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.

25 September - Wacky Wednesday!

English 11

Pretty solid day today in English 11 as we worked on reading and understanding one of my favorite authors, James Baldwin. We'll look at him again throughout the year in a few different moments. We read in order to discover our literary devices, elements of story telling, and to discuss Baldwin's rhetorical situation. We finished class with a brief analysis of Baldwin where you selected a quotation, annotated for devices, and then paraphrased and evaluated it. I'm looking forward to seeing your work. Remember that this is a miniaturized version of the project, which we'll work on more on Friday. 

Friday is all about our project and learning some new vocabulary words from list two. Be ready for a fun day of putting projects together. Remember that working on the project is a way to study for our test. The test is going to happen on October 7.

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!

17 September

English 11

Another solid day today in English 11 as we finished studying "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" by Tim O'Brien from his novel called The Things They Carried. If you're interested in reading more from this book, let me know if you'd like to check out a copy. It's a fantastic collection!

In class we did some practice SOL problems before our reading time. I loved the engagement, the notes, and the ideas that you all got to when it came to our discussion on American problems reflected in the story. At the end of class, we took time for finishing missing work and preparing for our quiz on Thursday.

Focus on learning your vocabulary for next class. You have a quiz coming! Remember to complete the practice assignment for a grade - I attached it here. We'll get into our first projects next class and some feedback on the first essays. Here's to Thursday!

End of the Week - Homecoming Friday

English 11

It's Friday the 13th and the end of a busy week at Fairfax High School. Solid end to the week today in English 11. We had picture day, and we completed our first timed essay. Remember that in this class, grades replace. This first essay is often the worst of the whole year. As we learn and grow, we'll be rewarded for that. Continue to do your part. Be actively engaged in class, and focus on improvement! I'll have feedback for you next week.

Over the weekend, be sure to complete your syllabus form, your discussion board post, and study for your vocabulary quiz. Be sure to complete your practice assignment. If you were absent or need to get caught up. Make a plan for Lion Time next week. Request a pass on Securly and I'll approve. All the best for a great Homecoming and weekend!

Getting into September - Mid Week Check-ins

English 11

Thank you all for being so good while we had technology problems in class today. Unfortunately, this means that we won't have a recording for today posted over on Schoology. Oh well. 

Today's class started with a quotation response in our notebooks followed by our first graded class discussion. Y'all did a fantastic job reviewing the four authors that we've read so far and discussing some of their major conflicts, resolutions, and perspectives in their texts. We made some great connections between the various authors as well. Some of these connections were a bit ironic, but that makes them even more powerful. As we keep going through this unit and year, consider how more texts combine together to create richer meanings and ideas.

We started reading one of the longest pieces of this unit called "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" by Tim O'Brien. This is a war story that blends a bit of fact and fiction. We'll finish the story next week. To end our day, we looked at vocabulary. Remember that you have a quiz next week (Thursday). Be sure to complete your review assignment before Thursday. Don't forget that you also have your discussion board due this week.

On Monday we had a good day as we read and studied "The Gettysburg Address" by Abraham Lincoln to review the ideas of the rhetorical situation as well as the ways in which emotions are created in a text by an author for a purpose. We also closed out our first vocabulary list. We'll have time next class and Friday to prepare for next week's first quiz. Remember to focus on learning the words and their meaning. This will take you into most of the quiz. 

Next class is Picture Day! We'll take pictures at the beginning of class. After that, we'll take lunch and finish our day with writing. I hope you enjoyed today. See you on Friday!

5 September

English 11

Thanks for spending my birthday with me today, y'all!

Fantastic day today to end our week together in English 11. We did a bit of everything today. We started off by discussing genres and sorting them into being generally fiction or nonfiction. I love the way that you all are engaged in reminding and remembering key ideas from earlier English classes. From there, we applied our literary devices and narrative elements to understand that generally reading nonfiction is a bit more straightforward than fiction because fiction has a lot of artistry and details involved in creating message.

The bulk of our class focused on reading and understanding "Go Carolina" by David Sedaris. We were able to see elements of irony, conflict, characterization, and theme in the story as he talked about his experiences in speech therapy. I'm so proud of the fact that we completed a whole article in our class today. We finished with five more vocabulary words to end the day together.

Remember to get your syllabus form signed. It's also important that you study your vocabulary words regularly. You'll need to know the words and their meanings. Check out the recordings and uploaded slide decks to help you with this. We have some graded work coming up soon, be sure to keep up and stay accountable. If you've missed anything, please reach out!

3 September - It's Birthday Week!

English 11

Really great day today everyone! We're crushing it. Today we started off class with our new norms and guiding principles before taking time for our journal and then some time to explore some key ideas. Remember that our word bank of narrative elements are super important - it's important that you're learning this information as we move through the next few classes together. We'll have a test at the end of the unit about these ideas.

The resources to learn about the various narrative elements and the practice assignment will stay open for you through the unit. Keep researching and accessing. We paid the learning forward while we read and studied Gloria Anzaldua and the way she uses different narrative elements to engage the author and create a message. I loved what we discovered through our close reading. We finished class with five vocabulary words. Remember, when we hit fifteen you'll have a quiz.

For tonight, keep reviewing Schoology. Review the recordings and resources that I've posted. If you missed class, be sure to follow up with what you missed. Next class we'll be reading something pretty funny. I'm excited to show it to you. All the best for the afternoon. See you Thursday!

28 August - End of Week 2

English 11

A pretty chill end of the week in English class this week. We started off by having our classroom circle to discuss our values and principles for our norms. I'll work on these this weekend and share them with you next week for approval. It's important to me that everyone has a space and a voice in the classroom. I appreciate everyone's attention to that work today.

