Monthly Archives: June 2022

Term of Art: Time on Task

“time on task: The number of minutes during an hour and the number of hours during a day that students spend actively engaged in learning in the classroom, as opposed to the amount of time changing classes, chatting, or engaging in other nonlearning situations.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

Cultural Literacy: Topic Sentence, Paragraph

OK, I continue to break into new material I developed during the pandemic. This pair of Cultural Literacy worksheets really should go out together. The first is a worksheet on the topic sentence of a paragraph. This is a half-page document with a two-sentence reading two comprehension questions.

That document’s obvious complement is this worksheet on the paragraph, as the reading nicely summarizes it, as the “basic unit of prose.” This is also a half-page document, but you’ll find a three-sentence reading with three comprehension questions.

In other words, a good general introduction, in two parts, to the paragraph in form and purpose.

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.

Line Drawing

“Line Drawing: Drawing in which the primary element of definition is line, as opposed to a brush or wash drawing.”

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

Word Root Exercise: Rrhea, Rrhoea, and Rrhag

Here is a worksheet on on the Greek word roots rrhea, rrhoea, and rrhag. They mean flow, excessive flow, and discharge. You probably won’t be surprise to find these roots inside English words like diarrhea, gonorrhea, and hemorrhage. Like most of the Greek word roots I’ve posted her over the years, this one will be useful for students planning careers in the health care professions.

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.

Book of Answers: The Abbey Theater

“When did the Abbey Theater open?  The Dublin theater dedicated to presenting Irish drama opened in 1904. Its directors included William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory. Destroyed by fire in 1951, the theater reopened in 1966.”

Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Acknowledge

Previously on the blog, I’ve conveyed my doubts about the quality of work that appear under the header above. Since I have nearly unlimited storage space on this blog, and because they are already made, and because perhaps there is a chance someone might find them useful, I will continue to post these documents. Without further ado, here is a worksheet on using gerunds with the verb acknowledge.

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.

Ukrainian Language

“Ukranian language formerly Ruthenian language: East Slavic language spoken by about 41 million people in Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Russia, and in enclaves around the world. Only about three-quarters of Ukrainians are first-language speakers of Ukrainian, but there are millions of first language speakers in Russia, Belarus, and the Central Asian republics. Ukraine’s premodern literary language was Church Slavic. Ukrainian was one component in the chancery language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which also mixed Church Slavic, Belorussian, and Polish. With the fall of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks in the 18th century, Ukrainian-speakers were stateless and the status of the language, thought of as peasant speech by the nobility, was low. The language and orthography (using a form of the Cyrillic alphabet) were gradually standardized in the 19th century.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Cultural Literacy: Vidkun Quisling

While I very much doubt there will be much demand for it, here nonetheless is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Vidkun Quisling. This is full-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and five comprehension questions.

Quisling’s surname name became a synonym for traitor and collaborator after his decision, which this document covers, to collaborate with the Nazis during during the German occupation of Norway in World War II. I first encountered this use while reading Christopher Simpson’s excellent book Blowback many years ago; he uses the term, in that study, “quisling governments” to describes the complicity of officials in the Soviet Baltic states and Ukraine in the Holocaust, particularly the events depicted in a film like Defiance–i.e. the role of the Einsatzgruppen in the early days of the the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

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.

Motif

“Motif: One of the dominant ideas in a work of literature; a part of the main theme. It may consist of a character, a recurrent image, or a verbal pattern.”

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

Cant (n)

If you can use it, here is a context clues worksheet on the noun cant. It means, within the context the sentences in this document supply, “affected singsong or whining speech” and especially “the expression or repetition of conventional or trite opinions or sentiments; especially : the insincere use of pious words.” I don’t know whether students need to know this word or not; I am fairly confident, however, that whenever a mass shooting occurs in this country, and politicians take to Twitter to intone about their thoughts and prayers, that we hear cant in its purest form.

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.