PORTFOLIO ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS

Be sure you look closely at the specific requirements and assessment scale for the Portfolio. These should follow essay format, and have ample direct quotes for textual support.

1. This Portfolio entry is designed to get you acquainted with the cd rom, Ariel, and provide you with additional insight into a literary “Great.” Choose one of the authors featured on Ariel, summarize (without plagiarizing) his/her life in no more than a paragraph or two, and then select one of the “essay questions” for that author and respond to it. Your response to the essay question should make up the bulk of this portfolio entry. This will also most likely require you to read and analyze one or more of his/her works, so be sure to support your response with textual evidence from the literature. Please be sure to include the exact essay question you are responding to in your entry. I can’t grade it without knowing this, as there are so many different possibilities to choose from, and should you forget to do this, you will take a “0” on the entry.

2. This entry asks you to respond emotionally to a poem and make a personal connection. Choose a poem from our text that was not assigned reading and explain how this poem made you feel something very positive or negative. Relate it specifically to an aspect of your life and frame your explanation in a letter to the poet. Be sure to reference examples from the poem you select that demonstrate your understanding of the poem, and link them to your response.

3. Under “Authors” click on “Kate Chopin” and read the “Critical Essay: An Overview of the ‘Story of an Hour,’” by Jennifer Hicks, on your Ariel CD Rom that accompanies your text. Choose at least three central points she makes in her critical analysis and summarize them, drawing textual support from the critical essay.

4. Do a little online research (Google is probably the best search engine) of your own, and visit at least three different sites. What additional information did you gain? What did you find interesting about these sites? Be sure to include the URL address and name of each site you visit, and summarize your added insights in your own words.

5. Valdez tells us very little about the set he has in mind for “Los Vendidos.” Imagine it is your job to construct that set and to assemble the props. What would the finished set look like? Describe it in detail, and indicate what props you would choose. How would the stage set and choice of props reflect your interpretation of the play? *Do not provide indications regarding costuming.

6. Go see a live performance of a play over the course of the semester and write a “Review” of that play. In other words, indicate whether it was a good performance or not, and be sure to reference specific elements of the performance to support your review. You might address such things as: lighting, costumes, set design, acting, etc. Be sure you don’t simply summarize the plot of the play, but analyze the performance. It doesn’t have to be an on-campus production, but must at least be a college or professional caliber play. Be sure to include your ticket stub with your review. Please sign this entry at the bottom if you are comfortable with granting me permission to share your Review with a colleague in the Speech/Theatre department, and perhaps having part or all of it published in a campus news source.