From there we did some computer based tasks today. First, there was our getting to know each other form and we shared some facts about ourselves. Then, we got into our reading diagnostic for today's class. This test isn't for a grade, but it does help me to understand what I need to focus on as your teacher. At the end, we discussed the WebQuest and Discussion Board post. This isn't due for a while, so you have time to respond.

Over the weekend, consider the question, "What makes a good story?" Think about some of your favorite stories, and yes, video games do count! So do movies and television shows. A rap song or two could also be a story, I suppose. Next class we'll start getting into reading more intensely to discuss what makes a good story.

26 August

English 11

Really fantastic day today as we worked through three texts and understood the importance of reading closely, determining main ideas, and focusing on key language. We finished our work with Jefferson's "Declaration of Independence" before going on to the Preamble to the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Our reading work focused on determining main idea, understanding key words, and seeing the tone implicit in the language. I'm really pleased with the work that we put up.

After that, we closed class with some writing and personal reflection where I asked you about the values we should use as we center our class community. I'll take a look at what you wrote in a bit and we'll start with these ideas on Wednesday as we write our classroom norms and guiding principles together.

Other than that work on Wednesday, we will also have a small reading test. This will not be for a grade. It's just a diagnostic to see where you are coming in the door. Come to class with a charged laptop next class. Your test is computer based. It'll be a pretty simple day to end our week together. See you on Wednesday!

22 August - Finishing Week 1

English 11

Great first week together, everyone! I was glad to see so many of you commit to our classroom rules, keep your electronics away, and stay focused for all of the great work that we'll be doing together. Today we had an community builder where we shared some boring facts, then we talked about America and some American problems, before we started our first reading.

We read "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson and discussed his rhetorical situation. Next class, we'll spend a bit more time looking at this text and understanding how Jefferson makes choices and arguments for each of his audiences. We'll also look at some other important documents like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. 

Over the weekend, complete your DRC Form - I linked it below. Also be sure to review your slides, recordings, and other resources. I'll see you on Monday!

Welcome to the Year! It's time for 2024-2025 School Year

English 11

Happy First Day of English everyone! It was great to get to know you and to start working with you. I hope that you enjoyed your first class with me. Today in class we went over some key information like our names and pronouns, some procedures and policies in class, and information about what we'll be studying and learning together. 

One of the main things that we learned today was the idea of the rhetorical situation. That means that a text is responding to an event or moment, so it's important to consider some of the elements around a text to consider its full effect. We ended class with a brief reading and writing activity to do a bit of fun creative writing.

For tonight, please get your notebook for class. Next class we'll start to set up that notebook. We'll also be reading next class and start studying a text together, so I'm looking forward to that. All the best! The recording is posted on Schoology under Updates. Remember that the slides are posted under Materials - Current Lessons on Schoology.

Blocking Software Strikes Again!

The new filtering software at school has not allowed me to post on here, and I keep forgetting to post when I get home. Apologies. I'm still making my regular updates on Schoology. In the meantime, I plan to continue posting here again soon. Likely as a weekly update. 

17 April - Practice Exam, Day 1

AP Language and Composition

Today we started our final practice examination. Today and over the next three classes, we'll complete an examination task. At the end of that, you'll reflect on your performance, your process, and determine any strategies that you think will be effective for you on the Mock Exam and ultimately, the real AP Examination. This is a process you should complete with all of your AP Examinations. I'd also suggest checking out BlueBook on your computers - there are practice examinations loaded, and you can explore the interface and tools for testing. It's very similar to the PSAT.

The other major task to chip away at right now is your Argument Bank. Keep reading. This mitigates some of the vocabulary issues because you're experiencing and encountering more high-level vocabulary. The final goal is that you process fifteen texts and consider their use for your eventual writing tasks, but they help with reading tasks too. AP Classroom unlocked practices can also be helpful during this time.

Use Lion Time and After School during this unit. Let's review and process and make a plan for success. I should have all of your essays scored and feedback to you by next week. All the best! Let's slay this beast!

Sorry for the Delay - 8 April

FCPS updated its software, and I lost access to the blog. Here's the update for today.

AP Language and Composition

Pretty easy day to start our week this week in AP Language as we focused on setting some loose ends, finishing assignments, and working through our exam preparation tasks. Let's review. We started today by looking at our notebooks, grades, and feedback so far. These documents and artifacts are so helpful for you as you're preparing for the end of the year. I look forward to seeing your reflections. You should get a copy in your email of your answers.

From there we went into our research work and independent tasks. Your sourcepack is due next class, no matter if you're writing on this prompt or the one I choose for you. This is easy. Follow the examples and avoid overthinking! Submit when ready. The space to submit documents related to your presentation is also available. If you're doing the timed write, you'll see that on Monday. 

Reach out with questions! I'm here to help!

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!

20 March - Working Day and Chapter 24

AP Language

Really productive day in AP Language as we spent a good amount of time completing essential graded tasks for the end of the quarter. We focused primarily on our annotated bibliography assignment in which we process sources and begin to plan out our final presentation of our argument. Keep in mind that you MUST use three sources in your final presentation, so your final annotated bibliography should have at least three entries. 

We also spent some time today discussing Chapter 24 and the discussion board post. Remember that you can complete these at your leisure, read this book over break and finish it when you have the time. Or even into April or May if needed. 

I'll be entering grades for essays today. Then I'll get into your MCQ. The last grade for this quarter is the annotated bibliography. Please reach out with any questions about your grades in the course.

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!