Term of Art: Soft Neurological Signs

“soft neurological signs: Any of a number of minor abnormalities that emerge in childhood and are used as diagnostic indicators of minimal brain damage.

Soft signs are subtle and difficult to detect reliably; they tend to run their developmental course with no clear cause and are not regarded as indicators of any specific neurological disease. The soft in the term comes from the difficulties of interpretation and the uncertain association with structural brain damage.

Certain soft signs, like those related to fine and gross motor sills, may be used to help diagnose learning disabilities. Neuropsychological evaluations and psychological evaluations for learning disabilities typically include soft signs assessments such as the ability to walk a straight line, the ability to tell left from right, and the ability to track objects horizontally and vertically.”

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

Cabbage Patch Kids

Do you remember the Cabbage Patch Kids? If not, and you feel compelled to recall them, here is a reading on the Cabbage Patch Kids along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. They came and went pretty quickly in the 1980s, so you won’t be surprised to hear that this reading tells a story about the ebb and flow of popular trends and the business successes and failures–both in evidence here–they cause.

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.

Evelyn Waugh on Manners

“Manners are especially the need of the plain. The pretty can get away with anything.”

Evelyn Waugh

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

Cultural Literacy: Metaphor

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on metaphor. This is a half-page document with a reading of two sentences–one of them a complicated compound with multiple clauses, a colon, and semicolons (in other words, emergent readers and English language learners may need some support here) and three basic comprehension questions. In other words, an introduction to the concept of metaphor, but little else.

If you are teaching metaphor and seek more materials on this website, simply search “metaphor” from the home page. I just did, and was surprised how much material has stacked up here over the years.

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.

Uto-Azteca Languages

“Uto-Aztecan languages: Family of more than 30 American Indian languages spoken in pre-Columbian times from the Northern Great Basin to Central America. Geographically, Uto-Aztecan can be divided into a northern and a southern branch. The northern branch, spoken from Oregon and Idaho to southern California and Arizona, includes the languages of the Northern and Southern Paiutes, Utes, Northern and Eastern Shoshones, Comanches, and Hopi. The southern branch includes the languages of the O’odham (Pima and Papago) in Arizona, and of a number of Mexican Indian peoples including the Tarahumara of Chihuahua, the Yaqui of New Mexico and Arizona, and the Cora and Huichol of Nayarit and Jalisco; its southernmost extension includes Nahuatl.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Cultural Literacy: Mayas

OK, last but not least for today and for National Native American Heritage Month 2022, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Mayas. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two longish compound sentences and four comprehension questions. Again, just the basics.

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.

Popol Vuh

“Popol Vuh: Mayan document that provides valuable information on ancient Maya mythology and culture. It was written between 1554 and 1558 in the Quiche language using Spanish letters. It tells of the creation of man, the acts of the gods, and origin and history of the Quiche people and also gives a chronology of their kings. The book was discovered early in the 18th century by Francisco Jiminez, a parish priest in the Guatemalan highlands, who copied out the original, now lost, and translated it into Spanish.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Cultural Literacy: Aztecs

Ok, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Aztecs. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and three comprehension questions. Just the basics.

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.

Xiuhtecuhtli

“Xiuhtecuhtli: Aztec god of fire and creator of all life. With Chantico, his feminine counterpart, he was believed to be a representation of Ometecuhtli. Xiuhtecuhtli’s festivals coincided with the two extremes in the climatological cycle, the heat of August and the cold of January. He was also the center of a ritual transfer of fire from temple to temple that occurred once every 52 years at the end of the Aztec calendar cycle.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

The Weekly Text, 25 November 2022, National Native American Heritage Month Week IV: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Pueblo Civilization

For the final Friday of National Native American Heritage Month 2022, your Weekly Text is this reading on Pueblo Civilization with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

I’m actually publishing this on 18 November, as next week is the Thanksgiving holiday, which I intend to pass (it’s a four-day weekend for us) without sitting in front of this computer.

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.