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.

Rapport (adj)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun rapport which students really ought to know by their high school graduation.

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.

Kowtow (vi)

You may find this context clues worksheet on the intranstive verb kowtow useful. I have always heard this word as onomatopoeic; maybe your students would too.

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.

The Weekly Text, May 19, 2017: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Cy Young

I meant to post this Intellectual Devotional reading on Cy Young and this reading comprehension worksheet to accompany it several weeks ago, closer to Major League Baseball’s Opening Day. Better late than never, I guess: here is this week’s Text on the legendary pitcher.

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.

Pithy (adj)

If you teach English, you might find this context clues worksheet on the adjective pithy helpful in assisting student in developing an understanding of why much of the best writing is concise (a synonym for pithy, and vice versa).

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: Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Edward Gibbon

Gibbon’s style is detestable; but is not the worst thing about him.”

Samuel Taylor ColeridgeComplete Works 1853

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

Antecedent (n)

I just whipped up this context clues worksheet on the noun antecedent in an attempt to help students understand pronoun-antecedent agreement. It’s some distance from perfect, and I expect I’ll need to take another look at it down the road. If you can use it, it’s yours. If you modify it, I would be interested in hearing what you did with 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.

Ostracize (vt)

Teenagers can be awfully cruel to one another, which is why I always keep a context clues worksheet on the verb ostracize handy. After all, even if a student is suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous friends, why squander a teachable moment?

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.

The Weekly Text, August 3, 2017: Two Context Clues Worksheets on the Verb Descend and the Noun Descendant

Here are two context clues worksheets on the verb descend and the noun descendant. As you will infer from the choice of the noun, these are the definitions of these words that relate to origins rather than moving in a downward direction. I like to use these early in the year in global studies classes.

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.

The Weekly Text, May 12, 2017: A Taxonomy of Questions from the Harvard Business School

In my classroom, I rely almost exclusively on the Socratic method in my teaching for a variety of reasons, the most salient of them is simply that students who are talking in class–i.e. answering questions–are also thinking. As Daniel Willingham, the cognitive scientist at the University of Virginia (with whose work all teachers ought to familiarize themselves) succinctly puts it, “memory is the residue of thought.” If you want your students to retain what you teach them, ask questions that compel–or, one hopes, impel– them to think about the matter at hand in your classroom.

A couple of years ago I read Education for Judgement: The Art of Discussion Leadership by C. Roland Christenson, David A. Garvin, and Ann Sweet and published at the Harvard Business School Press. It’s one of the better books I’ve read for my own professional development, and I highly recommend it. To give you a sense of the riches this book contains for those interested in developing their skills in leading class discussion, I offer as this week’s Text this taxonomy of questions from its pages.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. Since this isn’t my work, I seek no peer review of it (and in any case, it seems like a safe bet that this material has been peer-reviewed by some of the best people in education).

Reverberate (vt/vi)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb reverberate. It can be used both transitively and intransitively, but this worksheet uses it intransitively.

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.