Monthly Archives: November 2021

The Weekly Text, 12 November 2021: A Review Lesson on the Use of Pronouns in Declarative Sentences

Posted on November 11, 2021 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is the penultimate lesson in the 13-lesson unit on pronouns I engineered several years ago, and have been working on ever since. It is basically a pre-assessment review lesson to prepare student for the final lesson, a guided mastery exercise in which they review and recapitulate all the foregoing lessons.

I open this lesson with this Everyday Edit worksheet on “Women Get the Vote.” If the lesson enters a second day for whatever reason, here is another Everyday Edit, this one on Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Here is the scaffolded worksheet for this lesson that is its primary work. Finally, here is the teacher’s copy of same. I’ll put up the final lesson soon, and then there will be a 13-lesson unit on pronouns available in its entirety on Mark’s Text Terminal.

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, Worksheets

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Couplet

Posted on November 11, 2021 | Leave a comment

“Couplet: In prosody, a pair of lines forming a unit, usually either because they set off as a separate stanze or because they rhyme. The best-known couplet is the soc-called heroic couplet.”

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

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Stratagem (n), Strategy (n)

Posted on November 11, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun stratagem and another on the noun strategy. These two words are related, obviously, so it seemed best to post them together. What is the difference between them?

Stratagem means “an artifice or trick in war for deceiving and outwitting the enemy,” “a cleverly contrived trick or scheme for gaining an end” and “skill in ruses or trickery.” Strategy, as we most commonly use it, means “the science and art of employing the political, economic, psychological, and military forces of a nation or group of nations to afford the maximum support to adopted policies in peace or war,” and “the science and art of military command exercised to meet the enemy in combat under advantageous conditions.” It’s worth mentioning that a further definition of strategy is “the art of devising or employing plans or stratagems toward a goal.” That may be the best explanation of the relationship–and therefore use–of these two solid, Greek-based nouns. An set of stratagems becomes an aggregate–a strategy.

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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Women Beware Women

Posted on November 10, 2021 | Leave a comment

“Women Beware Women: A tragedy by Thomas Middleton (1580-1627). It has not been established when he wrote it (some time before 1622), but the works was published posthumously in 1657. The admonitory title primarily refers to the character Livia (although none of the other characters is particularly savoury). In the main plot Livia distracts Leontio’s mother with a game of chess while the duke seduces Leontio’s wife, Bianca. In the subplot Livia persuades her niece Isabella that she is not related to Uncle Hippolito, Livia’s brother, so that mutual lust may be consummated. The corpse count by the end of the play is high. Apparently T.S. Eliot was alluding to the scene featuring the game of chess in the title of Part II of The Waste Land (1922), ‘A Game of Chess’, although the only reference to chess is in the lines:

And we shall play a game of chess,

Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door.

Middleton’s political satire, A Game at Chess, which he wrote in 1624, was also admired by Eliot.”

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

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Stephanie Ericsson’s “The Ways We Lie”

Posted on November 10, 2021 | Leave a comment

When the English teacher with whom I work recently introduced Stephanie Ericsson’s essay “The Ways We Lie” late last week, I’d never previously seen it. If you search it, you’ll see that it is evidently in use in a number of schools around the country. It’s not especially profound, but it does touch on some of the my philosophical issues that lying and truth-telling raise. Ms. Ericsson has enjoyed a successful career as a writer and and actor, the latter of which surprised me.

In any case, here is a copy of the essay itself along with a contextual and learning support that I composed to attend it. The essay is in Microsoft Word, though I didn’t render it so, so I cannot vouch for it accuracy or fidelity; the contextual and learning support I did write, and, as below, if you find any problems with it, please advise. I copy-edited it twice, which doesn’t mean it doesn’t contain lapses or errors. There is a reason why professional writers–which I am not, alas–use the services of their publishers’ copy-editing offices.

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, Essays/Readings, Independent Practice, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Term of Art: Tactile Defensiveness

Posted on November 10, 2021 | Leave a comment

“tactile defensiveness: Being overly sensitive to touch; withdrawing, crying, yelling, or strking out when touched.

Some experts believe that that tactile defensiveness is related to disorganization in the midbrain, which is responsible for filtering incoming stimuli and—when abnormal—may not screen out all excessive tactile stimulation. As a result, a person would register even the most subtle sensations as irritating or painful, so that the person may respond to touch by grimacing or pulling away.

The central nervous system relies on different sensory nerve receptors in the skin to monitor the environment: light touch (surface), pressure (deep), temperature (hot and cold), and pain. It is quite possible for a person with tactile defensiveness to have one type of receptor that is oversensitive and the rest be normal. This explains why a person could tolerate light touch but pull away from a firm hug or prefer to run outside with a coat but be content with haircuts.

The tactile defensive individual can experience great distress in the course of daily life, constantly being bombarded with raw sensations. A person might insist on wearing only very soft clothes with large head openings or refuse to wear jewelry (especially around the neck). The slightest bump from another person may feel like a threat, and his or her defensive response may appear to be impulsive or aggressive. People with this condition may dislike group games such as tag or dodgeball, and holding hands with a partner can be physically agonizing. A person with this condition may shrink from being touched, which prevents him or her from being able to interact with friends in a normal way. Daily personal grooming, including bathing, washing hair, trimming nails, or brushing teeth can also be interpreted as uncomfortable.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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Word Root Exercise: Di, Diplo

Posted on November 10, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word roots di and diplo. They mean two and double. You’ll find these roots underneath an everyday word like dilemma, but on this worksheet (which, if the book from which it is adapted is to be believed, contains words commonly found on the SAT), you’ll find it at the base of linguistic terms like digraph and diphthong, and scientific words like dichloride and dichromate.

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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Non-Finite Verb

Posted on November 10, 2021 | Leave a comment

“Non-finite Verb: also nonfinite verb. A form of the verb that does not display a distinction in tense, in contrast with finite verb (where there is a distinction between present tense and past tense: hopes, hoped). A non-finite verb is either an infinitive or a participle. There are two infinitives: the to-infinitive (‘Estelle wants to dance with Matthew’); the bare infinitive (‘Philip will come with Matthew’). There are two participles: the -ing participle or the present participle (‘James is playing cards’) and the -ed participle or (according to its function) the past participle or passive participle (‘James has visited me recently’; Jane was helped by Jeremy).”

Excerpted from: McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

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Common Errors in English Usage: Healthy (adj), Healthful (adj)

Posted on November 10, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a English usage worksheet on distinguishing between the adjectives healthy and healthful when deploying these words in prose. This is a full-page worksheet with a one-paragraph reading and ten modified cloze exercises. Like all the materials under the masthead “Common Errors in English Usage,” this one is adapted from Paul Brians’ excellent book of the same name; did you know he allows access to it for free at the Washington State University website?

In this reading, Professor Brians subtly argues that the difference between healthy and healthful has eroded to such a degree that the words are indistinguishable now. So, after working with them in these exercises, students can debate whether or not we need both of these words in our lexicons.

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 Fan’s Notes

Posted on November 10, 2021 | Leave a comment

“Rotten Reviews: A Fan’s Notes

‘The book’s fault is its lack of passion.’

Library Journal”

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

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