Mr. Porter's Class -- Poetry Unit December 2008

Upcoming schedule – Important Dates!

Friday, December 12, 2008 – Written work due: Submit a second draft of your best poem. This will also be the day of your Poetry Performances.

Thursday, December 18, 2008 – Written work due: Submit a two copies of your third and final draft of your best poem, typed. One copy should have your name on it, the other should have NO NAME. This will also be the day of your Poetry Test.

Fri December 19 or Mon December 22, 2008 – This will be the days we will be playing "Poetry Survivor" and evaluating the work of your peers to pick our Top 12 poems for inclusion in our Anthology.

Tues Dec 23, 2008 – Awards & distribution of our Anthology.

Freshmen -- Homework due Wed 11/26

5th Write one bad poem using either The Builders, Grass or Southbound on the Freeway as your model.

7th Write one bad poem using Theme for English B as your model.

7th period Freshmen -- Write 1 bad poem using The Builders, The Grass, or Southbound on the Freeway as your model.

1st & 8th period Juniors -- Write 1 bad poem inspired by Song of Myself in which you list all of the different ways that YOU ARE AWESOME!!! Due Wednesday.

Freshmen -- write one bad poem. Find a sentence or paragraph in your notebook or in an essay you wrote, and re-organize it into lines & stanzas.

Juniors -- On The Road Essay test on Friday 11/21

Freshmen: 5th period should be up to Ch 9 by Tues. 7th period should be up to Ch 8 by Tues.

You can re-write your essay from the Odyssey test for 2 extra credit points toward the test grade.

Junior -- Read part 1 of On The Road & post to the blog.

Freshmen -- Read & analyze Ch 5 &6 of Animal Farm.

Freshmen -- Due Mon 11/3 Read & analyze Ch 3-4 of Animal Farm

Freshmen -- 5th period Read & analyze Ch 1 of Animal Farm. 7th period is on to Ch 2.

Juniors -- Bodega Dreams test on Friday 10/31 (Happy Halloween)

Juniors -- Read & analyze Bodega, II, 9-10

5th period Freshmen -- Study for your Odyssey test tomorrow.

Juniors -- Read & analyze Bodega, II 7-8

Freshmen -- Complete the Odyssey review sheet.
Juniors -- Read & analyze Bodega II, 6-7

Juniors -- Read & analyze Book II, Ch 3-4 of Bodega Dreams

Freshmen -- Due Friday 10/17 p 881 Questions 1-15

Juniors -- Read & analyze Chs 8-9 of Bodega

Freshmen -- Due Tues 10/14 -- 2nd drafts of summer reading essays

Juniors -- Read & analyze Ch 4-5 of Bodega Dreams.

Freshmen -- Quiz tomorrow on the Trojan War and Odysseus' journeys.

Juniors -- Read & analyze Ch 1-3 of Bodega Dreams. Revised drafts of your summer reading essays.

Freshmen -- Due Monday. Complete 10 of the 15 questions on p 846 (Your choice)

Juniors -- Due next class meeting (Monday or Tues) Summer reading essay re-writes

American Lit Juniors -- Gatsby test tomorrow, Thurs 10/2

Juniors -- Answer 4 of the 8 questions on the "Gatsby Themes" handout
Freshmen -- Read to the end of Odysseus' Cyclops adventure, to p 828 in your textbook.

Juniors -- Read & Analyze Ch 9 of Gatsby (the end!)

8th period Juniors -- Read & analyze Gatsby Ch 8

Freshmen Period 5 -- Read Part 1, An Invocation on p. 813-814 of The Odyssey

Juniors -- Read & analyze Ch 7 of Gatsby

Juniors -- Read & analyze Gatsby Ch 5

All classes -- Bring in your summer reading materials tomorrow (3 pages of notes)

Juniors -- Read & analyze Ch 4 of Gatsby.
Freshmen in period 5 -- Finish the Trojan War Packet.

All classes -- bring your summer reading materials to class on Thursday.

Juniors -- Read & Analyze Ch 3 of Gatsby
Freshmen -- Read to p. 200 in the Trojan War packet (& watch the movie Troy on AMC, Mon 9/15 at 8pm)

American Lit Classes -- Read & Analyze Ch2 of Gatsby
Freshmen 5 -- Read to p 89 in the Trojan War Packet

American Lit classes -- Read & analyze Ch 1 of The Great Gatsby

Am Lit -- Mini-essay interpreting "Young Goodman Brown" Per 8 class due Tues 9/9. Per 1 class due Wed 9/10

Found World Lit 7 -- Answer questions on the Skube article. Due Tues 9/9.

Found World Lit 5&7 -- Quiz on the vocab in the Skube article Wed 9/10.

