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!

8 April - Terrific Tuesday

English 11

You all were crushing it today in English 11. We started off by discussing author's purpose and brainstorming some of the reasons why an author would choose to keep key details like characters and settings ambiguous instead of specific. This took us into our study of John Dos Passos's U.S.A. We studied the "Prelude" to his larger novel to understand the role of the main character as a symbol for the blue collar American worker. We also discussed the stylistics in the text like listing, lower case letters, and shifts that made meaning clear.

From there, we focused on our SOL Reading Bank and processed the text. Today's text, as an allegory or short story, provided us a lot of conflict, symbolism, and character. We also were able to identify irony and tragedy as this text dealt with the tragedy of American capitalism. As you keep reading your plays, I hope that you'll take some time to process them with this tool.

We ended the day with vocabulary. The assignments will stay open for the rest of the week. If you did not finish your vocabulary assessment in class, please make that a priority. Next class we're going to take the time to complete our FCPS Reading Test. This will help me to prepare us for the Reading SOL since it tests your reading ability. Be sure to have your FCPS laptop to take the test. If you finish the test before the end of class, then you'll have time to finish any other assignments. 

21 March - End of the Week/Quarter

English 11

A simple day in English 11 as we took our Poetry Unit Exam today. In the examination I gave you a poem and asked several questions about literary devices to include the themes of the poem. I'll be returning your work to you soon. This weekend is a great weekend to submit your major assignments. Tuesday is the last day for us to do this work. Many of you were absent today, so I would recommend coming to Lion Time on Tuesday to make up the work you need to do. 

I'll have progress reports ready for you on Tuesday. This will give you the chance to take care of any missing assignments or retakes on Tuesday. Reach out with any questions. I'll be working this weekend, so I'll respond fast. Have a great weekend, and, as always, Go Tarheels!

19 March - Another Wacky Wednesday

English 11

A great day in English 11 as we started our conclusion with poetry and with our third quarter tasks. We did a quick grammar review at the beginning of class - mostly focused on commas and sentence structure - before going into our review for our poetry exam on Friday. 

The most important thing to focus on learning before Friday are the literary devices. Reviewing our slides and our recordings will help with this. I would also recommend reviewing your theme checklist. Remember that theme is the message or whole statement about the topic. What does the author want the audience to know about the topic? What is the author's opinion on the topic? My best advice to prepare is to review your devices from our unit, read more poetry, and consider the topics and messages. 

The end of class was all about our final tasks - presentations and book projects. I'm glad that each day more and more final tasks are submitted for me to review. Remember that the final day for presentations is next week on Tuesday. We'll be transitioning to our new unit on Thursday. I'll have all grades updated next week for you. As always, reach out with any questions or concerns. I'll be available Thursday (March 20) after school if you need that.

7 October

English 11

Simple day today in English 11 - we took our unit reading test. At the end of each unit, you'll see something like what you saw today. I'll ask you to read something and show your knowledge of what you've learned in the unit. I'll have these tests scored and returned to you next week. We'll do some feedback and then open up the options for retesting. If you found today's test difficult, let's meet and discuss that before too long. Remember it's important to put in the work to develop skills, especially when it comes to reading and writing.

Next class is going to be a bit low-key since many of you are taking the PSAT that day. I expect you'll be a bit fried after testing. We're going to watch a video about our next literary period and have some small discussions about Unit 1. We'll also take a bit of time to work on projects. Here's to our next time together!

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.

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!

25 May - Ending the Year in English 10

English 10

Pretty great day in English 10 today, a few bumps in the road, but we got to where we needed to go. Today we finished reading Persepolis and understood some of the main lessons that this book is conveying to us. Lessons about life, growing up, trust, and change are all contained in this book. I loved seeing how engaged so many of you were. I think the test next class should be a breeze for a lot of you.

Over the weekend, prepare for that test. Review your notes and your study guide. Check today's recording. If you have any missing assignments, you should submit them this weekend. I will update grades as soon as you submit your work. Prioritize the writing assignments, as they are worth a lot of grades.

Next class we'll take our test, and then have time to finish up with vocabulary and comic book projects. Remember that all work for Quarter 4 and this unit is due on June 1.

