AVKO Educational Research Foundation

Brain Function of Poor Readers Can Improve

2011-05-04T06:36:00.001-04:00

Imaging Study Reveals Brain Function of Poor Readers Can Improve

A brain imaging study has shown that, after they overcome their reading disability, the brains of formerly poor readers begin to function like the brains of good readers, showing increased activity in a part of the brain that recognizes words. The study appears in the May 1 Biological Psychiatry and was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), one of the National Institutes of Health. "These images show that effective reading instruction not only improves reading ability, but actually changes the brain's functioning so that it can perform reading tasks more efficiently," said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of the NICHD. The research team was led by Bennett Shaywitz, M.D., and Sally Shaywitz, M.D, of Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. Other authors of the study were from Syracuse University, in Syracuse, New York; Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee; and the NICHD.

According to Dr. Sally Shaywitz, the results show that "Teaching matters and good teaching can change the brain in a way that has the potential to benefit struggling readers." Along with testing the children's reading ability, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a sophisticated brain imaging technology, to
observe the children's brain functioning as they read.

In all, 77 children between the ages of 6 and about 9 and 1⁄2 took part in the study. Of these, 49 had difficulty reading, and 29 children were good readers. Of the 49 poor readers, 12 received the standard instruction in reading that was available through their school systems. The remaining 37 were enrolled in an intensive reading program based on instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics.

In the study, the 37 poor readers in the intensive reading program outpaced the 12 poor readers in the standard instruction groups, making strong gains in three measures
of reading skill: accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. These gains were still apparent when the children were tested again a year later. Moreover, fMRI scans showed that the brains of the 37 formerly poor readers began functioning like the brains of good readers. Specifically, the poor readers showed increased activity in an area of the brain that recognizes words instantly without first having to decipher them. The intensive reading program the 37 children took had strong components in phonemic awareness and phonics. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to identify phonemes, the individual sounds that make up spoken words. The word "bag," for example, is made up of three such elemental units of speech, which can be represented as bbb, aaa, and ggg. The brain strings together the 40 phonemes making up the English language to produce hundreds and thousands of words. In speech, this process is unconscious and automatic.

Beginning in the 1970s, NICHD-funded researchers learned that developing a conscious awareness of the smaller sounds in words was essential to mastering the next step in learning to read, phonics. Phonics refers to the ability to match spoken phonemes to the individual letters of the alphabet that represent them. Once children master phonics, the NICHD-funded studies showed, they could make sense of words they haven't seen before, without first having to memorize them. Further NICHD-supported research found that instruction in phonemic awareness was an essential part of a comprehensive program in reading instruction that could help most poor readers overcome their disability.

In the 1990s, the Shaywitzes had used fMRI to learn that reading ability resides in the brain's left half, or hemisphere. Within the hemisphere, three brain regions work together to control reading. In the left front of the brain, one area recognizes phonemes. Further back, another brain area "maps" phonemes to the letters that represent them. Still another brain area serves as a kind of long-term storage system. Once a word is learned, this brain region recognizes it automatically, without first having to decipher it phonetically.

Poor readers, the researchers had learned in the earlier studies, have difficulty accessing this automatic recognition center. Instead, they rely almost exclusively on the phoneme center and the mapping center. Each time poor readers see a word, they must puzzle over it, as if they were seeing it for the first time.

In the current study, the researchers discovered that, as the 37 poor readers progressed through their instruction program, their brains began to function more like the brains of good readers. Specifically, the brains of these children showed increased activation in the automatic recognition center.

"This study represents the fruition of decades of NICHD-supported reading research," said G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D, Chief of NICHD's Child Development and Behavior Branch.

"The findings show that the brain systems involved in reading respond to effective reading instruction." The NICHD is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the biomedical research arm of the federal government. NIH is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. NICHD publications, as well as information about the Institute, are available from the NICHD Web site, http://www.nichd.nih.gov, or from the NICHD Information Resource Center, 1-800-370-2943; e-mail NICHDInformationResourceCenter@mail.nih.gov.

AVKO Editorial Comment: Should anyone be surprised that there are changes in the brain as the result of learning?

www.avko.org

Improving Your Existing Spelling Program

2011-05-03T08:06:00.000-04:00

Improving Your Existing Spelling Program

by Don McCabe

What if I don’t need another new spelling program? What can I do to make my existing spelling program work? Just as sometimes it’s more economical to fix the automobile you have than to go out and buy a new car, sometimes a teacher or parent can make the most of what they already have. Assuming the spelling program you now have has word lists, give the list of words as a pre-test. The words that are missed should be the basis for study—but NOT studied for themselves.

