Final Portfolios Due by 12 noon

Today, student semester portfolios are due. This document includes all your work for the semester. It is arranged according to the guidelines stipulated in the check-list.

Make sure the document is easy to read, that is, all essays are to start on their own page(s). Cover sheets between sections help, but are not necessary. Make sure the final drafts are posted first followed by the previous graded drafts.

Include grades on the checklist and notes for me, for instance, "final draft included, but not read."

If you submit a graded assignment from another course, include the prompt for the assignment and the grade and anything I need to know to understand the context.

For those students who missed the Portfolio Workshop, look for a response from me. I am asking students who attended the Workshop to mentor or model the correct way to submit the final portfolio for me. If you know someone who attended, seek them out.  

I have been around all week. My grades are due Friday, Dec. 20. I will be grading the portfolios next week. I will send you your final grades which will not be available until Jan. 3, 2014 I believe at the District.

Have a great Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. It was great meeting all of you. Good luck and much success in all your pursuits which bring joy to your hearts and make the world brighter because you are in it.

Next semester I am teaching an on-line English 1A, a short term English 1B, a Hybrid-English 1A and a Saturday, English 1A. In the English 1A classes, the topic or theme is Happiness. I will be using 50 Essays, Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project, Hacker's Rules for Writers and They Say, I Say.

In the English 1A on-line class, I might do a few things differently. I am not certain yet. Maybe not (smile).

In the English 1B we will read the historic novel Sugaree Rising by local novelist, J. Douglas Allen-Taylor and/or Virgin Soul by Laney College Professor Judy Juanita; Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, along with other poetry, the play, I and You by San Francisco resident Lauren Gunderson, I am looking at 40 Short Stories by Beverly Lawn and perhaps The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (I am looking for a play where there is a film version). Any favorites? We will use the No Fear Shakespeare publication.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-merchant-of-venice-no-fear-shakespeare-series-william-shakespeare/1104989360?cm_mmc=googlepla-_-book_5to14-_-q000000633-_-9781586638504&cm_mmca2=pla&ean=9781586638504&isbn=9781586638504&r=1

The Merchant was recently performed by men at San Quentin State Prison. They did a marvelous job, then wrote a play using this one as a frame to talk about their lives.

Students will have to attend a play and one other literary event for credit in this class. I will propose field-trips but if no one can attend with me or cares for my recommendations, the assignment still holds (smile).

Out textbook for English 1B is Writing about Literature Second Edition by Janet Gardner with the 2009 Updated MLA
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/writing-about-literature-with-2009-mla-update-janet-e-gardner/1100925024?cm_mmc=googlepla-_-textbook_instock_under26_pt109-_-q000000633-_-9780312607579&cm_mmca2=pla&ean=9780312607579&isbn=9780312607579&r=1