Category Archives: Independent Practice

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

Parsing Sentences: Conjunctions

Here is a parsing sentences worksheet for conjunctions that is the kind of thing I use to get students settled after a class change.

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 Short Exercise on the Greek Word Root My/o

Ok, it’s just before the final period on a Friday afternoon, and as I work to clear off my computer desktop before shutting down and leaving, I find that I left this worksheet on the Greek word root my/o (it means muscle) lying around, so I’ll throw it up for your use.

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, April 13, 2018: A Lesson Plan on Using Adverbs of Time

It’s Friday the thirteenth, and so far nothing bad has happened in my tiny corner of the universe; I hope the same is true for you.

This week’s Text is a complete lesson plan on using adverbs of time. I begin this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on anthropomorphism. However, if the concept of anthropomorphism is too abstract for your students, or if this lesson enters a second day, then here is a homophone worksheet on the nouns profit and prophet that may well be useful to you in other areas of your practice. When teaching this lesson, I also use this learning support which might also be useful elsewhere in your classroom; it’s in Microsoft Word, in any case, so it will be easy to bend to your needs. Here is the structured, scaffolded worksheet that is the mainstay of this lesson. Finally, here is the teacher’s copy of the worksheet to guide you in guiding your students.

And that’s it for another week. I hope spring has sprung where you live. The first azaleas are in bloom in the New York Botanical Garden, which is pleasant indeed.

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.

A Short Exercise on the Greek Word Roots Leuk/o and Leuc/o

Here is a word root worksheet on the Greek word roots leuk/o and leuc/o. They mean white and colorless. As you can see, the first of these roots can be found in the noun leukemia. This is another one of those Greek roots that produces a lot of words related to medicine and 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.

The Weekly Text, March 30, 2018, Women’s History Month 2018 Week V: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Today is the final Friday of Women’s History Month 2018. I’m actually posting this week’s Text from my phone, as spring break has begun, and I left my computer at work; I’m on a train headed for lovely Cold Spring, New York for the day.

Depending on what and how you teach, you may find useful this reading on Jackie Joyner-Kersee. If you do, then here is a comprehension worksheet to accompany it. Finally, here is an Everyday Edit worksheet on Bessie Coleman, the aviatrix. (And, incidentally, if you like the Everyday Edit worksheet, the magnanimous people at Education World have a year’s worth of them on offer–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.

Cultural Literacy: Lady Godiva

It’s Wednesday morning, and we here in New York City are on the downhill slope to the spring break. As the weather slowly warms, this seems like a good day to post a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Lady Godiva for general consumption. She was a “freedom rider” according to the theme song from the 1970s show Maude–which was sung, to my surprise, by the late, great Donny Hathaway, which explains why I liked it so much at the time, and like it still.

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: Sally Heming

If we are going to face the truth about our national past, then perhaps perhaps this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Sally Hemings will be of some use in your classroom. I think most students would be very interested in the life of Sally Hemings–indeed, in her entire family.

Reading her story while revising this post brings to mind a great novel I read last autumn, In the Fall by Jeffrey Lent, which I cannot recommend highly enough.

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: Josephine Baker

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Josephine Baker who was, by any standard to which I can comfortably stipulate, a great American who lived most of her life, like many American entertainers, writers and intellectuals of African descent, in Paris

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: Marie Antoinette

As the final week of Women’s History Month 2018 begins, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Marie Antoinette, certainly one of the more infamous women in history.

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, March 23, 2018, Women’s History Month 2018 Week IV: a Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Queen Isabella of Spain

Well, it’s Friday again, so it’s time for another Weekly Text, which continues to to observe Women’s History Month. So, here is a reading on Queen Isabella of Spain with a comprehension worksheet to accompany it. As long as we’re on the subject of royalty in modern history, here is an Everyday Edit on the women in King Henry VIII’s life to complement the longer exercises on Queen Isabella. Incidentally, if you want more of these Everyday Edit exercises, the good people at Education World have posted a year’s supply of them free for the taking.

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.