For example, supposing your list was this: rainy, bruise, brother, treaty, ready, county, water, pretty, again, trouble, early, circle, father, around, quiet, nothing, instead, twenty, other, bottle, dreary, country, heavy, rather, mirror. This, by the way, is an actual list from a best selling spelling series. I just opened the level 4 book at random and decided to work with it.

A good speller would know all the words except perhaps bruise, quiet, and circle. Now traditional methods would have the child write the words a number of times and then test and re-test on those words until they are memorized. The AVKO method would entail looking up these words in the index of The Patterns of English Spelling (FREE to AVKO members on the member portion of the website) and going to the respective pages indicated. For circle the page would be 611 on which the words with the ending cle pattern is found. Now, using the Sequential Spelling technique, I would give the words miracle, spectacle, obstacle, icicle, vehicle, article, particle, encircle, cycle, recycle, uncle and bicycle. Immediately after each word would be given and my student attempted the spelling, I would give the correct spelling orally and in writing. He would hear it and see it, and if necessary erase the misspelling and spell it correctly. Then, and only then would I go on to the next word. Notice I only picked an even dozen out of the seventy-five ending cle words. You could pick however many words as you want.

You could even from that same page point out the funny “u” the gets stuck between the c and l in words such as circular, spectacular, vehicular, muscular.

With bruise you are directed to page 435 where you find only bruise and cruise plus their structural endings as in bruises, bruised, bruising and bruiser. However, the homophones of brews and crews and Cruz are there for you to use or not use at your discretion. Again, we would recommend using the Sequential Spelling technique.

When we look up quiet in the index it directs to page 685. There we have diet, diets, dieted, dieting, and dietary that fit right in with quiet, quiets, quieted, quieting, and quietly.

Now if your child misses more than three of the assigned words in the lesson don’t try to teach all of them. Just pick two or three. And use The Sequential Spelling Technique. Forget the studying. Just out of the blue test and correct the misspellings. Keep reminding your children that “Mistakes are Opportunities to Learn” and that they can remember anything if they forget it enough times! Learn how to create your own Sequential Spelling Tests.

www.avko.org www.spelling.org

failed to teach over 20% of our children

2011-05-03T08:04:00.000-04:00

Why has our educational system failed to teach over 20% of our children to learn to read adequately?

1. Who are the absolutely worst instructors in our universities? They are the instructors in the colleges of education. Reason? Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t handle the heat in the classroom, get their PhD’s and teach teachers. Sad but true. Of course, if you're a college instructor reading this, it couldn't apply to you because you are searching for help. Most don't. They already know all it all. If you're offended by my blanket generalizations, I'm sorry. I apologize for offending you by telling the truth.

2. Lies told as absolute truths that create problems for kids, lies such as our language goes left to right, that kids are supposed to learn to read in the first two grades and then from grades three on up they read to learn. See: Read by Grade Three? Say What!

3. Who are the most discriminated against minority in adult education classes throughout the U.S. ? We have everything from dog obedience classes to cake decorating, but we don’t have classes for parents who want to learn how to help their kids at home. The schools flat out refuse to help that minority, that minority that just want to learn how to help their kids at home when they're having problems learning to read and/or spell. By the way, homeschoolers receive all kinds of free help from AVKO. For years, AVKO has offered FREE lesson plans to school for such a course, but schools continue to refuse to offer help to parents.

4. Our U.S. Department of Education has failed to fund any adequate study of spelling since 1954. No adequate baseline exists today. See AVKO’s challenge to researchers: Project Spelling

5. Teachers should be (but are not) taught to read and write upside down with both left and right hands.

6. Want all the classic definitions of dyslexia translated into plain English? Go to: What Is Dyslexia?

Who is Don McCabe? The Research Director of the non-profit AVKO Educational Research Foundation founded in 1974, Author of over 40 books in the area of teaching spelling, reading, and handwriting, including The Patterns of English Spelling, the only source book (10 volumes!) ever written in which a teacher, writer, or researcher can find all the words in English (American or British) that share the same phonic patterns such as the ci = /sh/ as in social, crucial, and suspicion.

Review:...”This (To Teach a Dyslexic) is more than an autobiography of a distinguished educator. It’s a blueprint long overdue that school systems can use to teach reading and writing.” – Carl Smith, Ph.D., Director Family Literacy Center, Indiana University.

www.avko.org www.spelling.org

Sequential Spelling Testimonials

2011-05-02T09:14:00.000-04:00

Sequential Spelling Testimonials

I expect a spelling program that makes sense. SS makes SO much sense I'm surprised that I haven't seen the method everywhere. Additionally, when my son spells the "big words" right, it gives him SUCH pride and confidence.

