Category Archives: Independent Practice

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

Boss Tweed

OK, for my colleagues in New York City, the next time a student asks you why the Tweed Courthouse (still home to the New York City Department of Education, as far as I know) is so named, you might find useful this reading on Boss Tweed and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. William Marcy Tweed (“Boss”) incidentally, is buried under a relatively ostentatious stone in Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Tweed’s middle name suggests that he is a member of, or at least a scion of, the same Marcy family that gave us William L. Marcy. Chances are good that this is how Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn got its name.

Perhaps making the connections in this lineage of people and place names would be a worthy endeavor for an inquisitive student? I’m just asking.

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.

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “At the Fair”

This lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “At the Fair” is the last one in the second unit I wrote for this material; I have a third unit of twenty-four lessons, so if you like these and use them, I’ll be posting most if not all of those in the next three or so months.

I open this lesson after a class change with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the literary genre of the epic. You’ll need the PDF of the illustration and questions to investigate what did happen at the fair. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key to help you and your students will need to solve this heinous crime and arrest a suspect for its commission.

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.

Geoffrey Chaucer

When I taught high school in Lower Manhattan, The Canterbury Tales was in the English Language Arts curricular cycle. I have always assumed that one of the big ideas in teaching this book was continuity and change, particularly where language is concerned. After all, this book is a significant moment in the evolution of English as a vernacular language.

I worked up this reading on Geoffrey Chaucer and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet to assist the kids in my classes to prepare to read and at least gain some understanding of the own of Chaucer.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Subjunctive

Several grammarians I follow have suggested, for reasons I don’t fully understand, that the subjunctive mood of verbs is obsolescent. I don’t see how that can be, but I’m only a lowly school teacher. For that reason, I think it’s important that we continue to help students use the subjunctive properly. I hope this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the subjunctive can assist such an endeavor.

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.

The Weekly Text, June 5, 2020: A Lesson Plan on the Verb To Be

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the verb to be used in the present progressive tense. I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the idiom “Bone to Pick,” as in “I’ve got a bone to pick with you.” In the event the lesson spills over into a second day, here is a worksheet on the homophones prophet and profit.

You’ll need the worksheet at the center the lesson to do the work; you’ll probably also want (but you don’t necessarily need) this word bank as a learning support. Finally, here is the teacher’s copy of the worksheet.

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.

Word Root Exercise: Quart

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word root quart. It means, you won’t be surprised to hear, fourth. It will also not surprise you to hear that this is a very productive root in English. Math teachers, this might be of some use to you, especially if you are working with English language learners.

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.

Edward Jenner and Smallpox

Last but not least this morning, especially considering that Edward Jenner was instrumental in refining the art and science of vaccinations, which makes him a man of his and our time, here is a reading on Edward Jenner and Smallpox along with its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

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.

A Lesson Plan on Rock Sizes from The Order of Things

Here is yet another lesson plan from Barbara Ann Kipfer’s book The Order of Things, this one on rock sizes. And here is list and comprehension worksheet that is the work of this lesson.

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.

Aesop’s Fable: “The Farmer and the Fortune”

OK, here is a lesson plan Aesop’s fable “The Farmer and the Fortune.” Of course, you’ll need the reading and inquiry questions that constitute the work of this lesson.

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.

The Generation of ’68

Finally–and again, after the abject horror of yesterday in the United States–I’ll post this reading on reading on The Generation of ’68 and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet without further comment.

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.