BHS English Department
Welcome to our monthly newletter!
Here's what's happening in September/October: Meet Your Teacher
Achieve 3000
Meet Our English Faculty
Mrs. Babcock
Mrs. Babcock has her B.A. in English and attended Randolph-Macon College, in Ashland, Virginia. She is also a product of VBCPS, graduating from First Colonial in 2002. She enjoys spending time with her family and time at the beach.
September/October Studies: In English 9 Honors, students have been exposed to the paperless classroom. The platforms that will be used within the classroom are Edmodo, Google Drive, Google Chrome, Google Sites, and Remind. Currently, English 9 Honors students are writing a comparison and contrast essay about the fears and realities of entering high school. In AP English Language and Composition, students are focusing on the variety of rhetorical devices authors employ to achieve purpose. Currently, students are in the midst of crafting their first rhetorical analysis piece. The different technology students have been exposed to within the classroom are: CamScanner App, Edmodo, and Remind.
Mrs. Bates
Mrs. Bates has a strong passion for teaching and the pursuit of knowledge. She is excited and thankful for the opportunities presented by Bayside. The opportunity to share her knowledge and background in English with students is a dream that came to realization. She strongly believes that the pursuit of education should be a lifelong quest.
Mrs. Bates began her academic career at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she received degrees in Political Science and English. Upon completion of undergraduate school, Latashia decided to become a high school teacher. Latashia has taught high school English for eleven years. During her tenure as an English teacher, she also decided to pursue a degree in Educational Leadership and a graduate degree in English. She received her graduate degree from The George Washington University. The graduate degree in English is currently in process.
Latashia has a strong passion for academics, but her greatest joy is spending time with her family. She has a wonderful supportive husband and two young children. The opportunity to be a mother brings her a sense of accomplishment she cannot describe.
Ms. Brandon
Currently, her Honors English 11 classes are exploring the concept of the American Dream and its influence on the evolution of American Literature. By exploring America’s current popular writers and the language we use today, students will be able to create a connection from the future to the past – in literature, language, context and purpose.
Students have already connected with two prominent poets: Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes, and students have written their own poems with the same purpose in mind – to celebrate the human spirit that makes up America. As we move into October, we will focus on Justice and Injustice as it exists in American society and reflected in American literature.
Mr. Chrusciel
Mr. Chrusciel graduated from Old Dominion University and is a native of Virginia Beach. He teaches English 12 British Literature and Media Studies and likes film, video games and all things Halloween.
English 12: Students are starting with The Quest and the Perilous Journey Unit which helps us to discover how the search for enlightenment is manifested in literature. At the end of the nine weeks, students will be writing a snippet of their life journey in the Personal Essay.
Media Studies: Students are studying the Perception Unit to help them understand why they perceive the world the way that they do. Then, the class will move on to the Advertising Unit for October.
Ms. Dandy
Ms. Dandy is a product of Virginia Beach City Public Schools as a proud graduate of Princess Anne HS. Upon graduation, she attended Hampton University where she majored in English Education.
Her passion for her hometown brought her back to the beach and into the arms of Bayside HS! She began her teaching career as a Marlin in September 1992! And her love for her students has kept her here ever since.
While she has taught English 9, 11, 12, and College Bound Reading, English 9 is her all-time favorite. She enjoys seeing her students grow from fearful freshmen to successful seniors and BEYOND!!!
Ms. Jennison
Ms. Jennison has been teaching for 13 years in Virginia Beach, and 7 years at Bayside. She has a Bachelor’s of Arts in French and English, and a Master’s degree in Special Education all from ODU. She enjoys spending time with her family and reading.
October News: Ms. Jennison’s class will be ending the American Dream Unit and starting a unit on the SOL writing essay in order to prepare for our writing SOL in March.
Mr. Joyner
Mr. Joyner received a B.S. in English from East Carolina University. He has been teaching for over 20 years in both the public school system and in the corporate world. He loves traveling the world and experiencing the local culture of new destinations. On the weekends he can be found reading, baking, and studying commercial aircraft. He is currently teaching English 10 and English 12.
This month, his English 10 classes are studying what important lessons literature has to offer and how these lessons relate to and influence the reader. The class is currently studying the graphic novel American Born Chinese. His English 12 class is studying how man’s search for enlightenment, purpose, and knowledge is manifested in literature. The class is currently studying Beowulf.
Ms. Kasyanik
September: HSA Honors English 9 students have been working on their diagnostic reading and writing assessments in addition to setting up their electronic Works-In-Progress folders via Google Drive. Also, the 9th graders are finishing their first writing unit of the year on expository writing using the compare and contrast structure to describe what BHS freshmen expect from high school and if these expectations have come true. Mrs. Butzbach, Ms. Kasyanik's practicum teacher, has been observing and teaching some of the 9th grade classes. Mrs. Butzbach will be taking over Ms. Kasyanik's classes starting September 30th. HSA Honors English 10 students have been exploring the concepts of culture, language, and identity by reading and analyzing a variety of short stories and personal essays.
