Category Archives: Independent Practice

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

The Weekly Text, December 7, 2018: A Set of Worksheets on the Greek Word Roots Hyper, Hyp, and Hypo

This week’s Text is a worksheet on the Greek root hyper and another on the Greek roots hyp and hypo. You will perceive phonetically that these roots are two sides of a coin, and indeed they are: hyper means above, excessive, beyond, and over; conversely, hypo means under, below, and less. If you’ve dealt with thyroid issues in your life, you surely know what these roots mean. So aspiring health care professionals, nota bene!

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.

The Godfather

If your students announce an interest in classic American cinema, as several of mine have in the past couple of days, then this reading on the The Godfather and its accompanying reading comprehension worksheet might be just the ticket for them. I’m developing a new series of readings, so there will me more to come on the cinema.

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.

Independent Practice: Absolutism

If you teach world history, or whatever your district, municipality, or state calls it, this independent practice worksheet on absolutism might have some utility 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.

Joe Montana

Here is a relatively high-interest reading on quarterback Joe Montana and a reading comprehension worksheet to accompany 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.

Cultural Literacy: Separation of Church and State

Since the zeitgeist appears to demand it, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the separation of church and state.

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: Itis

If you have students looking at careers in health care, than this worksheet on the Greek root itis is de rigueur. As you have probably gathered–especially if you suffer from arthritisitis means inflammation. This is  a very productive root in English, needless to say.

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, November 30, 2018: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on the Stock Market Crash of 1929

This week’s Text is a reading on the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the comprehension worksheet that accompanies it. This is an important moment in global and United States history. The reading opens a number of conceptual questions about capital and investment, fiscal policy, fiscal irresponsibility, and the wages and price of capitalism–and those element of this ideology the New Dealer Thurman Arnold called “The Folklore of Capitalism.”

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: Ep-, Epi-

If you can use it, here is a worksheet on the Greek roots ep- and epi-. This one is complicated and requires a bit of interpretation, but the basic meanings of these two roots is on, upon, outside, over, among, at, after, and to. As you’ll see from the worksheet itself, this root forms the basis of many commonly used English words like epicenter, epilogue and epidemic; you’ll also find it in epilepsy and episode. This is one of the most difficult roots to connect to students’ own experience and to find the connecting tissue between these words. I don’t use this much, particularly not with struggling and emergent readers.

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.

Independent Practice: Johannes Kepler

If you teach social studies of science (this was written as homework for the former domain), or just want to induce a student interested in science, particularly astronomy, to read something, this independent practice worksheet on Johannes Kepler might serve everyone well.

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: OPEC

On my way out the door on a chilly, damp morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on OPEC, i.e. the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Given the extent to which the Saudi Royal Family has been in the news for its complicity in the murder of a journalist, as well as the manifest effect burning fossil fuel now has on the ecology of this planet, this seems like a timely reading and comprehension exercise.

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.