Borchers, Lissa
English with Ms. Borchers
Ms. Borchers' Contact Information
Phone: 623-376-3105
Room: C105
Office Hours:
You can find my weekly office hours posted in my classroom. Please contact me to set up an appointment if you need to use office hours, and we will set up a time to meet.
If you are looking to access course readings, power points, documents, and assignment submissions, remember to log in to Canvas! If you have any problems - just let me know! You can use the Canvas app to turn in work, but please remember to use the website, dvusd.instructure.com, to do your discussion boards.
If you have questions about Canvas, check out the Canvas Guides (you can search for your question) or check out the Canvas and iPad Tip and Tricks Handout.
Need to submit something to Canvas, but don't know how? Check out this guide for help: Canvas Submission Guide
If you need more help turning in an assignment through the External Tool, check these out: Power Point Directions / PDF Directions (better if you are on an iPad)
Important Links For You! Power School Login Rio Salado Home Page My.Maricopa
More About Our Classroom
- Class Schedule
- About The Teacher
- AP Research Summer Work (2024-2025)
- Dual Enrollment & Rio Salado Information
- SAT & ACT Information
Class Schedule
About The Teacher
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I began teaching at Hillcrest Middle School as an 8th grade English language arts teacher in 2001 after I graduated with my Bachelors Degree from Northern Arizona University. The following year, I transferred to Mountain Ridge High School and have been teaching a variety of classes at Ridge ever since. In 2005 I received my Masters Degree from Northern Arizona University. I have taught English Language Arts 3-4, English Language Arts 5-6, English Language Arts 7-8, Public Speaking/Communications, Creative Writing, CRW 150, Academic Decathlon, ENH 241/242 and ENH 111/110. I absolutely love teaching and I always thrilled when a new challenge arises.
Currently I am the Canvas liaison on campus.
In addition, I was the assistant swim coach at Mountain Ridge for five years and the head coach of the Mountain Ridge Swim and Dive Team for four years. I also coached the Academic Decathlon team as both the assistant coach and head coach.
In 2008, I was named Deer Valley Teacher of the Year for the 2007-2008 School Year. It was a great honor to be nominated and receive the award. In 2018 I achieved my National Board Certification and I maintained my certification in 2023.
In my free time I am an avid yogi and I practice yoga six days a week. It gives me great balance and gives me a challenge at the beginning of each day. After doing my practice, I am ready to tackle anything the day throws at me.
AP Research Summer Work (2024-2025)
2024-2025 AP Research Summer Project
(PDF Download)
Ms. Lissa Borchers - Email
Welcome to AP Research! This class follows a research framework called QUEST. It mimics the type of research that is expected in many college-level courses. QUEST stands for:
- Question and Explore
- Understand and Analyze
- Evaluate Multiple Perspectives
- Synthesize Ideas
- Transform and Transmit
The Question and Explore phase of AP Research is about identifying issues that interest us, lightly investigating, and posing questions about the issue. Since you will spend a lot of time next year delving deeply into a topic, the last thing you want to do is choose a topic that, ultimately, you really don’t care about. The goal of this summer homework is to expose you to diverse topics you may have never considered otherwise. You are not choosing a final topic, but instead, considering many. Therefore, possibly the most important prep work you can do this summer is to explore and be curious!
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Our summer project is to develop a scrapbook (collection) of questions about 6 different “sources.” Ideas for sources (you are not limited to this list): documentary films, concerts, newspaper or magazine articles, nonprofit organizations, museum exhibits, historical sites, botanical gardens, athletic events, the mall, state and national parks, places of worship, conversations with interesting people, plays, ceremonies, social media, restaurants, podcasts etc. (Try to visit places or do something, but if you can’t, the internet is a helpful resource. For example, I recently saw a TikTok about a café in South Korea where you can drink tea while playing with meerkats, so then I needed to know why meerkats were in South Korea and whether they make good pets and what they eat. You never know what might trigger a desire to do some research.) Prepare one page for each source (you will have six pages total). Include:
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*A discipline is also known as a field of study. The six disciplines that AP Research uses are:
- Art (paintings, sculptures, literature, music, dance, architecture, film, theater): communicates thoughts and emotions in a creative way, uses skill and imagination to form aesthetic products/productions
- Math: uses quantitative interpretation of real world conditions to explain how the universe behaves, creates models and theories that allow even more complex devices to be created
- Social Science (includes economics, psychology, politics, linguistics, anthropology, cultural studies, etc.): studies how humans function individually and as a group/society, including how different circumstances change behaviors
- Physical/Natural Science (also known as Hard Sciences, includes chemistry, biology, physics, environmental science, etc.): tries to explain how the universe (planet) functions and sometimes attempts to solve problems, finds patterns in the natural world
- Humanities: studies how different people experience life, explores the values of different cultures
- History: studies the causes and effects of historical events to help understand times, trends, wars, tensions, social problems, etc.
