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, September 14, 2018: An Introductory Lesson to Personal Pronouns

This week’s Text is a lesson plan introducing personal pronouns. I use this Everyday Edit worksheet on Pocahontas to begin the lesson; should the lesson go into a second day due to unforeseen circumstances I keep this Cultural Literacy worksheet on satire nearby to start the conclusion of the lesson on that second day. This is the scaffolded worksheet that is the center of the lesson, and here is teacher’s copy of same.

That’s it for this week. Tomorrow begins Hispanic Heritage Month 2018, which runs through October 15. Mark’s Text Terminal will regularly feature, as in years past, materials related to Hispanic Heritage and History for the next four or so weeks.

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.

Brainstorming the College Application Essay

Here are a couple of things I whipped up this morning for use in class tomorrow: the first is a worksheet on brainstorming the college application essay; the second is this learning support that attends 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: Altruism

This morning I’m working on some materials that attempt to inculcate understanding ot the idea of virtue and its manifestations in the world. So here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on altruism, a synonym for one of the cardinal virtues, charity.

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 Greek Word Root Anthrop/o

It’s a very productive root in English, and at the root of a lot of words used in scholarly and academic discourse, so I expect this lesson on the Greek word root anthrop/o, which means man and human, should be useful to teachers in several disciplines. I start this lesson with this context clues worksheet for the noun humanity to provide a basis for the heuristic work this scaffolded worksheet with an independent practice assignment requires of students. The context clues worksheets can serve as the prior knowledge students will need to help them understand the meaning of this Greek word root.

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.

Elie Wiesel’s Night

If you can use it, here is a reading on Elie Wiesel and his classic memoir Night and the reading comprehension worksheet that attends it. At the school in which I currentlhy serve, we have always used this book in, if I’m not mistaken, sophomore English.

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.

Lessen (v) and Lesson (n)

Here on a rainy Monday are five homophone worksheets on the verb lessen and the noun lesson to build vocabulary, reinforce good English usage, and resolve confusion about these soundalikes.

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.

Rotten Reviews: Rudyard Kipling

“I’m sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.”

San Francisco Examiner, rejection letter to Kipling, 1889″

Excerpted from: Bernard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.

Cultural Literacy: The Big Bang

Last thing on a suddenly hectic Sunday morning: here, if you can use it, is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Big Bang.

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: Omni

OK, it’s a Sunday morning and I’m preparing to send out a clutch of resumes for some positions that might be appropriate for me. On my coffee break at the moment, let me post this worksheet on the Latin word root omni. It means all. It is a very productive root in English, forming the basis of the adjectives omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, among many other 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.

The Weekly Text, September 7, 2018: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Shimon Bar-Kokhba

As we go into the long Rosh Hashanah holiday weekend here in New York City, I’d like to wish my Jewish friends, colleagues, students, and neighbors a joyful and safe new year.

Apropo of the holiday (see below as well), here is a worksheet on Shimon Bar-Kokhba, a great Jewish warrior who fought against nearly impossible odds when he took on the Roman Empire under Hadrian. This comprehension worksheet accompanies 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.