“Build for Make. ‘Build a fire.’ ‘Build a canal.’ Even ‘build a tunnel’ is not unknown, and probably if the woodchuck is skilled in the American tongue he speaks of building a hole.’”
Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.
“semantics: The study of words and sentences and their meanings. An individual with a weak vocabulary may be considered to have a semantic disorder. An individual with a semantic disorder may understand concepts but have difficulty finding the word to express it. Informal activities such as quizzing verbal opposites, word categorization, and classification tasks can be useful ways in which to assess semantic skills.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
“self-concept: The way a person sees himself or herself including all the beliefs, feelings, and attitudes. Self-concept can also. affect how one feels about others.
Self-concept is a subject that has fascinated philosophers from earliest times. In the field of psychology, self-concept has always been an important and sometimes controversial subject. William James and Mary Calkins used methods of introspection to study the self, while Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Adler all discussed the development of the self in their writing.
During the the 1950s and 1960s, the ‘self concept’ was a central idea in the work of both Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. Maslow believed that building self-esteem, an individual’s evaluation of self-worth, was a key step in the self-actualization process. Rogers believed that if one had a positive view of the self, then one would view the world in a positive way. If the self-view were negative, one would fall short of the goals related to the ideal self. As a part of this perspective, Donald Super developed a related theory of vocational choice. He believed that career satisfaction was related to the degree to which someone could implement his self-concept in the workplace.
Social psychologists argue that an individual’s self-concept develops through association with others. Cognitive psychologists study how people think about themselves and how they think about their own thinking. Although many criticize the term and its usefulness because it is difficult to quantify or measure consistently, it remains an important concept among educators and developmental psychologists. Both groups are concerned with the effects of the educational setting, peers, and family on child’s developing self-concept.
Individuals with learning disability, not surprisingly, often rate themselves lower than typically achieving students on cognitive ability. Because academic performance is a culturally valued domain, it makes sense that individuals with learning disabilities would also place importance on academic performance.
Some research suggests that for colleges students with learning disabilities, the availability of a social support network, including clubs, disability services, and interactions with professors, is a correlate of self-esteem. Other research of successful adults with learning disabilities gives insight into how to nurture emotional health while managing the challenge that a disability entails. Researchers studied moderately successful and highly successful adults with learning disabilities to identify factors related to their success. Success was defined as high ratings in the following categories: income level, job classification, education level, career prominence and job satisfaction.
Other research focuses on resilience–the healthy adaptation in the context of severe stress. Despite the challenges and hardships that can accompany having a learning disability, some individual maintain a positive outlook, achieve success, and avoid emotional problems. Important characteristics of resilient individuals include accuracy of self-appraisal, self-determination, and help from a significant important person.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
Here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective equivocal. This is a word freighted with a number of closely related meanings: “subject to two or more interpretations and usually used to mislead or confuse <an ~ statement>”; “uncertain as an indication or sign <~ evidence>”; “of uncertain nature or classification <~ shapes>”; of uncertain disposition toward a person or thing <an ~ attitude>,” and “of doubtful advantage, genuineness, or moral rectitude.” Merriam-Webster offers obscure as a synonym–so you see the problem here.
You can probably see or hear the Latin roots equ and equi–i.e. equal in this word. In fact, using Latin word roots, one can easily see two of them work, equ and equi as above, along with voc–“to call, voice.” The word means equal voice, which certainly squares with obscure, particularly as the number of voices in an equivocal statement increases.
As I prepared to post this, I went looking for a context clues worksheet on the verb equivocate. To my surprise, I haven’t produced one yet. Since verbs are the workhorses of language, I try to lead with them where context clues worksheets are concerned. In this case, after looking at the definition of equivocate, “to use equivocal language esp. with intent to deceive” and “to avoid committing oneself in what one says,” I see why I started with the adjective. In any case, a worksheet on the verb is forthcoming.
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.
Here is something that popped up in The Washington Post that came over the transom last weekend. It’s long overdue, but better late than never.
“Freedom to think—which means nothing unless it means freedom to think differently—can be society’s most precious gift to itself. The first duty of a school is to defend and cherish it.”
Arthur Bestor, as Quoted in The Teacher and the Taught (1963)
Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.
