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.

Vocabulary Words for the Test!

allot, symbolize, congregate, portal, edifice, ponderous, congenial, throng, pine, stern
furrowed, visage, heterogeneous, convulsion, iniquity, pillory, ignominious
pedestal, sagacity, hypocrisy, tremulously, transgress

Dialogue and Quotes

Some basics about the mechanics of quotes:

1. "Leave me alone," he screamed. [Notice the comma, as well as most punctuation marks go inside the quote marks.]

2. He screamed, "Leave me alone." [Notice the first word of the quote is capitalized.]

3. Often in dialogue, writers start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes. This helps readers follow the to and fro of the dialogue:

       "Leave me alone," he screamed.
       "I will not, you beast," she shouted.
       "Why must you torment me?" he wailed.
       "Because you've broken my heart." she muttered.

4. When dialogue is going back and forth quickly, you can dispense with the he saids and she saids, as long as the reader doesn't get confused:


       "Leave me alone," he screamed.
       "I will not, you beast," she shouted.
       "Why must you torment me?"
       "Because you've broken my heart."

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 writing fiction. This is because fiction demands that we exercise our imagination and consider the meaning of how people respond to the world around them—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 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 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. 

Electronic devices:

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

Honor Policy—Cheating and Plagiarism

Honor policy and cheating: 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, and your parents/guardian will be informed of your actions. You'll also violate my trust in you, and you’ll lose my respect, and since trust and respect are two things that I believe we all value very highly, I'll be deeply disappointed in you.

Plagiarism: 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. In addition, Midwood will be announcing a school-wide plagiarism code in coming days that will include severe penalties for plagiarism.

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 the Engrade email system. You also can reach me by phone 718 724-8560. The best times to contact me are between 10:30 and 11 a.m., and 2 to 3 p.m.