How to use peer review feature on turnitin ...

Go to this url on turnitin to find a tutorial on how to use the peer review feature of turnitin.

A Plethora of Words

imperviousness, indelicacy, abnormal, drudgeries

intermittent, perverse, mused, coexists

ostensible, credulous, impartiality, implication

dejection, altruism, aloof, innocuous

prosaic, proverbially, panoramic, inexorable

Homework for Tuesday

Give your assessment of Chapter 3. Create a brief summary. Then choose the moment that you find either most important or most striking and explain the significance of the scene, and why you believe it's important. (This doesn't have to be the most dramatic scene or the most important from the standpoint of plot.)

Times articles

Choose one of the following articles and write a response in which you a) briefly explain what the article is about and briefly state your opinion or view in response to it (first paragraph); b) detail the articles main points (second paragraph); and c) elaborate on your opinion in response, using evidence from the article to back up your point (third paragraph). One page minimum. Due Monday, October 31.

Use turnitin.com to file your work.

Articles: horses, Murakami, homework, bike trip, end of Nazism in Germany

Hurrah! More vocabulary!

disparities, contortions, solicitations, obstinately subdued

irrepressible, lamentable, whimsical, nebulous aspirations

rambling, milieu, tumult, credulity, inclination

deluded, idiosyncrasies, foreboding, antagonistic, prosperity

What are stories supposed to do?

Remember when we talked about Junot Diaz on our first day of class? In addition to being a novelist and short story writer, he's the editor of a literary magazine, the Boston Review. Here's how he describes what he's looking for in a good short story. (I'd like you to consider how this could apply to your own writing)

“I’m looking for fiction that resembles the Thirty-Mile Woman from Toni Morrison’s Beloved: ‘She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.’ Or as Takashi Murakami puts it: ‘We want to see the newest things. That is because we want to see the future, even if only momentarily. It is the moment in which, even if we don’t completely understand what we have glimpsed, we are nonetheless touched by it. This is what we have come to call art.’ I’m looking for fiction in which a heart struggles against itself, in which the messy unmanageable complexity of the world is revealed. Sentences that are so sharp they cut the eye."

More vocabulary words

admonishing, circuitous, depleted, consoled,complacency, ambiguity, mystically, repugnance, fastidiousness, perplexity, provocation, conjecture, coquetry, perpetual, discomfiture, disillusionment, conducive, pessimism, promenade vindication, seclusion, denouement, denunciation, grotesqueness

Creativity and "flow"

Watch this video by the the social scientist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and come to class prepared to discuss his ideas involving creativity, fullfillment, and flow.

Registering for Engrade ...

Grades for this class will be recorded on Engrade, the online grading system. How to sign up:

1) Go to Engrade at www.engrade.com.

2) Click on Sign Up, and then click on Student.

3) In the box provided put your information: teacher name-student id-special access code. Example: mrvilbig-284950604-5403.

4) Note: mrvilbig is spelled with no capitals or periods; I'll give you your special access code in class.

5) Click next and set your own username and password.

Once you are registered, you and your parents or guardians can check grades at any time.

9/11 Reactions

The playwright Christopher Shinn offers some thoughts on his personal reaction to the September 11 attacks and how they affected his writing. I'd like you to watch the video this weekend and think about his reaction for a discussion in class on Monday. What was the main way, in his view, that his focus as a writer changed? He questions whether television and movies will be able to address the profound issues raised by the September 11 events. Why do you think he takes this view? What are your own thoughts?

Contact

I can be reached at (718) 724-8500. Leave a message, and I will return the call as soon as possible. A more effective way to reach me is to write an email using your Engrade account. Or you can email at my Dept. of Education email: pvilbig@schools.nyc.gov.

Grades

Grades will be based on the following:
Tests/ at home writing and projects (including creative writing projects): 40 percent
Classwork, quizzes, and homework: 60 percent
Total: 100 percent

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!

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.

Welcome to Creative Writing!

