Monthly Archives: September 2020

Environment Art

Posted on September 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Environment Art: Not to be confused with earth art, in its broadest sense earth art refers to the work of artists who manipulate the man-made environment. Controlled spaces, whether sculpted or constructed of building materials or light beams or sound—are intended to be experienced with all the senses. A major theme has been the fusion of architecture and sculpture in a room space that surrounds the entering viewer, such as the life-size, three-dimensional tableaux created by Edward Kienholz. Environment art has appeared sporadically in several 20th-century movements, including Dada, surrealism, and pop art.”

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

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The Weekly Text, September 11, 2020: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Piggy Bank”

Posted on September 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

Because they’ve been a popular item on this site, I’ve engaged in idle speculation about the social and educational characteristics of the users of the many Crime and Puzzlement lessons I’ve posted here. I must assume these are particularly useful for homebound, younger kids and their parents.

In any case, here is another, a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Piggy Bank.”

I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the idiom “beyond the pale.” To investigate this case, you’ll need the PDF of the illustration, reading, and questions. To make sure you bring the accused to the bar of justice, here is the typescript of the answer key.

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

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Ben Bagdikian on American Journalism

Posted on September 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American newspaper is like trying to play Bach’s St. Matthew Passion on a ukulele: the instrument is too crude for the work, for the audience and for the performer.”

Ben Bagdikian

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

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Separation of Church and State

Posted on September 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

While I don’t imagine I need to go on at length about it, I do hope this reading on the separation of church and state and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet serve as a gentle reminder of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is meant as a bulwark against theocracy.

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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Write It Right: As for That, or If

Posted on September 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

“As for That, or If. ‘I do not know as he is living.’ This error is not very common among those who can write at all, but sometimes one sees it in high place.”

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

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Common Errors in English Usage: That (pron), Which (pron)

Posted on September 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a somewhat-less-than-distinguished short worksheet on differentiating the use of that and which. As the worksheet’s text explains, these exercises are limited to the use of these two words as pronouns. If you look them up in the dictionary you’ll find usage advise on relative or restrictive clauses. I’m developing material on those areas of English usage, so stay tuned here.

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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Mark Twain on Social Choices

Posted on September 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail.”

Mark Twain in a Speech (1900)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

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Cultural Literacy: Epidemic

Posted on September 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

The other day, I set aside a group of Cultural Literacy worksheets that I think are timely, and arguably ought to be in front of students–or at least something like them that present important concepts that might inform thinking about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in this difficult time.

Ergo, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of an epidemic. And that’s it.

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: Assonance

Posted on September 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Assonance: Sometimes called “vocalic rhyme,” it consists of the repetition of similar vowel sounds, usually close together, to achieve a similar effect of euphony. There is a kind of drowsy sonority in the following lines from Tennyson’s Lotos-Eaters which is assonantal:

‘The Lotos blooms below the barren peak:

The Lotos blooms by every winding creek:

All day the wind breathes low with mellower tone

Thro’ every hollow cave and alley lone,

Round and round the spicy downs the yellow Lotos-dust is blown.’

In Strange Meeting Wilfred Owen uses a vocalic or half rhyme to similar effect:

‘It seemed that out of battle I escaped

Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped

Through grantires which titanic wars had groined.

Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,

Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.'”

Excerpted from: Cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. New York: Penguin, 1992.

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Matriculate (vi/vt)

Posted on September 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb matriculate, which is used both intransitively and transitively. This is the last of the Words of the Day from Merriam-Webster while I was away for the Labor Day weekend. 

Teachers, especially high school teachers, as well as guidance counselors, will agree, I hope, that students ought to know this word as they proceed toward their graduation days. It’s probably worth mentioning, for linguistic purposes, that after students matriculate, work for four years, then graduate, their relationship with their college is characterized by the noun alma mater, i.e. “nourishing mother.” These words stem from the Latin word roots matr, matri, and mater, which mean “mother.” 

In fact, I’ll link to this word root exercise on matr, matri, and mater in the event you want to take this inquiry a bit further.

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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