Monday's Homework: Using , ; and —

In reworking your setting description, employ the comma, semicolon, and dash. Click here for the Dickens' example as a guide.

Friday Reading Assignment

Please come to class Friday having read Chapter 1 of The Count of Monte Cristo.

Homework for Monday

Click here for the Max Beerbohm essay. Finish reading it (three pages, so click through!) and come to class ready to discuss. How does he develop the piece. What language elements does he use to make the writing vivid, powerful, and clear. Write your reflection on an object in your possession that holds significance for you.

Welcome to Creative Writing

Class introduction:

 We will be focusing in this class on becoming skilled writers in a variety of genres, including the personal essay, the argumentative essay, narrative, and poetry. All of these forms push writers to exercise imagination and consider the meaning of people's actions and the lives they lead—mental powers that will serve you well in whatever endeavor you choose in life.

You'll be asked to write your own essays, stories, and poems, and to respond to fictional works of literature in a way that demonstrates your increasing understanding of how fiction works. At the same time you will be honing your writing skills in a variety of areas. In this class you’ll be asked to become a self-aware writer and creator.

Additionally, this class ends in your English Regents, and so we will work specifically on honing skills that will help you in mastering that assessment.

Because good writers are also good readers, we’ll read a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction of high literary polish. I’ll ask you to begin reading as a writer—that is, you will read with the goal of understanding the techniques and methods that permit writers to create their own unique vision and style, while just incidentally writing prose that dazzles and demands attention.

How we'll work:

For creative writing, we will use a workshop approach, in which you'll share your work with other writers in the class and get their feedback. (More on this later.)

 For each book or literary work we read, you’ll be expected to read about 15 to 25 pages a night. In addition you will sometimes have homework in which you'll be asked to write brief responses or answer questions about your reading or topics for class discussion. You can expect that for each book or literary work, you'll write one at-home essay and have one to two tests.

Pop quizzes occur whenever the teacher (me) gets the sense that students are not reading the material!

Grades will be based on the following:

Tests, essays, writing projects :  60 percent

Classwork, quizzes, homework, participation:  40 percent

Total: 100 percent

IMPORTANT: Grades are cumulative. That means the grades you make now count as much as the grades later in the semester. So it's important to work hard from the very beginning and not dig yourself into a hole in the first weeks of our class. We will use Skedula, an online grading system in this class.Your parents or guardians should be given access to your account.

Responsibility: It is the student’s responsibility to make up work. If you’re absent, you must find out from a fellow student what work was done in class or for homework and get the work to me the following day. No late homework or classwork will be accepted! If you miss a test, it is your responsibility to let me know and arrange for a make-up.

Attendance: You’re expected to be in class every day. Absent notes are required if you are absent due to illness or family necessity. 

Electronic devices: 

Keep them in your pockets or bags. No use of electronic devices.

Honor Policy—Cheating and Plagiarism:  

If you do the work of this class on your own, you’ll develop skills that will serve you well for the rest of your life. If you cheat, you’ll get no such benefits, and you’ll receive a 0 on the work in question. Your parents/guardian will be informed of your actions. THIS IS MY CHEATING POLICY AND HOLDS FOR A FIRST TIME VIOLATION. In addition, Midwood has a series of consequences for cheating that you should be aware of, which will occur in addition to my own response noted above. Cheating will expose you to the Midwood consequences too. By cheating you'll also violate my trust in you, and you’ll lose my respect.

Plagiarism: This is a particular form of cheating that requires a special note due to its ubiquity. When you take other people’s work and hold it out to be your own (whether another student’s work or something taken from the Internet), you are engaging in theft. Plagiarism won’t be tolerated. Plagiarism will result in a 0 on the work in question. The consequences enumerated in the Midwood plagiarism code will also be enforced.

IMPORTANT: If you place work on blogs/fan sites, etc., you must not submit that work for class assignments, prior to receiving a grade for the assignment.

Class Communications and Contacting Mr. Vilbig:

Class blog: The class will use a blog to communicate assignments and other important matters. It can be accessed at www.vilbigwriting.blogspot.com. I highly suggest that you register for the blog and ‘follow’ it, since this will result in your receiving an email notification when new posts are made.