Am Lit 1 -- Read "Young Goodman Brown" by Hawthorne & answer 4 questions. Due Mon 9/8
Am Lit 8 -- Read "Young Goodman Brown" by Hawthorne & answer 4 questions. Due Mon 9/8

Found World Lit 5 -- Answer the questions on the Skube article given out in class

Freshmen: MEMORIZE your lines for your Romeo & Juliet scene. Bring in any props or background material. Also, 4th mp extra credit essays on Romeo & Juliet are due tomorrow, 6/13!

Freshmen: Memorize your lines for our Romeo & Juliet performances!

Freshmen: Romeo & Juliet Test tomorrow (Fri 6/6)

Homework Schedule for The Awakening by Kate Chopin
6/2 p. 1-25
6/3 p. 25-51
6/4 p. 52 – 76
6/5 p. 77 – 97
6/6-8 p. 98 – 122
6/9 p. 123 – 143
6/10 p. 144 – 166
6/11 p. 167 – 185
6/12 p. 185 to end

Homework for Freshmen: Prepare your Romeo & Juliet solo recitation!

Homework due Wed 5/28:
Freshmen: Do 10 of the 15 (your choice) questions at the end of Act V of Romeo & Juliet
Juniors: First draft of your extended writing project

Homework due Fri 5/23:
Freshmen in my 1st period class: answer the 8 Act IV questions on p. 674
Juniors: Quiz on this week's reading in The Bluest Eye

Homework due Thurs 5/21:
Freshmen in my 1st period class: Edit the Friar's speech down to 50 words (handout)
Juniors: read the next section of The Bluest Eye (see page #'s below)

Homework due Wed 5/21
Freshmen periods 5/6 & 7/8: Romeo & Juliet Act IV questions #1-8 in textbook

Homework due Tues 5/20:
Freshmen 5/6 & 7/8: Edit the Friar's Speech from Act IV Scene 1 down to 50 words.
Juniors: Read to p. 163 of The Bluest Eye

Homework due Mon 5/19
Freshmen: Romeo & Juliet Act III questions, p 658, #1-10

Homework due Mon 5/11
Juniors: Analysis of 2 models/influences for your writing project
Freshmen: Quiz on Acts I & II of Romeo & Juliet

Juniors: Homework schedule for The Bluest Eye
Before class on Thurs 5/8 – pp. 1-32
Before class on Tues 5/13 – pp. 33- 58
Before class on Thurs 5/15 – pp. 59 – 93
Before class on Tues 5/20 – pp. 94 – 163
Before class on Thurs 5/22 – pp. 164 – 183
Before class on Thurs 5/28 – complete the novel.

Stay on the schedule regardless of days absent or other interruptions of our normal class schedule. Please bring your novel to class on Tuesdays & Thursdays when we will complete study guides for those sections.

Be ready for a quiz each Friday on the assigned reading for that week.

First quiz is tomorrow Friday 5/9 !

Homework due Fri 5/9
Freshmen: answer the Act II Questions #1-8 on p 629 in your textbook.
Quiz on Acts I& II of R+J on Monday.

Homework due Thur 5/8
Juniors: Read to p. 32 of The Bluest Eye

Homework due Thurs 5/1:
Freshmen: Act I questions #1-10 on p. 606

Homework due Wed 4/30:

Freshmen: Complete the handout on R+J’s first conversation.

Juniors: Re-write your Death of a Salesman essay; turn in your first draft, evaluation sheet and second draft.

Homework due Tues April 29:

Freshmen: Read R+J to the bottom of p. 599 (the end of Act I Scene 5).
Complete the “Love Connection” hand out.

Juniors: Death of a Salesman essays

Homework due Tues, April 29:
Juniors: Death of a Salesman essays. Topic: Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading of Death of a Salesman.

Homework due Wed 4/16
Juniors: Writing from the perspective of the character you will be playing: What did you do on the day before the play started? What do you want? What are you afraid of?

Homework due Tues 4/15
Juniors: Tell me what scene, what pages you will be performing from Death of a Salesman on Friday, plus whether you will be working with a group

Homework due Mon 4/13:
Juniors: Complete Act I of Death of a Salesman. Answer the questions on the study guide (the one we were working on in class). For 11th period, also read the excerpt from Arthur Miller's autobiography Timebends.

Homework due Fri 4/11
Juniors: Read the excerpt from Miller's autobiography Timebends explaining who & what inspired the character of Willy Loman.

Homework due 4/9/08
Freshmen: Shakespeare Survey -- survey at least 3 adults.
Juniors: Complete the "Tragedy in America" handout re: Death of a Salesman

Homework due Monday 4/7

Extra credit essays.

Homework due Fri 4/4

Freshmen: Study for tomorrow's open book test on Our Town by Thornton Wilder.

Juniors: Make sure your Grapes of Wrath websites are complete and ready to be reviewed by the class.

Homework due Thursday 4/3:
Freshmen: Complete the Act III study guide questions for Our Town in your packet.

