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.

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: A fantasy (1950) for children by C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), the first of seven books about the mythical land of Narnia. The lion, known as Aslan, is a Christ-like figure. The witch has held Narnia in thrall for a hundred years. The wardrobe is the means through which four children from our world enter Narnia. A televised version was made in 1963, followed by a re-creation in the series Chronicles of Narnia (1988-90).”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Tread Lightly”

Since they are clearly popular, here is another  lesson plan from the pages of Crime and Puzzlement, this on on the case “Tread Lightly.”

I open this lesson on this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Josephine Baker–an exemplary American, by the way. The illustration and questions drive the lesson. Finally, here is the answer key to solve the case.

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.

Karl Kraus on the Myth of the Enlightenment

“Progress celebrates Pyrrhic victories over nature and makes purses out of human skin.”

Karl Kraus

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

Concede (vi/vt)

I could not imagine that students wouldn’t need to know the word before they left high school, which is why I wrote this context clues worksheet on the verb concede. It’s used both intransitively and transitively.

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.

Romanesque Art

“Romanesque Art: Art of the period ca. 1000 to ca. 1150 in the Ile-de-France, until the early 13th century elsewhere in Europe. Its chief creations were massive monastic churches built with stone vaults reminiscent of Roman architecture.”

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

Word Root Exercise: Ergo

OK, here’s a worksheet the Greek word root erg/o. It means work. You’ll find it at the base of technical words like ergonomic.

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.

Aesop’s Fables: “The Hare and the Tortoise”

Last week I started working on a unit on Aesop’s fables for some of the younger learners I currently serve. So here, hot off the press, is a lesson plan on the fable “The Hare and the Tortoise” along with the reading and worksheet that constitutes the work of the lesson.

I figured it wasn’t a bad idea to start with one of the chestnuts.

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.

Langston Hughes Sings America

“I too, Sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes.,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.”

“I, Too” l. 16 (1925)

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

Everyday Edit: Jesse Owens

Alright, I’ll wrap up today with this Everyday Edit worksheet on Olympic legend Jesse Owens. If you like this worksheet, or the many others of them I’ve posted in observance of Black History Month 2020, you should click on over to Education world, where you’ll find a yearlong supply of Everyday Edits available…for free!

You will find typos in this document: that’s the point! Be sure your students catch–and correct–them.

Book of Answers: Native Son

“Who is the hero of Richard Wright’s Native Son (1940)? Bigger Thomas, a black man from Chicago who murders a white woman and is executed for it.”

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