How can students use Latin anatomy terms to help them understand the roots and meanings of some contemporary English vocabulary words?  Continue reading...

This week's worksheet will help students understand why manual labor usually requires use of your hands (Latin: manus) and why the head (Latin: caput) of our government lives in the capital city. Learning a little bit about Latin anatomy might go a long way in expanding your English vocabulary!  Continue reading...

Ed-tech guru Jamie McKenzie has published a fascinating new book entitled Lost and Found: A Guide to Discovery Learning through Purposeful Wandering. In this excerpt adapted from the chapter "Finding the Best Words," McKenzie explains how tools like the Visual Thesaurus can "expand our thinking palette."  Continue reading...

Shannon Reed writes: "Texting, Twitter, Facebook statuses, IMing... all of these take up more of teenagers' lives than reading, hand-writing or (I suspect) conversing these days. Thus, I wanted to find a way to incorporate this familiar way of communicating into my curriculum."  Continue reading...

If untraditional grammar drives you around the bend, I suggest you steer clear of automobile ads this season. In particular, you'll want to take a detour to avoid Mercedes-Benz's tagline for the 2012 C-class coupe: "More power. More style. More technology. Less doors." And for your own safety, please pull over to the shoulder if you chance upon an ad for the 2012 Honda Civic that proclaims "To each their own." You don't want to risk the road rage.  Continue reading...

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of taking part in a lively panel discussion entitled "More than a Century of Style," celebrating The Chicago Manual of Style. The event, held at the University of Chicago and sponsored by the public radio station WBEZ, brought out more than two hundred committed stylistas, with hundreds more tuning in to a live stream on Facebook. Here's an indication of the type of crowd that braved that rainy Chicago night: when University of Chicago Press managing editor Anita Samen announced that she was "passionately pro-serial-comma," she was met with rapturous applause.  Continue reading...

In physics class my high school junior year, I learned little, and of that little I remember little. Our brilliant though irascible teacher, Mr. Whitney, did, however, impress me with one fact of nature I've never forgotten.  Continue reading...