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.

Mien (n)

OK, last but not least this afternoon, let’s deal with Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for today by way of this context clues worksheet on the noun mien. It means “air or bearing esp. as expressive of attitude or personality.” Not a word students necessarily need to know, but a nifty noun I’ve always liked, and certainly a nice synonym of demeanor, appearance, or the polysemous aspect.

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 Weekly Text, July 17, 2020: A Lesson Plan on the Simple Future Tense of Verbs

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the simple future tense of verbs. I open this lesson with this worksheet on differentiating the homophones veracious and voracious, which are both adjectives. It always pays to prepare for a lesson to spill over into a second day. So here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of nuance, which is really something students ought to know before they graduate high school.

You’ll need the scaffolded worksheet that is the mainstay of this lesson to do its work. You might also find this learning support and word bank useful in presenting this lesson and completing its work. Finally, here is the teacher’s copy of the worksheet.

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: Simon Legree

“Who was Simon Legree and where did he come from? The archetypal villain first appears in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) as the brutal degenerate who flogs Tom to death.”

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

Ulysses S. Grant

If you teach United States history, I imagine this reading on Ulysses S. Grant along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I guess there is not much to say about this other than to reiterate that the day General Grant took the surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox Court House was the last day the Confederate Flag should have flown anywhere in this nation.

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.

Term of Art: Case

“Case: The form of a noun or pronoun that reflects its grammatical function in a sentence as subject (they), object (them), or possessor (their). She gave her employees a raise that pleased them greatly.”

Excerpted from: Strunk, William Jr., and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. New York: Longman, 2000.

Common Errors in English Usage: Systematic and Systemic

Here is an English usage worksheet on the adjectives systematic and systemic and how to differentiate their. By any measure I recognize, these are a couple of important words for educated citizens to know, understand, and deploy properly. Systemic is an especially important word and concept for teaching and learning in the 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.

Horace Mann on Jails and Schools

“Jails and prisons are the complement of schools; so many less as you have of the latter, so many more you have of the former.”

Horace Mann (1796-1859)

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

Callous (adj)

On my way out the door, so to speak, here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective callous, which seems like a word everybody ought to know at this moment, and use regularly.

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.

Napoleon Bonaparte on History

“History is a set of lies agreed upon.”

Napoleon Bonaparte

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Portable Curmudgeon. New York: Plume, 1992.

A Lesson Plan on Alexander the Great and Hellenism

If you’ve been following along from top to bottom, you’ll know that this is the eleventh (twenty-second if you count the interstitial quotes) and final post of an eleven-lesson global studies unit on the ancient world. Just to remind you, the first lesson in this run is “The First of Two Lessons on Sumer.”

So, now let’s move on to the last, which is this lesson on Alexander the Great and Hellenism. I think this is another two-day lesson, so I include two context clues worksheets, the first on the verb dominate (it’s used both intransitively and transitively), and the the second on the noun dominion.

Here is the reading on Alexander the Great and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that are the primary work of this lesson. If you have English language learners or emergent readers in your class, this differentiated version of the work for this lesson might be more appropriate for you use. The reading is a bit shorter and I’ve edited it to include more familiar words for students.

OK! That’s it. Eleven global studies lessons on the ancient world. I hope they serve you well.

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.