Monthly Archives: February 2020

Desert (n/vi/vt) and Dessert (n)

Posted on February 6, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here are five worksheets on the homophones desert (a noun and a verb, in the latter case used both intransitively and transitively) and dessert, which is only a noun. These are two very commonly confused words even though, when carefully and properly pronounced, they aren’t really homophones.

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Worksheets

Tagged , ,

Rubenisme

Posted on February 6, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Rubenisme: Artistic theory in France in the second half of the 17th century and the early 18th century, championing the primacy of color over line. Rubenistes opposed the Poussinistes, who favored line. Adherents of the two sides were named after Rubens and Poussin, who in their paintings had emphasized color and line, respectively.”

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

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference

Tagged ,

Erie Canal

Posted on February 6, 2020 | Leave a comment

United States history teachers, here is a reading on the Erie Canal and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet if you need them.

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , , ,

Term of Art: Clause

Posted on February 6, 2020 | Leave a comment

“clause: A part of a sentence whose structure is itself like that of a sentence. Thus, in particular, one which includes a verb and elements that can and must accompany it.

In older treatments one clause was described as following another; e.g. in I said I saw her a main clause I said would be followed by a subordinate clause I saw her. As now defined, the main clause is the sentence as a whole and the subordinate clause is said to be included in it: thus, with brackets around each, [I said [I saw her]]. Clauses are distinguished in most accounts from phrases, by criteria which may vary, however, from one to another.”

Excerpted from: Matthews, P.H., ed. The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference

Tagged , ,

Word Root Exercise: Volv, Volu, Volut

Posted on February 6, 2020 | Leave a comment

Let’s begin this day with this worksheet on the Latin word roots volv, volu, and volut. They mean roll and turn (you know, as in revolve, etc). This is a very productive root in English, and it forms the basis of a lot of commonly used words.

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Worksheets

Tagged , , ,

James Baldwin, Metaphorically, on Labor and Dignity

Posted on February 5, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Consider the history of labor in a country in which, spiritually speaking, there are no workers, only candidates for the hand of the boss’s daughter.”

James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time (1963)

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

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged , , , ,

Independent Practice: African Slave Trade

Posted on February 5, 2020 | Leave a comment

Wrapping up for today, here is an independent practice worksheet on the African slave trade. I find myself struggling to post this catalogue of indignities that Americans of African descent have endured. I’m down to the last few of them, and I begin to see why I have hesitated to post them over the years.

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.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , , ,

Charles Waddell Chestnutt

Posted on February 5, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Charles Waddell Chestnutt: “(1858-1932) American novelist. Chestnutt, sometimes referred to as the first black American novelist, was a teacher, newspaperman, and lawyer. His first story, ‘The Goophered Grapevine,’ appeared in The Atlantic in 1887. His first book, The Conjure Woman (1899), centered on Uncle Julius McAdoo, a character with similarities to Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus. His later books dealt with race prejudice, the best known being The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line (1899). In 1928, Chestnutt received the Spingarn gold medal for his pioneer work in depicting the struggles of African Americans.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged , , ,

Everyday Edit: Thurgood Marshall

Posted on February 5, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is an Everyday Edit worksheet on Thurgood Marshall. If you want more of these, check with the eleemosynary spirits at Education World, who give away a year’s supply of them at their site.

My usual caution and entreaty on typos doesn’t apply here: there are a number of spelling, grammar and punctuation errors on each of these worksheets; the task is to fix them.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , , ,

Write It Right: Authoress

Posted on February 5, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Authoress. A needless word—as needless as ‘poetess.’”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.

Leave a comment

Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference

Tagged , ,