Extra Credit Assignment [ALL Grades]

For up to 10 TEST points/100 HW points.

Write a paragraph discussing your school year. You can include details like:
- What you felt like at the beginning of the year VS. how you feel now.
- What your favorite subject has been and why.
- The most valuable thing you have learned this school year.
- Your most memorable experience this school year.
- Your least favorite subject and why.
- New friends you’ve made / old friends you’ve lost.

Please be as honest as posible, and try to focus on your achievements and experiences IN school. And no, you won't get more points if you talk about how wonderful I am. I was supposed to put this up on Friday, but I just forgot. It was my Wii's fault.

10th Grade Grammar - Resources

http://idebate.org is a good place to start, it should help you with your essay and research paper.

I will try to post more as I find them.

10th Grade Grammar Essay/Research Paper hand-out

Instructions:

- You will choose one of the following topics as your ESSAY topic, and a different topic as your RESEARCH PAPER topic.

- You are not allowed to use the same topic for the essay and the research paper. You can use internet sources, encyclopedias, articles and books in your paper, AS LONG AS YOU CITE THEM. IF YOU QUOTE SOMETHING (ANYTHING AT ALL) FROM AN OUTSIDE SOURCE, WITHOUT CITING IT, YOU WILL RECEIVE A 20 GRADE.

- You are not allowed to have any of your relatives or friends proofread or edit your paper, they can only give you an opinion, sources, or ideas. Only your teachers and classmates are allowed to proofread your papers and give you grammar advice. This is a grammar class, and I need to be able to grade you on YOUR grammar.

- The essay MUST be at least FIVE paragraphs long. Each paragraph must consist of at least 8 sentences, and a maximum of 13.

-The research paper MUST be at least SEVEN paragraphs long. Each paragraph must consist of at least 8 sentences, and a maximum of 13.

Topics:

Abortion: What is abortion? What are the types of abortion? Is abortion legal? If so, where in the world is it legal? What are the moral objections to abortion? Is it ever beneficial? Should women have the right to abort?

Music Censorship: Should music ever be censored? Are lyrics in songs ever harmful or insulting? Could music be a bad influence on people’s lives? If so, what should the government do about it, if anything at all? What should parents do about it?

Alcohol: What are the effects of alcoholism? Should the drinking age be lowered? If so, why? Does alcohol have any positive effects? What measures have been taken to ban alcoholism? Should more be taken, or are they too strict?

Sexism: What is sexism? Does it exist today? What are the effects of sexism? Has sexism decreased or increased in recent years? What has the feminist movement done to affect sexism? What more can be done to completely erradicate sexism?

Animal Rights: Do animals have rights? If so, what would they be? Should humans be allowed to experiment on animals? Why or why not? Are animals treated fairly? If not, what Could we do to treat them more fairly?

Legalization of Cannabis: What is cannabis? What are the effects of cannabis? Does it have positive or negative effects? Should it be legalized? Why or why not? How can the government control the use of cannabis?

Death Penalty: What is the death penalty? What are its origins? Is it still used? Should it still be used? Why, or why not? Is the death penalty effective? Has it helped reduce crime? What are some alternatives to the death penalty?

Capitalism VS. Socialism: What is capitalism? What is socialism? What are the differences between them? Is there one better than the other? Is there a way to combine the benefits of both, or are they completely exclusive of each other?

Imposition of Democracy: What is democracy? What are its origins? What are the benefits of democracy? Is it the fairest government system? Should democracy be imponed on non-democratic countries? Why, or why not? Would this have benefits? What would be its disadvantages?

Piracy and File-sharing: What is piracy? Why is it illegal? Is it morally wrong? How has file-sharing influenced piracy? Has piracy increased or decreased in recent years? Is file-sharing used exclusively for piracy? Does file-sharing have any benefits or uses?

Gay Marriage: Is gay marriage morally wrong? From a legal point of view, should it be allowed? Why or why not? From a religious point of view, should it be allowed? Why or why not? Would allowing gay marriage benefit society? Would banning gay marriage benefit society?

Global Warming: What is global warming? Is it real, or made-up? Can it be stopped? Are governments doing enough to stop it? What are some alternative methods to stop global warming? What are the possible effects of global warming?

War: Is war always necessary? Can it be avoided? Is there such a thing as a justified war? What are the effects of war on society and on the world at large? Historically, how has war influenced the World?

DUE DATES:

Essay:

1) The Topic Sentence and Outline will be due Wednesday April 22nd.

2) The Rough Draft will be due Monday April 27th.

3) The Final Draft will be due Monday May 4th.

Research Paper:

1) The Topic Sentence and Outline will be due Wednesday May 13th.

2) The Rough Draft will be due Friday May 22nd.

3) The Final Draft will be due Friday May 29th.