WELCOME TO TRAVIS FINLAYSON'S ENGLISH PAGE!

Last Updated 6/15/99

I. Initial Portfolio Production Unit:

My Introduction

My Anotated Reading List

Journals:
My first Journal Response to The Catcher in the Rye

First Response to The Hobbit

First Response to Huckleberry Finn

My Personal Narrative

II. Research Paper:

My analytical essay about Stranger in a Strange Land

III. "My Name is Asher Lev":

My short story of a minority

A free write about evil

Independent Reading Journals:

My Anne Frank Journals

My Prince Ombra Journals

IV. The Crucible/ Oedipus:

My drama: Dead Man in a Hotel

Modern Translation of Oedipus

V. Julius Caesar:

Journals:

Globe Theater

Theater Company

Caesar in Alps

Modern Day Comparison of "Julius Caesar"

VI. Final Portfolio Phase:

Reflection of Year

Letter to Mr. Luizzi

Letter to next year's teacher


LISTEN TO SOME DAVID BOWIE
Ashes to Ashes
Changes
Cat People
Dancing In the Street(David Bowie and Mick Jagger)
Diamond Dogs
Hang Onto Yourself
Jean Genie
Let's Dance
Life On Mars
The Man Who Sold the World
Modern Love
Moonage Daydream
Rebel Rebel
Space Oddity
Starman
Suffraget City
This Isn't America
Under Pressure
Warzawa
Ziggy Stardust


The name is Finlayson, Travis Finlayson, and I am currently enrolled in an Honors II English class with Mr. Luizzi as a teacher. When I signed up for Honors English II I envisioned a class that would be a little more work to do than in than past English classes. What I am getting is a class that is more difficult, more challenging, and more work. We have to read many novels, have intellectual discussions, and write a whole heck of a lot.This is a nice change for me. In the past I have had a history of not working as hard as I should have been, but In Honors II it will take a little more effort on my part to accomplish my tasks effectively. I have never been very enthusiastic in the past about school. This year though it will take more than a couple minutes of work a night to get the wanted A. I am willing to safrifice my time though to get to that point.

If I wasn't intelligent I wouldn't have been recommended for Honors English. The reason is that I haven't tried enough in the past and I have relied on my smarts to squeeze by. That isn't happening this year though. Not only in English, but in all of my classes, I have been working harder to acheive my goal of getting straight A's. Though grades don't mean everything in school, they are important to me because if I get a B it means that I didn't try hard enough.

Besides a good grade I hope to do well in each of the aspects of English: reading, writing, listening, viewing, and speaking. I enjoy reading books, but I haven't been able to read many lately do to the fact that I have a very busy schedule. This year, though, more books are required for the student to read so I will have more of an oppertunity to pick up some good literature.

One aspect of English I need a little work on is my listening. Sometimes I will be figiting while the teacher hands out directions or assigns work. I feel that I can easily improve on this just by paying more attention to the teacher and not talking to my friends in class. If I improve on my listening then it will also help me to take in more information as well.

As you can probably see, my writing isn't the best. As time goes on though I feel that my writing will get better through continuous practice. In my class with Mr. Luizzi I am writing more as we get many writing assignments, similar to the introduction I am writing now.

English this year looks promising for me and I think I am going to have fun in the process. And if you ever get Mr. Luizzi as a teacher, than you should be happy too. He is the coolest English teacher I have ever had.

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Anotated Reading List