not accept any work to be scored beyond this.  

Enjoy your break! It is definitely well-earned!

24 and 25 March

Just one week to go in the quarter before we hit Spring Break! Remember that any work to be scored must be in by the end of the day on March 31 so that I can close my gradebook on April 1.

AP Language

After today's class, be sure that you have completed these goals by the end of the weekend. I'm looking forward to taking you into next class because of the piece that we'll be working through.

1. Complete your book form. Finish your shopping. If you check out a book, be sure to record your book title and number on the roster which the substitute has. Divide your book into five chunks and start to complete your reading.

2. Do you have any missing work? Do you want to work on your rewrite of your research paper? Remember everything needs to be in by March 31st. 

3. Next class we're discussing Brent Staples's article called "Just Walk on By - Black Men and the Public Space". I've posted it for you in Schoology. Read and annotate. Be ready for our final seminar of the quarter.

English 10

During class you have one major thing to complete and that is your NoRedInk End of Year Assessment. Follow the link and open the assignment on NoRedInk. It's for completion, so answer all the questions. You can only skip five times and still get an A.

When that's done, if you have missing work, you should focus on that. If your work is all done in the gradebook, then you should complete the Poem Hunt assignment. We will have time for this next week, so making up missing work would be the more important goal.

End of the Quarter - Off to Spring Break

Have a wonderful Spring Break, everyone! If you celebrate Passover or Easter, enjoy your holiday and time for good food and reflection on the holiday. I look forward to seeing you all when we return for our final push to the end of the year. Remember that if you have any work to turn in, today is the day! I'll have all grading finished tomorrow to close out the quarter.

AP Language

If you would like to continue reading Invisible Man over the break, please do so. You can also feel free to take this time to completely rest and recharge. Read something else, enjoy a movie, reflect on the class so far. When we return we'll take a look at that self-reflection assignment and return to TIM. 

English 10

Keep reading in Ivan Denisovich if you'd like. Once you get into the novel, it moves pretty quickly. There are also plenty of shows about Russia or Russian prisons that you can watch and check out on many different platforms. When we return from break we'll take time with some of our other authors to see a few other perspectives before returning to the camp.

AP Research

It's all about finishing the paper right now for us in this unit of the class. When we return from break we'll have another round of Peer Review for the majority of the paper. Take time to write and analyze data over the break if you need to, but remember that we will have class time for this when we return as well. Our final unit of the year will be all about preparing for the POD and submission of our work. I'm excited to bring you to the end of the line.

March 18 - Update - DPS Announcement

Dear Students,

I hope that you all are doing well during this time. I know that my own anxieties have been activated over the last few days, but I'm doing what I can in order to mitigate those worries and keep myself and others safe and healthy. I've been reading outside, doing some work to set up these next few weeks for us, and spending time with Zoe.

Durham Public Schools has given us further guidance about what instruction will look like during this time. We teachers are not permitted to give grades for assignments given or collected during this time. This is a time for us to focus on reviewing the information and skills we have already learned. For this reason I am suspending the assignments already given to you all. All of the work that was to be collected to close out the third quarter will be collected at a later date. I would suggest that you finish these assignments quickly (if you can) so that you can submit them to be scored at a later date.

Beginning on Monday I will start to post lessons/activities/materials in our various Google Classroom pages. I will also post a schedule of my availability via phone, Google Hangout, and Zoom conference for those of you who need to ask questions or would like to review the activities with me. I will give you feedback for whatever you submit, but no grades will be given during this time.

If you have assignments from earlier in the quarter that you would like to resubmit, please wait until we have further guidance about grades during this quarter. I will collect any work, but I will not be able to issue grades until I have further feedback about this situation.

As always, please reach out if you need something. I'll do what I can!

DM

Breakwork - B Day Students - 22 March 2019

And now we have all made it. I'll have all the grades updated and finalized before I go with the exception of any AP Seminar students who need to do elevator pitches after break since we didn't have time today in class.

AP Seminar

Over break you should all be actively working on your IWA and IMPOD presentations. It is important that you return to school with a good working rough draft. I would use the IWA checklist as you are going through this process to make sure that your work aligns with the task. Also be sure to use your rubric and all of the discussion we have had around the rubric to help you with this.

Remember that presentations will occur about two weeks after we return to school and all IMPOD presentations will be due on the first day of presentations.

Advanced Russian

Over the break we should all be focused on resting, recovering, and spending time with vocabulary and grammar skills. Break gives you a great chance to work on things at your own pace. I would recommend spending time with your projects - Russian III students should have the project on recipes and cooking over the break. Russian II students should put together a solid draft of the project so that we can focus on corrections.

The other work is to study and review the process of forming the Genitive Plural. Go to Google Classroom and find Exercise 7.7 and complete the declensions!