We will be focusing in this class on becoming skilled writers in a variety of genres, but our special emphasis will be on fiction. You'll be asked to write your own short stories and to respond to fictional works of literature in a way that demonstrates your increasing understanding of how fiction works.

This class will take the view that fiction remains one of the most powerful means by which human beings can pose basic questions about the meaning of their lives, about right and wrong, about their place in society, and even the nature of reality itself. In other words, fiction can be seen as a form of philosophy (the branch of knowledge that asks ultimate questions about the meaning of human life), and we'll approach it from the standpoint of the big ideas it addresses, while never forgetting that what makes fiction unforgettable is powerful and dynamic storytelling. Honing your skills in these areas will be a big part of what this course is about.

This class will involve a great deal of writing in which you will be asked to become a self-aware writer and creator, knowledgeable about the traditions of literature and conscious of the choices you make in creating a work. Because good writers are also good readers, we’ll read a wide variety of 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.

Occupational Handbook (Final Assignment)

For you'll final assignment, you'll access the federal government's Occupational Handbook and other sources to prepare a brief class presentation on a career you're considering entering. You'll find the Occupational Handbook, which lists thousands of professions and gives a run-down on salary ranges, educational requirements, and projected needs, here. Presentations will be made on Monday and Tuesday.

Your critical lens response

Click here to find the sample responses to the critical lens essay you worked on in class today. Go to page 64 and read the response that begins with the quote. Then read the second sample paper that begins o page 67. Compare your own response. How would you rate your effort?

Vocabulary Words!

A: abdicate , abhor, abode, abominable, abstinence , acquiesce, acrimony , adage, adamant, adulterate
B: baffle, balmy, banish , betrothed , blasphemy , boisterous, boorish, brevity, buccaneer
C: callous, captivate , celestial, censure, chasm, chivalrous, clandestine, clemency , conciliatory, condescend
D: debilitate , decorum, degradation, delirium , delusion, deplore , depravity, depreciate, desolate, despicable
E: eccentricity, ecstasy, edifice , effigy , egotistical , elapse , elate, elixir, eloquence , emaciated
F: fastidious, felicity, fervent, fester, fidelity , filial, fluctuate, foible , foliage, formidable
G: garb, genteel, grandeur
H: haggard, haughty, humility , hypocritical
I: idiosyncrasy, ignominious, illuminate , imbecility, imbibe, immaculate, immolate , immure , immutable, impartial, impassable
J: jaunty, jest, jocular
K: kindle , knight
L: laborious , labyrinth , lackadaisical, lament, languish , laudable, lax, liquidate, lithe, livid
M: machination, malady , malefactor , malice, malicious, malignant, mandate , mangy, maudlin, meander, meddle
N: neophyte, nether, nocturnal, notoriety, novice , nuptials
O: obelisk, oblige , obliterate, oblivion, obnoxious , obscure , obsequious, obstinate, odious, ominous, omnipotent
P: palatable, palpitate, paltry, pandemonium, pantomime, papyrus , paragon, paramour , paroxysm , patriarch
Q: quail , quaint, quay , quell , quench, quiver
R: ramble, rant, rapture, ravage, ravenous, rectitude , relinquish, reminiscence , remorse, rendezvous
S: sagacious , sanction, sanctuary, sarcasm , satiate, saunter, scion, scruple, serenity, servile
T: taciturn , taint , talisman , tedious , temperament , tenacious, timidity , tranquility, transgression , traverse, trepidation
U: uncouth, undulate, unmitigated, unparalleled , unsullied , unveil , unwonted , urchin, usurp , utter
V: vacillate, vagabond , vagrant, vanquish , variegated, venal , venerable, venial , veracity, verdant, vicissitude
W: waddle, waft, wallow, wanton , wheedle, witticism, woe , writhe
Y and Z: yore, zealous , zephyr

Frankenfinal!

