Assignments for Tuesday, November 4, and Monday, Nov. 10

Read and annotate to p. 54 in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson.

If you want to attend the Syracuse Stage performance of The Piano Lesson on Wednesday, November 5, at 7:30 p.m., please bring $15 to school on Monday, and turn in the permission form posted to the right.

You will have to finish reading The Piano Lesson by Monday, November 10. You do not have anything to write.

Assignment for Monday, October 27

By the end of class on Monday, you'll need email me seven entries for the annotated bibliography, but you won't have the whole class to work on it. For part of the class, you will work in your writing groups  to get feedback on the entries you've written so far. Also, we will begin reading August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. 

Assignment for Thursday, Oct. 23

By the end of class, complete at least four entries for your annotated bibliography. Email those entries to me at mrmontasmph@gmail.com. During class on Thursday, you may work on the annotated bibliography, or you may work on your college essays. 

Assignment for Tuesday, Oct.21

The narrative essay is due on Tuesday. In class, you will begin working on the annotated bibliography, which is posted to the right. We will continue with the writing conferences while you work on the annotated bibliography. Bring some of your sources (two to four) to class.

Assignment for Friday, Oct. 17

Email to me (mrmontasmph@gmail.com) at least two pages of your narrative essay. This is just to make sure you are making progress on the essay. We will, at last, begin the writing conferences tomorrow, some come prepared to continue to write the essay in class while I meet individually with students.

For Wednesday, Oct. 15

You can begin writing the narrative essay (topics are posted to the right). During class, I will begin the student conferences. If you have a laptop that you can bring to school, please do bring it. I will have laptops available for anyone else who needs one. During Wednesday's and Friday's classes, I will meet with students about their writing; if I am not meeting with you, you should be writing the narrative essay.

Assignment for Friday, Oct. 10

My scanner has not been cooperating this evening so, first, sorry for the delay, and second, here are links to (rather than PDF's of) the essays you need to read for Friday. Answer the questions below the links; a well-developed paragraph in response to each question is sufficient.

Joan Didion, "On Keeping a Notebook"
Eula Biss, "Notes from No Man's Land"

What is Didion trying to persuade the reader of, and is she persuasive? Support your response with evidence from the text.

What is Biss trying to persuade the reader of, and is she persuasive? Support your response with evidence from the text.

Assignment for Wednesday, Oct. 8

In 50 Essays, read and annotate James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" (pp. 50-70). Answer two of the following questions on p. 71: numbers 1, 2, and 4.