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: Hiawatha

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Hiawatha. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and four comprehension questions about an actual person shrouded in myth.

When I reviewed this document just now, it looked, unsurprisingly, a bit crammed. It might be better revised as a full-page worksheet. If it happens that you are teaching Henry Wadsworth Longellow’s poem (i.e. the aforementioned myth, which in any case I rather doubt is much taught anywhere, anymore) about Hiawatha, “The Song of Hiawatha,” I imagine there might be a place for this worksheet.

Otherwise, I don’t know. I do know I can think of several English teachers I worked with who wouldn’t know either Longfellow or one of his most famous poems.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Navajos

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Navajos, who, as you may know, call themselves the Dine, pronounced dee-nay. The Navajo nation is the largest federally recognized First Nation tribe in the United States; they inhabit the largest reservation here.

This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of five sentences with five comprehension questions. Beware the final sentence, which is a doozy of a compound separated by two (!) semicolons. Because of my commitment to presenting excerpted text with complete fidelity to the original, I have not edited this final sentence. If you look at each clause, you’ll see that separating this is relatively easy, as in something like this:

Original: Today, they are known for their houses, called hogans, made of logs and earth; for their work as ranchers and shepherds; and for their skill in weaving distinctive blankets and fashioning turquoise and silver jewelry.

Revision: Today, they are known for their houses, called hogans, made of logs and earth. The Navajo also work as ranchers and shepherds. Their skill in weaving distinctive blankets and fashioning turquoise and silver jewelry is also well known.

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, 15 November 2024, National Native American Heritage Month Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Chicago

The Weekly Text from Mark’s Text Terminal for the third week of National Native American Heritage Month 2024 is this reading on Chicago along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Why Chicago? Well, because that it happens that the city sits on was once a rich homeland for a number of indigenous peoples on the shores of what we now call Lake Michigan.

Happily, it appears that there is a robust cultural and social community of indigenous peoples in Chicagoland, as the locals know this part of the United States. It also looks like the municipal government in the Second City conducts a rich observance of the month I am currently observing with this blog post.

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: Aborigines

Moving right along this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of an aborigine. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and three comprehension questions.

This, as is often the case with The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, informs its user that the word aborigine means “the earliest known inhabitants of a region,” though the word is often used to refer to “the native hunting and gathering population of Australia.” In the English vernacular, that is probably the first association that comes to mind for most users of this word. If you use it to refer to the aboriginal peoples of Australia, then it is a proper noun and requires capitalization.

In general, the adjectives aboriginal and indigenous are roughly synonymous.

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, 8 November 2024, National Native American Heritage Month Week II: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Colonialism

OK, for the second Friday of National Native American Month 2024, here is a reading on colonialism along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I assume I needn’t belabor the disaster that colonialism visited upon indigenous peoples all over the world–the literature on the subject is vast (but if you need a recommendation, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown is an excellent place to start, as is King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild).

I have, at times, been highly irritated and offended at the way colonialism is soft-pedaled in the high school social studies curriculum, particularly as, historically, I have tended to serve students predominantly with familial and ancestral roots in former colonies who know, with their families, of course, they are being fed (and then tested on, for what else is the point of learning something if you can’t pass a test on it?) a line of crap in their global studies courses.

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.

Iroquoian Languages

“Iroquoian languages: Family of about 16 North American Indian languages aboriginally spoken around the eastern Great Lakes and in parts of the Middle Atlantic states and the South. Aside from the languages of the Iroquois Confederacy (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, all originally spoken in New York, along with Tuscarora, originally spoken in North Carolina) and Cherokee (originally spoken in the southern Appalachians), the Iroquoian languages are extinct and with the exception of Huron and Wyandot, the extinct languages are poorly documented. Iroquoian languages are remarkable for their grammatical intricacy, Much of a sentence’s semantic content is bound around a verbal base, so a single very long word may constitute a fairly complex utterance.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Iriquois Confederacy or League of the Iroquois

“Iriquois Confederacy or League of the Iroquois: Confederation of five (later six) Indian tribes across upper New York that in the 17th-18th centuries played a strategic role in the struggle between the French and British for supremacy in North America. The five original nations were the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca; the Tuscarora joined in 1722. According to tradition, the confederacy was founded between 1570 and 1600 by Dekanawidah, born a Huron, carrying out the earlier ideas of Hiawatha, and Onondaga. Cemented mainly by their desire to stand together against invasion, the tribes united in a common council composed of 50 sachems; each tribe had one vote, and unanimity was the rule. At first the confederacy barely withstood attacks from the Huron and Mahican, but by 1628 the Mohawk had defeated the Mahican and established themselves as the region’s dominant tribe. When the Iroquois destroyed the Huron in 1648-50, they were attacked by the Huron’s French allies. During the American Revolution, the Oneida and Tuscarora sided with the Americans while the rest of the league, led by Joseph Brant, fought for the British. The Loyalist Iroquois were defeated in 1779 near Elmira, New York, and the confederacy came to an end.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Cultural Literacy: Iroquois League

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Iroquois League. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of on sentence and one comprehension question. In other words, a short, basic introduction to this indigenous nation.

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.

Iroquois

“Iriquois: Any member of the Iroquois Confederacy or more broadly, any speaker of Iroquoian languages. Iroquoian-speaking peoples were semisedentary, practiced agriculture, palisaded their villages, and dwelled in longhouses that lodged many families. Women worked the fields and, in matrilineal groups, helped determine the makeup of village councils. Men built houses, hunted, fished, and made war. Iroquoian mythology was largely preoccupied with supernatural aggression and cruelty, sorcery, torture, and cannibalism. Their formal religion consisted of agricultural festivals. Warfare was ingrained in Iroquois society, and war captives were often tortured for days or made permanent slaves, Today the various Iroquois tribes include about 20,000 members.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

The Weekly Text, 1 November 2024, National Native American Heritage Month Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on the Pequot War

Today begins National Native American Heritage Month 2024. Unlike this blog’s (therefore my own) woeful deficiencies during Hispanic Heritage Month 2023 last month and in September, I have a full raft of materials to post this month–which contains five Fridays.

So the Weekly Text for today, Friday, 1 November 2014, is this reading on the Pequot War along with its attendant 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.