We received this program about 1 1/2 weeks ago. My son, age 12 is on a 1st grade level in spelling. He HATES spelling. We started this program. His attitude has changed 100% already in just 12 days. He is already improved a lot. It is amazing. The biggest barrier we had was between his ears. Now he is being more positive about his spelling. He has an attitude he can do it. And he is. If he makes a mistake, he immediately learns from it. The next day he is better. He doesn't even fuss about 25 words a day now. It is amazing.

I like SS because it only takes 10 minutes a day and it works! Both my son and daughter's spelling have improved. Interestingly, I dropped writing the words using 2 different colors of dry erase markers for awhile. I simply read the correct spelling to them. I found that this wasn't as effective. There's something about them seeing the word written down and self-correcting. Whatever you're planning, I would recommend emphasizing the importance of the white board.

I enjoy homeschooling all 5 of my children. I enjoy the interaction with them as well. It is really fun to see my children's faces when they realize what is going on. They finally get it!! :) Thank you!!

Sequential Spelling is the smartest way to spell. I used it for my son who couldn't spell words in his spelling work book and could never pass a spelling test. My son is so proud of himself that he could actually spell words found in his readers. Thank God for you people.

I like how sequential spelling exposes students to unfamiliar words, improves their decoding skills in reading, and actually teaches them how to spell any word--not just content words.

I combine this program with teaching spelling rules. I love how my children get to work with word families and how the repetition sets things in their brains.

We love Sequential Spelling. It works for my son where traditional programs failed miserably.

I think the book I'm using is just about perfect for my daughter who has poor spelling skills. It also is fine for my son, who is a great speller. It introduces words he wouldn't usually get in a traditional method, so his vocabulary is expanding.

I like being involved in my children's education, so I don't find it essential that I have little to no preparation. I do find Sequential Spelling very easy to use and it lets me focus my preparation time on other subjects, so it helps me keep a balance. I'm also very confident that it is working very well.

Thank you so much for making the patterns of English, volumes free with membership. It wasn't before, and those with the patterns are, in my opinion, key to my son's learning...

www.avko.org

The Use of Color in Sequential Spelling

2011-05-02T06:53:00.001-04:00

The Use of Color in Sequential Spelling

Using color in Sequential Spelling can be extremely helpful for many students, especially in the beginning lessons, and for students who do not see the patterns in words by themselves otherwise. If you are working with just one student, and he gets the word that is given correctly without hesitation, there is no need to show in color how the word is spelled. Just a simple word of praise, such as “good” or “correct” is sufficient and then on to the next word.

If you have multiple students and you know that at least one student made a mistake, then you might choose to use color as you put the correct spelling on your dry erase board. Let’s suppose, for example, that you are on working on the first lesson, and have already given the words in, pin, and sin which your student/s got right. Now, when you give the word spin you noticed that at least one student missed it. Here’s what you might want to do.

Say: “Did you get the in that is in spin?” At this point you write the word in in green (or red or purple or orange or whatever color you want to use) on the board like this:

Then you say, “Did you get the pin that is in spin?” At this point you just add to the left of in the letter p in a different color to make:

Then you say, “Did you start with an s to spell spin?” And now you put the s in front of the p to get:

spin

Now, if the word were to be spinning you could now say, “Did you remember to double the n?” and put one more n after spin? so that it now looks like:

spinn

And add “ing” which you write in a third color to get:

spinning

If your students want to know the “rules” about doubling letters and if you know the rules, you can tell them. If you don’t, don’t worry. We prefer that you allow them to learn from their mistakes and allow their God-given computer brains to internalize the “rules” so that in their writing they double the consonants when they’re supposed to double them and to drop the silent e when they’re supposed to drop the silent e and to do it automatically. If they have to think each time they add suffixes whether or not to double the consonant or whether or not to drop the silent e, it will break their train of thought. Remember, if you have to think about the rule you learned in driver education as to which way to turn the steering wheel when your rear wheels start skidding to the right, you’re in the ditch.

www.spelling.org www.avko.org

English as a Second Language

2011-05-02T06:52:00.000-04:00

English as a Second Language

AVKO's Speech to Spelling book is excellent for the student learning English. Generally they learn as a child does - to speak first, then learn the letter and sounds building small words in the beginning.

