EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES
This is an opportunity to learn more about something of interest and share your knowledge with others. The work you hand in can be shared with your classmates: as a posted paper, or read in class or made into a page on this web site. The preferred form of this is on a computer disk. Then a file could be made for the web site.
Extra credit is not primarily for those struggling. It does not make sense for those having difficulty getting the basics of the course to take on extra work. If a student has trouble learning and doing well on his work, he needs to consult the teacher for help and guidance.
If you do this you should do this because you want to learn more. It will be a lot of work for a few points. But you can learn more about an area of great interest, and you can help your classmates learn more.
All extra credit
- must be approved by the teacher beforehand--
and must be approved by the sixth week of the quarter at the latest.
- is due one week before exams start.
- requires a clear agreement about what is to be done and how many points will be awarded.
Only one extra credit per quarter.
Short Research Paper
Make sure you get and follow guidelines.
1. Do a short reasearch paper on one of these important persons or events in the history of Christianity:
• Martin Luther • Deitrich Bonhoeffer • Pope John XXIII
• Pope John Paul II • Dorothy Day • Mother Theresa
2. Do a short reasearch paper on one of these important events or events in the history of Christianity:
• Council of Nicea • The Protestant Reformation • The Council of Trent • Vatican II
• The Crusades • The Inquisition • The Holocaust
3. Do a short reasearch paper on one of these important recent documents of the Church:
The Catechism of the Catholc Church
An encyclical of John Paul II:
* The Gospel of Life * The Splendor of Truth * Faith and Reason
A pastoral from the U. S. Bishops
* The Challenge of Peace * Economic Justice for All * Always Our Children
If you have a person, event or teaching of the Magisterium you want to do, come see me and suggest it. These can even be interdisciplinary: do an extra credit paper that can be used for this class, but also for history or english or science.
Book Ingestion
Make sure you follow directions.
1. You must buy the book. The books listed are very inexpensive.
2. Mark the book according to what we've taught in class. Mark sparingly!
* Underline key ideas that reveal important truth. If there is a large section or an extremely important section, box it.
* write new vocabulary at top of page
* write comments or observations in the margins of the text.
3. After reading do a three level level paper, but only write about the last two levels:
2nd level: What is a major idea of the story?
3rd level: What is the meaning of this story for you here and now? How did reading this affect you? Did anything influence the way you think? the way you feel?
NB: This should be typewritten.
Books to read:
- C. S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- Madeleine L'Engle A Wrinkle in Time
- Mitch Alblum's Tuesday's With Morrie
- John Howard Griffith's Black Like Me
- Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Why We Can't Wait
Even if you have already read one of these, do it again. You are not the same person as you were in 7th grade. And read it differently, marking the text as you go.
Be Creative! Let's Contract.
You can always come up with your own ideas and contract with me. In the past students have written short stories, done videos, created web sites. I am very open to new ideas and to interdisciplinary work. Use your imagination. Be creative! be bold!
Please send any corretions or questions to
M. Sciuto
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