Tolstoy on History

Posted on September 2, 2024 | Leave a comment

“History is nothing but a collection of fables and useless trifles, cluttered up with a mass of unnecessary figures and proper names.”

Leo Tolstoy

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Portable Curmudgeon. New York: Plume, 1992.

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Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive or a Gerund: Try

Posted on September 2, 2024 | Leave a comment

Finally this morning, here is a worksheet on the verb try when used with an infinitive or a gerund.

She tries to go to her doctor every year for a checkup.

She tried making an appointment with her doctor today, but was unable to.

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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Term of Art: Stovepipe Organization

Posted on September 2, 2024 | Leave a comment

“stovepipe organization: An organization whose different functions are separated so that each department has a narrow, rigid set of responsibilities and there is little discussion or collaboration among the various sectors.”

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

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Cultural Literacy: Kent State

Posted on September 2, 2024 | Leave a comment

OK, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the incident at Kent State University on 4 May 1970. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences (the final sentence is a complicated compound that might benefit, particularly for struggling or emergent readers, from simplification) and three comprehension questions.

This document seems a bit crowded to me, and may well cause struggling students some problems. It might be better as a full-page worksheet; and depending how deeply your class is studying this event (if at all), a closer analysis may be de rigueur.

Then again, are we teaching the concepts of resistance and civil strife in our social studies classes? If not, this document is surely superfluous.

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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The Lost Generation

Posted on September 2, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Lost Generation: Group of U.S. writers who came of age during World War I and established their reputations in the 1920s; more broadly, the entire post-World War I generation. The term was coined by Gertrude Stein in a remark to Ernest Hemingway. The writers considered themselves ‘lost’ because their inherited values could not operate in the postwar world and they felt spiritually alienated from a country they considered hopelessly provincial and emotionally barren, The term embraces Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, E.E. Cummings, Archibald Macleish, and Hart Crane, among others.”

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

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The Weekly Text, 6 September 2024: A Lesson on Birthday Flowers by Month from The Order of Things

Posted on September 2, 2024 | Leave a comment

From Barbara Ann Kipfer’s fascinating reference book The Order of Things, this week’s Text is a lesson plan on birthday flowers by month. This is a relatively simple reading and writing lesson designed expressly for struggling and emergent readers as well as students of English as a new language. You’ll need this worksheet with the reading and comprehension questions that drive the work of this short lesson.

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.

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Cyril Connolly on the Civilized and the Uncivilized

Posted on August 30, 2024 | Leave a comment

“The civilized are those who get more out of life than the uncivilized, and for this the uncivilized have never forgiven them.”

Cyril Connolly

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Portable Curmudgeon. New York: Plume, 1992.

Cyril Connolly

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Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive or a Gerund: Stop

Posted on August 30, 2024 | Leave a comment

Finally this morning, here is a worksheet on the verb stop when used with an infinitive or a gerund.

I stop to feed a stray cat every morning.

I stopped feeding the stray cat because someone adopted 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.

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Baptism

Posted on August 30, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Baptism: The rite of Christian initiation. Baptism is performed by pouring or sprinkling water on a person or by immersing him briefly in water, accompanied usually with the formula ‘I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’ The rite is held to wash away the stain of original sin and to make the recipient a member of the Christian Church. Much controversy has surrounded the mode of administration and the age and which baptism should be administered.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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Cultural Literacy: Julius Caesar

Posted on August 30, 2024 | Leave a comment

Alright, moving right along this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Julius Caesar. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of five sentences and three comprehension questions. The document seems a bit crowded to me, and may be better formatted as a full-page worksheet. I suppose that will depend on how deep an examination of Julius Caesar your world history or global studies curriculum calls for (or if you are dealing with Shakespeare’s play, which is based on Plutarch’s account of events following Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon).

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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