The older the student the faster they progress in the letter-sound recognition and speed on to vocabulary building. Often the English language learner recognizes phrases they have heard when others speak.

Repeating what they have heard they say and spell it the way they have heard it. So we often see, sentences like this: "I am s'posta meet the guys here" or "Dooya wanna go see a movie?" The Speech to Spelling book helps the student to recognize how we native English speakers talk. The fact is, even young native English speakers can have the very same problems, hence our book, Speech to Spelling saves the day!

www.spelling.org www.avko.org

Excel 97 (Excel 8) -- Easter Egg

2011-04-29T08:21:00.001-04:00

Excel 97 (Excel 8)

Excel's 97's easter egg is the most impressive that I've ever seen. Follow these steps:

Open a new workbook
Press F5
Enter X97:L97 and press Enter
Press Tab
Press Ctrl+Shift and click the Chart Wizard button on the toolbar.

You'll be greeted with a full-screen animated image. Use the mouse to move around.

Trigger the egg. You'll be looking at a purple 3D landscape. Use the mouse to "fly" over the landscape (the mouse changes direction, left button moves forward and left button moves backwards). Fly around a bit and you'll see a grey stone pyramid. Fly to the side of the pyramid that's black and you'll see the credits scroll by.

NOTE: If this doesn't work, select the Tools Options command, then click the Transition tab. Remove the checkmark from Transition navigation keys and click OK. Then try it again.

www.avko.org

A MS Word Easter Egg

2011-04-29T08:20:00.000-04:00

A MS Word Easter Egg

An "Easter Egg" is a small, undocumented procedure in a program that normally expresses interesting commentaries or gives credit to the people who labored over the program. Like their namesake, Easter Eggs normally take a while to find and can be quite elusive.

Try this out:

1) Open a new Microsoft Word document.

2) Type this: =rand (200,99)

3) Press enter and wait 3 seconds.

A variation on that theme

1. Open a new word document
2. Type =rand(3,14)
3. Press enter.
4. Wait a few seconds and see what happens.
5. Try typing after "=rand" any variation from (1,1) to (200,99)to see the different results.

www.avko.org www.spelling.org

Find the Grade Level of any Document

2011-04-28T14:45:00.002-04:00

Use Microsoft Word to Find the Grade Level of any Document,
or report, thesis, letter, article or any written document.

By Gloria Goldsmith

Microsoft Word has a program within it of which most computer users, including homeschoolers, are NOT aware. Microsoft has incorporated the very helpful Flesh-Kincaid Readability scores in the Word program. This means you have a source available, right at your fingertips, to determine the grade level of every book in your house! Plus, high school and college students can check if their compositions are up to their grade level or higher before submission.

READABILITY SCALE
The scale that will appear in Word has three sections of information: Counts, Averages, and Readability. The first two are self explanatory; the third section contains Passive Sentences, Flesch Reading Ease and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level.

Passive Sentences
Important to understand for composition purposes, it is not important for our grade level information. Information can be found on the web regarding the meaning of the passive voice.

Flesch Reading Ease
Based on a 100 point scale, the higher the score, the easier it is to understand (comprehend) the passage.

Score	Meaning
90.0 - 100.0	Easily understandable by average 11 year old student
60.0 - 70.0	Easily understandable by average 13 -15 year old student
0.0 - 30.0	Best understood by University Graduate

The standard readability desired is 60 -70. A few examples give more clarity: Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone is 100, Charlotte’s Web is 83, Reader’s Digest is 65, Time magazine is 52, and Harvard Law Review is in the low 30’s.

Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level
A specific formula is used that computes the number of syllables, words and sentences in a passage which is translated to Grade level information.

How To Use
For all grades, select THREE passages: one from the beginning, middle and end of the book. In order to receive accurate grade level information and the higher the probable grade level, the more important it is to use three passages from different areas of the book.
Early Grades (1, 2, 3) - you probably will type an entire page or two (at least five sequential sentences) from the beginning, middle and end, just as they appear in the book.
Grades 4 and up – Select a paragraph of five or more sentences from the beginning, middle and end of the story. Obviously, the higher the grade level, the longer the sentences and paragraphs will be.

To Activate Word’s Readability Statistics:
Word is Microsoft’s word processing program.

WORD 2002
Open the Word program.
Find Tools and click on it, go to Options. This will bring up a new window with several tabs.
Select Spelling & Grammar Tab, go to Grammar section, check box for “Show Readability Statistics” and click OK at bottom of window.

