“Freedom to think—which means nothing unless it means freedom to think differently—can be society’s most precious gift to itself. The first duty of a school is to defend and cherish it.”
Arthur Bestor, as Quoted in The Teacher and the Taught (1963)
Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.
“Finance, n. The art or science of managing revenues and resources for the best advantage or the manager. The pronunciation of this word with the i long and the accent on the first syllable is one of America’s most precious discoveries and possessions.”
Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. David E. Schultz and S.J. Joshi, eds. The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged humor, literary oddities
Here is a reading on Enron along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.
Why does anybody need this? Maybe they don’t. But if you want your students to learn about fraud and corporate corruption, then maybe they need it. At the very least, Enron’s story is a cautionary tale about a lot of things, including corporate executives who are legends in their own minds; there seem to me to be a lot of those around these days.
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.
“Orton-Gillingham approach: A multisensory approach to reading, writing, and spelling born of a theory of reading disabilities devised by Samuel Orton, Anna Gillingham, and Bessie Stillman in the 1930s. Their approach was based on the idea that the brain stores information in both hemispheres; when the connection between the two hemispheres is not fully developed, individuals may read words in reverse.
People with dyslexia have the potential to be accomplished readers and adequate spellers. The ability to achieve this potential depends on two variables: the instructional approach and the amount of practice. The Orton-Gillingham approach to reading and spelling ensure success by developing multisensory techniques for memory and retrieval. This practical teaching technique emphasizes the reading-decoding process.
The teacher introduces the elements of the language systematically, and students are taught letter-sound relationships using all senses: seeing the letter (visual), saying the letter (auditory), and writing the letter (kinesthetic). In this respect, Orton-Gillingham differs from traditional phonics instruction. Once letters are mastered, letters are grouped into blends, and short, structured passages are used for reading and dictation, Infinitely flexible, it is a philosophy rather than a system. The student learns the elements of language-consonants, digraphs, blends, and diphthongs in an orderly fashion.
As students learn new material, the continue to review old material until it becomes automatic. The teacher addresses vocabulary, sentence structure, composition, and reading comprehension in a similar, structured, sequential, and cumulative manner.
At best, the teacher tries to understand how an individual learns and to devise appropriate teaching strategies. In every lesson, the student experiences success and gains confidence as well as skill. Learning becomes a happy experience, The Orton-Gillingham approach is appropriate for teaching individuals, small groups, and classrooms. It is appropriate for teaching in the primary, elementary, and intermediate grades, and at the secondary and college level, as well as for adults.
An Orton-Gillingham approach, while not the only program available, is probably the best-known for helping children with dyslexia learn to read. The fundamental principles on which it is based, including developing phonemic awareness, and suing a multisensory approach, are consider essential components in reading instruction today.
The Orton-Gillingham approach has proven successful with students who have struggled in learning to read and spell through traditional classroom methods, despite normal intelligence, hearing, and vision. It is the program most recommended by experts in the field of dyslexia.
Modern research has continued to confirm Dr. Orton’s theories about the physiological differences experienced by people with dyslexia. Early remediation is most effective; however, these methods have been successfully adapted for use with older students and adults. The result is the development of lifelong language skills and the wonderful feeling of success in the world of written language.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
“Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.”
Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class ch. 4 (1899)
Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged humor, literary oddities, united states history
Hot off the press, here is a reading on St. Lawrence Seaway along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. This is a good short, general history of the seaway.
That said, comparisons with the Erie Canal come up in the text. This might be a good set of documents to serve as a comparative study of these two trade routes. In my experience, many high-stakes tests in high school are about technological advances and their effect on society, culture, and, in this case, trade.
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.
Last but not least this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Alexander the Great. This is a half-page worksheet that I developed to jog prior knowledge when teaching the ancient world in global studies classes. It could also serve as a decent introduction to this legendary warrior. The reading itself is a bit longer than I generally use for half-page worksheets, so it could be shortened; or, if you prefer, you could add some questions.
Either way, this is an open document in Microsoft Word, so you can do with it what you want or need.
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.
Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb codify, which is only used transitively, so don’t forget your direct object–you must codify something.
Merriam-Webster defines this verb quite simply: “to reduce to a code.” I wrote this worksheet because this word kept showing up in social studies texts in the years in which I was teaching global studies. What students will need to understand (and this is an opportunity to awaken prior knowledge and put it to use, particularly if your global studies curriculum includes, as it should, material on the Code of Hammurabi) is that the word code defines “a systematic statement of a body of laws especially: one given statutory force” and “a system of principles or rules.” Put another way, the verb codify connotes “to make into law.”
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.
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Marbury v. Madison, the United State Supreme Court’s legal decision that established the principle of judicial review–i.e. that the Court is the final arbiter of the constitutionality of any legislation drafted and passed in this republic.
This is a half-page worksheet with three questions that serves only as on introduction to this decision and its implications. I’m not an expert in United States history, but this is clearly a big conceptual moment in the history of this nation, so I must assume Marbury v. Madison merits–indeed requires– a much deeper dive than this document affords. For example, the Court, before Marbury v. Madison, had in 1796 exercised judicial review in the Hylton v. United States case–the adducing of which would help students understand a key concept in Supreme Court jurisprudence: stare decisis, also known as precedent.
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.
Here’s one more post before I take a vacation from this blog for a few days, to wit, a context clues worksheet on the noun cartel. It’s a word that shows up in social studies classes, particularly those United States history classes that deal with 1970s global oil markets and their effect on the American economy.
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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