Monthly Archives: October 2019

The Devil’s Dictionary: Hell

Posted on October 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Hell, n. The residence of the late Noah Webster, dictionary-maker.”

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

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A Halloween Lesson Plan on Vlad the Impaler

Posted on October 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

While I have posted these materials elsewhere on Mark’s Text Terminal, I have not included (because I just wrote it yesterday) this lesson plan on Vlad the Impaler. He is the model for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. He also offers a glimpse into the mentality of some of those European knights who went on Crusade in the Holy Land. His biography also offers some insight into the privileges and prerogatives of European nobility in the fifteenth century. And of course, there are his horrifying crimes against humanity, though they would not have been called that at the time (see “privileges and prerogatives of European nobility”).

Anyway, here is a context clues worksheet on the verb impale (it’s only used transitively). This short reading on Vlad is the center of the lesson. Finally, here is the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that accompanies the reading.

And with that: Happy Halloween! Go easy on the candy, eh?

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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Guys and Dolls

Posted on October 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

“A collection of stories (1931) by the US writer Damon Runyon (1884-1946), comprising amusing tales of gangster life, told in Runyon’s colorful version of New York underworld patois. The first collection was followed by several others, and the stories feature characters such as Joe the Joker, Nicely-Nicely, Apple Annie, and Regret the Horseplayer. The musical comedy entitled Guys and Dolls (1950), based on Runyon’s stories and with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser (1910-69) and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, focuses on the romance that develops between a Salvation Army worker (representing the ‘dolls’) and gambler Sky Masterson (representing the ‘guys’). It was filmed in 1955 starring Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, and Jean Simmons.”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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Perspicacious (adj)

Posted on October 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

It’s a word that I didn’t learn until a professor of mine at Hampshire College wrote it in an evaluation of my Division II work (which was very gratifying), so maybe high schoolers need not learn it. If you think they should, though, then here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective perspicacious. It means “of acute mental vision or discernment.”

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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Helen Prejean on the Death Penalty

Posted on October 29, 2019 | Leave a comment

“[On her opposition to the death penalty:] People are more than the worst thing they have ever done in their lives.”

Sister Helen Prejean

Quote in N.Y. Times Magazine, 9 May 1993

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

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A Lesson Plan on Culture and Religion as Causes of History

Posted on October 29, 2019 | Leave a comment

Last but not least this morning is this lesson plan on culture and religion as causes of history. I start this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the noun epidemic. This lesson is a brainstorming and note-taking activity, so, accordingly, you’ll want this (or some iteration of it you make) this brainstorming and note-taking worksheet for students to use.

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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Term of Art: Caesarism

Posted on October 29, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Caesarism: Governmental system similar to that established by Julius Caesar (101-44 BC) in ancient Rome, that is, a semi-popular system of dictatorship, the dictator being enabled to seize power by the support of the army, a party or section of the people. Once in power, the dictator preserves the outward democratic forms with impotent parliaments, rigged elections and manipulations of the plebiscite. The property-owning class has its privileges and power curtailed, but is still protected from the poor. Egalitarian sentiments are expressed and the dictator claims to derive power from the people. Bonapartism is a variant of the model. Oswald Spengler (1880-1936), the German political philosopher, held that Caesarism would replace democracy in the 20th century since it was a trend to emerge in all civilizations at a certain point in their development.”

Excerpted from: Cook, Chris. Dictionary of Historical Terms. New York: Gramercy, 1998.

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Two Vocabulary-Building Worksheet on Aviation Terms

Posted on October 29, 2019 | Leave a comment

In response to student demand and therefore hot off the press, here are two vocabulary-building worksheets on aviation terms. I suspect this is both the beginning and end of this enterprise, but if demand for this material returns, there may me more of it.

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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Gordon W. Allport

Posted on October 29, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Allport, Gordon W. (1897-1967) A leading American social psychologist who became head of the Harvard Department of Psychology in 1938. His most significant contributions include a theory of personality which highlighted the self and the proprium, the latter defined ‘all the regions of our life that we regard as peculiarly ours’ (see Becoming, 1955); studies of the importance of prejudice as a historical and cultural, as well as a psychological, phenomenon; an emphasis on the importance of personal documents in social science (such as his collection of Letters from Jenny, 1965); and his championing of the ideographic method.”

Excerpted from: Matthews, Gordon, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

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Dance Marathons

Posted on October 29, 2019 | Leave a comment

Last year, to my great surprise, this reading on dance marathons and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet became high-interest materials in my classroom in Springfield, Massachusetts. As a teenager, I read They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? By Horace McCoy, so I have always found this cultural phenomenon interesting.

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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