Contact information: The best way to contact me is at pvilbig@schools.nyc.gov. You can also reach me through Skedula, the online grading system. Reach me by phone at: 718 724-8560.

Treasure Island reading for the break

You can download Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson for free from Kindle, iBooks, or other Internet sources to your device or desktop computer. Here is one link.

Over the break, please read Chapters 1-14 and keep a detailed reading log, in which you note important scenes, note areas you are uncertain about.

Happy Holidays and see you next year!

Short story (historical fiction) rubric:

Standard The story:	Exceed standard (94-100)	Meets standard in all elements and is skillfully executed (87-93)	Addresses some elements of standard, but not always skillfully or adequately (80-87)	Addresses standard but often only minimally, and sometimes seriously mistakes points (70-79)	Does not address standard, fails to develop ideas to any degree or misapprehends important elements (below 70)
Establishes a point of view and a crisis, problem, or situation that draws the reader into the story;
Evokes the historical epoch in a realistic and believable way that respects facts and makes the past “come alive”;
Develops characters effectively, giving them traits that seem real and are consistent;
Sequences events in a manner that makes sense and leads to a narratively satisfying conclusion or climax;
Uses dialogue, allusion, and develops an instance of dramatic irony;
Uses language in a striking way that “shows and doesn’t tell,” uses powerful imagery, evoking the five senses, and establishes significant metaphors or other figures of speech that enhance the text;
Adheres to the conventions of grammar/spelling.

Jonathan Edwards' sermon "Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God"

Read AND PRINT OUT AND BRING TO CLASS the following excerpt from Jonathan Edwards' sermon. Summarize its main ideas. Then choose one paragraph and explain how that paragraph relates to The Scarlet Letter. Do this for Monday.

Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands…,” Speech Text

JONATHAN EDWARDS, “SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD” (8 July 1741)

DEUT. XXXII. 35.

-Their foot shall slide in due time.- [Note: this is the Biblical text upon which the sermon is based.]

In this verse is threatned the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, that were God’s visible people, and lived under means of grace; and that, notwithstanding all God’s wonderful works that he had wrought towards that people, yet remained, as is expressed, ver. 28. void of counsel, having no understanding in them; and that, under all the cultivations of heaven, brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit; as in the two verses next preceeding the text.

The expression that I have chosen for my text, Their foot shall slide in due time; seems to imply the following things, relating to the punishment and destruction that these wicked Israelites were exposed to.

1. That they were always exposed to destruction, as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction’s coming upon them, being represented by their foot’s sliding. The same is express’d, Psal. 73. 18. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction.

2. It implies that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall; he can’t foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once, without warning. Which is also expressed in that Psal. 73. 18, 19. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment?

3. Another thing implied is that they are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown down by the hand of another. As he that stands or walks on slippery ground, needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.

4. That the reason why they are not fallen already, and don’t fall now, is only that God’s appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall as they are inclined by their own weight. God won’t hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he that stands in such slippery declining ground on the edge of a pit that he can’t stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost.

The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this,

There is nothing that keeps wicked men, at any one moment, out of hell, but the meer pleasure of GOD.

By the meer pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hinder’d by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God’s mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment.

The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations.

1. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Mens hands can’t be strong when God rises up: The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands.

He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, that has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defence from the power of God. Tho’ hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God’s enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces: They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so ’tis easy for us to cut of singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by; thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell. What are we, that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?

2. They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no objection against God’s using his power at any moment to destroy them. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins. Divine justice says of the tree that brings forth such grapes of Sodom, Cut it down, why cumbreth it the ground, Luk. 13. 7. The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and ’tis nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God’s meer will, that holds it back.

3. They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They don’t only justly deserve to be cast down thither; but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell.
Joh. 3. 18. He that believeth not is condemned already. So that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is. Joh 8. 23. Ye are from beneath. And thither he is bound; ’tis the place that justice, and God’s word, and the sentence of his unchangeable law assigns to him.

4. They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God that is expressed in the torments of hell: and the reason why they don’t go down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them; as angry as he is with many of those miserable creatures that he is now tormenting in hell, and do there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth, yea doubtless with many that are now in this congregation, that it may be are at ease and quiet, than he is with many of those that are now in the flames of hell.

