Week of June 1, 2020

Congratulations! We've made it to June!

This week we are continuing optional assignments to raise your grade. If you choose to complete ONE of these assignments, please submit it on Teams.

Stardust book club: finish reading the book and join the meeting at 10 am on Thursday. Details are posted in Teams.

Everyone: please check Skyward and make sure it's accurate. Email me regarding any concerns.

Have a great week!

Week of May 25, 2020

Please click here for the final menu of assignments.

Our book club has already formed, but if you wish to join late, please email me and let me know.

Please double-check Skyward. If you think there are any errors or missing assignments that you believe you submitted, please send me an email that includes the following information:

• Your name
• The exact name of the assignment as it appears in Skyward
• The date of the assignment

Unless otherwise notified, I am operating under the assumption that Skyward is accurate.

Have a great week!

Week of May 18, 2020

Last week I spent a long time making sure grades were accurate and updated, but it's a time-consuming task and I'm only human, so I'm relying on students to double-check Skyward and alert me to any mistakes. If you do find that you have an assignment marked missing and 0, please send me an email that includes the following information:

• Your full name (especially if the name on your email address is different)
• The name of the assignment exactly as it appears on Skyward
• Your class period

For the remainder of the year we will be engaging in optional assignments to raise your current grade. Please read details here.

Week of May 11, 2020

Click here for the week at a glance with this week's assignment.

The AP exam is on Wednesday, May 13, at 11 am. Students must check in online by 10:30 am. Students need to have taken several steps to prepare their home technology for the exam. By now, you should have completed the College Board demo and completed last week's checklist assignment. If you have not done this yet and plan to test, it is crucial that you complete these steps immediately!

Remember that if anything goes wrong and you are not able to start the exam, you will be sent a test ticket for the June date.

If something goes wrong mid-test (internet goes out, computer crashes, household emergency, etc.) and you are not able to submit the exam or you lost time due to a problem, you can immediately submit a request to retest in June. This request will be reviewed and College Board will get back to you letting if you know if your request has been approved. College Board has been clear that they expect some students will have tech issues. While we all hope for the very best possible testing experience and outcome, if something does go wrong, remember that it's a fixable problem. Let me know if you need help resolving anything.

Best of luck to all of you on the exam! You've got this! 💗

Click here for a link to an optional exam prep video.

More information about how to be successful on the upcoming exam

I know that the College Board AP Lit videos have had mixed reviews--some of you find them very helpful and some of you dislike them. The video posted on May 5 features the chief reader for AP Lit exams and discusses a number of helpful topics including:

• What is a chief reader
• Thinking skills that need to happen behind the writing 
• Writing a polished perfect essay in 45 minutes (and the importance of analysis)
• What are the components of a good essay? (And placement of thesis)
• Specific discussion of Silas prompt
• No line numbers on this year's exam and how to deal with that
• Sophistication point
• Importance of evidence
• Will it be harder to score well this year?
• Should I hand write or type?
• How much should I write?
• Exam day advice

Here is a document I've put together with all time stamps. Even if you don't want to watch the whole thing (which is totally fine), you might find that watching just a few minutes where the topic you are concerned about is covered will be very helpful. I've also linked this document in the assignment for optional timed writes this week.

Student/Parent Update and Assignments Week of 5/4/2020

Hello!

Please click here to view all assignments for the week. Note that we will be meeting live on Thursday at 10 am.

All students have an optional assignment this week designed to improve your writing skills and raise your grade. If you are dissatisfied with your current grade, please plan to complete this assignment. (Upload it on Teams.)

The AP exam is quickly approaching and will happen on Wednesday, May 13, at 11 am. There is an additional checklist assignment this week for students who are taking the exam. The goal of this assignment is to make sure you are fully prepared in terms of the technological aspects of the exam. There are several steps students need to take BEFORE the exam, so it's really important that students complete this checklist assignment. This overview is a very helpful document for all parents and students.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.