Category Archives: English Language Arts

This category contains domain-specific material–reading and writing expository prose, interpreting literature etc.–designed to meet the Common Core standards in English language arts while at the same time being flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse and idiosyncratic learners.

Dada

“Dada: An international movement in fine arts, drama, and literature that took shape in Zurich in 1916, with other major centers in New York (1915-1920), Germany (1918-1923), and Paris (1919-1922). Symbolizing their antirational stance, founding artists ‘chose’ the word ‘Dada’ (Fr., hobby horse) by sticking a penknife into a dictionary at random. The movement reflected the cynicism engendered by World War I in improvised, sarcastic expressions of intuition and irrationality. Dada artists—among them Marcel Duchamp, Jean Arp, Francis Picabia, Kurt Schwitters, and Max Ernst—appropriated papiers colles for their witty collages and ready-mades for their sculpture. A forerunner of Surrealism. See Anti-Art.”

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

Articulate (adj), Articulate (vi/vt)

Here is a pair of context clues worksheet for articulate used as an adjective and a verb. These documents require, I think, a bit of exposition: these are complicated words, and the worksheet itself is keyed to specific meanings of these words and the parts of speech for which they function. Let’s start with the adjective: the sentences in the first document seek to move student toward inferring the adjectival definition of articulate as “expressing oneself readily, clearly, or effectively.”

The verb is another matter. First of all, it is used both intransitively and transitively. Intransitively, it means “to utter articulate sounds,” “to utter clear and understandable sounds,” and, less relevantly to the matter at hand, “to become united or connected by or as if by a joint” (e.g. the articulated buses one sees in big-city public transportation systems worldwide). Transitively, articulate means “to give clear and effective utterance to,” “put into words,”  “to utter distinctly,” and “to give definition to (as a shape or object).” But it too carries the meaning” to unite by or as if by means of a joint” as above.

In any case, the second page of this document seeks to elicit the more common definitions of the verb, which is, transitively “to give clear and effective utterance to,” and “put into words.”  And that’s more than enough said about the use of articulate (don’t forget the stress shifts to the final syllable for the verb) as a verb and as an adjective.

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.

Book of Answers: Leo Tolstoy

“In what war did Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) serve? He served in the Crimean War (1853-1856), though he is best known for his treatment of the Napoleonic Wars in War and Peace (1863-69).”

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

Word Root Exercise: Post

Moving right along on this spring morning, here is a worksheet on the Latin word root post. It means, of course, “after” and “behind.” I feel confident that I need not belabor the productivity of this root–and as I write this, I wonder why I didn’t include this root in the two yearlong (one lesson per week) cycles of word root lessons for building vocabulary I wrote for freshman and sophomore English classes. In fact, as you certainly know, post can be attached to just about any noun to form the meaning of “after something.”

This worksheet, in any case, asks students to infer the meaning of the root from such high-frequency English words as postdate, posterior (which also gives us posterity, which is not on this document), and posthumous.

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.

Antonym

“Antonym (noun): A word opposite in meaning to a given word. Adj. antonymous; n. antonymy.

‘The Greeks used caco-and dys- to manufacture the antonyms to eu-compounds.’ Philip Howard, Words Fail Me”

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

The Weekly Text, 8 April 2022: A Lesson Plan on the Denominations of U.S. Paper Currency from The Order of Things

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the denominations of paper currency in the United States from Barbara Ann Kipfer’s excellent reference book, The Order of Things. For students, here is the combined reading and comprehension worksheet to use for this lesson.

Nota bene please that I conceived of and prepared this material for students who find it a challenge to navigate and manipulate two symbolic systems–that is, numbers and letters–at the same time. This is a comfortable way to ease into more complicated work like word problems in math–or at least I like to think it is.

But what do you think?

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.

H.L. Mencken on Truth and Lies

“The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.”

H.L. Mencken

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

Argot (n)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun argot. It means “an often more or less secret vocabulary and idiom peculiar to a particular group.” I assume this was a Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster at some point, because this is not exactly a high-frequency word in the English language. In fact, I think there is a case to be made that argot is a linguistic term of art rather than a noun in everyday use.

So, unless you are teaching a unit on, or mounting a production of, Guys and Dolls (or if you need to explain the patter in a Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, or Chester Himes novel, or explain the use of an adjective like “two-bit”) I expect this document will have little utility in the primary or secondary classroom. But what the hell, I wrote it, I have basically unlimited storage capacity on this blog, and maybe someone can use 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.

Term of Art: Perseveration

“perseveration: Persistent repetition of a behavior or activity regardless of the result, or having trouble switching from one activity to another. Extreme examples of perseveration may be seen in individuals with a developmental disability or autism., for whom repetitive hand motions, rocking, or other movements are common characteristics. More typical examples in childhood might involve singing a song from a video again and again.

In a school setting, perseveration can be used to describe the fixation on a specific element in a broader task, such as spending all of the time of an exam on a single essay question. Psychologists often encounter perseveration in students they evaluate for learning disabilities. For example, if a student is told to copy six small circles in a straight row, the student may make all the circles all the way across the width of the page, drawing 30 or more. Teachers and parents often report perseverative behaviors among students with learning disabilities and ADHD. For example, if they ask the student to hop four times on the left foot, the student may hop 20 or more times or until he or she lose balance.

This type of behavior may be caused by inflexible strategies and problems in shifting from one task to another.”

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

An Elegantly Simple Cooking Conversion Chart

Elsewhere on this blog I posted a batch of documents on building a lexicon of culinary arts terms. Recently, I purchased a wooden recipe box, and inside was this simple cooking conversion chart. I couldn’t resist scanning it (I did this with my phone, and I think it looks better than the images my flatbed scanner currently produces) and posting it.

Anyway, there it is if you can use it.