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 website. The preferred form of this is on a computer disk. then a file could be made for the website.
Extra credit is not primarily for those who are 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
and handed in at least 10 days before the exam.
SECOND SEMESTER EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES
Speaking of Faith Radio Program
Make sure you get and follow guidelines.
Worth 5 points
Listen to one of these Speaking of Faith programs and write a summary of it:
Short Research Project
Make sure you get and follow guidelines.
Worth 5-10 points
1. Do an in-depth report on one book of the Old Testament books of the Bible we do do not study in class. Add to Teen Hebrew Scriptures. Chosse a book not yet included.
2. Do a research paper of the important figures in Hebrew Scriptures. Tell the biblical story and do some additional research.
3. A key theme of Hebrew Scripture is a movement from oppression to freedom. There is still much oppression going on in the world today. Do a short research paper on one of these "oppressed people." Be ready and able to present your work to the class.
- Cambodia/Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge
- The Tutsis in Rwanda
- The South African Truth & Reconcialiton Hearings
- Muslims in Bosnia/Kosovo
- Jews in Nazi Germany
- Japanese internment camps in the U. S. during WW II
- The American Indians: The Trail of Tears
4. Write a song about a biblical hero or event and perform it in class. Use some popular melody and just rewrite the words like the Statler Brother did with the story of Samson.
You must hand this in on a disk that is Mac-compatible, because this might be on a new link on the website. You might even create an I-movie or a webpage. Mr Nicollerat might let you use this as your computer class assignment. Ask him.
Book Ingestion
Make sure you follow directions. Probably worth up to +10
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:
- Tom Dooley's The Night They Burned the Mountain
- Elizabeth George Speare's The Bronze Bow
- John Howard Griffith's Black Like Me
- John G. Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks
- Philip Gourevitch's We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Why We Can't Wait
- John Hersey's Hiroshima
- The Diary of Anne Frank
Smaller tasks
probably worth up to +5
1. I have this book Stories of God: An Anthology of Literature for Catholic Schools. It's a book of short stories, drama, prose and poetry about God. Each selection is followed by a set of questions. If you're interested, you and I could choose one of these, make a copy of it and you could read it and answer the questions.
2. Choose a movie that illustrates well major biblical themes. After you viewit and study it, write a very nice paper explaning how the characters and events inthe movie illustrate biblical themes.
Movie Reflection 5 points Make sure you follow directions.
Movies that can be watched and written about for extra credit. After watching the movie, 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?
Oppressed People
- The Pianist
- Schindler's List
Society's values are sometimes bad for us; sometimes they are at odds with what Jesus calls us to be and do.
- To Kill Mockingbird
- Schindler's List
- The Ghosts of Mississippi
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!