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.

Assignment for Monday, October 6

In 50 Essays, read and annotate John Jeremiah Sullivan, "Feet in Smoke" and Jonathan Lethem, "13, 1977, 21." Read the Sullivan essay first (Lethem's essay is . . . stranger, so read it second), and write a one-page rhetorical analysis of each essay. (Yes, that directive is purposely vague.) Email this assignment to me at mrmontasmph@gmail.com.

Model Student Research Papers

Linked below are some model research papers by high school and college students. Not all of them are as long as yours will be, nor do they all touch on the range of topics that you are writing about. Most of these emerged from pure research interests and do not have a project component, as most of yours do. Nevertheless, it will be helpful to look at these papers as the outcomes of the same kinds of research processes you are engaged in.

Effects of Food Deprivation on Concentration and Perseverance (APA; 12 pages)
The Origins of 20th Century Islamic Fundamentalism (Chicago; 30 pages)
Toward a Recovery of Nineteenth Century Farming Handbooks (MLA; 11 pages)
Adaptive Manipulation of Offspring Sex Ratio as a Means of Ameliorating Sexual Conflict in Drosophila Melanogaster (APA; 28 pages)
Developmental Psychology Paper (APA; 19 pages)
Lollard Bible Translation (Chicago; 17 pages)
Promoting Renewable Energy Generation in the United States (23 pages)
Music Education: Its Importance and Place in Today's Education System (APA; 24 pages)
Governance, Club Structure, and Spending Power in the German Bundesliga (Chicago; 24 pages)

For those of you who are going to El Salvador, you might also be interested in the work of these students. You won't be able to see all of these papers, but some are available, and you can see the titles and abstracts.

For more student research papers, visit these sites at Yale, University of Puget Sound, University of Michigan, Virginia Commonwealth University, Columbia (science or sustainable development), The Concord Review, W. W. Norton (publisher), and The Council on Undergraduate Research.

Assignment for Friday, Sept. 26

Finish writing the research prospectus, for which the instructions are posted to the right. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me.

Bring 50 Essays to class. We will finish working on the Audre Lorde essay "Fourth of July." Also, we will look at some model student research essays in class.

Assignment for Tuesday, September 23

Complete the Action Plan you started in class on Friday. (If you weren't in class, the directions are posted to the right.) You should email this to me at mrmontasmph@gmail.com with the subject line "Action Plan," but print out a copy for Mrs. Neuner. (Bring the printed copy to class; I'll give it to her.) Also, bring 50 Essays to class. If you finish the Action Plan early, you might want to start working on the Research Prospectus, which is also posted to the right. That will be due on Friday, September 26 (which is our last class until October 6).

The Mentor Commitment Letter, which is also due Sept. 23, is posted to the right, and it is also available here.

Assignment for Wednesday, Sept. 17

Print out and have a parent sign the permission form posted to the right. I need it by Thursday. Thanks.