Take-home essay test: Due Thursday. File using google.docs. Make sure the box that says "send an email notification" is checked. Share with pvilgrade@gmail.com

1) Choose a specific literary element (e.g., theme, characterization, point of view, etc.) or literary technique (e.g., symbolism, irony, figurative language, etc.) that Mary Shelley employs in the final chapter of Frankenstein. Using specific details from the chapter, in a well-developed paragraph, show how Shelley uses that element or technique to develop the chapter.

2) Write a two paragraph critical response (introductory paragraph and one body paragraph that backs up your thesis) in which you discuss the novel Frankenstein from the particular perspective suggested in the Critical Lens. In you essay you must first explain the meaning of the quote, then say whether you agree or disagree with it, and then state how the quote applies to the novel. Finally you must back up your viewpoint using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the novel.

The critical lens: “The difficulty in life is the choice…”-George Moore, The Bending of the Bough, 1900

History of Science Fiction

You should click here to see an amazing graphic representation of the history of science fiction. (And why am I posting it? Because Gothic literature and Mary Shelley are part of it. By the way, you can enlarge the graphic by clicking.

Theme and Controlling Idea

Most people would agree that theme and controlling idea are quite similar concepts. The main difference, I would suggest, is that theme is often specifically tied to the way we respond to a work of literature, while controlling idea offers a more general way of thinking about responding to a wide range of writing, including non-fiction work.

Theme is often described as what a literary work tells us, though never directly, about life, about the problems we face as human beings, about the issues we struggle with. Theme is usually the issue the work of literature addresses plus what the story tells us about that issue.

Same thing with controlling idea, except it can tell us about a broader range of issues. For example, a controlling idea could be found in a scientific paper. The controlling idea is usually the topic addressed in the work plus what the work says about that topic.

Try looking here for what I think is a pretty good descpription of the difference between a topic or issue and what the work says about the topic or issue.

Creative Writing Class Portfolio Etc.

Creative Writing:

As we move forward in this class, we’ll need to consider what work you will be doing as the semester progresses. I’m envisioning this process in the following way:

1) Creative Writing: This will be the imaginative writing you do inside and outside class and will be divided into two main branches --

a. Assigned creative writing exercises – this will include all the writing exercises we do in class or as homework, such as the dream writing you did last week;

b. Your own creative work. This is your work, which will be presented in a portfolio at the end of the semester. The portfolio must include the following examples of your work (see portfolio posting for the exact requirement of this aspect of the course):

i. Non-fiction personal narrative or reflection
ii. Short Fiction
iii. Poetry

2) Literary Response Essay and English Regents: This will involve honing your skills in writing tightly organized responses on theme, character, other important literary elements in response to works of literature. Key words in this domain will include: thesis statement, topic sentences, body paragraphs, use of supporting evidence from text.

3) Reading: this area of study will focus on continuing to read compelling but challenging works of literature. I’ll give the class a menu of possible directions for spheres of study. Choice will not be unlimited, and you will need to enlist at least a small group of students in your class to pursue one of the tracks. Here are three possible areas for further reading:

a.The Mary Shelley/Gothic Lit Track: Students in this group will have an opportunity to read Mary Shelley’s remarkable later novel, The Last Man,and another famous example of the gothic, The Monk by Mathew Lewis
Here’s a description of the Mary Shelley’s novel:

“This novel follows Frankenstein as one of the earliest examples of science fiction in English. It also presents characters who can be seen, in some of their aspects, to resemble certain members of the Shelley circle. The narrative begins in the late 21st century in an England which has become a republic, focusing at first on the conflicting worlds of the domestic and political. But as the plague takes hold and spreads relentlessly, the novel's view expands to encompass Europe and the world scene. Dark, even existential in its mood, The Last Man shows the demise of the human race highlighted against its greatest achievement as the ever decreasing band of survivors make their way across the Alps to the warm cities of the South.”

Here a plot description of The Monk followed by two excerpts from reviews:

“Set in the sinister monastery of the Capuchins in Madrid, The Monk is a violent tale of ambition, murder, and incest. The great struggle between maintaining monastic vows and fulfilling personal ambitions leads its main character, the monk Ambrosio, to temptation and the breaking of his vows, then to sexual obsession and rape, and finally to murder in order to conceal his guilt.

