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.

Salvador Dali

Posted on June 9, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a reading on Salvador Dali along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

It is a good general introduction to the artist’s life, containing both personal and professional biographical material. Of particular interest to students, perhaps (I saw Un Chien Andalou as a high school junior and found it both horrifying and compelling; in any case, it is a cultural product that is de rigueur if one is to count oneself among the a certain strand of the cognoscenti), are Dali’s collaborations with Luis Bunuel.

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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Lyrical Abstraction

Posted on June 8, 2021 | Leave a comment

“Lyrical Abstraction: Although this term remains vague and is used differently by various writers, it generally refers to the so-called third generation of abstract expressionism, which developed in the early 1970s and was characterized by more sensuous and subjective abstract interpretations than those of the second generation of abstractionism with their geometric tendencies: POP ART, HARD-EDGE PAINTING, and MINIMAL ART, for example.”

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

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Insouciance (noun)

Posted on June 8, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun insouciance. While it is an infrequently used word in the English language (it means “lighthearted unconcern,” incidentally), it does turn up occasionally, as does its adjective, insouciant, in common discourse from time to time. Both words have a rich etymology, originating, apparently, in the Latin verb sollicitare–“to agitate,” should you or your students be interested.

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: Mapping

Posted on June 7, 2021 | Leave a comment

“mapping:  In educational terms, a strategy for displaying related ideas in a visual format. Mapping may refer to flow charts, diagrams, or using color coding to draw connections and help recall information. One important example of mapping is ‘mind-mapping’ (also called clustering), which is used in the process of writing to generate and organize ideas and information that can eventually be translated into a linear outline.

A mind map might consist of a core topic at the center of the page, with major subtopics spreading outward from it, and relevant details attached to each subtopic. Such an approach may be especially helpful for individuals who have difficulty with sequencing information but are strong in the area or visual-spatial reasoning.

Likewise a graphic organizer for representing information may help a student who has trouble with reading comprehension because of problems organizing and identifying key information and relationships between concepts and supporting evidence.”

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

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Cultural Literacy: Microchip

Posted on June 7, 2021 | Leave a comment

Since there is currently a worldwide shortage of them, and this as particularly affected the automobile manufacturing industry, now is a good time to post this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the microchip. It’s a full-page worksheet with five questions; as it is formatted in Microsoft Word, the user is left with a lot of latitude where expanding, contracting, or otherwise adapting this document to suit his or her needs.

So have at 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.

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The Weekly Text, June 4, 2021: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “The Cheater”

Posted on June 4, 2021 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “The Cheater.” I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Latinism mea culpa, which means, of course, “through my fault.” You see the root of the noun culpability there, I’m confident, which means “responsibility for for wrongdoing or failure” and “the quality or state of being culpable.” Translated into adolescent-speak, it means “my bad.” You and I might say it translates to “my fault.” Enough said.

To conduct your investigation into the case of “The Cheater,” you’ll need this scan of the illustration that presents the evidence in the case, which is attended by short narrative and questions to guide your inquiry. Finally, here is the typescript of the answers to help you conclude your investigation.

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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Write It Right: Bug for Beetle

Posted on June 3, 2021 | 4 comments

“Bug for Beetle, or for anything. Do not use it.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.

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Word Root Exercise: Aero

Posted on June 3, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word root aero. It means, as you probably know, air, and is an extremely productive root in English, yielding such staples of the lexicon as the verb aerate, the adjective aerial, and the noun aerodynamics. In other words, like many Greek roots, it forms the basis of many words across the parts of speech that we use in the hard sciences.

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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A Learning Support on Capitalization

Posted on June 2, 2021 | Leave a comment

OK, here is a learning support on capitalization. This is a bare-bones document–a single paragraph excerpted from Paul Brians’ book Common Errors in English Usage. This is (as is most of what you’ll find on Mark’s Text Terminal) is a Microsoft Word document, so you can manipulate it as is or easily export it to a word processor of your choice. There is plenty of blank space on this page to, say, make a worksheet or whatever else you may see fit to to with 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.

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Durable (adj)

Posted on June 1, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective durable. Like many of its relatives, such as endure, duration, and duress, this word springs from the Latin word root dur, meaning hard. These are some frequently used words in English, so this is a good word for students to know and use.

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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