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: Phobia

Posted on January 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

Even though I’ve posted it elsewhere on this website, I’ve not put it up as a standalone document, so here is a worksheet on the Greek root phobia. It means, of course, fear. This root is amazingly productive in the English language, which suggests that there is a very well-endowed fund of anxiety in the Western world.

As I probably say too often, this is another of those Greek roots students interested in working in healthcare–especially the professions related to mental health care–will need to know this root.

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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Cultural Literacy: Ultimatum

Posted on January 10, 2020 | Leave a comment

OK, finally on this busy day of housecleaning, here is Cultural Literacy worksheet on the noun ultimatum and the concept it relates. I’m hard pressed to imagine why this isn’t a word high school students should know.

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: Adverse (adj) and Averse (adj)

Posted on January 10, 2020 | Leave a comment

Some time ago, I posted another of these worksheets, and there are more to come. After a year or so of preparing the templates and typing up the text, I am beginning work on a series of English usage in the interest of developing adapted material that meets the Common Core Standards, specifically:

“Standard (L.11-12.1b)-Resolve issues of complex or contested usage, consulting references, (e.g., Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, Garner’s Modern American Usage) as needed.”

You can find the rationale for these worksheets toward the bottom of the “About Posts & Texts” page. Whether or not you care about the rationale, here is a worksheet on differentiating the adjectives adverse and averse.

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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Tycho Brahe

Posted on January 10, 2020 | Leave a comment

This reading on Tycho Brahe and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet have turned out, to my surprise, to be surprisingly high-interest materials for a certain kind of student I have served over the years. If you can persuade students that Brahe, like Galileo and Johannes Kepler, was in rebellion against the established authorities (church, but also, where they were closely aligned, state as well) of his time, well, what adolescent isn’t interested in acts of rebellion?

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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The Weekly Text, January 10, 2020: A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Roots Bi and Bin

Posted on January 10, 2020 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is a complete lesson plan on the Latin word roots bi and bin, which mean, of course, two and twice. In the hope that it will hint to students the meaning of these roots, I open this lesson plan with this context clues worksheet on the noun adjective dual. Finally, here is the word root worksheet that is the substance 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.

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Cultural Literacy: Trojan War

Posted on January 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Trojan War. This is an important event in world history, the progenitor of mythology (maybe even mythological itself), and the origin of a number of idiomatic and metaphorical expressions in English.

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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A Lesson Plan on Function as a Science Word

Posted on January 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

If it looks to you like I’m cleaning house at Mark’s Text Terminal, you’re right, I am. To that end, here is a lesson plan on function as a science word. You might find these definitions of function as as a verb and a noun helpful. Here is the the first worksheet for this lesson, and here is the second.

This work, as I’ve mentioned in the four other posts in which I’ve posted other lessons from this unit, was something I was tasked with producing several years ago to help struggling students build vocabulary in math and science. It was part of a very busy semester; I did not finish writing the final three lessons of this eight-lesson unit (it was for an eight-week, one meeting weekly seminar class), so this is the fifth of five lessons. As I review the material, it’s fairly obvious that I produced it on the fly, then never returned to improve it.

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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A Learning Support on Discussing Books and Reading

Posted on January 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

[You can also grab this as a Word document if you want it that way.]

Some Questions to Ask when Roaming among Readers

 Always:

  • What page are you on?

Mostly:

  • What do you think so far?
  • How is it?
  • What’s happening now?

 And Also:

  • Any surprises so far?
  • How did you feel when you got to the part about __________?

 Main Character Queries:

  • Who’s the main character in this one?
  • What’s the main character like?
  • What’s his problem, or hers?
  • How’s the character development in general? Are you convinced?

 Author Queries:

  • Who wrote this one?
  • What do you think of the writing so far?
  • Do you know anything about the author?
  • Any theories about why he or she might have written this?
  • How is it, so far, compared to his or her other books?

 Critical Queries:

  • What genre is this one?
  • How is it, so far, compared with other books about ______?
  • Is it plausible?
  • How’s the pace?
  • What’s the narrative voice? How’s that working for you?
  • What do you think of the dialogue/format/length of chapters/flashbacks/inclusion of poems/diction choices/author’s experiments with _____, and so on (depending on the book)?

 When It’s A Page Turner:

  • What’s making this a page-turner for you, vs. a literary novel? What are you noticing? For example, is it formulaic—easy for you to predict?

 Process Queries:

  • Why did you decide to read this one?
  • I can’t believe how much you read last night. Tell me about that.
  • Why did you decide to reread this one?
  • Where did you find this book?

When There’s No Zone:

  • Is this book taking you into the reading zone?
  • Why do you think it’s taking you so long to read this?
  • Can you skim the parts that drag—the descriptions, for example?
  • Are you confused because it’s hard to understand the language, or because you can’t tell what’s going on?
  • Are you considering abandoning this book? Because if you’re not hooked by now, that’s more than okay. You can always come back to it someday.
  • Do you want to skim and find out what happens, or even read just the ending, then move on to a better book?
  • What’s on your someday list?
  • Do you know what other book I think you might like?

Excerpted from: Atwell, Nancie. The Reading Zone: How to Help Kids Become Skilled, Passionate, Habitual, Critical Readers. New York: Scholastic, 2007.

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James Bond

Posted on January 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

Now is a good time for posting this reading on James Bond along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. In general, this has been relatively high-interest material for the students I’ve served over the years.

Roll theme, eh?

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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Faint (adj, vi, n), Feint (n, vi/vt)

Posted on January 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here are five worksheets on the homophones faint and feint. These are relatively complicated words: faint is, as above, an adjective, a verb used only intransitively, and a noun (only the first two parts of speech, the adjective and the verb, are dealt with on these worksheets). Feint is a noun and a verb used both intransitively and transitively, and is only dealt with as a verb on these worksheets. Students probably ought to know both of these words; in any case, this worksheet presents an opportunity to deal with the parts of speech and using words properly in speech and prose.

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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