Honus Wagner

[Over the past few years, I have developed an interest in baseball. I remain a neophyte in my understanding of the game–this summer I bought a copy of The Dickson Baseball Dictionary by Paul Dixon so I could better build my knowledge of what the players, particularly pitchers, are actually doing. This post, however, arrives because of my long interest in the T206 Honus Wagner Baseball Card, which I think I can safely analogize as: What the Bay Psalm Book is to bibliophiles, the T206 Honus Wagner card is to collectors of sports memorabilia.]

“Honus Wagner (originally John Peter): (1841-1918) U.S. baseball player. Born in Mansfield (now Carnegie), Pennsylvania, he played principally for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1900-1917), and coached the team from 1933 to 1951. The right-handed hitter led to the National League in batting in eight seasons (1900, 1903=4, 1906-9, 1911) and in stolen bases five seasons. His total of 252 three-base hits remains a National League record. Nicknamed ‘the Flying Dutchman’ for his speed. Wagner is considered one of the greatest shortstops and all-around players in baseball history.”

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

The Weekly Text, 31 January 2025: A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Roots Carn and Carni

This week’s Text, for the final Friday of the first month of 2025, is this lesson plan on the Latin word roots carn and carni. They mean, which you know if you’ve ever enjoyed a non-vegetarian bowl of chili con carne, “flesh” and “meat.” This is a vigorous root in English, growing such words (all included on the worksheet below) as carnageincarnate, reincarnation, and carnivore.

This lesson opens, should you be inclined to use it, with this context clues worksheet on the noun game. In this context, the word doesn’t define things you play at, but rather wild animals served as a meal–that is, game birds like pheasants, large mammals like deer (i.e. venison) and the like. This, I hope, points the way toward the meaning of these word roots.

Finally, this scaffolded worksheet is the principal work of this lesson. It includes all of the words listed above, as well as cognates from the Romance languages.

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.

Laurence Peter on Bureaucracy

“Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.”

Laurence J. Peter

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

Common English Verbs Followed by an Object and an Infinitive: Expect

Here is a worksheet on the verb expect when used with an object and an infinitive.

The student expected the professor to teach a cogent lesson on contract 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.

Term of Art: Strategy

“strategy: A plan or tactic to solve a problem or carry out a decision. In education, a strategy refers to almost anything that a teacher or a student does in the classroom—asking a question, reading a story, figuring the meaning of a word, planning the next day’s lesson, and so on.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

Cultural Literacy: Huguenots

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Huguenots. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and three comprehension question.

And unless I miss my guess, most secondary educational institutions don’t take a deep enough dive into European history to spend too much time on the travails of French Protestants. I became interested in them when I learned that New Rochelle, New York, through which I  have traveled frequently by train, was founded by Huguenots. Not only that, but as I researched this post, I discovered that New Paltz, New York (which I have never visited but heard good things about), was also founded by Huguenots.

So I wrote this, I suppose, mostly useless worksheet.

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.

Carl (Clinton) and Mark Van Doren

“Carl (Clinton) and Mark Van Doren: (1885-1950, 1894-1972) U.S. writers and teachers. The Van Doren brothers were born in Hope, Illinois. Carl, who taught at Columbia University 1911-1930), edited the Cambridge History of American Literature (1917-21) and journals. His critical works include the biography Benjamin Franklin (1938, Pulitzer Prize). Mark taught at Columbia 1920-59. He published more than 20 volumes of verse, including Spring Thunder (1924) and Collected Poems (1922-38) (1939, Pulitzer Prize). He wrote three novels and several volumes of short stories and edited anthologies. His literary criticism includes work on John Dryden, William Shakespeare, and Nathanial Hawthorne as well as Introduction to Poetry (1951), which examines shorter classic poems of English and American literature.”

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

The Weekly Text, 24 January 2024: A Second Lesson Plan on Boxing Weight Divisions from The Order of Things

This week’s Text is this second lesson plan on boxing weight divisions along with its attendant list as reading with comprehension questions. The first lesson in this series is available in the Weekly Text for 13 December 2024. This lesson joins a growing assortment of materials on boxing on this blog, which experience has shown me is of high interest to certain students. Hence, I have tagged this as high interest material.

This lesson, as in all lessons carrying the title The Order of Things, were suggested by and therefore adapted from Barbara Ann Kipfer’s book of the same name, which I highly recommend.

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.

Harlan Ellison on Childhood

“Nobody gets out of childhood alive.”

Harlan Ellison

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

Common English Verbs Followed by an Object and an Infinitive: Encourage

Here is a worksheet on the verb encourage when used with an object and an infinitive.

The teacher encouraged the principal to learn the spelling of the noun matinee.

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.