While I’ve used it for text for classroom posters, I’m not sure how otherwise useful this learning support on historical ages and eras really is in the classroom.
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.
“A feat of strength, skill, or craftsmanship; a notably well-executed work or production, sometimes one that is an exercise in technique or showmanship at the expense of other qualities. Plural: tours de force.
‘John Steinbeck and Saul Bellow became my special heroes a little later, as I decided I wanted to be a writer; and each, I notice now, chose to write a slapstick tour de force about a slaughter of the innocents in which the innocents were frogs.’”
Edward Hoagland, The New York Times
Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.
The other day, while rummaging around in a folder containing learning supports for English Language Arts lessons, I found this glossary of critical terms for use in English classes. I have no idea whence I excerpted this; the lack of citation troubles me. In any case, it is a list of conceptual terms mostly at the center of what English Language Arts teachers profess, and particularly, in many cases (aesthetic impact as a term of art comes immediately to mind) for advanced students.
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.
Posted in English Language Arts, Reference Materials, Independent Practice, Essays/Readings
Tagged learning support, building vocabulary, grammar and style, glossary, planning documents, differentiated instruction, building conceptual knowledge, skills development, professional development, readings
This year, for the first time, I am teaching English Language Arts to a group of high school seniors. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it has been one hell of a good time. I have all but no experience teaching upperclassmen, as my practice tends to focus on building academic literacy and skills in freshmen so that they may make it to the senior class.
At my school, the school I am incidentally four working days from departing, the Class of 2019 shows great promise. Three years ago these children arrived, and now have become extraordinary young adults, ready to go forth and contribute to the dignity and freedom of humanity.
The two classes I teach have assented to word root worksheets on Friday, which has been a routine of my classroom practice for several years. This morning I post this master list of Greek and Latin Word roots so that it is easily searchable for this group of kids–or anyone else that wants or needs it.
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.
“The degree to which an individual is prepared developmentally to learn a new skill. Readiness is a term often used in early education to describe a child’s acquisition of prerequisite emotional, social and cognitive skills for academic learning.
For example, reading readiness would include pre-reading skills such as letter identification, print awareness, and rhyming. When a child has demonstrated mastery of such skills, that child would be ready to learn to read.
However, the concept of readiness can be applied to any stage of learning. For example, readiness for algebra must mean an individual has mastered certain mathematical calculations.
Normal three- to six-year-olds acquire academic and social readiness naturally when brought up in a literate environment, but developmentally delayed, learning disabled, or environmentally deprived children may need extra training or early intervention to prepare them for learning. Early school failure or unnecessary referrals can be prevented with some extra attention in early education to bolster children’s readiness for school.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
Posted in Quotes, Reference Materials
Tagged glossary, learning and cognition, professional development
Sigh. Today is August 31st, and the summer is effectively over for this teacher. For the first time since I started working at my current posting in Lower Manhattan, I am dreading returning to work.
This week’s Text is five worksheets on the homophones plain and plane, both nouns.
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.
“Coaching or modeling provided by a teacher to increase students’ likelihood of success as they develop new skills or learn new concepts. Scaffolding in education is analogous to scaffolding in construction: just as a building’s scaffolding is a temporary framework that is withdrawn when the structure is is strong enough to stand on its own, so too is scaffolding on the classroom removed when students achieve competence in the targeted area. In any classroom, the teacher’s goal is to enable students to perform tasks on their own, with a minimum of adult aid. Effective scaffolding occurs when the teacher explains an assignment, brings the task to an appropriate level of difficulty, breaks the task into a doable sequence of operations, provides feedback, and helps students gain mastery of new knowledge. Good teachers have always employed scaffolding, even if they never heard of the term.”
Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.
Posted in Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference Materials
Tagged glossary, professional development
