Monthly Archives: October 2017

Rotten Rejections: Zuleika Dobson, by Max Beerbohm

(It’s worth noting here that this novel, Zuleika Dobson, a satire of undergraduate life at Oxford, is included in Modern Library’s List of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century in the English Language (it’s number 59). At the time of the list’s publication, I recall many critics remarking that for this type of academic satire, Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis or The Groves of Academe by Mary McCarthy would have been better choices.

“I do not think it would interest us. The author is more highly esteemed by himself than by anyone else, and has never reached any high standard in his literary work.”

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.

Emigrate (vi)

A colleague with whom I team-teach a sophomore global studies asked me to develop a context clues worksheet on the noun emigre. It means, of course, emigrant. So instead I wrote this context clues worksheet on the verb emigrate. It’s used intransitively; I plan to teach it, then point out, by way of a simple question (“What do you suppose we call someone who emigrates?”), to students that someone who emigrates is an emigrant. From there it’s a small step to point out that the French word for emigrant is emigre (it is the past participle of the French verb emigrer–“to emigrate”–if you must know).

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.

The Devil’s Dictionary: Clairvoyant

“Clairvoyant, n. A person, commonly a woman, who has the power of seeing that which is invisible to her patron—namely, that he is a blockhead.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. David E. Schultz and S.J. Joshi, eds. The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000.

Cultural Literacy: Transitive Verb

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the transitive verb that I just now used in a lesson on transitive and intransitive verbs. This document serves as  a quick way to introduce the skill of recognizing and correctly using this type of verb.

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.

Edith Hamilton on the Real Aim of Education

“It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life. To be able to be caught up in the world of thought—that is to be educated.”

Edith Hamilton (1867-1963)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

The Weekly Text, October 13, 2017, Hispanic Heritage Month Week V: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on the Panama Canal

Today is the final Friday of National Hispanic Heritage Month. This week, Mark’s Text Terminal offers a reading on the Panama Canal together with this comprehension worksheet to accompany it.

I debated myself at some length about whether or not these materials properly fit with the idea of National Hispanic Heritage month. In the final analysis, I think this short article does a nice job of exposing the kind of imperial meddling Latin Americans have dealt with for centuries.

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.

Rotten Reviews: George Bernard Shaw on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

”There is not a single sentence uttered by Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar that is, I will not say worthy of him, but worthy of an average Tammany boss.”

George Bernard Shaw, Saturday Review

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.

Bogus (adj)

Should fate somehow require you to teach a lesson on Bill & Ted, you’ll probably find this context clues worksheet on the adjective bogus useful. Your students really do deserve to know why Bill and Ted’s journey was bogus.

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.

H.L. Mencken on High School

“It is one of the capital tragedies of youth—and youth is the time of tragedy—that the young are thrown mainly with adults they do not quite respect.”

H.L. Mencken

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

Michelangelo

A reader wrote in this morning asking if I could post this Intellectual Devotional reading on Michelangelo. I typed this into a Word document so that I could edit and differentiate it for a variety of readers; the document’s header reflects the course in which I primarily use it. Since it is a Word document, you may edit it for your purposes as well. Finally, here again is the reading comprehension worksheet to accompany the reading.

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.