Monthly Archives: July 2022

Interlace

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Interlace: Decoration formed of entwined, interwoven, linear elements.”

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

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Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Prevent

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the verb prevent as it is used with a gerund. To prevent writing dubious instructional material, the teacher decided he needed to think more clearly about instructional goals.

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: Structural Analysis

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

“structural analysis: A type of word recognition that identifies structural features such as syllables, prefixes, suffixes, and roots. Other structural elements include compound words (sunshine) and contradictions (do not).

A reader may use a combination of structural analysis and context clues to identify an unfamiliar word. Individuals with learning disabilities benefit from the explicit teaching of structural analysis skills in order to improve spelling and reading comprehension.”

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

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Guy Fawkes

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

OK, here is a reading on Guy Fawkes along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Chances are good, especially in the high school population, that students have heard of Fawkes through the graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, the book’s filmed version, or the ubiquitous Guy Fawkes masks that show up at various protest rallies.

In any case, Guy Fawkes remains of sufficient importance–if only as a bogeyman–in British history that the Brits observe Guy Fawkes Night to commemorate the Gunpowder Plot in which Fawkes was intimately involved.

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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Byword

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Byword (noun): A common saying of proverb, or a much-used word or phrase; widely familiar term; epithet; something or somebody personifying a type, quality, or the like; exemplar or paragon.

‘This, I did not need telling, was Anthony Blanche, the “aesthete” par excellence, a byword of iniquity from Cherwell Edge to Somerville, a young man who seemed to me, then fresh from the somber company of the College Essay Society, ageless as a wizard, as foreign as a Martian.’ Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

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Cultural Literacy: Balkan Peninsula

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Balkan Peninsula. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three compound sentences and three comprehension questions. Nota bene, please, that the compounds in these sentences contain lists of geographical particularities and the many nations and nationalities that crowd this relatively small piece of real estate. If you’re looking for something to begin a lesson on this region–particularly just about anything on World War I, empires, colonialism, or the horrorshow that ensued in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union–this short worksheet might be a good place to start.

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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Antonin Artaud with a Grim Assessment of Writing and Writers

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

“All writing is garbage. People who come out of nowhere to try to put into words any part of what goes on in their minds are pigs.”

Antonin Artaud

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

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Glitch (n)

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun glitch. It means “a usually minor malfunction,”  “a minor problem that causes a temporary setback,” and “a false or spurious electronic signal.” The context clues in this sentence point mostly to the first two definitions; the first sentence on the worksheet–“Arleny’s phone has developed a glitch that causes a delay in the delivery of text messages”–might, with some revision, supply context for the first definition.

Parenthetically, would you be surprised to hear this word comes to the English language from Yiddish? It does sound like it might; in Yiddish, glitsch means “a slippery place”; the verb glitshn means “to slide, glide.” Enough said.

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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Douglas Sirk

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Douglas Sirk originally Hans Detlef Sierck: (1900-1987) German-U.S. film director. He was artistic director of several theaters in Bremen (1923-29) and Leipzig (1929-36) and made several films before fleeing Germany in 1937. He arrived in Hollywood in 1939 and received minor directing assignments until he joined Universal Pictures in 1950. There he directed comedy, western, and war movies but was best known for such popular melodramas as Magnificent Obsession (1954), There’s Always Tomorrow (1956), Written on the Wind (1956), and The Tarnished Angels (1957). After directing his greatest success, Imitation of Life (1959), he retired to Germany.”

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

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The Weekly Text, 29 July 2022: A Lesson Plan on Correlative Conjunctions (Part 2)

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is the second of two lessons on using correlative conjunctions. The first was published here last Friday. If you scroll down eight or so posts below this one, you’ll find it.

I open this lesson with this Everyday Edit worksheet on Charles R. Drew, the surgeon and researcher on blood transfusions. (And don’t forget that you can help yourself to a yearlong supply of Everyday Edit worksheets over at Education World.) If the lesson spills over into a second day, here is a second do-now worksheet on the homophones peace and piece.

This scaffolded worksheet is the center of this unit, and I expect that this teacher’s copy of the worksheet will make delivering the lesson a bit easier for you.

That’s it. I’ll post the final lesson in this unit–and the final lesson of all the Parts of Speech Units on this blog–next week.

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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