Extra Credit--Soundtrack to Life

Directions:
You have an opportunity to earn up to 5% extra credit for your overall grade in the class by creating your own soundtrack to life and writing about it. In order to get the extra credit you must do the following and submit your results to Mr. Hall by Monday, June 7th.
All songs must fit on one cd (the cd must be full—the equivalent of 80 minutes worth of music)
You cannot have more than one song by a single artist. For example, if I have one song by U2 on my playlist I cannot put another U2 song on the list.
The songs must have some sort of significance to your life—either the lyrics relate to some aspect of your life or the song reminds you of a particular experience or time.
You must list your playlist in sequential order.
You must write one paragraph for each song explaining what the song is basically about and why it is significant to your life.
Optional: you may burn a cd if you want Mr. Hall to listen to your soundtrack. This is not required.

Example : Mr. Hall’s Sountrack to Life Playlist
1. I’m From Barcelona—Treehouse
2. Death Cab For Cutie—Summer Skin
3. The Blue Van—Silly Boy
4. Savoy—Foolish
5. Frou Frou—Only Got One
6. Magne F—Time and Place
7. Bad Lieutenant—These Changes
8. The Whitest Boy Alive—Figures
9. Acid House Kings—A Long Term Plan
10. Club 8—Jesus, Walk With Me
11. Kate Havnevik—New Day
12. Peter, Bjorn, and John—Nothing To Worry About
13. Smashing Pumpkins—That’s The Way (My Love Is)
14. The Radio Dept.—I Don’t Like It Like This
15. Røyksopp—You Don’t Have A Clue
16. Regina Spektor—Eet
17. Ingrid Michaelson—Mountain and the Sea
18. Kings of Convenience—Summer On The Westhill
19. Carmen Rizzo—Ecouter
20. A-ha—The Summers Of Our Youth

1. I’M FROM BARCELONA--TREEHOUSE
I have chosen this song to begin my soundtrack because it reminds me of my earliest memories from childhood. All of the neighborhood kids used to get together every summer and build different forts, huts, and tree-houses either at people’s homes or more commonly out in the lemon grove or “jungle” which were two wooded areas near our homes. My favorite hut was a secret underground structure that we built in the lemon grove. We had dug two huge holes with a little crawl space between, then took huge boards to place over it. We then covered the boards with dirt so that nobody could tell that anything was there. We would then remove a small board that covered up the opening in order to get in and out of the little hut.

*To complete the assignment I would have to write a paragraph for each of the twenty songs (totaling 20 paragraphs).

Book Report Questions

Directions: You must read a book that is appropriate of your grade level and has at least 200 pages that you have never read before and complete a book report on it. Identify or answer the necessary information from the following questions.
1. Your name, class period, and date.
2. Title of the book and number of pages.
3. Author
4. Identify the theme of the book and explain how the author supports this particular message.
5. Identify the main characters, give a brief description of each and identify whether they are the protagonist, antagonist, foil, static or dynamic character. Explain how they receive this title.
6. Describe the setting of the story.
7. Identify five examples of figurative language from a fiction story (e.g. metaphor, symbol, ironic statement, foreshadowing, etc.) or five examples of objective writing (facts) and subjective writing (opinions) from a nonfiction text.
8. Give a brief summary of the beginning of the story.
9. Give a brief summary of the middle of the story.
10. Give a brief summary of the ending of the story.
11. My favorite part of the story was. . .
12. My favorite character was _____ because. . .
13. Write four memorable quotes from the story (be sure to include page numbers).
14. I do/do not recommend this story because. . .
15. Draw a picture to illustrate a favorite part. Write one sentence to explain the picture.

Speech Options (Due June 1st)

Directions: Choose one of the following prompts on which to write and deliver a five minute speech in front of the class.

1. Choose a skill that you have mastered and give a Demonstrative (how to) speech, explaining the process of completing the skill. (for example, you may wish to speak about how to properly train and participate in a specific dance or how to build a computer, etc.)
2. Choose an experience from your life where you learned something that is valuable to you in some way and give a narrative speech, explaining the experience and what you have gained from it. (for example, you may wish to speak about a vacation that you took with your family and what you learned about the place to which you traveled or a time that you injured yourself and learned what you should avoid in the future, etc.)
3. Research a famous person, event, or topic and give an informative speech, explaining the topic and the importance for people to be aware of this information. (for example, you may wish to speak about the history of the Lakers or how people managed to survive through the great depression, etc.)
4. Research a controversial issue and give a persuasive speech, explaining the topic and clarifying your position and explaining why others should adopt your position. (for example, you may wish to speak about your thoughts on illegal immigration or how America should conduct the war on terror, etc.)

Homework or the Week of May 24th-May 28th

DUE TUESDAY
--Read "The Waking" p. 986
DUE WEDNESDAY
--Read "Tanka" p. 988
DUE THURSDAY
--Read "Haiku" p. 989
DUE FRIDAY
--Read "Sonnet 18" p. 990
--Review and Assess p. 991

*Book Reports Due June 1st
**Speeches Begin June 1st

Make Up Work (Due Friday, May 28th)

You may make up any missing or "0" score assignments so long as it is submitted to me by Friday, May 28th. I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY LATE OR MAKE UP WORK AFTER THIS DATE.

Visual Essay (Due April 30th)

Directions: Choose any theme that is classroom appropriate and write a visual essay on the theme. Be sure to include either photographs or artwork that corresponds with your theme. You must have a minimum of three pictures and must write at least one paragraph about each picture.

Advertisement Assignment (Due Thursday, April 1st)

Part I
1. Find a printed advertisement (from a magazine, newspaper, or from the internet)
2. Identify the purpose of the ad.
3. Identify the intended audience of the ad.
4. Identify the techniques used to persuade.
5. Identify whether or not the ad is effective. Explain why or why not.

Part II
6. Watch 1/2 hour of television and take notes on each commercial.
7. What techniques do the ads use to persuade?
8. What elements of the ad are or are not politically correct?
9. Choose one ad and explain why it is or is not effective.
10. What unintended messages are presented in the ad?