“Grand Style: (grand manner) The representation of the human figure in elevated themes or noble settings. Tern used to describe the artistic ideal of the High Renaissance that was promoted in the academies.”
Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
“sensory integration: The process of taking in sensory information, organizing this information the central nervous system, and using the information to function smoothly in daily life. Sensory integration is a continual process: a children gain competence, their sensory integration improves, so the more children do, the more they can do.
Sensory experiences include touch movement, body awareness, sight, sound, and the pull of gravity; as the brain organizes and interprets this information, it provides a crucial foundation for later, more complex learning and behavior. This critical function of the brain is responsible for producing a composite picture of a person’s existence, so that the person can understand who he or she is physically, where he or she is, and what is going on in the environment around him or her.
For most people effective sensory integration occurs automatically and unconsciously, without effort. For others, however, the process is inefficient, demanding effort and attention with no guarantee of accuracy.
For most children, sensory integration develops in the course of ordinary childhood activities. But for some children, sensory integration does not develop as efficiently as it should. When the process breaks down, a number of problems in learning, development, and behavior may develop.
The concept of sensory integration comes from a body of work developed by occupational therapist A. Jean Ayres, PhD., who was interested in the way in which sensory processing and motor planning disorders interfere with daily life function and learning. This theory has been developed and refined by the research of Dr. Ayres, as well as other occupational and physical therapists. In addition, literature from the fields of neuropsychology, neurology, physiology, child development, and psychology has contributed to theory development and treatment strategies, although the theory is not yet fully accepted by all experts.
The theory states that children with sensory integration problems may be bright, but they may have trouble using a pencil, playing with toys, or taking care of personal tasks, such as getting dressed. Some children with this problem are so afraid of movement that ordinary swings, slides, or jungle gyms trigger fear and insecurity. On the other hand, some children whose problems lie at the opposite extreme are uninhibited and overly active, often falling and running headlong into dangerous situations. In each of these cases, some experts believe a sensory integrative problem may be an underlying factor. Its far-reaching effects can interfere with academic learning, social skills, even self-esteem.
Research clearly identifies sensory integrative problems in children with developmental or learning difficulties, and independent research shows that a sensory integrative problem can be found in some children who are considered learning disabled by schools. However, sensory integrative problems are not limited to children with learning disabilities; they can affect all ages, intellectual levels, and socioeconomic groups.
A number of situations can trigger sensory integration problems, including prematurity, developmental disorders, learning disabilities, and brain injury.
Prematurity As more premature infants survive today, they enter the world with easily overstimulated nervous systems and multiple medical problems. Parents need to learn how to give their premature infant the sensory nourishment their child requires for optimal development, and how to avoid harmful overstimulation.
Developmental disorders Severe problems with sensory processing is a hallmark of autism. Autistic children seek out unusual amounts of certain types of sensations, but are extremely hypersensitive to others. Similar traits are often seen in other children with developmental disorders. Improving sensory processing will help these children develop more productive contacts with people and environments.
Learning disabilities As many as 30 percent of school-age children may have learning disabilities. While most of these children have normal intelligence, many are likely to have sensory integrative problems, and to have poor motor coordination. Early intervention can improve sensory integration in these children, minimizing the possibility of school failure before it occurs.
Many studies indicate that children with learning disabilities are at risk for later delinquency, criminal behavior, alcoholism, and drug abuse because of repeated failure in school. By interrupting the vicious cycle of failure, intervention to help children with sensory integration and learning problems may also prevent serious social problems later in life.
Brain Injury Trauma to the brain as a result of accidents and strokes can have profound effects on sensory functioning. People who suffer from these effects deserve treatment that will lead to the best possible recovery. In order for this to occur, their sensory deficits must be addressed.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
Here is a learning support on the use of parentheses. I’ve published quite a few of these recently; they have all been excerpted from Paul Brians’ book Common Errors in English Usage, which he has posted at the Washington State University website.
This document is really only a paragraph of text, so there is a big blank field on the page. In other words, plenty of room to write some exercises for students to practice using parentheses correctly. Because it is a Microsoft Word document, you have plenty of ways to convert it to your favorite word processor and adapt it for the needs of your 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.
