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, 5 August 2022: A Lesson Plan for the Final Assessment of the Conjunctions Unit

Ok, here is the final lesson plan of the conjunctions unit, which is a sentence-writing review as a unit-concluding assessment. I open this lesson with this worksheet on the homophones peak and peek; if the unit goes into a second day (it very likely will, and perhaps even a third), here is an Everyday Edit the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, which Melba Patillo Beals experienced first hand as one of the Little Rock Nine, and about which she has written eloquently.

This sentence-writing practice assessment worksheet is the final assessment for this unit.

And with this post, the entire cycle of units I wrote to teach the parts of speech is now available on Mark’s Text Terminal. I don’t know how many lessons in total it is, but if it is not 100, it’s close. I hope you find some or all of this material useful. After seven years of piecemeal posting of these materials, they’re all 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.

Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Prevent

Here is a worksheet on the verb prevent as it is used with a gerund. To prevent writing dubious instructional material, the teacher decided he needed to think more clearly about instructional goals.

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.

Guy Fawkes

OK, here is a reading on Guy Fawkes along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Chances are good, especially in the high school population, that students have heard of Fawkes through the graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, the book’s filmed version, or the ubiquitous Guy Fawkes masks that show up at various protest rallies.

In any case, Guy Fawkes remains of sufficient importance–if only as a bogeyman–in British history that the Brits observe Guy Fawkes Night to commemorate the Gunpowder Plot in which Fawkes was intimately involved.

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: Balkan Peninsula

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Balkan Peninsula. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three compound sentences and three comprehension questions. Nota bene, please, that the compounds in these sentences contain lists of geographical particularities and the many nations and nationalities that crowd this relatively small piece of real estate. If you’re looking for something to begin a lesson on this region–particularly just about anything on World War I, empires, colonialism, or the horrorshow that ensued in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union–this short worksheet might be a good place to start.

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, 29 July 2022: A Lesson Plan on Correlative Conjunctions (Part 2)

This week’s Text is the second of two lessons on using correlative conjunctions. The first was published here last Friday. If you scroll down eight or so posts below this one, you’ll find it.

I open this lesson with this Everyday Edit worksheet on Charles R. Drew, the surgeon and researcher on blood transfusions. (And don’t forget that you can help yourself to a yearlong supply of Everyday Edit worksheets over at Education World.) If the lesson spills over into a second day, here is a second do-now worksheet on the homophones peace and piece.

This scaffolded worksheet is the center of this unit, and I expect that this teacher’s copy of the worksheet will make delivering the lesson a bit easier for you.

That’s it. I’ll post the final lesson in this unit–and the final lesson of all the Parts of Speech Units on this blog–next week.

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.

Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Practice

If you can use it (and I remain skeptical of the utility of these materials, whose manufacture I nearly abandoned several times), here is a worksheet on the verb practice when used with a gerund. I  practice deprecating worksheets which are of dubious value.

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.

Euclid

Here is a reading on Euclid along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. This is, as so many of the readings from the Intellectual Devotional series tend to be, a nice one-page conspectus on the author of The Elements, and the influences that led to the creation of this, essentially the world’s first first geometry textbook–which is, unsurprisingly, available across the internet in a variety of PDFs. The first one that pops up (under that hyperlink) is from a physicist named Richard Fitzpatrick at the University of Texas; it’s free of advertising clutter and, to the extent of my limited knowledge of the subject, well organized.

Also, in researching this post, I learned that the first of the five volumes in the Intellectual Devotional series is available as a free e-book under that hyperlink (at least at the time of this post’s publication), should you be interested.

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.

Term of Art: Task-Oriented Learning

“task-oriented learning: A learning approach in which students are expected to complete specific assigned jobs, or tasks, to gain mastery. Advocates of task-oriented instruction laud it because it is experiential and hands-on, as opposed to instruction that relies on books and lectures.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

Cultural Literacy: Balance of Trade

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the balance of trade. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two compound sentences and three comprehension questions. A concise introduction to a fundamental concept in the economics of trade. If I had been paying attention, I would have paired this document into one post with this worksheet on the balance of payments as a concept in trade and economics I that posted about a week ago.

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, 22 July 2022: A Lesson Plan on Correlative Conjunctions (Part 1)

This week’s Text is first of two lessons on correlative conjunctions–the second will appear here next Friday.

I use this usage worksheet on its and it’s as the do-now exercise to open this lesson. Should the lesson go into a second day, here is a second do-now, this one an Everyday Edit worksheet on bullying. And to give credit where it is so abundantly due, don’t forget that the proprietors of the Education World website distribute a yearlong supply of Everyday Edit worksheets–free for the taking. I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: for certain students I have served over the years, these Everyday Edit worksheet have been quite satisfying.

This scaffolded worksheet on using correlative conjunctions is the principal work of this lesson. And to make delivering the lesson a little easier on you, here is the teacher’s copy of same.

That’s it. As above, the second part of this two-part lesson will appear here next week.

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.