Common Core Primer

The "Common Core" are a set of standards that have been adopted nationally for high school students. They lay out in precise detail what skills students will need to be ready for college. In our case we'll be looking at the English standards.

You can see the full standards here. They are broken down into Reading, Writing, Speaking/Listening, and Language, among others.

Because the standards are rather elaborate and involved, I've created a boiled-down version. We'll start with just two areas, ones we're focusing on now in class: Reading Literature and Writing Narrative.  

The Primer

Reading Literature:

Use evidence to back up what a text says, including what’s inferred. Determine where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Find two or more themes and show how they’re developed and interact.

Analyze an author’s choices in developing a story.

Determine figurative and connotative word meaning, the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, multiple meanings. Be aware of powerful/beautiful language.

Analyze author’s choices regarding structure (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution).

Analyze satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement.

Writing Narratives (stories)

Write effective real or imagined narratives that use significant details and are well sequenced.

Set out a problem or situation, show its significance, establish point(s) of view, use narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of events.

Use dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines.

Build events toward a particular outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth, or resolution).

Use precise language, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid experience.

Write a conclusion that follows from the narrative.

New York State Regents Exam Example

Click here for the New York State Regents example. Read the test carefully, noting the various sections, and come to class Tuesday ready to discuss them.

Plagiarism Assignment

Review these guidelines involving plagiarism. The first (here) discusses the many varieties of plagiarism. The second (here) is a more detailed discussion from the Purdue University Writing Lab about the challenges involved in creating original work. Be ready to discuss the issues raised in both these links by Friday.

A Useful Grammar Site

Here's a link to a public Facebook page that posts a daily grammar/usage tip. Making a habit of a daily check of this site would be an excellent habit to get into!

Print this out for TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17

Print out the story "The Falls" by George Saunders for next Tuesday's class (September 17). The story can be found here.

Homework for Next Monday

Read the short story, "To Build a Fire" by Jack London, here. Then write a response in which you identify three descriptive elements the author employs in the story and explain the role they play in developing the story's themes and achieving its emotional power. Make sure to quote each reference to a descriptive element and explain where it occurs in the story.

Welcome to Creative Writing

Class introduction:

 We will be focusing in this class on becoming skilled writers in a variety of genres, but our special emphasis will be on writing fiction. This is because fiction demands that we exercise our imagination and consider the meaning of people's actions, our own and others—mental powers that will serve you well in whatever endeavor you choose in life.

You'll be asked to write your own short stories and poems, and to respond to fictional works of literature in a way that demonstrates your increasing understanding of how fiction works. At the same time you will be honing your writing skills in a variety of areas, including the argumentative and literary essay. In this class you’ll be asked to become a self-aware writer and creator.

Because good writers are also good readers, we’ll read a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction of high literary polish. I’ll ask you to begin reading as a writer—that is, you will read with the goal of understanding the techniques and methods that permit writers to create their own unique vision and style, while just incidentally writing prose that dazzles and demands attention.

How we'll work:

For creative writing, we will use a workshop approach, in which you'll share your work with other writers in the class and get their feedback. (More on this later.)

 For each book or literary work we read, you’ll be expected to read about 15 to 25 pages a night. In addition you will sometimes have homework in which you'll be asked to write brief responses or answer questions about your reading or topics for class discussion. You can expect that for each book or literary work, you'll write one at-home essay and have one to two tests. Pop quizzes occur whenever the teacher (me) gets the sense that students are not reading the material!

Grades will be based on the following:

Tests, essays, writing projects :  70 percent

Classwork, quizzes, homework, participation:  30 percent

Total: 100 percent

IMPORTANT: Grades are cumulative. That means the grades you make now count as much as the grades later in the semester. So it's important to work hard from the very beginning and not dig yourself into a hole in the first weeks of our class. We will use Engrade, an online grading system in this class. I’ll give you information shortly about how to register. You’ll have your own account, where I’ll post grades. Your parents or guardians should be given access to your account.

Responsibility: It is the student’s responsibility to make up work. If you’re absent, you must find out from a fellow student what work was done in class or for homework and get the work to me the following day. No late homework or classwork will be accepted! If you miss a test, it is your responsibility to let me know and arrange for a make-up.