25 April

English 10

Kinda a strange day because of the assembly this morning. Second period, we didn't really have class today. We'll get regrouped on Thursday and complete the majority of our lesson from today. We'll also have our end of year grammar test on Thursday through NoRedInk. It's just a completion grade, so don't stress on your accuracy, just do your best.

In ESOL English 10 we were able to have class which was great. We took time to read, getting caught up or ahead, and then looked at our upcoming writing assignment. We'll complete this assignment next week on Monday.

The EdPuzzle has been put in the gradebook as a zero if it is missing, be sure to get that taken care of before your next graded assignment.

28 February - The End of the Month!

English 10

Today we started working through our first story in our Latin American literature unit - "The Night Face Up". It's an interesting look at the concept of the doppelganger, and it's a pretty great story too. Next class we'll be taking a vocabulary test and looking at the next part of "The Night Face Up". Be ready for a quick class on Thursday - remember that it's an Early Release Day!

If you've got a missing assignment, be sure to make an appointment next week to complete your work! That first letter is an important assignment!

5th of December - Monday!

English 10

Easy day today in English 10. We took our vocabulary test on Membean (our first one!) and then went back to Poland and Escape from Sobibor. As we're watching and studying this film, I hope that you're getting the idea of your next essay. We'll go back to defining concepts, so how does this movie provide evidence for defining different concepts? We have two more things that we'll be reading before getting to that assignment, but it's always a good idea to be thinking.

Next class we'll finish with Sobibor and take time for a speech from another part of the world. I'm hoping that we'll be done with all our readings before we start Winter Break, then we'll come back and write about it. 

Have a great week, everyone!

25 and 26 April

AP Language

A very low-key class in AP Language to start the week. We started our day with reading, had time to discuss our reading so far and our ideas about the novels, and then time to finish our day as we needed. I hope that you're enjoying your time as you work through the novels - keep meeting your goals as you're reading and thinking.

On Wednesday you'll have your reading SOL. Because of this, Thursday's class is going to be a bit of a review/reflection/recovery day. Right now you should be focusing on reading your books, reflecting on your reading, and completing your tasks related to the novel. There's a bonus assignment unlocked for you to help with the most recent MCQ - complete it if you'd like! 

English 10

Today was the end of our unit on Latin American literature. I hope that you enjoyed spending time with our neighbors to the south. Remember that all of these authors have written much more than what we read in this unit - keep exploring if you read something that you enjoyed. Marquez's novel called One Hundred Years of Solitude is a personal favorite of mine. 

Today's exam will be scored and back to you by the end of the week. Next class is our catch-up day for you to finish your projects, your SOL essays, or any other tasks that may still be out there for the unit. The last unit of the year is next - JAPAN! We'll have a film as the main text in this unit, so lots for us to look forward to as we close the year.

21 and 22 April

AP Language

Today was a very simple day in AP English Language land. We took our second full length AP MCQ in order to reflect on our strategies and skills in our approach to the exam. I was happy to see a lot of you bouncing around, skipping questions, and using your time much more efficiently. Excellent! Hopefully you'll see that you are maintaining in your accuracy or growing. We'll do one more of these before the exam.

Be sure that you are meeting your reading goals, reflecting on your reading for your five reflections, and collecting vocabulary. Please submit your reflections as you complete them so that you can build your points. All reflections will be entered as one fifty point grade in SIS. Your vocabulary will be due in May.

Lastly, you do have a bonus assignment open. It will close tomorrow. Complete it if you'd like the extra practice, feedback, and a small gift in your quarter scores. Enjoy the weekend and your books! It looks like it should be nice and warm - a good time to be outside with a great book!

English 10

A pretty basic day in English 10 with our last in-class essay of the year. I'll have these scored and reviewed for you next week. I hope that when you look at this last one that you feel happy with it. You've grown a lot as writers this year - remember what you were doing at the beginning of the year and look at what you're doing now! Celebrate your growth and keep finding places to keep climbing.

Next week you will have your unit test to open the week and your projects will be due at the end of the week. You'll have all of class for the test and then the next class is yours to finish the project and turn that in. If you have any other assignments to turn in as part of this unit, they need to come in next week. I'm looking forward to taking you to our final place of the year - Japan! We'll have a quick and fun unit to end our year before we begin on our final portfolio.

