Mark Twain on Soap and Education

Posted on August 7, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre but they are more deadly in the long run.”

Mark Twain

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Portable Curmudgeon. New York: Plume, 1992.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes

Tagged , , ,

Common Errors in English Usage: Might Ought, Might, Ought

Posted on August 7, 2026 | Leave a comment

This week’s adaptation from Paul Brians’ excellent reference manual Common Errors in English Usage (which, amazingly, he allows no-cost access to at his Washington State University web page) is this worksheet on the use of might and ought. In this reading, Professor Brians steers students away from the solecism might ought toward the proper use of these two auxiliary verbs; the worksheet calls upon students to write, extemporaneously, sentences using these auxiliaries properly.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Worksheets

Tagged , ,

Term of Art: Reliability

Posted on August 7, 2026 | Leave a comment

“reliability: A statistical term that refers to the consistency of test scores in different contexts or with different populations. A judgment of a high degree of reliability indicates that a test is dependable and relatively free from random errors of measurement.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

Leave a comment

Posted in Quotes, Reference

Tagged , ,

Cultural Literacy: Jurisprudence

Posted on August 7, 2026 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of jurisprudence. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three relatively comprehensible sentences and two comprehension questions. I must admit, until I reviewed this document prior to publication on this blog, I didn’t have quite the grasp of this concept that I thought I did.

Any student looking down the road at law school might benefit from a look at this material.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , ,

Word Origins: Barbecue

Posted on August 7, 2026 | Leave a comment

“barbecue: [M17th] This word comes from Spanish barbacoa, perhaps from Arawak (West Indies) barbacoa which was a ‘wooden frame on posts.’ Barbecue is used in space in the phrases barbecue mode and barbecue maneuver describing the rotation of a spacecraft to allow the heat of the sun to fall on all sides.”

Excerpted from: Creswell, Julia. Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference

Tagged , , ,

The Weekly Text, 7 August 2026: Introduction to Writing Sentences Lesson 9, Writing the Exclamatory Sentence

Posted on August 7, 2026 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is the ninth lesson plan (in a 17-lesson cycle) of the Introduction to Writing Sentences unit. This one, as the header above heralds, is on writing the exclamatory sentence. This worksheet on parsing sentences to find verbs opens the lesson. This scaffolded worksheet on writing exclamatory sentences is the principal work of this lesson.

And if you and your students need it, here learning support on writing exclamations that goes some distance in explaining what one does in prose when one exclaims–and why one almost always needs an exclamation point at the terminus of one of these sentences.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Lesson Plans, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

Tagged , , ,

Academic Art

Posted on July 31, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Academic Art: Art created in the prevailing styles of the European and American art academies. By the late 19th century the avant-garde looked on academic art as a moribund style being practiced in isolation from current styles—a view now under reconsideration.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

Leave a comment

Posted in Quotes, Reference

Tagged ,

Common Errors in English Usage: Methodology/Method

Posted on July 31, 2026 | Leave a comment

Once more, from the pages of Paul Brians’ book Common Errors in English Usage (to which he–amazingly–allows free access on his Washington State University Web page), here is a worksheet on the use of the nouns methodology and method. This is a full-page document with a reading of three sentences and ten modified cloze exercises.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Worksheets

Tagged ,

Discourse

Posted on July 31, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Discourse (noun): Verbal expression or interchange of ideas; discussion or conversation; a formal address or paper on a subject. Adjective: discoursive; adverb: discoursively; noun: discoursiveness; verb: discourse.

‘He is not so amused, however, at the disclosure of my having temporarily “lost” my papers in the forest. He gives me a discourse on carelessness. It is a short discourse, but it weighs about four tons.’ Tom Robbins, Another Roadside Attraction”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference

Tagged , ,

Cultural Literacy: Melodrama

Posted on July 31, 2026 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on melodrama. This is a half-page document with a reading of one sentence and three comprehension questions. Short, sweet–and somehow thorough.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Worksheets

Tagged , , ,