Category Archives: Independent Practice

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

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Footsteps in the Dark”

Posted on August 6, 2019 | Leave a comment

Moving right along this morning, here is another lesson plan on a Crime and Puzzlement case, “Footsteps in the Dark.”

I begin this lesson, to get students settled after a class change, with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the idiom money burning a hole in one’s pocket. Students and teacher will need the PDF of the illustration and questions of this case to investigate and solve it. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key for this 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.

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Word Root Exercise: Octa, Oct, and Octo

Posted on August 6, 2019 | Leave a comment

Here, on crisp and clear New England morning, is a worksheet on the Greek roots octa, oct and octo. You won’t be surprised to hear that they mean eight. These roots produce words across the curriculum, so a cursory review of them would be worthwhile.

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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Bullying

Posted on August 5, 2019 | Leave a comment

I’m hard pressed to imagine a time and place in any high school where this reading on bullying and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet  wouldn’t be of use.

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: Voucher

Posted on August 5, 2019 | Leave a comment

Because the United States Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, has made school voucher programs the white paper in her policy brief, this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a voucher seems like something to put before my fellow educators. Public school parents and students should understand the implications of Secretary DeVos’s proposals for their communities and schools. The basic explanation on the attached worksheet is as good a place as any to start.

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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The Weekly Text, August 2, 2019: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Muckraker and Social Reformer Jacob Riis

Posted on July 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

The Weekly Text for this first Friday in August is this reading on muckraker Jacob Riis and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. New York City teachers, nota bene: Riis’s name is on parks, monuments, and buildings in your town.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, New York City, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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Growth Spurt

Posted on July 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

If you teach middle-schoolers, this reading on growth spurts and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet might be something helpful for you. The Sheltered English Immersion class I took last winter for my Massachusetts license was held in a middle-school health classroom, and I saw a lot of stuff like these materials there.

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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Grate (n), Grate (vi/vt) and Great (adj)

Posted on July 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

Here are five homophone worksheets on the noun grate, the verb grate (it’s used both intransitively and transitively), and the adjective great. These are three words students need to know and use properly–and God knows I have seen some grand usage lapses involving these commonly mistaken homophones.

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 Shot Heard Around the World

Posted on July 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

If July 30th isn’t high summer, I don’t know what is.

So it’s a particularly good time to post this reading on the legendary Shot Heard Around the World that decided the 1951 National League Playoffs between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. It’s a legendary moment in the history of Major League Baseball; the story aroused my interest in the game, and I am now a baseball fan. In any case, here is the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that accompanies the reading.

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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Word Root Exercise: Onym

Posted on July 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

One look at the list of vocabulary words on this worksheet on the Greek word root onym will expose just how productive this root is in English. Indeed, it shows up in a wide range of commonly used English words. It means both name and word. You find it in synonym and anonymous, two words so commonly used in English that they alone prove the need for students to know and understand 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: Henry David Thoreau

Posted on July 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on Henry David Thoreau is a good–and perhaps more importantly, short–general introduction to the this paragon of Transcendentalism and important American thinker and writer.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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