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.

Bowdlerization

“Bowdlerization (noun): The altering, rewording, or striking out of parts of a literary work out of a sense of propriety or prudery, often with euphemistic paraphrases; moralistic censorship; prudishly modified version of a book. N. bowdlerism; v. bowdlerize. Also EXPURGATION

‘It now develops that even before it was submitted to the publisher, Dreiser’s work was greatly censored—indeed, bowdlerized—by his wife, “Jug,” and a good friend, newspaperman Arthur Henry.’ Ray Walters, The New York Times”

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

Placebo Effect

Here is a reading on placebo effect along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I don’t know if this is something high school students need to know; it is something that pops up (e.g. in an episode of Family Guy that I watched late last night) in common discourse often enough that we should at least consider its relevance to everyday life.

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: Tactile Perception

“tactile perception: Perception through which the sensory system of touch, in which direct physical contact is transmitted through the nervous system to the brain.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

Word Root Exercise: Prot, Proto

Moving right along on a cool and cloudy Thursday morning in Brooklyn, here is a worksheet on the Greek word roots prot– and proto. It means primitive and first, which helps me understand how we end up, in English, with prototype. Protagonist, however, mystifies me a bit; I suppose because the protagonist is the primary (i.e. first) actor in a situation, the word sensibly springs from prot.

Anyway, this document includes several other words that spring from this productive root, including such scientific words as protoplast, protozoan, proton, and protozoology.

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.

Keystone

“Keystone: The wedge-shaped stone at the center point of an arch regarded as locking the other stones of the arch in place.”

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

Cultural Literacy: Atlantis

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Atlantis, the mythological city swallowed by the ocean. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading, on a longish compound, and three comprehension questions. Just the facts, as Joe Friday liked to say.

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.

Write It Right: Curious for Odd or Singular

“Curious for Odd, or Singular. To be curious is to have an inquiring mind or mood—curiosity.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.

Enamor (vt)

The only thing that accounts for this context clues worksheet on the verb enamor in my folders is that it must have been the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster at some point. My crowd does tend to use the word a good deal, but I can’t say with any certainty that it is a commonly used English word. You won’t be surprised to hear, owing to the presence of the Latinate root amor, that this verb means “to inflame with love — usually used in the passive with of “; less, well, passionately, enamor can also mean “to cause to feel a strong or excessive interest or fascination — usually used in the passive with of or with <baseball fans enamored of statistics>.”

In any case, it is used only transitively. Don’t forget your direct object, and nota bene, as above, that on generally uses of or with to precede the direct object of enamor.

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.

Isaac Asimov on Problems, Knowledge, and Ignorance

“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.”

Isaac Asimov (1920-1922)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Justify

Here is a worksheet on the verb justify when used with a gerund. I cannot justify spending this much time on developing a series of materials that have no value.

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.