Monthly Archives: August 2018

Diffusion (n)

You might find this context clues worksheet on the noun diffusion useful, particularly if you teach science.

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.

Eric Hoffer on Fanaticism

“No so the fanatic. Chaos is his element. When the old order begins to crack, he wades in with all his might and recklessness to blow the whole hated present to high heaven. He glories in the sight of a world coming to a sudden end. To hell with reforms! All that already exists is rubbish. He justifies his will to anarchy with the plausible assertion that there can be no new beginning so long as the old clutters the landscape. He shoves aside the frightened men of words, if they are still around, though he continues to extol their doctrines and mouth their slogans. He alone knows the innermost craving of the masses in action; the craving for communion, for the mustering of the host, for the dissolution of cursed individuality in the majesty and grandeur of a mighty whole. Posterity is king; and woe to those, inside and outside the movement, who hug and hang on to the present.”

Excerpted from: Hoffer, Eric. The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1951.

The Weekly Text, August 3, 2018: A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Root Ver-

This week’s Text is a complete lesson plan on the Latin word root ver–it means true. You know, it turns up in words like veracity, verify, and verdict. This do-now exercise on the noun integrity serves well to open the lesson and hint at the meaning of the word root. Finally, this word root worksheet is the mainstay of the lesson.

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.

The Algonquin Wits: Edna Ferber on Nobel Laureates and Critics

“Speaking about reviewers who seemed unable to render honest, objective critiques on the works of such writers as had won the Nobel Prize, Miss Ferber described them as ‘awestruck by the Nobelity.'”

Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.

Veracious (adj) and Voracious (adj)

Here are five worksheets on the homophones veracious and voracious, both of which are adjectives. Both of these words grow from Latin roots, to wit, respectively, ver (true) and vor (to eat). Let me put that another way: “I can verify that he ate voraciously.” Tomorrow morning, for this week’s Text, I’ll post a complete lesson plan on the Latin root ver; vor will appear eventually, but I haven’t finished fashioning it into a complete lesson plan.

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.

Plinth (n)

“Square member on which a column or statue rests; a narrow rectangular platform of stone.”

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

Cultural Literacy: The Nobel Prize

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Nobel Prize. I wonder if he’d lived longer, if James Baldwin might have received it.

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.