Yearly Archives: 2020

Junk Sculpture

Posted on October 9, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Junk Sculpture: With Dada roots in the collages of Kurt Schwitters, which were created from trash collected from the streets, junk sculpture first appeared in the United States in the 1950s works of John Chamberlain and Robert Rauschenberg. It is a type of assemblage sculpture in which the sculptor uses materials cast off by modern urban culture and reassembles them with little or no comment. Junk sculpture has affinities to Arte Povera in Italy and similar movements in other European countries where it took on more nostalgic tones.”

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

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Common Errors in English Usage: Regretfully (adv), Regrettably (adv)

Posted on October 9, 2020 | Leave a comment

In my experience, regret isn’t at the forefront of the adolescent’s emotional range; indeed, it is probably at graduation at the earliest that teenagers get a taste of regret.

So, this English usage worksheet on differentiating the adverbs regretfully and regrettably might not land. Still, it does meet the standard for understanding how to work with a usage manual, albeit adapted for struggling learners.

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: Repetition Compulsion

Posted on October 9, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Repetition compulsion: In psychoanalysis, a type of compulsion characterized by a tendency to place oneself in dangerous or distressing situations that repeat similar experiences from the past. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) introduced in 1914 in an article on ‘Remembering, Repeating, and Working-Through’ (Standard Edition, XII, pp. 147-56) and discussed it at length in his book Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920). In analysis, the transference often contains elements that involve recreations of past conflicts with parents and other family members. Also called a compulsion to repeat.”

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

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Cultural Literacy: Class Consciousness

Posted on October 9, 2020 | Leave a comment

It’s not something we talk about in school, because it offends people’s perception of our exceptional, egalitarian society in the United States. Of course that is nonsense: social class divisions, with unequal access to basic resources and economic privileges, has long been a part of American social life.

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on class consciousness is actually a good introduction to the idea of social class as well as, obviously, consciousness of one’s own social 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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Write It Right: Attain for Accomplish

Posted on October 9, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Attain for Accomplish. ‘By diligence we attain our purpose.’ A purpose is accomplished; success is attained.”

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

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Reciprocate (vi/vt)

Posted on October 9, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here, on a beautiful fall morning, is a a context clues worksheet on the verb reciprocate; it’s used both intransitively and transitively. Its use as a noun in the reciprocals of fractions was something I saw students struggle with in the few instances I taught math, Maybe knowing this verb, and using it in context, might help with understanding reciprocals in fractions.

If not, at least kids will know a very commonly used verb in English.

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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Rotten Reviews: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Posted on October 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

“’…The holy bearded veck all nagoy hanging on a cross’ is an example of the author’s language and questionable taste…. The author seems content to use a serious social challenge for frivolous purposes, but himself to stay neutral.”

 Times (London)

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

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Cultural Literacy: The Birth of a Nation

Posted on October 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on The Birth of a Nation, the infamous 1915 film by D.W. Griffith. I think now is a good time for students to learn about this piece of racist propaganda.

There, I got that out on the page. I’ve been walking around this document, metaphorically speaking, for months. In fact, I have a good deal of material about this film–and know more about it than I care to admit. Suffice to say this: this film innovated production techniques and really represents the birth of the long-form, narrative cinema we take for granted today. Even the Marxist auteur Sergei Eisenstein admired D.W. Griffith’s advances in technique while deploring the racism of The Birth of a Nation.

Generally, this film in its “artistic” and commercial dimensions offers a lot of grist for the critical mill. I am still working up to posting more material about this hot-button issue. For now, this short exercise will have to suffice.

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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Lettrism

Posted on October 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Lettrism: A phenomenon since the 1950s, lettrism is the juxtaposition of letters, words, signs, and pictographic symbols with visual effect as the primary concern and with the meaning (if any) of secondary importance. Concrete poetry is a form of lettrism, but here the verbal meaning is as important as the design. Also called typewriter art.”

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

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Word Root Exercise: Mania

Posted on October 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

You’ll find it in a number of very commonly used words in the English language, so here is a worksheet on the Greek word root mania, which means excessive desire and mental aberration. For any students interested in psychology or work in the health care professions, understanding of this root is de rigueur; but, again, this is such a productive root in English that all students really ought to know 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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