Monthly Archives: April 2023

Descartes, Famously, on Ontology and Epistemology

“I think, therefore I am.”

Rene DescartesLe Discours de la Method (1637)

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

Cultural Literacy: Troy

OK, moving right along this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the ancient city of Troy. You know, the one that excited so much rage in those ancient, mythical, Greek and Roman military commanders. This is a half-page document with a reading of two sentences and two comprehension questions. Just the basics.

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: Tennessee Williams

“How long was the first run of Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)? The play opened in New York in 1947 and ran for 855 performances.”

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

Common Errors in English Usage: Job Titles

Here is a worksheet on the correct usage of job titles, particularly in the capitalization rules for those titles. This is a full-page document with a reading of nine sentences and ten sentences for editing to find the right fit for the title in question. This worksheet is, incidentally, another in a series of 100 that will eventually appear on this site, adapted from Paul Brians’ excellent usage manual Common Errors in English Usage.

Did you know Professor Brians allows access to his book at no cost at his Washington State University website? You should buy a copy anyway, though.

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.

The Doubter’s Companion: Amorality

“Amorality: A quality admired and rewarded in modern organizations, where it is referred to through metaphors such as professionalism and efficiency.

Amorality is corporatist wisdom. It is one of the terms which highlights the confusion in society between what is officially taught as a value and what is actually rewarded by the structure.

Immorality is doing wrong of our own volition. Amorality is doing it because a structure or an organization expects us to do it. Amorality is thus worse than immorality because it involves denying our responsibility and therefore our existence as anything more than animal.”

Excerpted from: Saul, John Ralston. The Doubter’s Companion. New York: The Free Press, 1994.

The Weekly Text, Friday 28 April 2023: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 12, DJ Kool Herc Steps Forward to Sample in The Bronx

Continuing with the History of Hip-Hop Unit, here is lesson plan twelve, on Clive Campbell, aka DJ Kool Herc. This Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) begins the lesson. The centerpiece of this lesson is this reading on Clive Campbell  with its accompanying comprehension worksheet.

And that is that for another 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.

Henry Adams on Estimating Intelligence

“There is no such thing as an underestimate of average intelligence.”

Henry Adams

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

Forecast (vi/vt)

Here is a context clues on the verb forecast, which is used transitively and intransitively. As a transitive verb, it means “to calculate or predict (some future event or condition) usually as a result of study and analysis of available pertinent data; especially: to predict (weather conditions) on the basis of correlated meteorological observations”  and “to indicate as likely to occur.” Used intransitively, forecast means “to calculate the future.”

Don’t forget that forecast is also used as a noun. Should you decide you want to recast this worksheet (it’s formatted, like just about everything else on this blog, in Microsoft Word, so you can alter it to suit your students’ needs) to reflect this word’s meaning as a noun, in that usage forecast means “a prophecy, estimate, or prediction of a future happening or condition.”

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.

Term of Art: Sound/Symbol Association

“sound/symbol association: The idea that certain sounds are paired with specific symbols.”

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

Cultural Literacy: Stage Direction

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on stage direction. This is a half-page document with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. When it’s all said and done, your students will understand the concept of state directions and even receive an introduction to three primary stage directions, enter, exit, and exeunt.

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.