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.

Common Errors in English Usage: Admission/Admittance

Here is an English usage worksheet on the nouns admission and admittance if you have any call for it. This is mostly about practice and meeting the usage standard in the Common Core English Standards.

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.

Duke Ellington on Fate

“Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to famous too young.”

Duke Ellington

Quoted in N.Y. Times Magazine, 12 September 1965

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

The Weekly Text, February 21, 2020, Black History Month 2020 Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Muddy Waters

For the end of Week III of Black History Month 2020, here is a short reading on the late, great Muddy Waters along with the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that attends it.

[Addendum: first, here is a very cool image of Muddy Waters by the great illustrator Drew Friedman; if it weren’t sold out, I would definitely buy it–I’ve already collected a few of Mr. Friedman’s prints. Second, here is Muddy Waters’ appearance at the farewell concert of The Band in 1976, “The Last Waltz.”]

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: Heuristic

“Heuristic (adjective): Serving as the discovery of truth or furthering investigation, as in the case of a useful and stimulating (if not logical or conclusive) method, presentation, or argument, and especially one used by a student to learn for himself. Adverb: heuristically; noun: heuristic.

‘My coarse distinctions between two kinds of fiction are useful heuristically, but they give a damaging impression of clear boundaries and a misleading impression of two armed camps.’ Annie Dillard, Living by Fiction”

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

Word Root Exercise: Gastr/o

Moving right along on this chilly afternoon, here is a worksheet on the Greek root gastr/o. It means, as you probably already inferred, stomach. It’s a very productive root in the English language, particularly for people entering the health sciences and culinary arts professions.

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.

W.E.B. Dubois on the Talented Tenth

“The Negro Race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth.”

W.E.B. Dubois

“The Talented Tenth” (1903)

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

Cultural Literacy: The Kansas-Nebraska Act

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which in a short paragraph, and with your expert teaching, will illustrate for your students how the kidnapping, subjugation, forced labor, and murder of persons of African descent is intimately bound up with the economic growth and development of the United States.

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.

Visigothic Art

“Visigothic Art: The Visigoths were the most Romanized of the Germanic invaders, and thus their cultural legacy (mostly south of the Pyrenees) includes the continuation of late Roman-Christian architectural styles (5th century-711), with one notable addition: the horseshoe-shaped arch, adopted by the Arabs after the invasions of 711. The Visigoths excelled in metalwork and jewelry using gold, crystal, and precious stones.”

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

Consul (n)

If you happen to be teaching a unit or lesson an ancient Rome, this context clues worksheet on the noun consul might be helpful, particularly concerning Julius Caesar’s activities in the that city in and around 44 BC.

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.

Chinua Achebe

“Chinua Achebe: (1930-2013) Nigerian novelist, poet, essayist, and short story writer. One of Africa’s best-known writers, Achebe gained an international audience with his first novel, Thing Fall Apart, now regarded as a classic. In his early novels, the theme of struggle and the transformation of traditional Nigerian society is dealt with compassionately, ironically, and with a sense of the tragic. Achebe’s vision of the writer as teacher and conscience of society informs his No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), and some of his short stories in Girls at War (1972). A Man of the People (1966) is a biting satirical farce that provides an expose of corrupt African politicians. His latest novel, Anthills of the People (1987) retains the wit and satiric humor of the earlier works as he explores the complex issues and problems which beset contemporary Africa. This novel, which was a finalist for the Booker Prize in England, is one of Achebe’s most optimistic and stylistically engaging works. Achebe’s style is characterized by a clear narrative and the use of local imagery, proverbs, and folklore. Among his other books are Beware Soul Brother (1972), a volume of verse which won the Commonwealth Poetry prize, U.S. title Christmas in Biafra and Other Poems (1973); and children’s stories, The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories (1962), Chike and the River (1966), How the Leopard Got His Claws (1972), The Flute (1977), and The Drum (1977). His three collections of essays, Morning Yet on Creation Day (1975), The Trouble with Nigeria (1983), and Hopes and Impediments (1989) continue to underscore his belief that ‘A writer who feels strong and abiding concern for his fellows cannot evade the role as social critic which is the contemporary expression of commitment to the community.’”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.