Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Feign (vi/vt)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb feign, which is used both intransitively and transitively. Intransitively, it means “pretend” and “dissemble.” Transitively, and it is this definition toward which the context clues in this document point, it means “to give a false appearance of,” “induce as a false impression,” “to assert as if true,” and, again, “pretend.”

I would think this is a word students ought to know before they graduate high school. But what do you think?

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.

Bully Pulpit

“Bully Pulpit Use of high office, power in media, or similar station to exhort of moralize to the people, as in the case of the presidency or an influential, prestigious newspaper. See also JAWBONE

‘And Moyers, unlike most newscasters, has something to say; he has abiding beliefs about what is right and wrong. And the CBS Evening News is, as they say, a bully pulpit.’ James Traub, United Mainliner

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

The Weekly Text, 15 July 2022: A Lesson Plan on Subordinating Conjunctions (Part 2)

This week’s Text is the second of two related lessons on subordinating conjunctions. The first appeared last week, and so is several posts down.

This lesson opens with this Everyday Edit worksheet on Booker T. Washington. And as always remember that the good people at Education World generously distribute a yearlong supply of these documents at no cost to teachers. If the lesson continues into a second day, here is a second do-now exercise on the homophones grate and great; n.b. please that grate here is dealt with both as a noun and a verb.

To teach this lesson, you’ll need this scaffolded worksheet; I imagine this teacher’s copy of same will be useful while working through all of this.

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.

Postmodernism

They’re very likely something nobody at the elementary or secondary level needs, but here nonetheless are a reading on postmodernism and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. The one-page reading does a nice job of explaining what, for me, has always been a slippery concept. So if you’re teaching some or any of the authors discussed in this reading–among others you’ll find Thomas Pynchon, Italo Calvino, Toni Morrison, and Jean Rhys mentioned here–these documents probably aren’t of, uh, surpassing use to you.

On the other hand, as the reading points out, postmodernism is “notoriously difficult to define, whether in reference to literature, art, or anything else….” So there is the question of semantics to entertain here; a point of debate might be “Is there a stable definition of ‘postmodernism’ with concrete applied examples of the word?” Another might be an assertion in the reading, mostly accurate in my understanding of postmodernism, that the doctrine (such as it is) prescribes a view of the world that that “secure truths [do] not exist and that the world was therefore hopelessly fragmented.” That’s a grim assessment in many respects; but how, if at all, has it lent credibility to and generally abetted tyrants around the globe who began almost immediately, after a former president of the United States began flogging the term, began proclaiming most journalism (or journalism that doesn’t flatter the supreme leader) “fake news”? There, I think, is another point for debate.

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 Gerunds: Miss

Here is a worksheet on the verb miss when used with a gerund. I don’t miss digging ditches in Sheffield.

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.

Fabricate (vt)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb fabricate. This verb is used only transitively. It means–and this is where the context clues on this document point–“invent,” “create,” “to make up for the purpose of deception,” “construct,” “manufacture,” “specifically to construct from diverse and usually standardized part.”

I’ll stipulate that this is not a high-frequency word in English. But if you have students interested in entering any kind of trade, particularly welding (the first class I too after high school), this is word they should know.

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.

Broadside

“Broadside (noun): A verbal attack or denunciation, especially in a publication; adverse critique; tirade.

‘Constantine Curran, who was now editing St. Stephen’s, the University College magazine, asked Joyce to send him something he could not market elsewhere, but was staggered when Joyce disingenuously submitted a new and scabrous broadside, “The Holy Office.”’ Richard Ellman, James Joyce”

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

Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Mind

Here is a worksheet on the use of the verb mind with a gerund. I don’t mind telling you again that I doubt the value of these documents.

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.

Krater

“Krater: A type of ancient Greek vessel with a broad body, wide mouth, and hemispherical base that was used to hold a mixture of wine and water. Often, a field for decoration.”

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

Pop Art

Here is a reading on pop art along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I suspect, with the right student or students, this reading and worksheet could be the beginning of a high-interest unit on pop art that would include the artists specified in the reading–Andy Warhol (of course), Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, Roy Licthenstein, Duane Hanson, Claes Oldenburg–and grow to include Jean-Michel Basquiat and perhaps some graffiti artists. Futura comes to mind.

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.