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.

Rotten Rejections: The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

Posted on June 26, 2018 | Leave a comment

“It is very interesting and has several good points, but it not quite suitable for our list.”

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

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Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference

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Extricate (vt)

Posted on June 26, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb extricate, which is only used transitively. In any case, it is definitely a word students ought to know–even if all they know is that when they receive their diplomas, they have extricated themselves from high school.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Worksheets

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The Algonquin Wits: Heywood Broun on Gasbags

Posted on June 26, 2018 | Leave a comment

“At a newsmen’s banquet President Harding appeared as guest speaker and delivered what struck Broun as the epitome of cliche-ridden ghost-written addresses. After a brief moment of respectful applause, Broun rose from his chair and cried ‘Author! Author!'”

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

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Posted in English Language Arts, New York City, Quotes, Reference

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A Learning Support for Three Commonly Misused Homophones

Posted on June 26, 2018 | Leave a comment

Several years ago, when I had just started dealing with the problem of homophone confusion among the students I serve, I whipped up this basic learning support on three of the most commonly misused homophones, to wit, two, too and to; your and you’re; and there their, and they’re. I need to emphasize the modifier basic here, because this is about as basic as it gets. Over time I will post more sophisticated versions of this.

In fact, I almost just tossed this. But since I have 13 GB of storage on this website, and only a little over 2 GB of accumulated material (which is nonetheless about 14,000 documents), I figure I can afford to duplicate a few things, and place a few things that haven’t exactly reached the peak of their development. In fact, that’s exactly what you have here.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Reference

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Term of Art: Deus ex Machina

Posted on June 26, 2018 | Leave a comment

“(Latin ‘god out of the machine’) In Greek drama a god was lowered out onto the stage by a mechane so that he could get the hero out of difficulties and untangle the plot. Euripides used it a good deal. Sophocles and Aeschylus avoided it. Bertolt Brecht parodied the abuse of the device at the end of his Threepenny Opera. Today this phrase is applied to any unanticipated intervener who resolves a difficult situation, in any literary genre.”

Excerpted from: Cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. New York: Penguin, 1992

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Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference

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Bureau (n) and Bureaucracy (n)

Posted on June 26, 2018 | Leave a comment

On this first day of the summer break here in New York, here are two context clues worksheet on the nouns bureau and bureaucracy. Do I need to argue that these are words and concepts high school students should know?

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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Animal Farm

Posted on June 25, 2018 | Leave a comment

“A satire in fable form by George Orwell (1903-1950) published in 1945 and depicting a totalitarian regime like that of the Soviet Union under Stalin. The story describes how the animals, accompanied by the slogan ‘Four legs good, two legs bad,’ overthrow their human oppressors. However, the pigs, by cunning treachery and ruthlessness, come to dominate the more honest, gullible, and hard-working animals. Their ultimate slogan is: ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.’ The leader of the pigs is Napoleon, representing Stalin, and at the end the pigs are in cahoots with the humans, even beginning to totter around on two legs. An animated film of the novel appeared in 1955.”

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

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Cultural Literacy: Clone

Posted on June 25, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on clones and cloning. This is the kind of stuff that tends to fascinate kids; it’s a neat little literacy exercise, even if you don’t teach science.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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A Philosophical Take on Concepts

Posted on June 24, 2018 | Leave a comment

“A concept is that which is understood by a term, particularly a predicate. To possess a concept is to be able to deploy a term expressing it in making judgements: the ability connects with such things as recognizing when the term applied, and being able to tell the consequences of its application. The term “idea” was formerly used in the same way, but is avoided because of its associations with subjective and mental imagery, which may be irrelevant to the possession of a concept. In the semantics of Frege, a concept is the reference of a predicate, and cannot be referred to by as subjective term.”

Excerpted from: Blackburn, Simon. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Corrupt (adj) and Corruption (n)

Posted on June 24, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here are a pair of context clues worksheets on the noun corrupt and the adjective corruption. As I looked at these this morning, I realized that one could, with a minimum of work, turn the noun worksheet into a verb worksheet.

Something else to think about, I guess.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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