`This is the highly popular and equally highly vilified Gothic novel, written in 1794. Gruesome, voluptuous, and occasionally tongue-in-cheek, The Monk is a masterpiece of its genre.' Sunday Telegraph

`What distinguishes The Monk from a whole raft of lesser imitations is the quality of the storytelling ... There's always a danger of bathos in narratives where horror is piled on horror ... Lewis avoids that pitfall by judicious use of humour. He also writes with great visual immediacy. Lewis has a remarkable understanding of human psychology. The Monk is a stunning read. It was published 200 years ago. I hope this article is not the only celebration of that bicentenary.' Simon Brett, The Sunday Times.”

b. The Dickens track: For those less interested in Gothic literature, the chance to read Dickens’ great novel, David Copperfield, is offered. This is a deeply autobiographical novel about Dickens early life. It examines the effect of brutal parenting, poverty, and deep injustices on a child, and then goes on to depict a society in which social class and money dominate all things. It is one of the great world novels, and is filled with powerful scenes. For those interested in vocabulary development this novel offers perhaps the best chance for further development. Because the novel is longer than the others, readers of this novel will receive bonus credit for selecting it.

c. The Count of Monte Cristo track: For those with a taste for adventure writing, Alexander Dumas’ masterpiece makes powerful reading:
From a slightly edited Amazon review: “Monte Cristo is an absolutely wonderful and wonderfully written masterpiece that tells the story of a young man who could be any of several people that you and I know. It is a story of injustice, despair, remorse, cruelty, misfortune, and evil. Edmond is one of the greatest dynamic characters of all time, innocently sent to face punishment that he in no way deserves. After escaping from prison, Edmond then becomes an avenger, rewarding those that were his true friends, and exacting revenge upon those that caused him pain. A wonderful story, with excellent characters and an intricate plot.”

Vocabulary for Chapters 1-8

Here are vocabulary words for Chapters 1-8

prognosticate, imbue, dabble, deprave, ignominy, vacillate, palpitate, console, exculpate, elixir, immutable, irreparable, serene, perpetrate, imbibe, livid, multifarious, ramble, indefatigable, abode, mien, invulnerable, bauble, pittance, traverse, irreproachable, philosopher, fester, disposition, turbulence, allude, indelible, ardent, timorous, alleviate, incipient, rapture, progeny, perdition, tedious, guile, physiognomy, ignominious, emaciated, verdant, callous, menace, depravity, omnipotent, repugnance, celestial, conjecture, vagrant, sustenance, desolate, filial, eulogy, incredulous, apathy, chivalrous, impediment, inexorable, inconceivable, delirium, impenetrable, subdue, indignation, oblivion, dismal, acquisition, appall, integrity, disdain, despise, grandeur, dreary, venerable

How to Overcome Essay Writing Anxiety

Check this post out with interesting thoughts about how to reduce anxiety about taking an essay test -- but I'd say the advice might be helpful for all forms of writing anxiety.

Frankenstein Movie Posters

As you go over your vocabulary words this weekend, here's a site that collects together some of the many cinematic images bsed on Mary Shelley's story.

Reading on Gothic Literature

Read this Wikipedia article on Gothic Fiction and come to class on Monday ready to discuss the Gothic.

Run-on sentences

Due Monday, Feb. 7. Do the following exercises on run-on sentences here.

Frankenstein Vocabulary List, Letter 1-4

Look these words up and write a sentence using each one. Due Monday.

satiate, ameliorate,capitulate,peruse,lustrous, suppliant, emaciated, celestial, paroxysm, eccentricity, fastidious, illiterate, inexorable, traverse, fortitude, laborious, fervent, apparition, melancholy, famine, integrity, quiver, apt, diposition

Grammar and Writing Do's and Don'ts

Modified No-No list Revised Fall 2010
This is a list of the most common errors found in your writing. Don't lose it; you may use it every time you write something in class or at home. Proofread! Use a dictionary.

