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.

Quirk (n)

If you can use it, here is a context clues worksheet on the noun quirk. This is a common enough word that high school students should know it. Put another way, adolescence tends to be a time of personal quirks, so this is a useful, arguably vital, word for teenagers.

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.

Rotten Reviews: A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

“The most insipid, ridiculous play that I ever saw in my life.”

 Samuel Pepys, Diary

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998. 

A Learning Support on Three Rhetorical Terms: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

Several years ago I became interested in the Trivium both as a concept and as a potential framework for a unit, in this case a unit on writing. I actually began developing the unit, put together the first three lessons, and offered it as a special institute class at the high school in which I was serving. Ultimately, alas, I was unable to bring the unit to fruition due to institutional disinterest.

When I arrived at the school in which I presently serve, I noticed that the English teachers required in writing assignments that students use the rhetorical moves of ethos, pathos, and logos to argue their case. Since rhetoric is one of the three subjects in the trivium–logic and grammar are the others–I found this interesting.

Which is why I developed this learning support on ethos, logos, and pathos in case the students in my literacy classroom needed it. Unfortunately, I was never able to use 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.

Term of Art: Magnum Opus

“Magnum Opus: A great work of art or literature, especially a writer’s culminating and greatest achievement; masterpiece. Plural: magna opera, magnum opuses,

‘It was the magnum opus of a fat spoiled rich boy who could write like an angel about landscape and like an adolescent about people.’ Norman Mailer, Cannibals and Christians”

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

White Blood Cells

Some years ago, I oversaw a credit-recovery class over summer, and one of the most frequently failed courses that year was health. I developed a number of supplemental materials for the inadequate corporate software the school used for his endeavor. I’ll start posting them here occasionally.

Here, then, is a reading on white blood cells and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension 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.

Ben Hecht on History, Chronology, and Journalism

“Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.”

Ben Hecht

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

Independent Practice: Henry VIII

The other night I watched “A Man for All Seasons” for the umpteenth time. Naturally, I started thinking about Henry VIII. So yesterday afternoon when I stumbled across this independent practice worksheet on Henry VIII I pulled it out for publication.

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.

Word Root Exercise: Cardio

Finally, on this Friday afternoon, before I leave for an appointment at the dentist, here is a worksheet on the on the Greek word root cardi/o. It means heart, which you probably already knew, but also, apparently, orifice.

This is yet another of those Greek roots that students interested in careers in healthcare must know–must know.

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: Saint George and the Dragon

Given the prevalence of its symbolism, particularly in Europe, I think this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Saint George and the Dragon ought to be able to find a home in most classrooms.

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.

Advancing Color

“A strong, usually unadulterated warm or hot color (red, orange, or yellow) which appears to come to the fore of a picture plane.”

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