Portfolio Contents

You should (theoretically) have all of the following in your final portfolio. Please turn it in on the last day of class with your revision essay inside.

Reader Responses:
1 - "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver
2 - "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
3 - "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joyce Carol Oates
4 - " A Goodman is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor
5 - "Stop all the clocks" by W. H. Auden
6 - "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning
7 -The Glass Menagerie by Tennesse Williams
8 - A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Research Assignments:
1 - Literary Terms
2 - Graphic Novel
3 - Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (this will NOT be in your portfolio since you are to e-mail it to me after our last class)

Analytical Essays:
1 - Short Story
2 - Poetry
3- Drama
4 - Revision & Research

Research Assignment 3 - Twelfth Night

Directions: Look up some informal or formal research on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. This can be Cliff Notes, Sparknotes, other websites or more reliable sources such as journal articles or books. Use this research to inform your understanding of the play. DO NOT SUMMARIZE. Write a 2 page, reader response style paper on the play. How did the research you conducted help you to understand the main idea or smaller themes in the play? What do you think a reader could take away from this play concerning gender roles? Love? Etc? Write about anything of your choice but it must be insightful and not simply a summary. You need to thoroughly explain all of your comments. I.E. Don't just say you liked something, but explain why you liked it or disliked it as well.

Include a citation for your source. E-mail this assignment to me by Saturday, May 1st at midnight.

Reader Response - A Raisin in the Sun

Directions: By now you should know what is expected of you in terms of Reader Responses. Write a response to A Raisin in the Sun about whatever ideas or issues you choose to. Remember that this response should be insightful and illuminate something about the text that is not obvious or part of a general summary. If you choose to use phrases such as "I like/dislike" or similar personal reaction responses, make sure you explain more of the significance in these examples. What do you think it all means? What might be the larger idea behind it? Refer back to the Auden Student Writing example if you need an example of a useful and insightful Reader Response. Write at least one page.

Reader Response: The Glass Menagerie

Directions: Compare and contrast this play with the traditional story of Cinderella we discussed in class. What do you gain by viewing this story as a Cinderella narrative? What do the differences show about the attitudes of individuals during this time? Have attitudes changed? Have the times changed?

Visual Rhetoric - Molly Bang

Directions: Using only scissors, glue, and multi-colored construction paper or the Paint program on a computer, represent a situation that evokes a strong emotion. For example, snake(s), shark(s), rat(s), spider(s) attacking a victim [fear, danger]; a parent and child [love, happiness]; people dancing [joy]; a child giving food to animal(s) [love, friendship, kindness]; a person trapped in a cage/dungeon/flaming forest [fear, danger]; a person triumphant upon conquering a bear/finny/mountain [joy, happiness].

Use Molly Bang's principles on building a picture that we discussed using her book, Picture This: How Pictures Work. Remember that you are only creating an image using shapes and different colors. Do not include fine details, lines, dots, etc. You will be briefly presenting your picture in class on the day due. If you do not have color ink to print your image out, make sure you email it to me well before class so I can bring it up on the overhead projector.

Reader Response - Browning's "My Last Duchess"

Robert Browning's narrator (which should not be mistaken as Browning himself) is a rather unpleasant fellow. As he discusses the dowry for his future bride to an emissary, they stop in front of a portrait of his late duchess and the narrator reminisces about her.

Directions: How does the speaker reveal his true character through his monologue on the last duchess? Use at least 2 quotes from the text to back up your views. Make sure you fully explain the significance of the quotes. Remember that if we as readers thought the quotes could stand on their own without explanation, then we would not need you to play the role of the critic and point them out.

Reader Response - Auden's "Stop all the clocks"

Directions: After reading both the poem by W. H. Auden entitled "Stop all the clocks" and the Student Writing example that follows, discuss the student's interpretation of the poem in light of your reading of the poem and what you agreed with (or what you at least saw was a valid argument). Pick at least one specific example from the student piece and quote it in your argument. Feel free to comment on any other positive aspects of the essay.

Lastly, pick two aspects of the response that you would improve. These could be mechanical, stylistic, or argumentative choices. State why you would change these things and how your view of the essay would change for the better if these suggestions were implimented. (i.e. You will be proofreading/editing the paper as you would for a peer edit session. Try to steer away from minor spelling or grammar errors.)

Each part of this response should be roughly a paragraph in length.