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.

A Lesson Plan on Class Hierarchies and Their Origins

While this lesson plan on class hierarchies and their origins isn’t exactly the most distinguished work I have ever posted here, it may be of some use in you classroom. In any case, as always, the documents here are in Microsoft Word, so you can modify them to suit your and your students’ needs and circumstances. I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the noun civilization; if the lesson goes into a second day (and if the questioning and discussion of this material in your classroom expand to the extent they generally did in mine, you will be on this material for two days) , here is another on the noun civilian. If nothing else, by the end of this lesson students will have a fair grasp of the Latin word root civilis and its conceptual significance. Finally, here is the reading and comprehension worksheet that is the work of this lesson.

Parenthetically, as I review the social studies material I prepared over the years, I find it is at best a mishmosh. Less charitably, it is a mess. The social studies units I wrote over the years reflect more than anything my attempts to teach global studies in a way that would give the struggling students I served their best chance at passing the high-stakes New York State Global History and Geography Regents Examination. To put it a succinctly as possible, I was always, in my curriculum design in social studies, racing to keep up with that infernal test.

Rather than try to sort through this material, which has delayed my publishing it, I have decided to post it as is. It won’t always be the best and the brightest, but it will be manipulable so that you, dear reader, can make it better. If you ever consider leaving comments on this site, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on these global history lessons.

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: Frequentative

“Frequentative: Indicating repeated action or recurrent state or situation, e.g., ‘Raindrops are falling.’ Also IITERATIVE, REDUPLICATIVE.”

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

Word Root Exercise: Plas, Plast, Plasm, and Plasty

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word roots plas, plast, plasm, and plasty. As you can probably see from looking at them, this is a set of roots that is very productive in medical words in English: they mean to form, forming cells or tissue, protoplasm,  and development. In other words, students interested in or pursuing careers in the healthcare professions, particularly at the post-secondary level, this document is for you.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Capital Offense

OK, starting out on a very gray and chilly morning considering that it is May 12, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a capital offense. Needless to say, this clears fruitful ground for a discussion of the consequence of a conviction for a capital offense, capital punishment, i.e. the death penalty.

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.

Vernacular Architecture

“Vernacular Architecture: Buildings made from local materials to suit localized needs, and designed with minimal reference to prevailing styles or trends.”

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

William Wallace

If you have on your hands any fans of the movie Braveheart, then you or that person might have a use for this reading on William Wallace and the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that accompanies it. It might be a reality check for readers, as much of Mel Gibson’s film is derived from various–dubious–legends about Wallace. I recall a lot of discussion of these problems when the film was released.

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: Factitive

“Factitive: Indicating completion of a predicate, or the need of a transitive verb of calling, making, thinking, etc., for not only an object but also an object complement, e.g. ‘It turned the sea red,’ ‘They named her Cynthia.’”

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

Common Errors in English Usage: Aesthetic (n/adj), Ascetic (n/adj)

Here is an English usage worksheet on the adjectives aesthetic and ascetic; these two words, just as they are, can also be used as nouns, so bear that in mind when using this document with students.

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.

A Lesson Plan on Deserts on Earth by Size from The Order of Things

From the pages of The Order of Things, here is a lesson plan on deserts, specifically, their areas by square kilometers and square miles. This, like the other lessons I’ve composed and posted from Barbara Ann Kipfer’s book, is a simply exercise in symbolic analysis–i.e. reading numbers and words at the same time and synthesizing them to grasp the facts that they represent. To that end, here is the reading and comprehension worksheet, in Microsoft Word, so it is flexible for your needs.

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.

Encroach (vi)

I’m not sure why I found more than one of them in my files, but if you can use one or the other of them, here are two context clues worksheets on the verb encroach. It is apparently used only intransitively.

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.