Category Archives: Independent Practice

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

Cultural Literacy: Maya Angelou

OK, last but not least this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Maya Angelou to begin this blog’s observance of Women’s History Month 2020.

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.

Aesop’s Fables: “The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg”

OK, here is a lesson plan on “The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg” along with the fable itself with a couple of comprehension questions. This is some relatively new material I’ve worked up to serve the needs of some younger middle-schoolers I teach.

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.

Everyday Edit: Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Today begins Women’s History Month 2020. Let’s kick it off with this Everyday Edit worksheet on Elizabeth Cady Stanton. If you like this material, you can find a yearlong supply of it for free at the Education World website.

And, of course, you will find error in this document–that is the reason, after all, it exists.

The Weekly Text, February 28, 2020, Black History Month 2020 Week IV: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Shaka Zulu

OK, here, for the final Friday of Black History Month 2020, is a reading on Shaka Zulu and its accompanying 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.

Cultural Literacy: Sharecropping

OK, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on sharecropping, which is the last Cultural Literacy worksheet in my warehouse that deals with topics related to Black History Month. This may well be the least of them. As I look at it this morning, I think I could only use this to introduce the basic concept of sharecropping. In other words, this short exercise does not deal with the practice of sharecropping as a system of economic oppression, and therefore, in most respects, a continuation of slavery,

So, use advisedly, if I may say so.

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.

Contract (n/vi/vt)

Here are two context clues worksheets on contract as both a noun and a verb. As a verb, on the second worksheet, contract is used in the sense of limit, restrict, and to reduce to a smaller size. Contract is used in this sense both intransitively and transitively.

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 Learning

OK, moving right along on this beautiful morning in southwestern Vermont, here is a lesson plan on learning. You’ll need this short reading and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. If you need or want them, here are slightly longer versions of those documents.

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: Plessy v. Ferguson

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Plessy v. Ferguson. That’s the Supreme Court decision, to refresh memories that probably don’t really need it, that made “separate but equal” the law of the land in the United States for almost six decades–and legitimized racism.

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.

Common Errors in English Usage: Admission/Admittance

Here is an English usage worksheet on the nouns admission and admittance if you have any call for it. This is mostly about practice and meeting the usage standard in the Common Core English Standards.

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, February 21, 2020, Black History Month 2020 Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Muddy Waters

For the end of Week III of Black History Month 2020, here is a short reading on the late, great Muddy Waters along with the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that attends it.

[Addendum: first, here is a very cool image of Muddy Waters by the great illustrator Drew Friedman; if it weren’t sold out, I would definitely buy it–I’ve already collected a few of Mr. Friedman’s prints. Second, here is Muddy Waters’ appearance at the farewell concert of The Band in 1976, “The Last Waltz.”]

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.