“syntax: The arrangement of words in sentences, clauses, and phrases. Understanding syntax in the English language is very important because it directly affects comprehension. The following sentences, for example, contain the exact same words, but only the syntax is different—Liz saw Bob, Bob saw Liz. The sentences mean very different things.
Students with a learning disability may have trouble understanding the rules of syntax. When speaking out loud, syntax is more flexible and fluid. Sentences in spoken language tend to be longer, and syntactical errors are often overlooked. In spoken language, difficulties in syntax may lead to the inability to articulate a thought in a complete sentence. May students with learning disabilities who demonstrate a solid understanding of syntax in spoken language may have considerable difficulties with syntax in written form because of the static nature of text and rigidity of grammar. In writing, common syntactic errors include run-on sentences, incomplete sentences, subject-verb disagreement, and comma splices.
Syntactic knowledge can have a significant impact on reading and writing. Normal development of syntactic knowledge occurs in the following stages:
Children who do not gain syntactic knowledge in the above stages may encounter problems with comprehension. Research has discovered that poor readers have often have syntactic deficits. Poor readers use fewer complete sentences; they violate subject/verb agreement and use shorter sentences more often than do proficient readers.
If an individual is suspected of having problems with syntax, it is important to find out where the breakdown is occurring. There are both formal and informal syntactic assessment procedures that can be carried out by speech pathologists or other such professionals qualified in assessing language skills.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
“-Onym: [Through Latin from Greek onuma/onoma name]. A word base or combining form that stands either for a word (as in synonym) or a name (as in pseudonym). Words containing -onym have two kinds of adjective: with –ous as in synonymous (having the nature or quality of a synonym: synonymous words) or with –ic, as in synonymic (concerning synonyms: synonymic relationships). The form –onymy indicates type, as with synonymy (the type sense relation in which words have the same or similar meaning) and eponymy (the category of word-formation that concerns words derived with people’s names). Because –onym begins with o (the commonest Greek thematic vowel, as in biography), the base form is sometimes taken to be -nym, an assumption reinforced by the initial n of the equivalent terms nomen in Latin and name in English. As a result, some recent technical terms have been formed on –nym: for example, characternym and paranym. See acronym, antonym, eponym, heteronym, homonym, hyponym, retronym.”
Excerpted from: McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
“Relative Pronoun: A pronoun that alone or as part of a phrase introduces a relative clause: who in the man who came to dinner; on whom in the woman on whom I reply. The relative pronoun refers to an antecedent (the man/who, the woman/oh whom), and functions within the relative clause: as subject in who came to dinner; as complement of a preposition in on whom. There is a gender contrast between the personal set of who pronouns and the non-personal which pronoun, and there are case distinctions in the who set: subjective who(ever), objective whom(ever), genitive whose. However, except in a formal context, who(ever) replaces whom(ever). That can be used as a relative pronoun in place of who, whom, or which, except as complement of a preposition: the woman who/that I rely on, but only the woman on whom I rely. That can be omitted when functioning as object (a man that I know; a man I know), but not as a subject (a man that knows me). The omitted pronoun is sometimes referred to as a zero relative.”
Excerpted from: McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
“whole-language approach: An educational philosophy characterized by the belief that language learning is a natural outgrowth of a child-centered process that integrates speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The whole language approach emphasizes the fact that reading is closely linked to spoken language. As a result, students of this approach are exposed to language-rich classrooms to help make them better readers and writers.
The way American schools teach children to read and write for many years has been affected by the influence of two opposite schools of thought. A conventional curriculum tends to rely on phonics and basic readers. This traditional theory of learning, which was popularized in the 19th century, is based on the idea that children learn a complex skill such as reading by first making sense of letters and then progressing to the understanding of sounds, words, and sentences. Proponents of this theory believe that children learn to read by learning to decode the language; understanding follows after they break the code and master the parts. Traditional American education begins with reading lessons that focus on phonics (sounding out first letters, then combinations of letters), tightly controlled vocabulary, and short basic reading passages, followed by exercises, each with only one correct answer.
Whole language represents a completely different philosophy about teaching, learning, and the role of language in the classroom, emphasizing the idea that children should use language in ways that relate to their own lives and cultures. In the whole language classroom, the final answer is not as important as the process. Children are encouraged to decode words by their context.
