Monthly Archives: September 2019

Term of Art: Double Negative

Posted on September 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Double Negative: The use of two negatives in a sentence where one will suffice, e..g., ‘It doesn’t mean nothing’; reiterated denial that is tantamount to an affirmative of positive statement.

In substandard speech, however, double negatives often reinforce a strongly negative color in an assertion. ‘I don’t want nothing from nobody is a threefold declaration of independence, not a logical seesaw.” G.W. Turner, Stylistics“

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

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A Glossary of Words Related to Decimals Math

Posted on September 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

Maybe you can use this basic glossary of fractions terms that I just whipped in preparation for teaching this material to my math class.

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.

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Term of Art: Dyscalculia

Posted on September 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Dyscalculia: Impairment of the ability to do arithmetic.

[From Greek dys– bad or abnormal + Latin calculare to count, from calculus diminutive of calx a stone + ia indicating a condition or quality]”

Excerpted from: Colman, Andrew M., ed. Oxford Dictionary of Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

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The Weekly Text, September 13, 2019: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Dropout”

Posted on September 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this blog, the lessons I prepared to attend the Crime and Puzzlement books are quite frequently downloaded. Because I am exhausted from trying to get the school year started, and therefore bereft of imagination and initiative, I offer, as this week’s Text, a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Dropout.”

I use this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the expression “Sword of Damocles” to open the lesson after a class change. You’ll need this PDF of the illustration and questions that drive this lesson to teach it. Finally, here is the answer key typescript; it’s in word if you need to differentiate it for your students.

And that makes ten posts for this week, so I’m done here for the moment. I hope your school year is off to a good start.

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.

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

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G.M. Young on the Oxford University Press

Posted on September 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Being published by the Oxford University Press is rather like being married to a duchess: the honor is almost greater than the pleasure.”

G.M. Young (Quoted in Rupert Hart-Davis, Letter to George Lyttleton, 29 Apr. 1956)

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

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Tobacco

Posted on September 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

Moving right along, here is a reading on tobacco and the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that attends it. The reading is only one page, but don’t let that mislead you: it’s a cogent summary of the role this plant played in the colonization of North America and the development of capitalism and international trade.

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.

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Rotten Rejections: The Visits of Elizabeth by Elinor Glyn

Posted on September 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

[This deals with the novel by Elinor Glyn.]

“All the men, married and single, make love to her in various ways, and she comments naively on their behavior, squeezing here arms, holding her hands, kissing her, etc…. At the end one has the uncomfortable feeling of having been a spectator of the operation of rubbing the bloom off a girl by a lot of worldly and more or less vulgar people.”

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

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Word Root Exercise: Mega, Megal/o, Megaly

Posted on September 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word roots mega, megal/o, and megaly. They mean large, great, and million. Once again, this is a very productive root in English, yielding words like megaton, megalomaniac, and megabyte.

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.

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Term of Art: Ergo

Posted on September 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

“(UR GO or AIR GO) Ergo is the Latin term for “therefore,” “hence,” “consequently,” “it follows that….” It is often used to give an air of formality to a presentation of the conclusion to an argument. Like the less frequently used Q.E.D., it implies that the person presenting the argument is “learned” or specifically trained in logic.”

Excerpted from: Trail, George Y. Rhetorical Terms and Concepts: A Contemporary Glossary. New York: Harcourt Brace, 2000.

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Cultural Literacy: Destructive Competition

Posted on September 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on destructive competition for you business and economics teachers out there.

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.

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