25 and 26 October - Ending Quarter 1

AP English Language

Lovely work today everyone as we worked through tracking the changes apparent between Act I/II and Act IV of The Crucible in order to understand Miller's main arguments. Remember that in an allegory everything stands for something else, so it is important to recognize that the resolution of these characters connects to the resolution of the Red Scare in 1950's America.

For tonight you should read and annotate "Why I Wrote The Crucible" by Arthur Miller. Use this as a means to check and deepened your understanding of the play. It's not often we have an author tell us exactly what they meant to do. You should also begin to revise your drafts of your rhetorical analysis - we'll have another check-in on this work soon.

English 10

Today was an examination day. Not the most fun or exciting day in English class, but a necessary day for us to show what we've learned and how far we've come. I'll work to have these exams scored and back to you by next class so that we can do any test corrections before the end of the grading period.

For tonight, enjoy a night off. We'll get back into our books next class and begin with the second half of our books, remember that you'll have vocabulary due again very soon!

19 and 20 October

AP Language

Solid work today, y'all! I was happy to see a lot of great engagement around our lesson on objectivity, subjectivity, and sensationalism via Colonial Era Captivity Narratives. All of these lessons recently are devoted to allowing us the context to understand the end of The Crucible. I hope that you've enjoyed the readings.

If you did not finish the activity today in class feel free to finish it for homework or during our next Lion Time (tomorrow). I'll score them over the weekend. Remember that this is one of our last grades for the quarter. Next class we'll be looking at Act III. Be sure to read and annotate in advance. Pay close attention to the courtroom - note the irony in the scene and the way in which things quickly escalate against John.

English 10

Today's class was a day for us to finish things up - we finished up our reading of "The Forsaken Olive Trees" and took a bit of time to tie up loose ends. Remember that any missing work for Quarter 1 is due on the 22nd. That is this Friday! Don't miss this chance to turn in your work for credit. 

Next class we'll be playing our review game to get ready for our Quarter 1 Exam. The exam will be on Monday the 25th or Tuesday the 26th (depending on your class). You have the study guide and all the materials you need to prepare. This test is going to be a lot of points - so it will have a strong effect on your grade. Prepare and be ready to do your best work!

The Beginning of the End - 18 May

AP Language

Today in class we got in a time machine to return to ancient Athens and learn from Plato about reality, truth, and the process to find it. As we read the "Allegory of the Cave" we see many of the same steps in TIM's journey to knowledge and truth - it's important that we reflect on the process we see and the mirror for ourselves which may be held up here. Plato and Ellison ask us to always consider what we know and where we got that knowledge from. 

Next class we'll finish with Invisible Man and have time to begin our work with our final assessment on the novel. I'm excited to see everyone's creativity and thought when it comes to this novel and the ideas that it leaves you with. If you have anything missing for class - be sure that it is complete as soon as you can.

English 10

Today in class was our time to complete our final assessment for One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. If you completed the test or project today, great! If not, be sure that you're finished and submitted by Friday so that I can do final grading. If you had any extra time in class, that would have been used for final notes/vocabulary and any missing assignments from this unit.

Next class we'll begin our final portfolio for English 10 - the instructions are already uploaded for you to review. The final classes of the year will be spent devoted to our final portfolios, so everyone will have the chance to complete everything during class.

Back from Break - Homework - A Day - 2 December

AP Research

Great work today with our scientific sample paper. This is a writing week as we move toward approval. Be sure that your Proposal and Supporting Documentation is prepared and shared! From there, beginning to write would be a good use of your time. Take a look at your Method and Introduction Outlines. Start writing. Use your sample papers and rubrics as you write.


On Wednesday I'd like to see your method outline for a score. If you're working with an expert adviser, I need their contact information so that I can contact them.

Russian I

We've got an examination on Friday, so most of today's class was spent reviewing for that. I've given you all a set of exercises that review the essential skills on Friday's examination. There's going to be work with the alphabet, grammar related to gender and possession, and then conjugation of verbs (regular first and second as well as our mutants).


Use the exercises to prepare. Check them with me during lunch over the next few days to be sure you're doing it right. Remember that for every correct exercise you'll be getting part of an extra credit point.

Advanced Russian

Today in class we did some independent work with vocabulary, some guided work with exercises, and then some individual or partner work related to our projects. Remember that next week on the 10th we'll have a quiz on grammar topics. On the 16th and 17th we'll present our projects.