1. Avoid these words: "Nice," " a lot," "very," "I think."
2. Maintain verb tense. Use all past tense, all present tense, or all future tense. Avoid using “had + verb”. This means that of two things that happened in the past the one with the “had” came first. You can only use this tense if you have two verbs in the same sentence.20. Wrong: “He had gone to the store.” Right: “He went to the store.” Wrong: “He had walked home.” Right: “He walked home.”
3. "Good" is an adjective. "Well" is an adverb.
4. Don't use the expression "Being that"; it's slang for the word "since".
5. Avoid the conversational "you." Don't directly address your reader if he/she is not part of your story or essay.
6. All pronouns must have antecedents and all pronouns must agree with their antecedents in number.
7. Avoid run-on sentences and sentence fragments. Remember sentences must have subjects and verbs. Dependent clauses can't be written by themselves. Independent clauses may be written by themselves. Make sure each sentence expresses a complete thought.
8. Remember these homonyms:
to (direction)
too (also, excessive)
two (2)

there (place)
their (possession)
they're (they are)

know (to have knowledge)
no (negative)

through (to pass by)
threw (tossed, passed)

its (possession)
it's (it is)

your (possession)
you're (you are)

9. Do not confuse these words:
quiet (opposite of loud) and quite (rather or very)
then (a time in the past) and than (comparative)
lose (fail to win) and loose (not tight)
accept (to take as it is) and except (to leave out)
10. People are referred to as "who" or "whom" and not "that" or "which."
11. Avoid redundancies such as "The reason why is because . . ."
Correct: "The reason is . . ."
12. "Of" is never a verb. There is no correct expression as "He would of. . ." You may use: "He would've. . ." where "would've" is a contraction meaning "would have."
13. When you write the title of a novel, underline it. The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a great book. Titles of plays, short stories and poems should be placed in quotation marks.
14. In spelling, remember: "I" before "e" except after "c", or when sounded like "a", as in "neighbor" and "weigh." These words are spelled correctly: "relieve" and "receive."
15. Past tense of the verb “to use” is “used”: I used to go to PS 321.
17. Avoid using the conditional tense: The character would be considered a hero.
16. ALWAYS USE PARAGRAPHS. Every paragraph should have a topic sentence followed by supporting details. Indent the first line of each paragraph.
17 Events occur, they aren’t a time period. “Another example is when…”. Instead write: another example occurs when..
18. When writing decades don’t use an apostrophe: 1970s not 1970’s
19. People get hanged, pictures get hung.

Grades

Grades will be based on the following:
Tests/ at home writing and projects (including creative writing projects): 40 percent
Classwork, quizzes, and homework: 60 percent
Total: 100 percent

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. In addition, you can expect that for each book or literary work, you'll write one at-home essay and have one to two tests.

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.

Welcome to Creative Writing

We will be focusing in this class on becoming skilled writers in a variety of genres from fiction to creative non-fiction to poetry to the literary essay. This class will involve a great deal of writing in which you will be asked to become a self-aware writer and creator, knowledgeable about the traditions of literature and conscious of your own process and the choices you make a writer. Because good writers are also good readers, you’ll read a wide variety of fiction of high literary polish and skill, and you will read as a writer – that is, you will read with the goal of understanding the techniques and methods used by the writer you are studying to create his or her vision.

Mayakovsky poems

You'll find poems here by Vladmir Mayakovsky. Please read the poem titled "Listen," and the poem titled "To His Own Beloved Self The Author Dedicates These Lines." You'll find something about Mayakovsky here. Come to class Friday ready to discuss the poems. Thanks.

Famous Blue Raincoat

Listen to this song by Leonard Cohen and write a response in which you speculate on the following (due Tuesday):
1) What is the story the song tells?
2) How is it similar to the story in The Scarlet Letter?
3) How is it different?