To Use Activated Program
Type in the three selected passages. Go to Tools (at top) select Spelling and Grammar.
If the program thinks it has found a misspelling or grammar error a box will come up allowing you to fix or ignore. Once you have moved through all perceived errors the statistics window will pop up. If you own the book, on the copyright page write the grade level (Example: GL: 4), this will save you time down the road. If it’s a borrowed book write the information on a post-it note, placing it on the copyright page.

Word 2007
Open the program and click on the Microsoft Office Button located in upper left corner.
At the bottom of new small window, click on “Word Options”.
A large window appears with two sections, in the left section click on “Proofing”.
On the right, find the heading “When Correcting Spelling and Grammar in Word”; check the box beside “Show Readability Statistics”.
Click OK at bottom of window.

To Use Activated Program
Click on Review Tab, on the far left click on Spelling and Grammar. If the program thinks it has found a misspelling or grammar error a box will come up allowing you to fix or ignore. Once you have moved through all perceived errors the statistics window will pop up. If you own the book write the grade level on the copyright page (Example: GL: 4), this will save you time down the road. If it’s a borrowed book write the information on a post-it note, placing it on the copyright page.

www.avko.org www.spelling.org

Quest/Request

2011-04-28T07:48:00.002-04:00

Quest/Request

An activity presented via email from Richard Pressinger

One of my favorite reading activities that is very effective in strengthening reading comprehension is sometimes called "Quest/Request and you can do it with one other individual or paired individuals or in a round robin with a small group. Here is how it works.

Everyone reads a short paragraph silently. Then one person starts by asking a question about something that was in the passage. Others try to answer it, looking back in the passage to find the answer if necessary. Then the next person asks a question, and the next and the next and so on, until no one can think of any more questions to ask.

You can get into different kinds of questions such as those of a graphophonic nature (e.g. How many sentences? How many five letter words? How many words that end in "tion?") or questions about the meaning of the passage, or you could highlight explicit questions or implicit questions.

The goal is to ask as many questions as possible. It is less important that the questions be answered than it is to simply ask them. It should not be a competition between students, but a group might wish to compete against its old record by increasing the number of questions it is able to ask about a passage. I've done it with my adult students and have filled a page writing down the questions we asked about a simple 100 word paragraph. Once we had asked more questions than there were words in the paragraph.

There are many things at work here. One is it encourages an active, rather than a passive reading style. Another is it gets students to reread the same text many times, thereby developing fluency. Another benefit, I feel, is it forces the reader to rework the meaning of the passage into new forms, statements into questions, for example. This seems to have a powerful effect on one's ability to remember the content and comprehend the meaning of a passage.

www.avko.org www.spelling.org

75%

2011-04-28T07:48:00.001-04:00

75%

The Catch – 22: Even though AVKO has demonstrated that 75% of all words poor readers cannot read contain advanced phonic patterns that are not systemically taught in school, schools cannot and will not systemically teach them. Why? Because they don’t have either a listing of these patterns or a listing of the words that contain these patterns.

Where can schools get a listing? Only from AVKO. The listing of the patterns and the listing of all the words by patterns is to be found only in AVKO’s The Patterns of English Spelling.

www.avko.org

Easter Eggs

2011-04-27T16:19:00.000-04:00

Easter Eggs

Some programs and media come packed with secret “goodies” called Easter Eggs. These are fun little additions, added by programmers that can be found by accident, by completing some tasks, or by hearing about them from other people. In this article we will find some of those Easter eggs. Specifically, we’ll cover:

What is an Easter Egg?
What an Easter Egg is Not
Easter Egg Examples

What is an Easter Egg?

Easter eggs, in software, are deliberately added and not just “glitches” (see more about that below.) Often these Easter eggs are added by programmers for a joke, to get some attention, or to add some flair to the software you’re using.

A classic example of an Easter egg is a hidden menu on DVD or an animation in a piece of software that can only be seen by pressing certain keys.

What an Easter Egg is Not

There are some common misconceptions with the term “Easter Egg.” An Easter egg is not:

A bug in a program.
An imposed restriction.
A hack in a program made by the end user.