Six Source Pages are due Friday, Aug. 9 on Canvas. Please contact me with questions!
EXAMPLE!
Note: I am not picky about the format. You can use whatever program you wish to create your scrapbook (Google Slides, Docs, etc.).
Source #1: Yosemite National Park
Explanation: This is one of America’s best known national parks. I’m not truly sure why though – it’s pretty, but other than hiking, you spend most of the day looking for places to park. After visiting, I think I’m more interested in human aspects of the park.
Circumstances: I visited the park in June for three days.
Questions I Thought Of
- Physical/Natural Science: Could the “bear dog” program they have (uses a particular breed of dog to chase off repel nuisance bears from populated areas so they don’t have to be euthanized) be copied and used in urban places in Arizona for nuisance coyotes or bobcats?
- Social Science: What is the ratio of foreigner visitors to American citizens? Follow up: What is the main reason foreign visitors go to the park (what are their expectations)?
- Art: Which famous national park has more published photographs – the Grand Canyon or Yosemite?
- Art/Social Science: How realistic are image searches of Yosemite – are the photographs online accurate, or is the reality of the park a lot more crowded and dirty?
- History: The guide said there are unmarked First American burials all over the valley floor. Is there a record or map of who is there? Is there any value in creating that?
- Social Science: Does their social media presence actually drive visitors to the park, or do they come just because it’s famous?
- Humanities: There’s a law prohibiting the collection of eagle feathers in that area. Does this law impact the traditions of the First American people in the area? Are they or should they be exempt and what is required to prove exemption?
- Physical/Natural Science: Did the larger than normal amount of rainfall this year have any impact on this year’s fire season?
- History: Who is the oldest person buried in the cemetery; how hard is it to get records of this person’s life and death if I wanted to do an ethnography?
Dual Enrollment & Rio Salado Information
Dual Enrollment Registration Information
Need to find out your section number for registration? 20337
Need to Send your Official Transcripts to your College? Click HERE for the information on how to do that and screen shots to help you!
Are you taking a dual enrollment class during the 2024-2025 school year?
If so, there isn't anything you have to do ahead of time. Your dual instructor will go over everything that involves registration during the first few days of class.
Important Rio Salado Dates for Fall 2024:
- August 21st, 2024 - The first purge begins at 5:00pm. Students will be dropped if course(es) is/are not paid for or if a payment plan is not set up. Do know that if purged, students can still add the class on their own until the last date to register.
- September 16th, 2024 - Last date for students to self-enroll in a dual class.
- September 23rd, 2024 - Last purge. All students must be enrolled by this date. Last day for a refund.
Looking for courses and section numbers? Here is what you need: 2024-2025 Mountain Ridge High School Dual Enrollment Course List
*Keep in mind that you will need the course section number(s) in order to register. You will want to ensure you have the correct teacher's name and course when you identify the section number for your registration.
Dual Enrollment Registration Page
Important Dual Enrollment Forms
A few tips and hints:
- Be sure that you (as the student) always have access to your MEID (combination of letters and numbers), your Maricopa Student ID number, and your password for to access your account at maricopa.edu/students! You will need this info for more than registration. There are online Rio resources that you may use in class.
- As you fill out information for college admission and/or registration, pay close attention to ensure that you are properly identifying your county as that affects your tuition cost.
- Don't wait until the last minute. The registration process has several steps and some of the forms can take several days to complete. If you get stuck or are unsure, just ask your instructor for help!
Have issues and need to contact Rio Salado's Dual Enrollment Office? Call 480-517-8080, hours: 8am-5pm
Other Helpful Links:
Access to your Maricopa Community College Center (Your main hub for everything you need!)
Rio Salado's Dual Enrollment Page
Rio Salado Tuition Assistance & Payment Information
Rio Salado's Dual Enrollment FAQ
AZTransfer Course Equivalency Guide Tool
SAT & ACT Information
Juniors should take the ACT or SAT before the end of their junior year.
How to Use the Practice Tests
For the ACT: Each link will take you to the test (answers are at the end of the document). The last link is an example bubble sheet.
For the SAT and PSAT: The first link will take you to the test. The second link will take you to a detailed explanation of each answer. The third link will show you how to score the test and give you the answers (just the letter, no explanation).
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ACT Practice Tests
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SAT Practice Tests