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 Algonquin Wits: Harold Ross on Coherence

Posted on September 6, 2018 | Leave a comment

“Ross once stated emphatically to Robert Benchley: ‘Don’t think I’m not incoherent.'”

Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.

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Extant (adj)

Posted on September 6, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective extant. I think this is a word high school seniors ought to know. It means “currently or actually existing” and it turns up, in my experience, quite often in educated discourse.

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.

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Rotten Reviews: Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

Posted on September 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

“The book is long, drawn out, full of repetitions, and marred throughout by its obscenity and irreligion.”

Catholic World

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

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Word Root Exercise: Medi-

Posted on September 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word root medi if you can use it. It means middle, so you already know how productive this root is in English.

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.

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Naive Art (n)

Posted on September 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

“Primarily understood as works produced by artists who lack formal training, although trained artists may deliberately affect a naive style. The term most clearly describes such early-20th-century artists as the Douanier Rousseau, whose childlike, non-naturalistic paintings completed in bright colors influenced early modern artists. Their apparent affinity with non-Western art and their bold expressiveness made them appealing to the early Modernists searching for new forms of expression.

See ‘Outsider’ art.”

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

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King John

Posted on September 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

Ok, here’s one last post for Labor Day, to wit, this reading on King John and the comprehension worksheet that accompanies it. This is, of course, the King John whose barons forced him to sign the Magna Carta.

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.

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Legend

Posted on September 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

“A narrative such as a story, song, verse, or ballad handed down from the past and often conveying the lore of a culture. It is distinguished from myth by its closer relation to historical fact than to the supernatural. The earliest legends recounted the lives of saints. The term also applies to the brief explanations of symbols used in pictures, maps, and charts.”

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

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Exploit (vt)

Posted on September 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here is, in observation of Labor Day 2018, a context clues worksheet on the verb exploit. It is apparently only used transitively. This is one of those words with some subtle connotations, so this document alone will probably not suffice to fully flesh them out.

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.

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Edgar Bergen: Wise Words from Charlie McCarthy on Labor Day

Posted on September 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

“[Catchphrase of dummy ‘Charlie McCarthy‘:]

Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?”

Quoted in Robert Byrne, The Other 637 Best Thing Anybody Ever Said (1984)

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

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6 Evolutionary Stages of History

Posted on September 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

“Clan communism * Autocratic Monarchy * Feudalism * Capitalism * Socialism * Communism

This is the Communist view of history, as set out by Marx and Engels, looking out over the wreck of the various social revolutions what were destroyed in the 1840s and dreaming of inevitable victory in the future. First we have the primitive clan communism of hunter-gatherer families; then once irrigated riverine agriculture is developed, the ancient autocratic monarchies, which endure as empires until they collapse from the weight of their own military-bureaucracy into the more enduring feudalism. With the growth of cities and maritime trading nations, feudalism matures into capitalism, which through the dictates of growth, decency, and efficiency evolves into industrialized socialism, which perfects as communism.

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

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