Category Archives: Independent Practice

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

Nikola Tesla

His name is now a corporate brand, so perhaps this reading on Nikola Tesla and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet will help students understand the significance of that fact–and learn something about the plot of the recent film The Current War.

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: Pan, Panto

This worksheet on the Greek Word roots pan and panto–they mean all–guides students through an extremely productive root in English. You’ll find this root at the basis of words like panorama and pantheism–relatively commonly used words.

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.

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Boy Scout”

Moving right along, here is a complete lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Boy Scout.”

I open this lesson, after the relative chaos of a class change, with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the American English idiom bone to pick. This PDF of the illustration and questions of the case is the centerpiece of the lesson. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key to finish the lesson by solving the case.

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.

Red Auerbach

Ok, teachers in Boston and environs, if not the entire state of Massachussetts, I’m hard-pressed to imagine that this reading on legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet wouldn’t be of high interest in you educational marketplace, so to speak. I conducted a brisk trade in these documents when I taught in Springfield, Massachusetts, last year.

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: Bill Gates

Here, if anyone needs it, is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Bill Gates. Over the years, this has tended to be a relatively high-interest item, so I’ve tagged it as such.

But it isn’t as if this man languishes in obscurity. As a matter of fact, he is ubiquitous, and even (arguably) obnoxiously 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.

Word Root Exercise: Greg

Here is worksheet on the Latin root greg is the only thing I’ll post this week. It means flock, but if you look at the words in English that grow from it–e.g. congregate–you’ll see that the document is quite appropriate for the holiday season.

I’ll be back next week, however, with a round of new posts.

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.

Sheer (adj/vt/vi), Shear (n/vt/vi)

As I was writing this mornings posts, I noticed that with the Weekly Text and the quote that tops it, Mark’s Text Terminal had reached 2,500 posts. So, to start out on the downhill slope to 3,000, here is a set of five homophone worksheets on sheer and shear.

Because the worksheets themselves explain the use of these words, I’ll say only that I had only the vaguest knowledge that sheer operated as a verb–both transitively and intransitively.

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 “Kidnap”

OK, moving right along on this Friday morning, here is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Kidnap.”

I open this lesson, after the fractiousness of a class change, with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the idiom “bee in one’s bonnet.” You’ll need this PDF of the reading and questions that drive the case. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key that solves the case.

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.

Jerry Seinfeld

While I have to assume that Seinfeld remains in syndication, new episodes left the airwaves long ago; in fact, the last episode was broadcast over 20 years ago on May 14, 1998. Since he remains something of a global cultural icon, this reading on Jerry Seinfeld and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet might remain of interest to students.

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: Para

Here’s a worksheet on the Greek root para. It means, variously, beside, beyond, abnormal, variation, and assistant. If you’re serving a special needs population, chances are you’re working with a paraprofessional who works in parallel with you. And if you’re teaching science, especially, you know and probably even use paradigm in your classroom.

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.