Category Archives: Independent Practice

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

A Twelfth Research Worksheet on Famous Photographers: Gordon Parks

Yesterday I posted eleven short research worksheets on famous photographers which I wrote for some students interested in the art of photography. Here is a twelfth, this one on the great Gordon Parks.

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 14, 2020, Black History Month Week II: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Oprah Winfrey

At the end of Week II of Black History Month 2020, here is a short reading on Oprah Winfrey 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.

Cultural Literacy: Significant Other

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, so this seems like a good time to publish this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of the “significant other.”

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.

Word Root Exercise: Pel

Here’s a worksheet on the Latin word root pel. It means, simply, to drive. You’ll find it at the base of such commonly used English words as compel and expel.

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.

Everyday Edit: African-American Music

Here is an Everyday Edit worksheet on African-American music. This is the last Everyday Edit worksheet I have that’s appropriate to post for Black History Month. However, if you’d like more of these worksheets, you can find them at Education World, where the generous proprietors of that site give away a yearlong supply of them.

If you find typos in this document, your students should fix them! That’s the point of this exercise….

Cultural Literacy: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in furtherance of Black History Month 2020. As you probably know, of have inferred, this is Mr. Douglass’s autobiography.

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.

Eleven Worksheets on Famous Photographers

I recently started a new job at a middle school (which I already regret, but that’s another story), where I teach a couple of students interested in photography. It happens that both of them have a natural gift for composing shots. I wrote these eleven worksheets on famous photographers for English and study skills instruction for these kids.

These documents are simple research templates to be used with the internet. I suspect I will never use these again, but I also suspect that someone, somewhere, might also get some use out of them. Most of the major American photographers are represented, and I did the best I could to distribute evenly between men and women. You’ll find a worksheet on the legendary Robert Capa, as well as Vivian Maier, the subject of a fascinating documentary which I have watched four times because I can’t get over the richness of Ms. Maier’s story.

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.

Discreet (adj), Discrete (adj)

Here are five homophones worksheets on the adjectives discreet and discrete, which are almost inarguably words students should know by the time they graduate high school.

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 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

OK, wrapping up on a Wednesday afternoon, here is a lesson plan on obsessive-compulsive disorder. You’ll need this short reading and this vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet to teach this material. If you want slightly longer versions of the reading and worksheet, they’re under that hyperlink.

Nota bene that this has tended to be high-interest material among the students I’ve taught over the years, which is why I tagged it as such.

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: Charles R. Drew

Were you aware that Charles R. Drew, a black man, discovered that blood plasma could last over time if it were kept cool? I wasn’t until I began using this Everyday Edit worksheet on him about ten years ago. If you’d like more of these, you can find them at Education World, where you can actually take for free a whole year’s supply of them.

If you find typos in this document, fix them, for heaven’s sake! It’s an Everyday Edit worksheet….