Homework due Friday 4/4:
Juniors: Have your Grapes of Wrath website completed and ready to be unveiled to the class.

Project due Thursday for Juniors:

Grapes of Wrath website designs.

Homework due Monday 3/31

Juniors: The Grapes of Wrath. Review Chapters 28 thru 30. Choose a passage that you feel illustrates a major theme of the novel. In a short paragraph, explain the theme and how this passage relates. Then find a second passage that you feel illustrates a minor, secondary theme or motif of the novel. Again, write short paragraph explaining your thoughts. Be sure to clearly identify the passages you are discussing – cite the page #s. Be prepared to share, discuss, argue and turn in your two paragraphs on Monday.

Freshmen: Our Town. Finish reading Act II. Complete the study guide questions for Act II in your packet.

Homework due Wed 3/26:

Freshmen: Finish reading Act I of Our Town. Complete the study guide questions in your Our Town packet.

Homework due Fri 3/7

Freshmen: Complete the 10 multiple choice & 1 open-ended question at the end of "The Wife's Story" by Ursula Le Guinn

Reading schedule for Juniors in Porter's American Lit: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

2/15-17 Read Ch 1-3
2/19 Ch 4,5
2/20 Ch 6
2/21 Ch 7,8
2/22-24 Ch 9,10
2/25 Ch 11,12
2/26 Ch 13
2/27 Ch 14 – 15
3/3 Ch 16 to break
3/4 Ch 16, 17
3/5 Ch 18 to break
3/6 Ch 18, 19
3/7-9 Ch 20 to where other mother confronts Ma over soup
3/10 Ch 20, 21
3/14-16 Ch 22 to 407
3/17 Ch 22, 23
3/18 Ch 24,25
3/19 Ch 26 to break
3/20 Ch 26
3/26 Ch 27, 28
3/27 Ch 29, 30

Homework due Tues 2/19 --

Juniors: Read Ch 1-3 of The Grapes of Wrath

Homework for Juniors:

Re-write your essay on Of Mice & Men. Final draft due Monday!

Homework schedule for Mr. Porter's Freshmen reading John Steinbeck's The Pearl


Feb 4 Ch. 1
2/5 Ch. 2
2/6 Ch. 3 to p. 29
2/7 Finish Ch. 3
2/8-10 Ch. 4
2/11 Ch. 5
2/12 Ch. 6 to p. 82
2/13 Complete the novel
2/14 -19 No school -- long President's Day Weekend
2/19 Discussion & Review
2/20 Test (tentative)

American Lit Homework for Juniors:

Read Of Mice & Men by Thursday 2/7 when you will have an essay test on Steinbeck's novel.

Homework due Tues 1/22

Juniors: Extra credit essay for The Things They Carried

Homework due Fri 1/17

Freshmen -- Speak extra credit essays

Freshmen -- Homework due Thurs 1/17
Speak Creative Projects

Homework schedule for Juniors reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien:

1/4 - 6 p. 1-38
1/7 p. 39-66
1/8 p. 66-88
1/9 p.89-116
1/10 p.117-136
1/11-13 p. 137-161
1/14 p. 162-180
1/15 p. 181-188
1/16 p. 189-218
1/17 p. 219-end

Instructions for completing homework: Read the assigned passages on the night indicated. After you have completed your reading, you have six options:

Write a summary of what you just read.
Pick a character and write an evaluation of what he or she did; do you agree/ understand their actions? Would you have done the same thing?
Compare what you just read to something that happened in your own life.
Compare what you just read to another book that you read.
Illustrate a scene from what you just read and write one complete sentence explaining your illustration.
Take a 3 question quiz the next day in class.

Homework will be graded with a check, a check plus, a check minus, or a zero.
Stay on the schedule regardless of days absent or other interruptions of our normal class schedule. Please bring your novel to class every day as we will be reading from it and doing activities based on certain passages from time to time.

Homework schedule for Freshmen: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

1/2 p. 3-24
1/3 p. 24-46
1/4-6 p. 49-68
1/7 p. 69-92
1/8 p. 95-118
1/9 p. 118-137
1/10 p. 141-165
1/11-13 p. 165 - end

Instructions for completing homework: Read the assigned chapter(s) on the night indicated. After you have completed your reading, you have six options:

Write a summary of what you just read.
Pick a character and write an evaluation of what he or she did; do you agree/ understand their actions? Would you have done the same thing?
Compare what you just read to something that happened in your own life.
Compare what you just read to another book that you read.
Illustrate a scene from what you just read and write one complete sentence explaining your illustration.
Take a 3 question quiz the next day in class.

All homework will be graded with a check, a check plus, a check minus, or a zero.

Stay on schedule regardless of days absent or other interruptions in our normal schedule. Bring your book to class each day.

Tentatively, our test on Speak will be Thurs 1/17.

Homework due Thurs 1/3
Juniors: Read the assigned section of The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien and create a study guide for it.