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, May 4, 2018, Asian Pacific American History Month 2018 Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on the Chinese Exclusion Act

Posted on May 4, 2018 | Leave a comment

For the first text of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I offer a materials on one of the most ignoble pieces of legislation ever to pass through our legislative and executive branch, the Chinese Exclusion Act.

So, here is a reading on the Chinese Exclusion Act along with this comprehension worksheet on it. Finally, here is an Everyday Edit on the late Senator Daniel Inouye (and if you want or need more Everyday Edit worksheets, I highly recommend visiting the Everyday Edit page at Education World, where you will find the generous proprietors of the site give away away a yearlong supply of them for free!).

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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Independent Practice Worksheet: Buddhism

Posted on May 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here, on a Thursday morning, is a short independent practice assignment on Buddhism. In other words, this is homework; I don’t use the word in my classroom because it is loaded. In any case, consistent with Alfie Kohn’s book The Homework Myth, which exercises a large influence on my thinking on this issue, I try to help students understand the difference between homework qua homework and independent practice, which calls upon them to practice that day’s classwork on their own.

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: Genghis Khan

Posted on May 2, 2018 | Leave a comment

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, May 1st begins Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Initially, I was concerned that I lacked significant materials to observe the month properly; however, upon review of the Text Terminal Archives, I find that I have an abundance of materials to offer in observation of it.

So, let’s start with this Cultural Literacy Worksheet on Genghis Khan. As a college professor of mine once put it, he was an “industrious fellow.”

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 Alexandrian Library

Posted on April 27, 2018 | Leave a comment

“The most famous library of antiquity. Located in Alexandria, it was the principal center of Hellenistic culture under the Ptolemies, and contained hundreds of thousands of rolls. Among its earliest librarians were Callimachus and Apollonius of Rhodes. G[eorge] B[ernard] Shaw treats humorously the burning of the library by Julius Caesar. It was burned and partly consumed in 391; in 642, according to a dubious legend, the caliph Omar seized the city and used the library’s books ‘to heat the baths of the city for six months.’ It is said that it contained 700,000 volumes, and the reason given by the Muslim destroyer for the destruction of the library was that the books were unnecessary in any case for all the knowledge that was necessary to man was contained in the Koran and that knowledge that was contained in the library that was not contained in the Koran must be pernicious. Most modern experts, however, agree that the story of the library’s destruction by Omar is probably apocryphal.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Independent Practice, Reference, Social Sciences

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The Weekly Text, April 27, 2018: A Lesson Plan on Using the Personal Pronoun in the Possessive Case

Posted on April 27, 2018 | Leave a comment

It’s Friday again, so it’s time for another Weekly Text.  This week I offer a complete lesson plan on using the personal pronoun in the possessive case. I begin this lesson with this short exercise on the homophones to, too, and two; in the event the lesson runs into a second day, I keep this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the rhetorical question in reserve. The mainstay of this lesson is this structured, scaffolded worksheet on using the personal pronoun in the possessive case. Here, also, is the teacher’s copy of the worksheet to help you get through the lesson. Finally, here is a learning support on pronouns and case that both your and your students might find useful for this lesson–and elsewhere.

That’s it. It finally feels like spring here, so it’s one of the best times of year her in the Big Apple. On second thought, though, aren’t all the seasons marvelous here?

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, Lesson Plans, Reference, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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Parsing Sentences Worksheet: Verbs

Posted on April 26, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here is a parsing sentences worksheet for verbs–and here are four more if you want them. I understand this is an old-fashioned kind of activity, but that doesn’t render it obsolete. In fact, I maintain that these shore exercises are an effective way to help students understand both English usage and syntax in sentences.

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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Ptolemy

Posted on April 25, 2018 | Leave a comment

Maybe you can use this short reading on Ptolemy as well as the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet to accompany it. He’s someone students need to know about for the Regents Examination in Global History here in New York.

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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Parsing Sentences Worksheet: Prepositions

Posted on April 24, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here is a parsing sentences worksheet for prepositions that I use in a variety of ways, but primarily to begin an instructional period and get excitable and excited adolescents settled and focused.

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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Aphorism

Posted on April 20, 2018 | Leave a comment

“A compact statement, such as a maxim or proverb, that concisely expresses a principle or common experience. The term was first used by Hippocrates. The beginning sentence of his Aphorisms is a well-known example: ‘Life is short, art is long, opportunity fleeting, experimenting dangerous, reasoning difficult.”

Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Quotes, Reference

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A Short Exercise on the Greek Word Root Nephr/o

Posted on April 19, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here is a word root worksheet on the Greek root nephr/o. It means kidney. Hence, the medical specialist who deals with kidneys is a nephrologist.

This is, in other words, another vocabulary-building worksheet for students interested in the health professions.

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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