Quarter 2 Extra Credit Opportunities

You may complete one of the following for extra credit in Quarter 2. I will make another option available at the end of the quarter. The assignment is due by Friday, December 4th.

The Road: Movie vs. Novel
The movie version of The Road will be released by the end of November. As an extra credit opportunity, you should attend the film with a parent/guardian. Then complete the following steps in order to earn up to 5 extra credit points. Trust me; these seemingly small assignments do make a difference in your overall grade for the quarter.

1. Go to the theater and watch the movie, The Road. You will need to attend this with a parent/guardian.
2. Save your ticket stub to submit with your paper.
3. Create a detailed double bubble comparing/contrasting the movie to the novel. Each bubble requires a specific example from the film and the novel.
4. Write a one-page, thoughtful observation about the most striking similarities and differences between film and movie. This must provide evidence that you considered both texts carefully. Do discuss at the end of your paper, which version of the story you preferred and why. Offer specific examples.
5. Ask the parent/guardian, with whom you viewed the film, to hand write his/her comments/reflections about the film on the back of the page and to sign the paper.
6. Submit this by Friday, December 4th.


Invocation of the Muse
Your Task: Imitate the first sixteen lines of The Odyssey, imagining that this is the opening to an epic about your life.

Procedure:

1. Begin with an invocation to the Muse: “Tell me, Muse…” or “Sing to me, Muse…” or similar.
2. Include epithets about yourself and the other characters of your epic.
3. Give a snapshot of your quest.
4. Include a bit of “formal-sounding” language. The idea is to play with Homer’s language in order to become more comfortable with it.
5. Describe the setting. Make the setting sound grand in scale.

Example:

Tell me, Muse, about the man of many miles,
Who many times dashed as he ran through the streets of Santa
Monica. He saw the Fatigue of his teammates and knew their pain.
On the course, he too suffered great pains within his lungs,
Yearning for the finish line, and his teammates’ success.
He could not guide his team to victory, though he wanted to:
His teammates had lost the race because of their laziness.
The slackers had disregarded the wise words
Of the well-traveled coach Cady, who knew the path to victory.
Tell the tale for us, beginning with the previous day,
Sometime after the piercing bell had sounded.
When all the others, seeking refuge from the torments of school
Had fled, light-footed to the safety of their homes.
Yet he alone, longing for the final mile and his own return,
Wan confined by sound-minded Coach Cady, who strives for excellence,
To the fenced-in, crimson rubber surface that was his training ground.

(Ethan Hutt, qtd. in Jago, Carol. Classics in the Classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2004.)