Monthly Archives: September 2018

Elie Wiesel’s Night

If you can use it, here is a reading on Elie Wiesel and his classic memoir Night and the reading comprehension worksheet that attends it. At the school in which I currentlhy serve, we have always used this book in, if I’m not mistaken, sophomore English.

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.

Term of Art: Readiness

“The degree to which an individual is prepared developmentally to learn a new skill. Readiness is a term often used in early education to describe a child’s acquisition of prerequisite emotional, social and cognitive skills for academic learning.

For example, reading readiness would include pre-reading skills such as letter identification, print awareness, and rhyming. When a child has demonstrated mastery of such skills, that child would be ready to learn to read.

However, the concept of readiness can be applied to any stage of learning. For example, readiness for algebra must mean an individual has mastered certain mathematical calculations.

Normal three- to six-year-olds acquire academic and social readiness naturally when brought up in a literate environment, but developmentally delayed, learning disabled, or environmentally deprived children may need extra training or early intervention to prepare them for learning. Early school failure or unnecessary referrals can be prevented with some extra attention in early education to bolster children’s readiness for school.”

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

Lessen (v) and Lesson (n)

Here on a rainy Monday are five homophone worksheets on the verb lessen and the noun lesson to build vocabulary, reinforce good English usage, and resolve confusion about these soundalikes.

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.

Calvin, to Hobbes, on Extraterrestrial Contact

“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”

Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes (comic strip), 8 Nov. 1989

Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

Fallacy (n)

Over the years, I’ve developed a variety of materials related to the composition of synthetic research papers, particularly around marshaling evidence, citing sources, and postulating theses. I developed this context clues worksheet on the noun fallacy for use in the service of the latter task.

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.

Rotten Reviews: Rudyard Kipling

“I’m sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.”

San Francisco Examiner, rejection letter to Kipling, 1889″

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

Cultural Literacy: The Big Bang

Last thing on a suddenly hectic Sunday morning: here, if you can use it, is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Big Bang.

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: President

“President n. The leading figure in a small group of men of whom—and of whom only—it is positively known that immense numbers of their countrymen did not want any of them for President.”

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

A Lesson Plan on the Paleolithic Era

Alright: I have to run off an meet a friend from Wisconsin in Manhattan. Before I do, I’ll drink a quick cup of coffee and post this lesson plan on the paleolithic period of human history. I begin teaching this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the noun artifact and this one on the noun nomad. This short reading and comprehension worksheet on the paleolithic period is the mainstay of this 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.

Paideia Program (n)

“An approach to teaching developed by philosopher Mortimer Adler that combines coaching, lecturing, and Socratic dialogue as teaching methods to encourage deep thinking about such traditional subjects as literature, mathematics, science, and the performing arts. Adler’s Paideia Proposal, and Paideia Problems and Possibilities are rooted in the social, political, and educational philosophy of Aristotle.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.