English 50 Extra Credit Options

There are a few extra credit options that you may take advantage of this semester. Please hold all extra credit assignments until the last week of class! You may do a maximum of 5 extra credit assignments. Extra Credit assignments can be used to replace a missed homework assignment.

1. Write a 2 page (minimum) summary/response of an article found in a reputable news source (online or print). Please include in your response your feelings about the event or phenomena. Also, consider speculating about the future of the problem and, if possible, tie the article into what you have learned throughout this course. Your summary/response should explain how the current event is related to the course themes of The American Dystopia and/or Consumerism.
2. Write a 2 page (minimum) letter to the appropriate government official about an issue that you came to care about after we discussed or you researched it during this class. Your letter should include facts/data (with appropriate citations) from what you have learned in this class in order to support your arguments for change.
3. Watch a movie or read a book that is an example of dystopian fiction. Write a 2-page (minimum) reaction paper that analyzes the book or movie as dystopian fiction, identifies the aspects of society that the work satirizes and ties the work to our course’s theme of The American Dystopia and/or Consumerism. You should address works that we read or watched in class that relate to the movie/book. Use your Wall-E/Idiocracy essays as guidelines for this assignment. There are many many movies out there that would make great options for this assignment, but here are some of my suggestions:

Children of Men
V for Vendetta
The Hunger Games
Gattaca
Equilibrium
Mad Max
Soylent Green
Minority Report
Battle Royale
Planet of the Apes
The Island
I, Robot