Monthly Archives: January 2020

Word Root Exercise: Phot/o

Here is a worksheet on the Greek root phot-o. It means, simply, light, and as you will perceive, this is a very productive root at the base of many English words. It’s very productive in the life and physical sciences, giving us words like photosynthesis and photon.

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 Magna Carta on an Independent Judiciary

“To no man will we sell, or deny, or delay, right or justice.”

[Magna Carta] Clause 40 (1215)

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

Immunity

OK, health and science teachers, maybe this reading on immunity and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet might find a place in your classroom.

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.

An Omnibus of Rotten Reviews: Philip Roth

Portnoy’s Complaint (1971)

This looks and sounds like a Jewish novel. It isn’t. Or, if it is, it is not a good one, a true one…it is finally a definitive something or other. I regret that it is not a definitive something.

America

The best that can be said of Roth’s accomplishment is that Mama Portnoy is a caricature drawn by a master cartoonist, but she’s not more than that…the main trouble with the Jewish family theme is that it has been overwritten.

The Nation

Our Gang (1971)

Nixon’s rough treatment at Roth’s hands may very well invite more sympathy for him than anything since the Checkers speech.

Saturday Review

The Great American Novel (1973)

Roth has, unfortunately, got into such a shouting match with his readers that some of us are going to have to start shouting back.

Encounter

My Life as a Man (1974)

…a totally solipsistic novel, which may well make it a perfect expression of the times.

Commentary

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

Term of Art: Mental Age

mental age n.: A child’s performance on a test of mental ability expressed as the average age of children who achieved the same level of performance in a standardization sample. Thus a 10-year-old child who achieves the same score as the average 12-year-old child in a standardization sample has a mental age of 12. The concept was introduced in 1905 by the French psychologists Alfred Binet (1857-1911) and Theodore Simon (1873-1961). See also Binet-Simon scale, IQ. Compare chronological age, social age. MA abbrev.”

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

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Bang, Bang!”

Here is a complete lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Bang, Bang!”

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on the historical idiom “Let Them Eat Cake” opens this lesson. This PDF of illustration, reading and questions, scanned directly from the Crime and Puzzlement book, drives the lesson. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key to solve this heinous crime.   

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.

Learning Support: Writing about Reading

[You can also take this as a Word Document if you prefer.]

Writing About Reading: Some Openers

  • I was surprised when/angry about/satisfied with/moved by/incredulous at…
  • I liked how the author
  • I noticed how the author
  • I don’t get why the author
  • If I were the author I would have
  • I’d compare this author to
  • This book reminded me of
  • The main character
  • The character development
  • The narrative voice
  • The structure of this book
  • The climax of the plot
  • The resolution of the main character’s problem
  • The genre of this book
  • I’d say a theme of this book is
  • I wish that
  • I didn’t agree with
  • I understood
  • I couldn’t understand
  • Why did
  • This is how I read this book
  • I rated this one _____ because
  • And always: I was struck by/interested in/convinced by this passage: “….” It shows…about this author’s writing.

Excerpted from: Atwell, Nancie. The Reading Zone: How to Help Kids Become Skilled, Passionate, Habitual, Critical Readers. New York: Scholastic, 2007.

Amalgamate (vt)

Here, on seasonally crisp Monday morning in southwestern Vermont, is a context clues worksheet on the verb amalgamate. Apparently, it’s only used transitively.

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 Tripartite Revolutionary Values of the French Revolution

“Liberty * Equality * Fraternity

Nothing has ever quite matched the elan of idealism expressed in these tripartite watchwords of the French Revolution, which became the national motto of the nation. They are attributed to a Parisian printer, Antoine-Francois Momoro, though at the time of the Revolution there were several variants, and lists might include Amitie (Friendship), Charite (Charity) or Union–and there was often a qualifier–ou la Mort (or death). The latter was discreetly dropped after the Reign of Terror.”

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

Cultural Literacy: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

It’s probably safe say that because demand is low for this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Latinism Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (“Thus passes away the glory of the world”) that it constitutes an adequate supply. The turn of the year seems like as good a time as any to post it, I guess.

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.