- Briar Woods High School
- About Me
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Professional Biography Cristina Mai
English DepartmentCristina Mai is in her 12th year as a teacher in Loudoun County at Briar Woods. Before getting her teaching certificate for public schools in Virginia, she taught computer software to adults, Italian to college students at Indiana University, and English to students at a private school in Italy. She earned her BA in English with a concentration in writing from Mary Washington University and her MA from Indiana University where she studied Italian.
She is also the yearbook adviser and proud to work with the small, exceptionally dedicated and talented group of students who have the monumental task of creating the single largest publication our school puts out: the Briar Woods Yearbook.
2021-2022 Schedule
Block 1 - English 9H
Block 5 - Study Hall
Block 2 - Planning
Block 6 - Dept Planning
Block 3 - English 9H
Block 7 - Photojournalism 1,2, and 3 (Yearbook)
Block 4 - English 9H
Block 8 - English 9H
Overview of 9th Grade Year - By Quarter
Students are encouraged to purchase copies of the novels we study in class. This is not mandatory; however, students benefit greatly from annotating and interacting with the text.
Quarter 1 Plan: Review of literary elements, understanding and implementing annotation. Introduction of character analysis skills through Literature Circles, poems, short stories, and novels. Writing: Introduction of AXES writing format for Literary Analysis writing - character analysis.
Topics: Annotations, plot diagrams, literary elements, identifying big ideas and themes, symbolism, characterization, assertions, commentary, evidence, MLA format citations, relationships between elements of literature.