Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

Negligent (adj)

Posted on October 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

Alright, as the coronavirus continues to blaze a second trail across the United Stages, now seems like a perfect time to publish this context clues worksheet on the adjective negligent. However, I wonder if in teaching the concept of negligence, it might be better to start with the verb, neglect. The framework of this document should, I think, make it easy to produce your own context clues worksheets on those 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.

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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Posted on October 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

By posting this reading on Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that it is appropriate for high-schoolers (it might be, for the right ones), or of particularly high interest (again, it might be, for the right one) or demand. I actually wrote this for one student who was very interested in philosophy, but not otherwise interested in school.

Anyway, any reading on Liebniz can complement a calculus class, particularly if you want students to know something about the history of the field. More broadly, if you are conducting inquiry into the Enlightenment, or teaching Voltaire’s Candide, this material will provide some context for that novella.

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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The Weekly Text, October 16, 2020: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Blot It Out”

Posted on October 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

It’s Friday again. I don’t know about you, but I am experiencing time in some very strange ways during this pandemic. Anyway, Hispanic Heritage Month 2020 has come and gone.

So, this week’s text is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Blot It Out.” I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the phrase “Art for Art’s Sake” (incidentally, when you watch movies, new or old, produced at the Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) studio, you’ll see the Latin phrase “Ars Gratia Artis” above the roaring lion’s head as the film begins to roll, well, you can now explain that phrase to students and children). You’ll need this scan of the illustration and questions in order to conduct your investigation. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key so that you can make allegations and bring your suspect to the bar of justice.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Lesson Plans, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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Terms of Art: Restrictive Term, Element, Clause

Posted on October 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Restrictive Term, Element, Clause: A phrase or clause that limits the essential meaning of the sentence element it modifies or identifies. Professional athletes who perform exceptionally should earn stratospheric salaries. Since there are no commas before and after the italicized clause, the italicized clause is restrictive and suggests that only those athletes that perform exceptionally are entitled to such salaries. If commas were added before who and after exceptionally, the clause would be nonrestrictive and would suggest that all professional athletes should receive stratospheric salaries.”

Excerpted from: Strunk, William Jr., and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. New York: Longman, 2000.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference

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Futile (adj)

Posted on October 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

It’s a great word for students to know in this day and age, so I hasten to publish this context clues worksheet on the adjective futile. It’s Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day today; it’s also a word in very common use in the English language, so students really ought to know it by the time they move the tassel on their mortarboards.

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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Cultural Literacy: The Federalist Papers

Posted on October 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Last but not least today, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on The Federalist Papers. This is only the merest introduction to these foundational documents to our republic, but sometimes that’s what a teacher needs. If so, help yourself.

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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Charles Manson

Posted on October 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Charles Manson’s death in late 2017 prompted a flurry of questions from the students I was serving at the time. As I do whenever students demonstrate an interest in something, I worked up some new materials, to wit, this reading on Charles Manson and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

And while I’m neither proud of or happy with the fact, these documents quickly became high-interest materials in my classroom. Ergo, they appear here. Did I mention I’m not exactly happy about students’ interest in this monster?

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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Word Root Exercise: Ax

Posted on October 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Moving right along this morning, here is a worksheet on the Latin word root ax. It means, simply, axis. If you click on that hyperlink, however, you’ll see that “simply” isn’t the right word: axis is a complex polysemous word in English. In any case, I suspect this document would be useful in a certain kind of math class, or perhaps a mechanical drawing course. At the same time, it is also a general vocabulary-building exercise.

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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A Lesson Plan on Data Storage from The Order of Things

Posted on October 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

As you get older, you take it for granted, but it’s still fun to experience synchrony. A friend of mine and I land on synchrony quite often while texting–often using the same words simultaneously. In this case, the same day I interviewed with some very nice, clearly talented, unusually engaged and deeply committed folks at a computer-themed career and technical education high school in the North Bronx, I pulled out this lesson plan on data storage, adapted from text I grabbed from Barbara Ann Kipfer’s The Order of Things. I expect this would work well at a school such as theirs. I hope they find their way to it.

For your students, here is the list as reading and comprehension questions, which is the 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.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Lesson Plans, Reference, Worksheets

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Kiln (n)

Posted on October 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

If you are of a certain age, you wouldn’t need this context clues worksheet on the noun kiln because you would have had an art class, where you would have had a chance to shape clay and fire it into a ceramic object–using a kiln. Now, however, since we as a society appear to have resolved that children don’t need arts instruction, kids have fewer and fewer interactions with industrial objects like kilns. So we can’t count on their knowing what a kiln is or what it does.

In any case, it was the Word of the Day today at Merriam-Webster; as you can see, I couldn’t let it pass without comment or context clues 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.

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