Category Archives: Independent Practice

This is material either specifically designed for or appropriate to use for what is more commonly known as “homework.”

Word Root Exercise: Purg

Posted on July 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

Moving right along on this rainy morning in Vermont, here is a worksheet on the Latin word root purg. It means clean, and is a very productive root in English and the Romance languages. However, as you will see, you and your students, where words that grow around this root are concerned, will need to think broadly and figuratively about the definition of clean.

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.

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Common Errors in English Usage: Continual, Continuous

Posted on July 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here’s an English usage worksheet on differentiating the use of the adjectives continual and continuous. The distinction is narrow, but worth observing.

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.

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Neurosis

Posted on June 29, 2020 | Leave a comment

None of us know, I guess, what’s going to happen with schools opening in the fall. Even with the best case scenario, opening schools is a dicey proposition. In any case, health teachers or just about anyone in a classroom come September, you may find this reading on neurosis and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet useful for helping your students understand their feelings.

If you find typos in these documents, 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.

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Cultural Literacy: Mixed Economy

Posted on June 29, 2020 | Leave a comment

I’m not sure if high-school economics classes get to the point of discussing them (when I worked and at an economics and finance themed high school, the topic never came up, which may mean something), but if one somewhere does, than here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a mixed economy.

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.

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Posted in Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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The Weekly Text, June 26, 2020: A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Roots Magn, Magna, and Magni

Posted on June 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Latin word roots magn, magna, and magni. They mean great and large and are very productive in English. Social studies teachers know they need not look much further than Charlemagne to see this root in action.

I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the adjective voluminous. Voluminous, as you most likely understand, means (among other things) “having or marked by great volume or bulk.” I chose this word for this lesson to offer both a hint about what the three roots here under study mean, but also to supply a near synonym. Finally, here is the scaffolded worksheet at the center of this lesson’s work.

Happy Friday! Wash your hands, wear a mask, stay safe.

If you find typos in these documents, 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.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Lesson Plans, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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The Catcher in the Rye

Posted on June 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

Alright, moving right along on this fine Vermont morning, here is a reading on The Catcher in the Rye along with its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. This is really more in the way of an introduction to the novel–and maybe a way of motivating reluctant or alienated learners to take a chance on the book.

If you find typos in these documents, 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.

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Common Errors in English Usage: More and Most

Posted on June 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here’s an English usage worksheet on using more and most properly in the various grammatical constructions where they are needed.

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.

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Dwight D. Eisenhower

Posted on June 23, 2020 | Leave a comment

Given that June 6 was the 75th anniversary of D-Day, this reading on Dwight D. Eisenhower and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet are a day late and a dollar short.

Better late than never, I guess.

If you find typos in these documents, 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.

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Aesop’s Fables: “The Boy Bathing”

Posted on June 23, 2020 | Leave a comment

On a ninety-degree day in Vermont, here, appropriately, is a lesson plan on the Aesop’s fable “The Boy Bathing.” You’ll need this reading and inquiry questions for students to conduct the lesson. You’ll notice, as you will in all of these lessons I’ve posted on Aesop’s fables, that there is plenty of room to expand the range and nature of the questions on the worksheet. That’s by design. Aesop’s fables are miniature lessons in philosophy, and the kinds of questions they arouse can be improvised based on student perception, interest, and need.

Incidentally, this is the last of these I have to post at the moment. I could write more relatively easily. Are you using them? If so, leave a comment, and I’ll put writing a few more on my to-do list.

If you find typos in these documents, 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.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Lesson Plans, Worksheets

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Draft Riots

Posted on June 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

Now seems like a perfect time to post this reading on the draft riots in New York City in 1863 and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. These events were, among other things, an outbreak of racist violence that included the arson against the Colored Orphan Asylum on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan–a stunningly shameful attack in an epoch of shameful acts.

If you find typos in these documents, 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.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, New York City, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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