Whole language advocates point out that the average first grader has already acquired a vocabulary of 10,000 words and inherently understands many of the rules of grammar without being formally taught. The common techniques of whole language teaching, which include daily journal and letter writing plus reading much real literature, represent that philosophy in action.
The popularity of the whole language approach has been so dramatic that some teachers complain they cannot find basic readers anymore. In addition, many new teachers say their university professors no longer discuss how to teach phonics.
Critics of the whole language approach believe it overemphasizes understanding at the expense of accuracy. The whole language movement had a significant impact on reading and writing instruction in the 1980s and 1990s, when the appeal of whole language instruction influenced many schools to revise their curricula. As a result of this movement, a vigorous debate emerged amongst educators over how children learn language. Many special educators felt that whole language was flawed by its neglect of explicit language skills such as phonics, spelling, and grammar. Since a language-rich classroom does not help many students, especially those with learning disabilities, learn to read and spell, a ‘back to basics’ movement in education began to move back to explicit skill instruction.
On the other hand, advocates of the whole language approach say that an overemphasis on rules and rote learning is stifling and leads children to see reading and writing as boring and difficult chores, rather than an interested way of gathering information.
Research strongly indicates that students will be the most successful if a balanced approach is used, teaching phonics in a systematic fashion within the context of real stories. Today, many classrooms use this combination approach utilizing elements of both whole language and phonics, spelling and grammar.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
“writing process: A particular approach to writing instruction that has become common in school systems and colleges during the past 25 years. There are many meanings of the phrase ‘writing process,’ but most refer to the concept that writing is part of the thinking process involving many different mental activities over a period of time. Effective instruction in writing teaches students how to generate, organize, and revise their writing, rather than focusing solely on written language structures.
In its early years of development, the process theory of writing instruction focused largely on individual expression and the facilitation of the development of a student’s ‘voice.’ This approach to the writing process was in many ways a reaction to traditional methods of writing instruction, which focused mainly on structural and mechanical elements such as grammar, punctuation, and following paragraph and essay models.
In the early 1980s, Linda Flower and John Hayes developed a theoretical model of writing as a thought process involving a number of different mental activities, including planning, generating, organizing, translating, reviewing, and editing. In their model, any given activity might interrupt any other one at any stage. The Flower/Hayes model continues to be useful, especially for understanding the writing problems of students with learning disabilities and attention disorder. However, the primary contemporary model emphasizes the ways in which writing is a social practice, and focuses on collaborative approaches to developing writing skills and producing written work.
In practical terms, effective writing instruction involves understanding that writing involves different activities of generating, organizing, drafting, and revising, and that incorporates collaborative activities in helping students develop a sense of voice, audience, and using writing as a communication tool.
A process approach to writing is particularly vital for students with learning disabilities, in that it enables them to take the different cognitive tasks involved in writing and spread them over a series of steps and periods of time. For example, a student with dyslexia may benefit from putting off any attention to editing and spelling until late in the process, instead focusing mainly on generating ideas and language first.
Likewise a student with attention deficit disorder may do better by taking out a highly specific approach to planning a paper and mapping out the steps that will be involved, using a checklist to monitor completion of each step.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
OK, moving along on this cool, rainy morning in Southwestern Vermont, here is a learning support on hyphenation. Like several others I have posted here recently, this text comes from Paul Brians’ book, which, amazingly, he has made available at no cost on the Washington State University website, Common Errors in English Usage.
As Professor Brians points out, for a full exposition on the rules for hyphenation in English prose one really must consult The Chicago Manual of Style or something like it. This document does supply as much about hyphenation as the high-school, and perhaps even the college, writer needs to 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.
“thematic maturity: The sophistication of writing. Plot development, sentence structure, and cohesion based on an individual’s age and grade are some elements that are considered in evaluating thematic maturity.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
 | A Measurement Conver… on An Elegantly Simple Cooking Co… |
| A Measurement Conver… on The Weekly Text, October 25, 2… |
 | markstextterminal on Cree |
 | panzer046a139293db on Cree |
| markstextterminal on Cree |
Mark's Text Terminal 
You must be logged in to post a comment.