The Secret School: Chapters 12–18

by Avi
Fourteen-year-old Ida dreams of becoming a teacher. When her town's one-room schoolhouse must shut down, Ida decides to secretly teach the other students and prepare for her own high school entrance exams.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–11, Chapters 12–18
30 words 17 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ceaseless
    uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing
    Sometimes they did little but listen to the other lessons that buzzed ceaselessly around them.
  2. spat
    a quarrel about petty points
    Of course there were arguments, spats, even mean words—some of which brought tears.
  3. utterly
    completely and without qualification
    He sounded so content, so utterly at rest, that Ida could do nothing but give way to her own tiredness.
  4. willful
    done by design
    Full of the pleasing sensation of willfully doing nothing, of being aware of nothing but her own body, she snuggled beneath her blanket.
  5. balmy
    mild and pleasant
    The air was balmy, with fluffy clouds floating through an arcing blue sky.
  6. counter
    speak in response
    Tom announced he’d seen a bald eagle on the way to school. Charley countered by insisting he’d seen hummingbirds, the season’s first.
  7. giddy
    exultantly proud and joyful; in high spirits
    Once there they all joined hands, urging Ida to be at the end. Completely giddy to be romping again, she agreed.
  8. sodden
    wet through and through; thoroughly wet
    Dripping wet, red faced, and mud streaked, Ida waded out of the pond and plodded in sodden shoes toward the schoolhouse.
  9. irrepressible
    impossible to control
    He looked so pathetically guilty that for a moment she felt an almost irrepressible giggle rising.
  10. commend
    express approval of
    “I should begin by commending you all for your desire to be in school. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no harm in your studying together. In fact, I admire it greatly. If you wish to allow Miss Bidson to be your unofficial teacher, there’s nothing wrong with that, either.”
  11. severity
    excessive sternness
    “However,” Miss Sedgewick said with new severity, “as for getting credit for what you are doing, that’s quite another matter. Credit for the term will require passing an exam given by the county.”
  12. presume
    take to be the case or to be true
    “Then I shall be here bright and early on the morning of June the seventh to conduct examinations. I presume for you, too, Miss Bidson.”
  13. ruefully
    in a manner expressing pain or sorrow
    “What happened to you?”
    “We had some fun at school today,” Ida said ruefully.
  14. coax
    influence or persuade by gentle and persistent urging
    “Can’t be any worse than what you’ve already told me, can it?” her mother coaxed.
  15. shirk
    avoid one's assigned duties
    “Guess we better get on with our own work,” Ida said. “Can’t be any shirking if we’re going to pass those exams.”
  16. oration
    an instance of formal speaking
    By the glowing light of a kerosene lamp she was rereading the school’s frayed copy of Great Orations by Great Men.
  17. anguish
    extreme mental distress
    “What’s the good of me being teacher?” Ida replied with anguish. “If everyone else passes the exams and I don’t, it’ll be the last time I ever teach.”
  18. bray
    make a sound characteristic of donkeys
    Now and again in the wardrobe, the mule stamped and occasionally brayed, but no one paid him any mind.
  19. uppity
    arrogant or self-important
    See, my dad, he never had much learning. Sometimes I think he gets fretted up about me knowing more than he does. Worries I’ll get uppity. Thinks if I know too much, I might take off.
  20. implore
    beg or request earnestly and urgently
    “Please, please,” she implored, “I have to tell people about the meeting. I have to. Can I go, please?”
  21. inspiration
    a sudden intuition as part of solving a problem
    Then, in a burst of inspiration, she cried, “But he could print us up a circular. Come on! Clutch and gas!”
  22. suppress
    control and refrain from showing
    One of the parents in the audience barely suppressed a laugh.
  23. drawl
    speak in a slow and drawn out way
    “Oh, I don’t know,” Mr. Morris drawled.
  24. confer
    have a meeting in order to talk something over
    The members of the school board excused themselves and went out to the porch. While they were conferring, everyone else grouped around Ida, congratulating her.
  25. impulsively
    in a hasty way; without caution or planning
    Impulsively, Ida gave him a hug.
  26. exalt
    fill with sublime emotion
    We won, Ida exalted.
  27. fitful
    intermittently stopping and starting
    Then she read herself into fitful sleep.
  28. bedeck
    decorate
    The students had bedecked it with flowers.
  29. intersperse
    place between or among
    There were poems, excerpts from famous orations, speeches from Shakespeare (to Ida’s delight, Herbert recited his Caesar speech), and other bits and pieces from literature, all from their readers. Interspersed were songs sung by all the children.
  30. sidle
    move unobtrusively or furtively
    She was still looking after him when Tom sidled up.
Created on Thu Aug 19 16:17:45 EDT 2021 (updated Mon Aug 23 14:46:07 EDT 2021)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.