“printing instruction: While computer keyboarding skills are becoming more and more a part of writing, printing remains an essential skill. Printing instruction begins in kindergarten where children are taught to write the letters of the alphabet, and continues through third grade until cursive writing is introduced. Problems in forming letters accurately may be cause by poor visual and motor skills. Extreme printing difficulties are called dysgraphia.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
“Orton-Gillingham approach: A multisensory approach to reading, writing, and spelling born of a theory of reading disabilities devised by Samuel Orton, Anna Gillingham, and Bessie Stillman in the 1930s. Their approach was based on the idea that the brain stores information in both hemispheres; when the connection between the two hemispheres is not fully developed, individuals may read words in reverse.
People with dyslexia have the potential to be accomplished readers and adequate spellers. The ability to achieve this potential depends on two variables: the instructional approach and the amount of practice. The Orton-Gillingham approach to reading and spelling ensure success by developing multisensory techniques for memory and retrieval. This practical teaching technique emphasizes the reading-decoding process.
The teacher introduces the elements of the language systematically, and students are taught letter-sound relationships using all senses: seeing the letter (visual), saying the letter (auditory), and writing the letter (kinesthetic). In this respect, Orton-Gillingham differs from traditional phonics instruction. Once letters are mastered, letters are grouped into blends, and short, structured passages are used for reading and dictation, Infinitely flexible, it is a philosophy rather than a system. The student learns the elements of language-consonants, digraphs, blends, and diphthongs in an orderly fashion.
As students learn new material, the continue to review old material until it becomes automatic. The teacher addresses vocabulary, sentence structure, composition, and reading comprehension in a similar, structured, sequential, and cumulative manner.
At best, the teacher tries to understand how an individual learns and to devise appropriate teaching strategies. In every lesson, the student experiences success and gains confidence as well as skill. Learning becomes a happy experience, The Orton-Gillingham approach is appropriate for teaching individuals, small groups, and classrooms. It is appropriate for teaching in the primary, elementary, and intermediate grades, and at the secondary and college level, as well as for adults.
An Orton-Gillingham approach, while not the only program available, is probably the best-known for helping children with dyslexia learn to read. The fundamental principles on which it is based, including developing phonemic awareness, and suing a multisensory approach, are consider essential components in reading instruction today.
The Orton-Gillingham approach has proven successful with students who have struggled in learning to read and spell through traditional classroom methods, despite normal intelligence, hearing, and vision. It is the program most recommended by experts in the field of dyslexia.
Modern research has continued to confirm Dr. Orton’s theories about the physiological differences experienced by people with dyslexia. Early remediation is most effective; however, these methods have been successfully adapted for use with older students and adults. The result is the development of lifelong language skills and the wonderful feeling of success in the world of written language.”
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 using that and which in declarative sentences from Paul Brians’ book, Common Errors in English Usage, which he has helpfully and generously published on the Washington State University website.
I confess that I don’t find this short passage particularly helpful in using these two words, bound up as they are with restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses in sentences (a lesson on which is forthcoming on this blog). That said, this document, like several others of its type, contains only a couple of short paragraphs. So, as a Microsoft Word document with a lot of open space, it is yours to do with as you wish or need.
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.
“Stative Verb: A category of verb that contrasts with dynamic verb in the aspect system of a language, and relates to state and not action: in English such verbs as belong, love. Syntactically, these verbs are used in simple rather than progressive tenses and generally not in the imperative (not Belong!, but occasionally Love me!). Semantically, stative verbs refer to states of affairs (belong, know, own) in contrast to dynamic verbs that refer to actions (buy, learn, jump). In practice, the boundary between stative and dynamic verbs is sometimes fuzzy and it is generally more useful to talk of stative and dynamic meaning and usage. In most varieties of English, some verbs are normally stative (therefore not I am owning this car, Know how to give first aid!), but others are partly stative and partly dynamic (not She is liking to help people, but How are you liking your new job?; not I am forgetting their address, but Forget it!). Some verbs belong to both categories but with distinct meanings, as with have in She has red hair and She is having dinner. In Indian English, the stative/dynamic distinction described above is considered standard, but it is widely ignored, so that expressions like I am owning this car and She is liking to help people are commonplace.”
Excerpted from: McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
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