For example, it has been claimed that not being able to create a folder, in Windows, with one of the following names is an Easter egg:

PRN, AUX, CLOCK$, NUL, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, COM5, COM6, COM7, COM8, COM9, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, LPT4, LPT5, LPT6, LPT7, LPT8, and LPT9

This is not an example of an Easter egg. This is a restriction that dates back to DOS, to protect certain file names being used that are reserved by the operating system:

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Fun Quotations for Spelling Dictation

2011-04-27T07:32:00.002-04:00

, Comprehension Exercises, Fluency Practice Readings, a Basis for discussion as to the “correctness” of the attitude displayed, or just plain fun

ability Journalism is the ability to meet the challenge of filling space. — Rebecca West

abstract Abstract art: a product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered. — Al Capp

advertising Advertising is legalized lying. — H. G. Wells

advertising Advertising is the rattling of stick inside a swill bucket. — George Orwell

advice Advice to persons about to marry. Don't. — Punch

advice I give advice. All you do is criticize. — R.J.

afraid It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens. — Woody Allen

animal Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile. — Albert Schweitzer

aversion My only aversion to vice is the price. —Victor Buono

badly If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. — G. K. Chesterton

bank A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain. — Robert Frost

Bible It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me; it's the parts that I do understand. — Mark Twain

bore Bore, n. A person who talks when you wish him to listen. — Ambrose Bierce

brothers That all men should be brothers is the dream of people who have no brothers. — Charles Chincholles

children I love children especially when they cry, for then someone takes them away. — Nancy Mitford

Christian Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than going to the garage makes you a car. — Laurence J. Peter

conclusion If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion. — George Bernard Shaw

conscience Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends. — H. L. Mencken

country The country has charms only for those not obliged to stay there. — Edouard Manet

country Diplomacy is the patriotic art of lying for one's country. — Ambrose Bierce

courage Courage is the fear of being thought a coward. — Horace Smith

criminal It could probably by shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress. — Mark Twain

cynic A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin. — H. L. Mencken

cynic A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. — Oscar Wilde

decide A jury is a set of twelve people chosen to decide who has the better lawyer. — Robert Frost.

democracy Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. — H. L. Mencken

difference There is one difference between a tax collector and a taxidermist—the taxidermist leaves the hide. — Mortimer Caplin

doctor God heals, and the doctor takes the fee. — Benjamin Franklin

enemies Even paranoids have real enemies. — Delmore Schwartz

enemies One should forgive one's enemies, but not before they are hanged. — Heinrich Heine

enemies Always forgive enemies—nothing annoys them so much. — Oscar Wilde

Equality Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact. — Honoré de Balzac

equality The equality in law forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. — Anatole France

Exercise Exercise is bunk. If you are healthy, you don't need it; if you are sick, you shouldn't take it. — Henry Ford

experience We learn from experience that men never learn from experience. — George Bernard Shaw

experience We all learn from experience but some of us have to go to summer school. — Peter De Vries

fight The way to fight a woman is with your hat. Grab it and run. — John Barrymore

freedom Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one. — A. J. Liebling

government A government is the only known vessel that leaks from the top. — James Reston

government Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed. — I. F. Stone

habit Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. — Jules Renard.

hanging Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns. He should be drawn and quoted. — Fred Allen

happiness Happiness is not something you experience; it's something you remember. -- Oscar Levant

headache If the headache would only come before the drinking, drinking would be a virtue. -- Samuel Butler

health Health food makes me sick. — Calvin Trilling

history History is a set of lies agreed upon. — Napoleon Bonaparte

history History repeats itself; that' one of the things wrong with history. — Clarence Darrow

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Syllabication Rules

2011-04-27T07:31:00.001-04:00

Syllabication Rules

Rules	The Problem with the Rule
1. Every syllable has one vowel sound.	A diphthong has two vowels. The "OW" sound as in the word out has two vowel sounds "ah" and "oo" that come together.
2. The number of vowel sounds equals the number of syllables.	See above.
3. When you hyphenate a word hyphenate between syllables.	See Rule 5.
4. Never hyphenate a one syllable word such as "go, jump, in, the, and lake."
5. Consonant digraphs and blends are never separated. blend-ing not blen-ding. clash-ing not clas-hing, march-ing not marc-hing fast-ing not fas-ting	See Rule 3. In speech the word blending is properly pronounced as two syllables: blen ding.
Hyphenate compound words between the words as in: book-store book-case	but notice the word notice is not not-ice nor is Sheraton, she-rat-on.:
Hyphenate words between the prefix and the root word or the root word and the suffix as in: mis-understanding or misunderstand-ing or misunder-standing
When two or more consonant come together, hyphenate between the first two consonants as in blis-ter,	The Rules about compound words, consonant blends, prefixes, and suffixes supercede: Home-schoolers not Homes-choolers (Compound) streng-then not stren-gthen, (ng is consonant blend) trans-atlantic not tran-satlantic friend-ship.not frien-dship
Divide a word so that the syllable either at the end of a line or at the beginning of the next has at least three letters. The following words should not be divided: divided, about, above, below, around, nickel, taxi, major, minor, cabin,	In other words, words of five or fewer letters should never be hyphenated because you must have at least three letters at the end of the line and at least three at the beginning, and three and three is six, and five is less than six.

