Motivation

“motivation: Factors within a human being or animal that arouse and direct goal-oriented behavior. Motivation has long been a central subject of study in psychology. Early researchers, influenced by Charles Darwin, ascribed much of animal and human behavior to instinct. Sigmund Freud believed that much of human behavior was also based on irrational instinctive urges or unconscious motives. Walter Cannon proposed that basic human drives served homeostatic functions by directing energies toward the reduction of physiological tensions. Behavioral psychologists, in contrast, stress the importance of external goals in prompting action, while humanistic psychologists examine the role of felt needs. Cognitive psychologists have found that a motive sensitizes a person to information relating to that motive: a hungry subject, for example, will perceive food stimuli as larger than other stimuli. See also behavior genetics, human nature, learning.”

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

The Weekly Text, 29 December 2023: A Lesson Plan on the Greek Word Root Psych/o

The final Weekly Text for 2023 is this lesson plan on the Greek word root psych/o. It means “mind,” “soul,”, and “mental process.” You already know that this root produces many shoots in English–many in our own profession–like psychology, psychoanalysis, and psychobiology.

I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the adjective mendacious. It means “given to or characterized by deception or falsehood or divergence from absolute truth.” A useful synonym is dishonest. As I prepare this post, I wonder what moved me to land on mendacious as a useful do-now word for this lesson. In any case, here, finally, is the scaffolded worksheet that is the work for 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.

Alexandre Dumas on Education

“How is it that little children are so intelligent and men so stupid? It must be education that does it.”

Alexandre Dumas fils

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

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Plan

Finally, this morning, here is a worksheet on the verb plan as followed by an infinitive. I plan to continue posting these documents until they are all gone.

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.

“Minor” Arts

“Minor” Arts: Generally, all art forms except the major ones of painting, sculpture, and architecture. See “Low Art,” Decorative Arts, Applied Arts.

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

Cultural Literacy: Spoonerism

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the linguistic concept of spoonerism. This is half-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. I can’t remember now why I prepared this; I suspect it will have relatively low utility in most classrooms, but who knows? I cannot in good faith argue that high school students, my own purview, need to understand what a spoonerism is, let alone know or care about William Archibald Spooner.

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: Standard

“standard: An officially sanctioned description of what a student is expected to learn and how well it should be learned in specific subjects taught in school. Standards may be created by school districts, states, federal agencies, subject-matter organizations, or advocacy groups. Although the federal government is by law barred from creating or influencing curriculum, various federal agencies have done so, including the National Science Foundation and the U.S Department of Education. Following the example of the National Assessment Governing Board, which supervises the federally funded National Assessment of Educational Progress, most states identify achievement levels on their tests as basic (adequate); proficient (skilled); or advanced (superior). See also content standards; performance standards.”

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

The Weekly Text, 22 December 2023: A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Root Port

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Latin word root port. This is a very productive root in English and the Romance languages, and for the latter there is a list of cognates at the top of the worksheet to illustrate port’s movement across languages. Port means “to carry” and forms the basis of many high-frequency English words like import, export, deport, portable, and report, all of which appear on this worksheet, as well as transport, which does not–but which you can add to the document should you so choose, as this worksheet is formatted Microsoft Word and open to your editing.

I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the verb convey. For the purposes of this context clues exercise, convey means “to bear from one place to another,” “to transfer or deliver (as property) to another, ” and “to cause to pass from one place or person to another.” I hope it’s obvious that this do-now is meant to hint at the meaning of port. Finally, here is the scaffolded worksheet that is the principal work of 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.

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Pay

OK, finally this morning, here is a worksheet on the verb pay when used with an infinitive. It doesn’t pay to write daft curricular materials.

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.

Comma Spice

“Comma Splice: Improper use of a comma, above all between clauses requiring either a conjunction or a full stop (semicolon, colon, or period). Also COMMA BLUNDER, COMMA FAULT.

‘Mr. Mudrick is rude, contentious, incorrigible comma spliced, headlong, raunchy, scornful and know-it-all.’ John Leonard, The New York Times.”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.