For tonight you should continue to work with your vocabulary. Come to next class with new words in your head well enough to use them. We'll keep working with vocabulary as we start each class this month with the goal of increasing your words to increase your abilities with the language! Учите на век!

Homework for A-Day Students - 30 January 2019

AP English III

This post will review all of the information you need for the end of our unit on Beloved. Pay close attention to important dates and details.

I'll be out next class, so you'll be having a movie day on Friday. You'll be watching an excellent documentary about Nina Simone that really helps to bring a lot of the ideas we've been following in this unit full circle. As you watch, there will be a viewing guide to direct your thoughts and observations. This guide will be collected for a grade when we finish the film. Your projects are due via an electronic submission by the end of the day on Friday. I'll be grading on Sunday. Be sure that I have access to your project.

On Tuesday we'll finish the final two chapters in class. I love the ending of this book and want to read through it as a group experience. If you would like to finish the book in advance, you are welcome to do so. Your final assignment for Beloved is a 1Q1P assignment. You'll have time in class to work on this on Thursday (I'll be out for the State Championship Swim Meet). The 1Q1P and Final Annotation Check will be collected/scored on Monday, February 11. This will be the day that we fully move into our new unit.

English IV

Today in class we finished the first part of our competition for the poem of the classroom. On Tuesday we'll go to the next part of our competition - the class battle. Remember that in your groups one person will read the poem aloud and then the other people will say why the poem is a strong poem using the rubric.

We also did some good work with our vocabulary today! This is a good practice for our vocabulary test next week. Remember that you should be studying all sixteen wordparts in Lesson 16. If you are missing anything, please let me know.

Homework for B-Day Students: 15 May 2018

Remember that since school is closed tomorrow the next day that I will see you will be on Friday.

AP English III

Today we had a very solid class working through Graham Greene's "The Destructors" and considering the way in which authors are able to fill their stories with important meaning through the inclusion of small details. This is a key thing for you to consider next week with your rhetorical analysis prompt. I will have your annotations graded later today.

Tonight you will need to complete your character review sheet for our party on Friday. If you need one, print and complete the questions based on your character. Remember that you can't answer all of the questions directly from the text, so use the text as inspiration. Your ticket to enter the party on Friday is the completed sheet. If you were not in class today, please see me to sign up for a character on Thursday.

Next week we have a very hectic week - there's guidance coming in to discuss senior year on Tuesday followed by ruble exchange and exemption announcements. On Wednesday we have our AP Examination - I'll be there in the morning to wish you all the best (my dog will be there too!). Then, on Thursday, you'll have your short story examination. Remember that you'll have ten questions on each of the five stories - O'Connor, Walker, Pushkin, O'Brien, Greene - and one overall short answer question. This is going to be your last grade of the year.

English IV

Many of you were able to get a lot of good work done for me today in order to get yourselves to a very good place. I'll have everything graded and returned for you next class. A lot of you were able to construct your theme books today and even get started on the content. Next class our goal will be to finish these pieces. You'll have access to the computers to print pictures as needed and to do your stencil for the theme statements. Hopefully everything will get finished on this on Friday and you'll be able to go into the last week of class with everything done!

Homework for English Students - B Day - 19 December 2017

English IV

Today, we took our Act Two quiz on Twelfth Night, which included details about the plot as well as analysis of themes and irony. After that, we nearly finished watching the modern adaptation of the play, She's The Man. Next class, we will conclude the film and our viewing guides that accompanied it before moving into one of the last big assignments of the unit: a short essay comparing Twelfth Night and She's The Man. Make sure you're prepared to work through ideas on both works, and have a great day!

AP English III

Today, you all took your unit test on The Great Gatsby and other assigned texts from the unit. This was a pretty challenging test in terms of staying engaged and focus throughout the entire period, so I'm very happy with how well you all did working on your stamina. If you missed this test, you need to get in touch with Mr. Miller/Mr. Bernhard as soon as possible to figure out a time to make it up. For next class, you will need to have read and annotated William Buckley's "Why Don't We Complain?." This essay will serve as a bridge from what we have discussed this quarter into the next unit, which is on an American school of philosophy and literature called Transcendentalism. Have a great day, and see you Thursday!