Felix Adler

“Felix Adler: (1851-1933) German-born American educator and leader in social welfare. Adler came to America as a youth, graduated from Columbia (1870), and pursued further studies in Germany. He founded the New York Society of Ethical Culture in 1876, from which a worldwide movement later developed. The society emphasized the need for a stronger morality (apart from any single theological dogma) in all personal, professional, and political relationships and placed great importance on the moral education of children. Adler established the first free kindergarten for New York City’s poor, which later grew into the first vocational school that combined manual training and ethical instruction in its curriculum. In 1884 Adler helped to establish the first Tenement House Commission; he arranged for trained nurses to visit the poor, lobbied for parks and playgrounds in depressed urban areas, and served for a time as chairman of the National Child Labor Committee. Adler advanced his view in such books as The Moral Instruction of Children (1892), An Ethical Philosophy of Life (1918), and The Reconstruction of the Spiritual Ideal (1923).”

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

The Weekly Text, 11 September 2026: Introduction to Writing Sentences Lesson 14, What Is a Subordinating Conjunction and How Does It Introduce a Dependent Clause?

OK, here is the fourteenth lesson plan of the Introduction to Writing Sentences Unit, this one on using subordinating conjunctions to compose complex sentences. This Cultural Literacy worksheet on conjunctions opens this lesson, and bears some explaining. First: this is a full-page worksheet with a five-sentence reading and eight comprehension questions. In other words, this do-now may end up turning this lesson into a two-day affair. Why? Well, I think students, to be able to write well whatever the demands of their writing happen to be. And to handle increasingly complex ideas, one must be able to write increasingly complex sentences. Conjunctions–particularly the subordinating conjunctions addressed in this lesson–are key to writing complex sentences that convey complex ideas. So, I would argue, in defense of this do-now document that is really more of a lesson in itself, that this is the right opening for this lesson.

And here is the scaffolded worksheet on writing complex sentences that is the principal work of this lesson. Your students–and you–will probably benefit from this general learning support on conjunctions as well as this one specifically on subordinating conjunctions. Finally, here is the teacher’s copy of the lesson 14 worksheet to ease your cognitive load while delivering this 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.

Write It Right: Dirt for Earth, Soil, or Gravel

“Dirt for Earth, Soil, or Gravel. A most disagreeable Americanism, discredited by general (and Presidential) use. ‘Make the dirt fly.’ Dirt means filth.”

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

Common Errors in English Usage: Moral/Morale

Here is a worksheet on the use of the adjective moral and the noun morale. This is a full-page document with a reading of two longish sentences and ten modified cloze exercises. Professor Paul Brians, from whose book Common Errors in English Usage this material is adapted (and to which he allows free access at his Washington State University web page), also nicely points out the pronunciation stresses in these words.

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: Remedial Programs

“remedial programs: Programs designed to address specific weaknesses for individuals who are not achieving up to grade-level expectations. Remedial programs take place outside the regular or general classroom and are typically tailored to individual needs. Remedial programs can also take place in clinics or private tutoring centers.

Remedial programs in public schools (such as resource room instruction) that are indicated on an individualized education program are free. Remediation of skills through intensive instruction and practice occurs in remedial programs.”

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

Cultural Literacy: Diction

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on diction. This is a half-page worksheet with a three sentence reading and three comprehension questions. This is a good general introduction to the concept of diction, that is, word choice.

However, the third sentence comes with this warning: for struggling and emergent readers, this sentence will almost certainly need to be rewritten. If you look at the way the clauses are punctuated, breaking up this monster and making it comprehensible mostly does itself. As I prepared this post, I looked at this document and found, like some of these half-page worksheets, it looked a bit crowded. A revision might knock this into a full-page document, which would allow for some critical, brainstorming questions about diction.

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.

Word Origins: Bathos

“bathos: [M17th] This is a Greek word and was first recorded in English in the literal Greek sense ‘depth.’ The literary sense was introduced by Alexander Pope in the early 18th century. He published the Bathos in Miscellanies (third volume) in 1728, which was a lively satire giving descriptions of bad authors. Bathysphere [1930] for a spherical chamber that can be lowered into the depths of the sea, comes from the same source.”

Excerpted from: Creswell, Julia. Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

The Weekly Text, 4 September 2026: Introduction to Writing Sentences Lesson 13, The Relative Clause; What Is a Relative Pronoun and How Does It Introduce a Relative Clause?

Let’s continue this website’s slog through the Introduction to Writing Sentences unit with the thirteenth lesson plan, this one on writing sentences with relative clauses. This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the regular verb. This is a half-page document with a two sentence reading and three comprehension questions. If I am not mistaken, I recently published this document in a standalone post.

Here is the scaffolded worksheet on relative clauses and their use–and punctuation–in declarative sentences. Students will probably benefit, while working on this material, from the presence of this learning support on the use of that and which when working with relative clauses, and this one on restrictive and non-restrictive clauses which offers a broad overview of these kinds of clauses and their role in a declarative sentences.

Finally, here is the teacher’s copy of the worksheet to ease your cognitive load while executing this 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.

Laurence J. Peter on Education

“Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.”

Laurence J. Peter

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

Common Errors in English Usage: Misnomer

Once more, adapted from Paul Brians’ book Common Errors in English Usage (to which he allows no-cost access at his Washington State University web page), here is a worksheet on the use of the noun misnomer. This is a full-page document with a reading of two sentences which define the word misnomer and instruct on its relatively simple use. The document continues with a list of ten obvious misnomers (e.g. “healthful cigarettes”) and calls upon students to build sentences around them.

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.