Students have an opportunity to do extra credit this six weeks. In honor of our study of "The Cask of Amontillado," students can research their family coat of arms. Complete directions are on my downloads titled "Researching Your Family Coat of Arms." This project will count as an optional test grade and is due no later than (TBA).

We will be starting Great Expectations by Charles Dickens the week of Thanksgiving. I encourage my students to get their own copy so they can write and highlight in it for their study of the novel. If your student wants to get the same edition I have they can get the Oxford World Classics edition found at Books-A-Million. I do have copies of the text for each student, but I like for them to become comfortable with working with a text and having their own copy makes this much more successful. We will be studying Great Expectations for all of the 3rd six weeks and all study guide materials and a schedule can be found on my downloads.

I want everyone to know that I have given all of my students a grading rubric for them to follow when they are writing their literary analysis papers. I would really like for all of you to also become familiar with it so you can help your student write the best paper he/she can. It is important that you pay close attention to the use of personal pronouns, I call these "Forbidden Pronouns" and students are NOT to use these at all in their essays unless they are contained in a direct quote from the text. Please notice that if a student uses any of these pronouns in their commentary it automatically drops their essay down below 70. For our first paper I may be a little forgiving (they won't fail the paper) but after this initial essay, the students know what I expect and I will hold them to the standards I have outlined for them. If you guys have any questions about this rubric or anything else going on in Pre-AP English, please give me a call or shoot me an e-mail. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

I just want all to know that I am holding a class average competition. The class that has the highest semester "A" average will receive a special prize from me. Good luck you guys and keep up all the hard work; I am so very proud of all of you!!!!

Students have another opportunity to do some extra-credit for my class. This optional project deals with Great Expectations and is due Monday, January 14th. If you would like to see the options, the list is on my download page.

Archetypes Extra Credit

• Analyze a film of your choosing for the hero’s journey (the handout I gave you during our Odyssey unit) and the archetypes we have learned during our “Star Wars” unit. You will present your analysis visually with poster board or Power Point. I expect you to exhaust all possibilities and you must fully explain all archetypes identified in your film. Be sure to clear with me the film you have chosen before you begin your project. Good luck and have fun!