You are asked to keep a portfolio/notebook of your work in class.  The physical portfolio is a three-ring binder divided into 5 sections – your class handouts and curriculum; your class notes; the Reader’s Journal; homework and group work (including group notes, presentation work, and assignments); and self and class evaluations.  As well, I want you to have a First Page that includes each classroom and group assignment (in order) and the due date.  The portfolio will be one of our most important evaluative devices in the classroom; therefore, it should be well maintained and kept up-to-date.  In order, the following paragraphs describe the content of your portfolio:

THE FIRST PAGE: At the very beginning of the portfolio, I want you to keep one page on which you note each class and group assignment made throughout the year.  This will help you keep track of your assignment s and time.

1) YOUR CLASS HANDOUTS AND CURRICULUM: In this section of the portfolio, please keep anything that I might hand out in class (and I hand out a lot).  This includes course information (like this handout), course curriculum, background and lecture information outlines given to you, as well as any other course information you will need to refer to on a regular basis.

2) YOUR CLASS NOTES: I feel strongly that class notes are an invaluable part of your learning experience.  What we discuss in class, the background information that I give to you in lecture, informal discussions with your classmates in group, etc. are all a part of your education.  Taking notes helps you to stay on task, to organize the raw information we deliver in class, and to provide to with a valuable resource from which you can draw ideas and observations.  Keeping in mind that notes are a personal record of our discussions, I would like to suggest that you keep two forms of your notes in this section.  The first area is raw data from the lectures and discussions, information noted as it occurs in the order that it occurs without thinking too much about where it all fits in in both your short and long term understanding of the material.  The second area is more reflective and asks that you review your raw notes and make some connections between them and between what happened today (for example) and what else has transpired in class.  Many of the observations and connections you will make here are similar to those you will make in your Reader’s Journal (next area below).  I might suggest that you set up your notes using two columns, one on the left for raw material and one on the right for observations, questions and connections.  (At least through the first quarter I will expect this type of organization.)

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3) THE READER’S JOURNAL: When you are assigned and read information for the class (from the text, novels, or additional resources), I ask that you keep a log of your reading in what we call a Reader’s Journal.  The Reader’s Journal can include any of the following:

a.    Listing of actions or events in a plot sequence

b.    Answering prepared questions

c.    Writing questions about puzzling passages

d.    Predicting what comes next

e.    Copying and commenting on favorite passages

·   Its relevance to its historical context

·   Its relevance to the present

·   Its relevance to the author’s life

f.   Making personal responses

g.    Responding to the most important word, sentence or passage

h.    Associating personal experiences

i.   Expressing identification with characters

·   What do you think of the main characters?

·   What similarities/differences are there among the characters?

·   What are the values of the characters? Analyzing an aspect of the work

·   Style, characterization, plot, theme, setting, meanings of selected quotations, etc.

·   justifying the selection of specific words, passages, lines, sentences, etc. in a piece of work

j.   Giving unguided response - “anything you like”

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k.    Reflecting on the reading

·   Times when your reading changes

·   You see something you didn’t see before.

·   You recognize a pattern - the images start to overlap, gestures or phrases recur, some details seem associated with each other.

·   The story suddenly seems to you to be about something different from what you thought.

·   The writer introduces a new context or new perspective.

·   Times when you are surprised or puzzled

·   Something just doesn’t fit.

·   Things don’t make sense - pose explicitly the question or problem that occurs to you.

·   Details that seem important and that make you look again

·   Way in which the story makes you speculate about life

·   Your first impression of the ending - what “ended?

l.   Reflecting on the course

·   Have your own personal reading interests changed?

·   At what moment(s) during the reading of a particular text did you find your own values or attitudes most challenged?

·   Have you changed your attitudes or values based on anything we have read?

·   What have you learned about reading literature?

You should write something about everything we read.  It should be written while you are reading or right after you have finished; the value of your comments go down with the time between the reading and the writing.  The Reader’s Journal may substitute for a quiz in class on the reading, so you must have it with you every day.  You are not expected to write on everything above - your entries should, however, be complete.  Nevertheless, you should keep in mind that I am looking for the Reader’s Journal to show me (and you) that you do think while you read.  Be sure to include analytical comments along with the more personal ones.

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4) HOMEWORK AND GROUP NOTES AND ASSIGNMENTS: In this section of the portfolio, I would like you to keep the raw data from any specific homework assignments, group work (including research, meeting notes, presentation material, and raw data), long-term assignments (all research, drafts, outlines, notes, etc), etc. that we do in class.  This is the working area of your portfolio.  In this section, I should be able to see the process of your thinking and work in class.  DO NOT THROW ANYTHING AWAY; put it in this section.  NOTE: When writing a paper or homework on the computer, please print out a draft every now and then to correct, revise, and include in this section.  For any “long term” assignment, I will expect to see all the work (and sweat) that went into the final product.

5) SELF AND CLASS EVALUATIONS: Occasionally, I will give you structured time in class to write down your thoughts on your own learning experience, my teaching, and the class in general.  However, this does not preclude the option you have to enter personal observations of this sort at any time throughout the year.  What you see happening to you and happening in the class is most valuable to both of us.  I will provide some ideas and formats here if you wish.

Your portfolio will be evaluated using the rubric here.

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