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Tom Swifties

2011-04-26T07:06:00.000-04:00

“Tom Swifties” JUST FOR FUN: Reading or Composing Sentences

Just what is a Tom Swifty? It's a play on words that follows a pattern and relies for its humor on a punning relationship between the way an adverb describes a speaker and at the same time refers significantly to the import of the speaker's statement. The adverb ends with an -ly. Tom Swifties were originated by Edward Stratemeyer in a series of strip cartoons about a character called Tom Swift in
the 1920's. Here's a sample of Tom Swifties for your pleasure. I've kept them short to fit in the column. Have some fun and encourage your students to make up some of their own.

"Who turned out the lights?" asked Tom darkly.
"This river is rough," shouted Tom rapidly.
"I collect fairy tales," said Tom grimly.
"I must patch this coat," said Tom raggedly.
"I don't like hot dogs," said Tom frankly.
"Fire!" yelled Tom alarmingly.
"The boat is leaking," said Tom balefully.
"I fought with Geronimo," said Tom bravely.
"It's too cold outside," said Tom icily.
"Get to the back of the boat," yelled Tom sternly.
"The situation is grave," said Tom cryptically.
"Let's get married," said Tom engagingly.
"Elvis is dead," Tom said expressly.
"You have no bananas?" asked Tom fruitlessly.
"Is that radioactive?" asked Tom glowingly.
"I can't go on," panted Tom haltingly.
"Nay!" said Tom hoarsely.
"I like camping," said Tom intently.
"It's only average," said Tom meanly.
"My wheel is damaged," said Tom outspokenly.
"Nice looking glass," said Tom reflectively.
"Pitch me an easy one," called Tom strikingly.
"That's too much pineapple," said Tom dolefully.
"I mailed it twice," said Tom resentfully.
"I'm under pressure," said Tom flatly.
"That's a grand dam," said Tom coolly.
"I tied the score," said Tom evenly.
"That's the tiebreaker," said Tom gamely.

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Don’t suffer over your spelling

2011-04-26T07:05:00.000-04:00

A curious article in the Journal of Reading, November 1982, page 168.

“From what I understand, spelling ability correlates with nothing – not with intelligence, not with verbal ability, not with age (after childhood), not with eye color, left-handedness, cyclothymia, blood type, structure boundedness, authoritarian impulses, sex, race, religion, national origin, or any other measure the testers can develop. Some people spell well, some people don’t, and that’s all there is to it. If by the time you’re twelve or thirteen you don’t spell well, you probably never will, and you should plan your life accordingly.”

From A Handbook for Scholars by Mary-Claire van Leunen, p. 27. 1978 Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

The editors of the INTERNATIONAL READING ASSOCIATION’s publication, Journal of Reading, published this excerpt with no comment! We at AVKO are speechless.

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FOR LEXOPHILES

2011-04-25T07:57:00.001-04:00

FOR LEXOPHILES (LOVERS OF WORDS):

1. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

2. A will is a dead giveaway.

3. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

4. A backward poet writes inverse.

5. In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's
your Count that votes.

6. A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.

7. If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.

8. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.

9. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft a nd I'll show you
A-flat miner.

10. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

11. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.

12. A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France resulted in
Linoleum Blown apart.

13. You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

14. Local Area Network in Australia: The LAN down under.

15. He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

16. A calendar's days are numbered.

17. A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.

18. A boiled egg is hard to beat.

19. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

20. A plateau is a high form of flattery.

21. The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison: a small medium
at large.

22. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.

23. When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.

24. If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.

25. When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.

26. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.

27. Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

28. Acupuncture: a jab well done.

29. Marathon runners with bad shoes suffer the agony of de feet.

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Easy Puzzle for any Pal in Drome Lover

2011-04-25T07:24:00.001-04:00

And Easy Puzzle for any Pal in Drome Lover

See If You Can Figure Out What These Words Have In Common.......

Banana

Dresser

Grammar

Potato

Revive

Uneven

Assess

Are You Peeking Or Have You Already Given Up?
Give It Another Try....

You'll kick yourself when you discover the answer.
Go back and look at them again; think hard.

OK... Here You Go.. Hope You Didn't Cheat.

This Is Cool.

Answer:

In all of the words listed, if you take the first letter, place it at the end of the word, and then spell the word backwards, it will be the same word. Did you figure it out? Did you catch the pun: Pal in Drome (palindrome)?