Russian I

Today in class we finished our culture work related to vocabulary, culture, and finishing our grades for Quarter 3. Once you left class, all of the work was turned in. The grading period is now over.

Over break I would suggest following up on your vocabulary as well as on your grammar skills. We'll have the Unit 2 Exam not too long after we return from break. Probably the second week. It'll cover cases with nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and the skills on verb conjugation too. I'll have a study guide for you when we return from break for what you'll need to study.

Homework for Spring Break - A Day - 21 March 2019

We made it everyone! Break is upon us! Here are your reminders for what to accomplish over the break. Enjoy yourselves! Get a lot of rest and come back ready for the final push!

AP English III

Over the Spring Break we have reading and writing to accomplish. The reading is in The Grapes of Wrath and will take you through to the end of Chapter Sixteen. As you read you'll be going through the journey to California. Watch the characters. Use your motif charts. Those of you with chapter presentations in this section, be prepared for these - they'll fall on Wednesday after we return. As I said in class - there will be a quiz on this section of the reading. Don't be fooled.

On Monday when we return there will be papers due. Remember that your final draft should be that. You'll have one chance to resubmit it after it is scored. It should be printed, and submitted with a cover sheet and rubric. Submit your final draft with your process pieces - the rubrics - in your envelope on Monday.

English IV

Today in class we took our vocabulary quiz, had some time to do some poetry test corrections and then it was time to head to Room 401 to work on our applications with Mr. Clark. I know that some of us got a bit of bad news today, but remember that there are still a ton of options for you. Life is all about what you make it - so keep striving even if you can't get exactly what you want.

Over break I would suggest spending time relaxing and reading. Remember that when we return we have several weeks left before we begin to prepare for our exams! Be ready for a strong finish!

Homework for Spring Break - B Day Students - 28 March 2018

Happy Break B-Day Students! I look forward to seeing you all when we return. I hope that you have a bit of fun planned for yourselves as well as time with people who are important to you. I'll get to spend a few days with my very best friend in the world, and I'm really excited for that!

English IV

As a reminder, I'll be grading your introduction and body paragraphs this weekend in your Frankenstein adaptation essay. Make sure that as you are working that you first address the feedback that I gave you with your introduction. Then, once you've done that, move on to your first body paragraph.

I gave you those example paragraphs to use as a model for yourselves, but you also have the other planning sheets that you can use to help you move forward with your essays.

AP English III

Over the break you have two significant tasks. First, finish reading "The Allegory of the Cave" from 50 Essays or at this link. As you finish the dialogue, make sure that you consider the questions below.

1. Where do ideas come from? What makes some ideas better than others?
2. How is the creation and acquisition of knowledge connected to power?
3. How has Ellison been building connections back to Plato throughout his text?

Once you've finished with that, you have Chapters 20-24 to read over the break. As I said in class, the quiz that you have can reference everything back to Chapter 10. It would be a good idea to go through and check in on your annotations through those chapters to make sure that your book is an appropriate tool to help you be successful on the quiz when we return.

Lastly, if you did not turn in your paper or vocabulary cards today then you will want to get them turned in tomorrow!

Homework for B-Day Students: 26 March 2018

English IV

Today we began our quarter with our unit test on Frankenstein. I'll have these graded and returned to you when we return from Spring Break. I hope that you all felt well prepared and successful. Tonight it would be a good idea to make sure that you have started on your adaptation essay. If you haven't yet shared a document with me that includes your introduction work, make sure that you do.

Next class we'll be looking at some sample work as well as working in the computer lab to continue our essay development.

AP English III

Lots of good work today around symbols and their meanings. I enjoyed hearing a lot of connections back to the ideas of necropolitics and control through the text. Make sure that the symbols we discussed find their way to your cover annotations.

For tonight you have your research papers as your main focus. We went over in class the various documents that will go with your envelope and how to account for any documents that are missing. Additionally, we reviewed formatting. See these documents (3B) and (4B) for examples of perfect MLA formatting. Everything for your papers is due to me on Wednesday. Any paper collected after 4:15 PM on Wednesday will be considered late.

Over Break you have the reading of Invisible Man - Chapters 20 through 24. Lots of major events happen in these chapters including a lot of big events to Tod Clifton. Notice them and how they affect  and finally change TIM. Expect a quiz and an annotation check when we return from break.

Finally, next class we'll be working through an essay by Plato - the Greek philosopher. We'll be reading it aloud in class, so, prepare by doing some light research about him. What did he study? What did he do? Why are we still reading and talking about him?

Spring Break Begins Today

AP English III:

Good work on the mural project today everyone. For those of you on the band trip or who opted to complete the individual project, then know that your work is due on the Tuesday that we return. It is also worth noting that on Tuesday we will have the final assessment on Invisible Man. I will collect and check your text annotations as well as give you the in-class essay. Remember that you have the five options for the essay - it will be one of these five. Prepare for all of them and try to find the commonalities between the prompts.

