Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “The Man in 1458”

Ok, folks, here is a lesson plan on a Crime and Puzzlement case, this one “The Man in 1458.”

I start this lesson, after the rigamarole of a class change, with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Braille, the written language for sight impaired people. You’ll need this PDF of the illustration and questions for your students so they can analyze the evidence of this case of fraud. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key with the solution to the case.

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.

Hulk Hogan

I’d assumed his star was no longer part of the professional wrestling firmament, but it has generally turned out that this reading on wrestler Hulk Hogan is of high interest to quite a few kids. You’ll probably want this vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that accompanies it.

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.

Word Root Exercise: Pter/o, Pteryg, and Pteryx

Moving right along this morning, here is a worksheet on the Greek roots pter/o, pteryg, and pteryx. They mean wing and fin. You can probably see pterodactyl arising from these; you’ll have to open the worksheet to see the rest.

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.

Hoodwink (vt)

Although Merriam-Webster’s designates its usage as “to blindfold” as archaic, this context clues worksheet on the verb hoodwink, which is only used transitively, will help students infer the demotic usage of this word, which is “to deceive by false appearance.”

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.

Cultural Literacy: Victorian Period

Starting another morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Victorian Period in British history.

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.

Trans Fat

OK, health teachers: if you can use them, here is a reading on trans fat and the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that accompanies it.

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.

Muckraking

“Muckraking (noun): The searching out or exposure, as by a writer or newspaper, or wrongdoing committed by prominent individuals or institutions, especially of political corruption or scandal; sensational revelatory journalism. Adjective: muckraking; noun: muckrake, muckraker; verb: muckrake.

‘Having failed in her basement, I thought to have her here, in the loft of the parish hall, where a leaky old skylight made vivid the woody forms of miniature creches and lifesize mangers, wise kings’ crowns and shepherd’s crooks, Victorian alter furniture and great padded Bibles no longer thumped by the virile muckraking parsons of the first Roosevelt’s reign, plywood palm trees, and temples of gilded cardboard.’

John Updike, A Month of Sundays”

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

Gravity (n)

Rereading this context clues worksheet on gravity caused me to realize that because gravity, while it exists in the physical world (indeed, it’s a cornerstone of physics), is nonetheless a very difficult abstraction to explain, this document is not exactly the strongest I’ve ever composed. In any case, it is, like everything else on this website, in Microsoft Word, so you can edit or rewrite as you see fit.

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.

Undo (vt/vi), Undue (adj)

OK, on this very dark, still morning in southwestern Vermont, here are five homophone worksheets on the verb undo and the adjective undue if you need your students to understand these words.

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.

Word Root Exercise: Psych/o

This worksheet on the Greek word root psych/o–which means mind, soul, and mental process–takes students through a series of words that grow from this very productive root in English.

Do I need to say that anyone considering a career in mental health services in particular, and healthcare in general, should know this root? They’ll  need it to understand fully the meanings of psychologist and psychiatrist.

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.