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What's Up

2011-04-21T08:13:00.000-04:00

The Two Letter Word Up -

Lovers of the English language might enjoy this.....

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is "UP." It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.

At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. And this UP is confusing:

A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.

We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used.

It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.

When it rains, it wets UP the earth.

When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.

I won’t back you UP if you back up into me.

I’m tired of you running up stairs and running UP debts.

You seem awfully stuck UP for someone who just stuck UP a 7-11.

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP,for now my time is UP, so.............

Time to shut UP.....!

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It’s all in the Attitude

2011-04-21T08:12:00.000-04:00

It’s all in the Attitude

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.

“Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today?"

So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.

"H-M-M," she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today?" So she did and she had a grand day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.

"Well," she said, "today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail."

So she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head.

"YEA!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"

Attitude is everything.

Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

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Underlining or Cueing the Computer Brain

2011-04-20T13:51:00.001-04:00

Underlining (or Highlighting): Cueing the Computer Brain

Quoted directly from The Teaching of Reading and Spelling: a Continuum from Kindergarten through College

There are many good reasons to get your students in the habit of underlining (or highlighting) words which they don't know while they are reading. The most obvious is that it allows you, the teacher (or parent, as the case may be) to find out which words they don't know.

It also leaves a record which can be rewarding to both you and your students when you later on have them re-read from a book with loads of underlined (or highlighted) words which they--by then--can read.

As a teacher, I learned to prefer having my students mark up their books with pencil marks than to copy something and call it a book report. By giving students the choice of writing a 500 word report or underlining (or highlighting) words they don't know, I usually was able to get students to do it my way. And my way did have its built-in teacher advantages. I could easily tell:

1. How far into a book they were. If words are only underlined (or highlighted) in the first 25 pages, that's as far as they are.

2. Whether or not the book is too easy or too difficult.

a. More than five underlined or highlighted words per page may indicate it's too difficult. Certainly three underlined (or highlighted) words per line (as has happened!) indicates the book might as well be written in Sanskrit.

b. No underlined (or highlighted) words or only one every five or six pages usually indicates the book is too easy. In fact, no underlined (or highlighted words usually meant that the student hadn't read the book. Of course, there will always be those who think they are smarter than the teacher. They will swear up and down that they read all 1200 pages of Tolstoi's War and Peace, but didn't underline or highlight any words because they knew all of them. A quick check of:

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Nautical Terms

2011-04-19T08:56:00.002-04:00

Nautical Words / Terms

buoy = "boy" or "Boo E"

buoyant = "boy yunt"

buoyancy = "boy un see"

isle = "i'll"

aisles = "i'lls"

anchor = "ang kur"

anchored = "ank kurd"

anchoring = "ang kur ring"

dinghy = "ding E"

yacht = "yot"

blackguard = "blag gurd"

kayak = "kie yack"

Thames = "tems"

bon voyage = "bone voy ahzh"

aye = "i"

boatswain = "bo sun"

fjord = "fee yord"

canoe = "kuh noo"

island = "i lund"

quay = "key"

lough = "lock"

forecastle = "folks ull"

mainsail = "main zill"

We can fix that.

2011-04-18T14:08:00.002-04:00

"Did you know America ranks the lowest in education but the highest in drug use? It's nice to be number one, but we can fix that. All we need to do is start the war on education. If it's anywhere as near as successful as our war on drugs, in no time we'll all be hooked on phonics." --- Leighann Lord

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INSANE words in our Language.

2011-04-18T10:11:00.000-04:00

INSANE words in our Language !

unique = ”yoo neek”

anchored = ”ank kurd”

canoe = ”kuh noo”

aisle = ”i’ll”

isle = ”i’ll”

bouquets = ”boo Kays” or ”Bo Kaze”

Beethoven = ”BAY Toav vin”

Maestro = ”my stro”

sieve = ”sivv”

cyct = ”sist”

debtor = ”detter”

choir = ”kwires”

dinghy = ”ding E”

coups = ”kooze” (coos)

ghoul = ”gool”

bayou = ”by yoo”

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Sound effect words

2011-04-15T09:19:00.002-04:00

Really Advanced Adult Words Worth Knowing

AAAAA! A scream of anguish

Aaagggh! A scream of Anguish

Ahem The sound we make when we clear our throat to get someones attention.

arf Bark like a a dog

BLECCCHHH The sound a person makes while vomiting.

br-r-r-r The sound a person makes when shivering.

gr-r-r Growl like a dog.

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