Attendance: You’re expected to be in class every day. Absent notes are required if you are absent due to illness or family necessity. 

Electronic devices: 

Keep them in your pockets or bags. No use of electronic devices.

Honor Policy—Cheating and Plagiarism:  

If you do the work of this class on your own, you’ll develop skills that will serve you well for the rest of your life. If you cheat, you’ll get no such benefits, and you’ll receive a 0 on the work in question. Your parents/guardian will be informed of your actions. THIS IS MY CHEATING POLICY AND HOLDS FOR A FIRST TIME VIOLATION. In addition, Midwood has a series of consequences for cheating that you should be aware of, which will occur in addition to my own response noted above. Cheating will expose you to the Midwood consequences too. By cheating you'll also violate my trust in you, and you’ll lose my respect.

Plagiarism: This is a particular form of cheating that requires a special note due to its ubiquity. When you take other people’s work and hold it out to be your own (whether another student’s work or something taken from the Internet), you are engaging in theft. Plagiarism won’t be tolerated. Plagiarism will result in a 0 on the work in question. The consequences enumerated in the Midwood plagiarism code will also be enforced.

IMPORTANT: If you place work on blogs/fan sites, etc., you must not submit that work for class assignments, prior to turning it in for class credit.

Class Communications and Contacting Mr. Vilbig:

Class blog: The class will use a blog to communicate assignments and other important matters. It can be accessed at www.vilbigwriting.blogspot.com. I highly suggest that you register for the blog and ‘follow’ it, since this will result in your receiving an email notification when new posts are made.

Contact information: The best way to contact me is through Skedula, the online grading system we'll be using this semester. (You'll receive more information on this shortly.) I can also be reached at pvilbig@schools.nyc.gov. Or by phone: 718 724-8560.

Regents Practice: Critical Lens

Read the following quote and write a complete critical lens response for Monday, using the approach we've discussed and practiced in class.

“No two persons regard the world in exactly the same way…”
— J. W. von Goethe

Regents Review for Wednesday

Print out the Regents text here and bring it to class Wednesday.

Regents Review: The Beginning

Assignment for Wednesday: Read the test from beginning to end. You'll find it here. Now write a response in which you identify the sections of the tests, and then for each section state what skills the section will require you to possess and what preparations you will need to undertake to be successful.

Fixing errors on non-fiction essay

Homework for Monday: Print out your non-fiction essay (persuassive/argumentative). On a separate sheet of paper, rewrite based on comments. Fix all grammar/spelling issues. Fix writing issues (for example, if your topic sentence was off base, rewrite it). For fixes you're not certain of, ask other students in the class to give you feedback.You MUST go the blog to place sentences you're unsure of, and even if you don't place a sentence on the blog, you must go to the blog by Sunday night, and offer at least two suggestions for fixing problems students place on the blog.

Use of blog for feedback:

1) Go to blog posting (www.vilbigwriting.blogspot.com)
2) Under the comments section (you might need to register), write the entire sentence in which the correction was suggested.
3) Capitalize the word or words over which the blue bubble was located.
4) In parenthesis at the end of the sentence write the heading of the blue bubble.

Example: The officials defended THERE decision. (there/their/they're)

Poetry Portfolio

Due Wednesday, May 15

Three love poems (at least one using a fixed meter -- iambic pentameter, or other meters, 8 syllable lines, six syllable lines, etc.)

Three poems of social commentary or protest

Two narrative poems These can include the poems we worked on in class or not as you choose.

They must be typed.

Rubric:

* Is there evidence of engagement and energy on the part of the writer?

* Do the poems use language in surprising ways (literary devices, juxtaposition, etc)

* Do the poems as a whole catch fire, breathe life into life, dance, roar, shout out with joy, or conversely, go quietly, almost at a whisper, yet incisively turning the heart over with their truths?

P.J. Harvey #2

P.J. Harvey #1

Bob Dylan 1

Homework for Thursday

Please read the following article and write a response in which you identify the main ideas and evidence that supports those ideas. The article is here.

Personal Essay Assignment

This essay of six-typed pages will examine some aspect of your experience and reflect upon its meaning. This is an open-ended assignment, meaning that, if you so choose, you may pursue the direction your heart and intellect propose -- though I would like you to consult with me about your choices before you are well launched.