Mrs. Manugo
Mrs. Manugo has been teaching at Bayside for 16 years. She has her B.A. in English from North Carolina State and her M.A. in English from Old Dominion University. She is also a product of VBCPS. This year, Mrs. Manugo teaches Dual Enrollment English, English 12, and Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow. She also serves as the Teacher Leader for Bayside’s chapter of Educators Rising (formerly Future Educators Association). Mrs. Manugo stays busy outside of school with her husband and seven-year-old twins; she loves going to the beach, eating pizza, drinking coffee, and watching college football.
September Studies: In Dual Enrollment English, students will be learning all about the basics of college writing. They will also begin crafting their first essay—the narrative essay (which will also serve as an option for students to use as their college application essays). This year, Mrs. Manugo’s students will journey into the world of digital writers' workshops where they will work together to edit, revise, and reflect on their essays using Google Drive. In English 12, students will be working to complete either a college application essay or a cover letter and resume. They will also begin a year-long independent reading program where they pick their own novels to read each quarter. All classes will be utilizing various digital platforms including Edmodo, Remind, Google Drive, and NoRedInk.com.
Mr. McNulty
Mr. McNulty is in his third year at Bayside High School and teaches 11th grade English. He has also planned educational trips to Belize and Costa Rica with students and parents from Bayside the past two years and is currently organizing a trip to Italy for next summer.
Mr. McNulty is originally from Williamsburg but now resides in Virginia Beach with his wife, Katie. Both celebrated their marriage last year in the Outer Banks and bought their first house this past summer.
Mr. McNulty graduated from Virginia Wesleyan College in 2010 where he also played baseball. He then pursued his Masters in Secondary Education at Old Dominion University and received his graduate degree in 2012. Colin is a huge sports fan and loves listening to music, playing golf, and going to the beach in his free time.
Mr. McNulty's students are currently in the American Dream unit. They have read poems by Langston Hughes and are currently reading about Chris McCandless and analyzing his version of the American Dream.
Mr. Norris
Mr. Norris has lived in Virginia Beach for 18 years.
Prior to moving to Virginia, he lived in Jersey City, NJ. where he met his wife of 22 years and went to college. He graduated from Rutgers’ University, majoring in English. After receiving a B.A. in English, Mr. Norris attended Saint Peter’s College and earned an M.A .in Curriculum and Instruction. He also attended Phoenix University earning an endorsement in English as a Second Language. Mr. Norris has been teaching for eighteen years, ten years at BHS. Prior to teaching at Bayside, he taught part- time at Open Campus. He has also taught at North Landing Elementary, Point of View Elementary, Young’s Park Elementary and Saint Aedan’s Elementary. Currently, Mr. Norris attends Old Dominion University pursuing an M.FA in Creative Writing. He has an obvious and catagious passion for learning and teaching.
Mr. Norr has three children. His oldest daughter graduated from the Law Academy at First Colonial High School and his second daughter just began the Governor’s STEM Program at Landstown High School. His son is in the eighth grade at Corporate Landing Middle School. Clearly, he says, "I support our schools!"
Mr. Norris teaches 9th grade Core, Inclusion, and Honors
English and is looking forward to a wonderful year with his enthusiastic freshmen!!!
Ms. Pineda
September/October Studies:
This month, her students have explored author's purpose in non-fiction articles and applied students' knowledge of plot structure to Richard Wright's autobiography, The Rights to the Streets of Memphis. Students have continued to incorporate Greek and Latin root words in their vocabulary studies to help identify unfamiliar words. Her classes are beginning to explore symbolism and allegory in Antoine De Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince.
Ms. Plummer
Ms. Plummer is a native of Norfolk, VA. and a graduate of Old Dominion University. She loves as much beach time as possible as well as travelling and discovering out of the way places and people.
September/October Studies: English 12 students begin "The Perilous Journey" unit with a reading of Beowulf. English 10 Honors students will begin the "Who am I?" unit with a number of short stories, poems, and the novel Anthem. Vocabulary.com, No Red Ink, Achieve 3000 and Edmodo.com will be part of daily and weekly technology links and use to look for!
Mrs. Schwartz
Mrs. Schwartz has been at Bayside High School for 13 of her 23 year career. She currently teaches Honors Academy English 10 and AP 12 Literature and Composition. The clubs she sponsor include the Medical Honor Society and the Indian Cultural Association.
The Academy English classes have opened the year by reviewing archetypes in literature, defining culture, and analyzing nonfiction through the lens of Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle. They will venture into their first novel as they examine the dystopian society presented in Ayn Rand’s Anthem. In the AP Literature course, students have started to prepare the skills they need to analyze literature with multiple choice practices and short story “boot camp” while simultaneously producing essays to impress their colleges of choice. They examined their summer reads of Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea with essays and a Socratic Seminar implemented to help them compare/contrast major characters, ideas, themes, and motifs presented in each respective novel. They will continue with the Gothic/Romantic genre as they begin Frankenstein.
Mr. Varisco
Tutors Available for English SOLs and General Assistance!
Let us know!
Location: 4960 Haygood Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23454
Phone: 757-648-5200
Twitter: @marlin_english