We will begin our unit on the US Constitution as well after Spring Break. Enjoy your holiday.

For any of you who have not yet submitted research papers I will remind you that time is ticking away. I'll be handing back papers on Tuesday and you'll only have one resubmission available. It's imperative that you turn in your work ASAP.

English II:

No work for you to complete over the break. Try meditation and mindfulness out for a test drive while you're on break. It's a great way to deal with any stress.

Homework for Russian Classes - A Day - 6 April

What an exciting A Day to take us in to Spring Break. Keep in mind that I won't see you again until after break. English II Students - I didn't have you today, so we'll have our class planned for today when we return from Spring Break.

Russian Students:

You have a great vocabulary resource in your hands - the most common 205 words in the Russian language. Focus on studying and learning these words. Don't worry about ones that look too difficult, but the more common ones should be something that you recognize.

Russian I:

Additionally, please read the text I gave you today in class and answer the questions on the back. This is a great text for you to recognize plurals.

Russian II:

Over break, please write the rough draft for your Russian city weather report - you can put this in Google Classroom with your other work. Additionally, make sure that you are practicing your plural declensions in all cases (maybe with the exception of genitive).

Russian III/IV:

We've got participles. Complete the worksheet where you turn the participial phrase into a который clause and also the translation of the short form participles.

Russian IV:

Finish reading White Nights over break. This will allow us to quickly finish our work on it when we return.

Homework for B-Day Students: 5 April 2017

Friday is our last class before Spring Break! Huzzah!!!!

AP English III:

On Friday you'll have your mural construction and presentation day. On this day you'll have forty-five minutes to work as a group to construct your mural and then we will go around and you will explain your mural to the class in a gallery walk. Each member of the group should be able to own the explanation of one aspect of the mural.

I would recommend bringing your quotes and images with you so that these are ready to go. Your group should use your blog as well as your motif chart to bring this together.

For those of you who won't be here on Friday due to trips - I have an individual version of this assignment for you to complete.

Remember that when we return from break we will have our final exam on Invisible Man - this will consist of your timed-writing on Invisible Man (the prompts were given to you today) as well as a final annotation check. Be sure that you use the break to reread, reannotate, and prepare for this test.

English II:

Now that we have begun our study of Asian culture it's important that you stay focused on learning and studying your vocabulary words. Be sure that you are reviewing them daily. Next class we will start in on our study of Japanese culture through the Zen Parables.

B Day Homework for Break

AP English III

Over break there are a few things that you're going to want to settle.  They revolve around either Invisible Man or your research papers - so let's deal with those things below.

Invisible Man work:  Over break you will be expected to read and annotate Chapters 23-25.  Your blogging group should complete an analysis post of these chapters.  Your group should also complete a synthesis post which reviews your motifs from Chapter 16 to the end of Chapter 25.  Lastly, you will want to complete a thesis post which will state the thesis that your mural will be exploring around your motifs.  The posts should all be done separately.  You should have all of the postings complete by Tuesday, April 5th.

Your research papers are due on Monday, April 4th.  In your research paper portfolio you will want to submit:

• your research topic sheet
• your outline with my feedback
• your rough draft from conference
• your final draft with completed cover sheet and rubric

With that, I hope you all have a wonderful break and if you're traveling with us to Europe I can't want to see you in London!

English II

There is not any real work for you all to do over break with the exception of your extra credit project.  Take this time to get started on your reading and to complete the journaling work for the project.  Some of you may finish your projects over break in which case you may want to try to get a second novel read for an even larger chance at extra credit.

Spring Break Work - A Day Students

You've made it.  Today was our last A Day before break!

Russian I

We have our unit exam when we return from break which will cover the grammar from unit two and from unit one since these two units are so closely related.  You should be focusing on your tables from unit two.  Make sure that you're focusing on tables one through six.  From the case functions all the way through the words "this" and "that".  Remember that many of your endings are the same.  Focus on the similarities.

Spend your time over break learning and reviewing vocabulary and verbs from these units.

Don't forget your exercises in your textbook and the practice available online.  These links are located in the previous post for Russian.

Russian II/III

We will be having a quiz on the most recent grammar once we return from break.  II's - Your quiz will focus on dative case uses and weather vocabulary.  Stay focused here.  Be working on your projects based on the feedback you received today in our writing workshop.  III's - Hopefully you've received enough practice with short and long-form adjectives that you are clear on their use.  Keep studying your vocabulary and the grammar concepts we have focused on in this unit.  You may also want to review long-form adjectives in cases; that grammar is an important related topic.

English II

We will finish The Stranger when we return from break.  If you have any late work to turn in, make sure that it gets turned in tomorrow no later than 2:40 so that I can finalize my grades.  You have no work to complete over break, but you might want to get started on your extra credit project for the last quarter.