Or, if you work better with structure, use this as a starting point: Your essay will include the following:

* a recollection or memory recounted in detail;

* a profile/description of some person important to you (or you could write about a category of people you regularly see -- shopkeepers in your neighborhood, members of a group you're part of, shoppers at the mall);

* an image that has stuck with you over the years; some moment that has a strange or mysterious power.

Naturally, you are not limited to these three topics. You may recount more than one memory, or image. Or you may recount other aspects of your life that don't fit under these categories.

Your essay must then reflect on what these observations reveal about your life, its themes and meanings. What do you learn about yourself and your world through your observations. But this is only to go part of the way: what do you know about life itself, not only your own but the life that we all lead, as a result of your investigations?  To pretend that you learn nothing, to refuse the challenge, that is, is not an option.


Technical Details:
Due date: Monday, March 18
Specifications: the usual (12 point type, Times New Roman, 1-inch margins)

Welcome to Creative Writing

We will be focusing in this class on becoming skilled writers in a variety of genres: non-fiction memoir or narrative; non-fiction persuasive writing; the literary response essay; short fiction; and poetry. All of this work will demand we exercise our imagination, but in particular our work in narrative and poetry will require us to consider the meaning of how people respond to the world around them, which will enhance mental powers that will serve you well in whatever endeavor you choose in life.

You'll be asked to write stories that demonstrate your increasing understanding of how fiction works. At the same time you will be honing your writing skills in a variety of areas, including the argumentative and literary essay. In this class you’ll be asked to become a self-aware writer and creator. Because good writers are also good readers, we’ll read a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction of high literary polish. I’ll ask you to begin reading as a writer—that is, you will read with the goal of understanding the techniques and methods that permit writers to create their own unique vision and style, while just incidentally writing prose that dazzles and demands attention.

How we'll work:

For creative writing, we will use a workshop approach, in which you'll share your work with other writers in the class and get their feedback. (More on this later.)

 For each book or literary work we read, you’ll be expected to read about 15 to 25 pages a night. In addition you will sometimes have homework in which you'll be asked to write brief responses or answer questions about your reading or topics for class discussion. You can expect that for each book or literary work, you'll write one at-home essay and have one to two tests. Pop quizzes occur whenever the teacher (me) gets the sense that students are not reading the material!

Grading Policy

Grades and Attendance:

Grades will be based on the following:

Tests/ at home writing and projects:     70 percent

Classwork, quizzes, and homework:    30 percent

                                                
   Total: 100 percent

IMPORTANT: Grades are cumulative. That means the grades you make now count as much as the grades later in the semester. So it's important to work hard from the very beginning and not dig yourself into a hole in the first weeks of our class. We will use Engrade, an online grading system in this class. I’ll give you information shortly about how to register. You’ll have your own account, where I’ll post grades. Your parents or guardians should be given access to your account.

Responsibility: It is the student’s responsibility to make up work. If you’re absent, you must find out from a fellow student what work was done in class or for homework and get the work to me the following day. No late homework or classwork will be accepted! If you miss a test, it is your responsibility to let me know and arrange for a make-up.

Attendance: You’re expected to be in class every day. Absent notes are required if you are absent due to illness or family necessity. 

Treasure Island Comments

Post comments here. Read other comments. Communicate.

Moby Dick Comments

Post your comments here. Read the other comments. Respond.

Treasure Island Crew: Additional Reading

Click here for an essay on the economics of piratical practice. Read pages 1049 to 1058 for Monday.

Homework for Thursday!

Read Chapter 1 of the new book. Write a response in which you examine the symbolism of water and land, particularly focusing on how the two symbolically contrast.

Scarlet Letter Essay

Find here an essay on The Scarlet Letter that addresses many of the issues the novel raises. Please read this tonight and come to class prepared to discuss it.

New Vocabulary

Chapter 8:
creed, transgression, benevolence, plumage, depravity, physiognomy

Chapter 9:
appellation, apostle, providential, parishioner, melancholy, pious, apparatus, alchemist, sanctity, transfigured

Creativity and Flow

Creativity and "flow"

Watch this video by the the social scientist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, write a response in which you explain the video's main points. Come to class prepared to discuss his ideas involving creativity, fulfillment, and flow.